Project: Big Daddy

[Runebeard]

In case you haven't already guessed by the name, this might give you a clue as to the style of this mod:

Anyways, I've been planning to build my own rig for a while now, carefully selecting parts and a few months back I purchased a HAF 932 (Cheers TTL ) with the intention of watercooling at some point in the future.

Initially I wasn't going to go overboard with the modding, just a few bells and whistles, but then I saw a few fantastic examples on the net and thought, 'screw it!' I'm making my own!

Then sprung the idea of a Bioshock themed case which the rather industrial looking HAF lends itself to rather well, and from then on the creative juices started flowing.

More recently, I've been using google sketchup to help visualise placement of parts as sometimes it might look good in my head but on paper could be utter balls. Here's what I've got so far using my poor skills (all images are clickable thumbnails):

Front:



Custom grille is being made for me by a guy I met on a modding forum here's the mock up he did:



Left:



Got rid of the not MASSIVELY useful side fan grille and poor excuse for a window, as the porthole really helps the theme along. Writing will be engraved and I might do some extra bits at the bottom to look like scenery from rapture.

Right:



Anyone who knows a HAF 932 will recognise where the 'X' for the door came from. Will have grafitti painted on the outside and the door will be able to open, with a possible image of a Big Daddy on the inside with LED eyes? We'll see...

Top:



Awesome Fighter Pilot Power switch which I already have, gonna make the Emergency Stop Reset Button myself from a momentary switch I've got and gonna make an analgoue CPU meter with the help of a mate who knows what he's doing.

The whole thing will be painted on the outside to look like a rusted up heap of junk from under the sea, something like http://wallpapers.latestscreens.com/makeThumb.php?dir=1600x1200&game=bioshock&file=bioshock-01.jpg, but I'll need to improve my airbrush skills before attempting that for real!

And to go inside this beast of a machine? Here's the shortlist so far:

CPU: Intel Core i7 930 (cooled by Titan Fenrir until I go watercooling)

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB DDR3 1600MHz (laugh all you want, but I want some bling)

PSU: Corsair HX850W Modular

GPU: nVidia GTX 275 (not the fastest but for £100 new, I wasn't gonna say no!)

Sound: Asus Xonar DX

Plus Blu-ray rom and Wireless-N card.

Sorry there's so much, but let me know what you guys (and gals) think.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Ducky Spud]

That front grill looks amazing!! Well done to the guy making it!

And looks an intresting project, I love Bioshock so will be keeping an eye on this one. Is it actually possible to do the analogue CPU meter? Never seen it done before but will look pretty smart if it works out

 

[Runebeard]

Yeah, the guy is a legend, he took a keen interest when I was chatting about it on the other forum and so I sent him the image I wanted making and he got straight to work. It's not the cheapest bit of acrylic I've bought but it's a one-of-a-kind so I'm not too fussed.

The CPU meter is a bit of a cheat tbh. You use a voltmeter/ammeter dial to measure the current and a program you run on start-up sends out the CPU load as a sound. Then, using a small USB-style sound card transmit the sound through that as an electrical signal which the dial interprets as the CPU load. Or something along those lines... Crazy but my mate seems to know what he's doing and it'll look awesome on the mod.

*EDIT*

Oops just notice I had the 'Left' side image twice! Now replaced the Right one with the right one (har har).

 

[a8875624]

wow

this is really original - and i am a big fan of bioshock too - and i cant wait to see how it turns out.

maybe some more graphics to it - like an image of a big daddy?

EDIT - ignore that last part - i didnt read your whole post.

 

[Runebeard]

Cheers guys, yeah I was debating having a Big Daddy image more prominent, but somone suggested why not have him hiding behind the door with some LED eyes.

Sadly, I'm back at uni for the next 6 weeks though there's only 4 until my exams, all of which happen in the final two weeks! Oh joy! This also means I won't actually be able to do any physical work on the mod until I get home so any updates will just be me tweaking things here and there on the design.

I might see about incorporating some more bioshock imagery onto it, atm it's mostly just nautical with hints of Rapture. We'll see...

 

[AMDFTW]

were u get a 275 for £100

 

[Runebeard]

The wonders of eBay when other people don't bid on things. I think I was amazingly lucky, considering a few hours earlier I'd seen a 260 go for the same price. The guy bought 3 for SLi then decided he couldnt afford it and sold one which I got, so the box had been opened but the card itself was unused in its static bag, so effectively brand new. Not bad at all for the money, I thought.

 

[AMDFTW]

hmmm you have to be lucky nowa days on ebay.

anyway back to ur build,its awsome mate well thought out

 

[Ducky Spud]

Ebay seems a good place to get 275's, everyone there bids loads for 260's and 280/285's and seem to ignore 275's, seen a few go proper cheap on there.

 

[AMDFTW]

just looked there around 150-200 seem to be alot of zotac

 

[Steve-O-]

Perfect looking grill. Can't wait to see a final build.

 

[Runebeard]

Cheers guys, I can't wait for this either once I get home after exams (mid-june) I hope to have the whole thing finished by July if I really crack on at it, though maybe that's a little optimistic...

