Project: F.E.A.R. Worklog

[PCFlip]

Before I begin I would like to say, thank you for welcoming me into this forum, I looked around and I didnt see any rules posted on how to the following so if anything is out of compliance please let me know and if you could provide a link to the listed rule or whatever so I can read them and get familiar with them for this forum. Thank you...

Alright the people have spoken and what they want to see from me is a SFF (Small Form Factor) Case build themed after the ever popular and one of my

personal fav games F.E.A.R. so here it is and here it will begin.

The case in which I will be using as the foundation of this build will be the Thermaltake LANBOX Lite as all the compartments are modular which

will help reduce some of the construction time on some of the housings for the computer parts.

Once I get my hands onto this case (which should be soon its in transit) I will be able to examine it further and then start sketching out some possible themed render for the build.

UPDATE 8-20-07: Case came in today, I will get some pics up soon.

Hardware:

(The hardware I plan to run in this build)

CPU: Intel Q6600 G0 SLACR

PSU: OCZ GameXStream 1010w Power Supply // Sponsored By: OCZ Technology

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-G33M-S2H LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Ram: SUPER TALENT 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

GPU: On-Board Video until the 2950 comes out.

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive // Sponsored By: Geeks.com

ODD: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06

X-Box 360 HD-DVD Player

Wifi: D-Link DWA-556 PCI Express Xtreme Wi-Fi Card (uses the PCI-E x4 slot)

Cooling:

Swiftech H20-120 Compact Water Cooling (Used to cool the dual or quad-core) // Sponsored By: Swiftech

AlphaCool Cape Bullseye Reservoir (placed in-line with the H20-120) // Sponsored By: ArcticMOD.com

Feser One - F1 - Cooling Fluid - BLACK / UV RED (custom mix) // Sponsored By: Feser-One.com

All fans used in this build was Sponsored By: AcousticPC.com

Noctua NC-U6 Dual Heatpipe Chipset Cooler (For the North Bridge) // Sponsored By: AcousticPC.com

All other hardware will be cooled with the stock cooling unless stated.

Case Lighting: All case lighting used in this build was Sponsored By: CoolerGuys.com

 

[PCFlip]

Here is the box that the case came in.

The Case itself and all its glory.

The case versus a screw driver... the case didnt stand a chance.

What will be painted Red.

Here is a pic of what came in one of the boxes, ya I know its not much but its important none the less. ^_^

Here is an image of the LS DVD Burner that will be used and the X-Box HD DVD drive not sure how I will mod this just yet.

And in this next pic, I will be using one of those style Res in this build, it will be installed in-line with the Swiftech H20-120 Compact Water Cooling

 

[PCFlip]

Alright at first I thought I was going to have to mount the Res outside of the case as I wouldnt have room for it on the inside, well after staring at the case for a nice long time, I figured out how I can have it installed on the inside and make it so that I could slide the top panel off still to get access to the system.

It will make more since when I cut it and upload that image

Also by relocation the lower HDD rack, I am able to keep the extra storage location but still be able to mount a longer graphics card.

Also by removing the top 3.25 bay location, frees up room for me to be able to install the Radiator from the swiftech kit, now I just have to decide if I will have the fan flush with the outside of the case and the rad inside or have the fan inside the case and the rad mounted flush to the outside of the case.

Now for the paint. ^_^

I cleaned and prepped half of the items I plan to paint, the other half I have to do some modding on.

Alright after two coats of primer.

Here is the first coat of color, after it cures I will wet sand and then apply the second coat, let it dry and paint the other side with the same process.

 

[PCFlip]

Painting is done on these items, so yay for that ^_^

I painted the drive cage, oh ya painting those tight areas was fun ~_~ ya I know I could have drilled out all the rivets and then paint each part and then rivet it back together but where is the challenge in that =p

Oh if you noticed I even painted areas that wont be seen by human eyes but its that extra step that really wins over people and besides the world might not see it but at least you know its there

Tomorrow I will cut the spot for the Res out and paint the bottom of the top panel and figure out where I am going to put the visual flow meter and more importantly the temp monitor, I also have to plan out where the handle will get installed and by the looks of things it will have to go dead middle of the case, I wanted to have two handle but some really extensive modding would have to be done and well it just wasnt worth the amount of work to get that to happen so I will be going with a single industrial looking handle that collapse inside of the case when not in use..