 

[Runebeard]

Right, so it's only been a little over two months since my last post, but I wanted to let you know I haven't spent all my time since exams just sat on my backside! Oh no! I've actually DONE some work on the mod. Nothing too spectacular though. Sadly I missed my attempt at finishing BY July, but I didn't even have all the stuff I needed and it was a little optimistic as I only came back from Uni on the 19th June

I started by de-riveting the case (big shout out to Craigr1982 for his informative videos on his own HAF932 mod,) to make it much easier to work with. Then I bought a load of Grey Primer and Satin Black topcoat spray from Halfords. I lightly scuffed with a scothbrite pad the internals, and then did 2-3 light coats of primer until there was good coverage. This was then wiped down with an old t-shirt to removed any excess powder and then the topcoat was sprayed on. Sadly I forgot to take pics throughout this process but here's a couple to show what it'll look like.





I also started work on the ‘porthole’ window I’ve got planned. This began by getting out my trusty jigsaw and removing the, imo, unnecessary fan grille and poor excuse for a window in the side. As I don’t own a rotary tool, I had to settle for the old trick of drilling to small holes to get the jigsaw blade in. After break two of my Dad’s drill bits which he’s had since before he was born, I gave –in and bought a set of bits for myself. Then after a short bit of cutting, I realised the jigsaw wasn’t going to cut it with the blades it came with so after another trip to the DIY store and some flirting with a member of staff who clearly thought I knew more than I did about tools, I ended up with this:



Then after measuring not once, not twice, but three times for accuracy I cut into the prime steel sheet I bought for the frame of the porthole window and managed to ease out a near perfect fit 1st time:



While all this was going on I had continued a little with the design, to the point I’ve now decided to use a custom roof grille which will conform to standard spacings unlike the default HAF roof. As such, I’ve again contacted the guy who’s making the front grille and sent him off a template I drew up along with this image I snapped as a design:



Here you can see the stripped down grille with rough measurements I drew on in pencil as a guide:



As I will be cutting all that out to fit the new grille on I will also need to cut up some more steel sheet I have to make a kind of bracing for it all to sit upon. More on that in a future update. Hope you enjoyed my little update!

 

[tinytomlogan]

Dude you know the haf roof is default 15mm right?

 

[Runebeard]

Fail. I read on a Coolermaster forum it didn't conform to standards and only a few rads would fit it. Oh well, the new grille will look so much nicer anyways.

 

[tinytomlogan]

thats the 922 dude. The 932 is 15mm. Also the 932 grill extends under the plastic tray at the front for a 360mm rad so the grill will be kinda dificult to implement....

 

[Runebeard]

Thanks for the info Tom. Serves me right for not measuring it by hand and relying on the internet too much. Oops I forgot to mention I'm getting rid of the plastic thing and implementing the I/IO stuff in one of the many 5.25" bays. So not to worry about that! The power and reset buttons are also being moved and incorprated into the theme by use of switches I've bought. More on those later nearer the time.

 

[lappy74]

This is an interesting idea. I like what I see so far and being that im also a big fan of the Bioshock series I'll be keeping my eye on it.

I was thinking, if you get like a reservoir that is shaped like http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100418091617/bioshock/images/2/25/GGPlasmidImage.png

I know it might be hard to do something like that, but i'm just brainstorming and that is what came to mind. If that is too hard perhaps you could go something along the lines of the Little Sisters ADAM extractor. http://www.wonderlandblog.com/.a/6a00d834515f7269e20111689c22f4970c-800wi

I'm only referring to the part that holds the liquid of course

Anyway, goood luck!

 

[Runebeard]

Crikey! I'd almost forgotten I made this thread! Thanks for your input, I'll deffo have to look into the Plasmid jar/ADAM extractor idea - it's awesome! Cheers lappy!

It's gonna be a long while before I'm able to get back to this due to being stuck away at Uni most of the time, and this being my final year I actually have to work during the holidays on my epic dissertation. I was hoping to have finished it the summer just gone, but due to hold ups with laser cutting (nearly 3 months waiting for stuff to be done and then the guy said they were moving premises,) I couldn't actually progress with build. Currently all the necessary bits are boxed up in the loft back home lol.

Don't worry, I haven't given up though, next summer will be a flurry of tools and paint as I finally assemble my Big Daddy!

 

[lappy74]

Crikey! I'd almost forgotten I made this thread! Thanks for your input, I'll deffo have to look into the Plasmid jar/ADAM extractor idea - it's awesome! Cheers lappy!

It's gonna be a long while before I'm able to get back to this due to being stuck away at Uni most of the time, and this being my final year I actually have to work during the holidays on my epic dissertation. I was hoping to have finished it the summer just gone, but due to hold ups with laser cutting (nearly 3 months waiting for stuff to be done and then the guy said they were moving premises,) I couldn't actually progress with build. Currently all the necessary bits are boxed up in the loft back home lol.

Don't worry, I haven't given up though, next summer will be a flurry of tools and paint as I finally assemble my Big Daddy!

Hahahaa its cool we all get swamped at times

I'd really to love to see my idea in the case I think it would look pretty sweet.

And no problem

Hope you get it done next year.