 

[PCFlip]

Alright here is a pic of a quick test fit, the PSU bracket has not been painted yet so its not seen here in these pics.

I have decided on an image that I will have etched, this one was created by a friend of mine and he goes by the name of Tivon, this image will either be color etched or blackout etch we will see what I go with later on, it will be on the same side as where I will mount the Rad. The other side of the case I have not decided on it I will leave it with the standard clear vented side panel that originally came with it or do something a little more custom.

 

[PCFlip]

Here is a shot with all the modular parts installed minus the lid

In this next pic you will see the prep work for getting ready to cut the handly location, now if you noticed I taped down a paint mixing stick,

I use that as a guid when Im cutting with the dremel, it adds some extra reinsurance that Im cutting a straight line.

Here is a shot with the handle installed in the top panel, next up is to cut where the res will be mounted.

 

[PCFlip]

Well hers another update:

I installed the OCZ 1010 watt PSU

I love how compact this power supply is, perfect for power hungry SFF cases. ^_^

I cut out the location where the Res will be installed, here is the res mounting plate

I used Acorn nuts to hold the res mount plate in place, I think its a great look for it.

Alright next up I installed the res, to make sure it all fits and will clear the pci slot location, which is does nicely ^_^

Last is a shot with it all installed and the next pic after that is a nice close up, all in all I think it looks awesome ^_^

 

[PCFlip]

Well everyone I got the motherboard in today ^_^

So the first thing I did after staring at it for a while was to remove that almost useless north bridge heatsink and install the Noctua NC-6 heatsink.

Oh isnt is pretty ^_^

Tomorrow I will be getting the Swiftech H20-120 Compact Water Cooling, so I will have another update for you soon

 

[PCFlip]

The Swiftech H20-120 Compact Water Cooling Kit arrived today ^_^

I must say the packaging that it came in is pretty nice and man they really meant it when they said compact.

Here is everything that came inside the box

Close up of the pump/block combo and back plate.

The back plate installed on the motherboard

And here is the Block installed on the motherboard

Now as for the Radiator, well at first I thought I was going to have to mount the Rad on the outside of the case and the fan on the inside of the case but after checking it out, its so compact that I will be able to mod it so that the fan and rad will be installed inside of the system and all that will probably happen tomorrow. ^_^

 

[PCFlip]

okay I know I said I would start cuttin tomorrow but ya didnt want to wait, alright I cut away the hardrive location on the cage to make room for the fan and rad.

Here is a shot of the fan and rad mocked in place.

and yes there is enough room to fit a 2900XT.... BARELY ^_^

oh and here is a shot of showing how tight of a fit it is for the fan/rad.

I did a quick mock up of how the water cooling system will be installed in this system to try and maintain as best of air flow as possible and still keep it clean looking.

 

[PCFlip]

Small update for today,

In keeping with the idea of making this system easy to get into and work on, instead of having the window panels on the inside I will have them on the outside of the case with bolts and nuts to hold it in place so I can get to it faster as the side panels on these cases dont come off so making the windows come off makes it a little easier to work on.

Of course I changed it up just a bit so that it looks better on the outside.

The same will be done to the other side, after I cut the window to fit with the Rad in place.

 

[FarFarAway]

Wow nice work so far. Looks a very nice detailed mod

 

[darkorb]

wow that is amazing!!!

AWESOME MAN!!

i wish my computer case was so small

 

[PCFlip]

Thanks Guys,

Update time:

Well I took a part the HD-DVD Drive a part and in the next few pics show it in pieces.

Here is a pic of the HD-DVD Drive painted

Next I got the Super Talent Memory in today so here is a pic of that and it installed... ^_^

 

[Mr. Smith]

Good work that man, it's almost finished!!!

I really have an itch to make a powerful SSF but I really need to get my currwent rig finished!

 

[PCFlip]

thanks, well the computer side of things is almost done yes but the essence of what will make this FEAR will be going underway as soon as the system is done.

A little hint, it will be a self contained unit that attaches under the SFF to add an edge of creepy-ness to the unit

 

[PV5150]

Excellent effort mate and extremely well thought out.

 

[glocktodahead]

dude that is a savage mod. Good work

 

[ionicle]

looks really awsome

 

[Nathan@Nanopoint]

:d