Project: ????

[TopSecret]

Project: Ying & Yang

I got to work on the case mod this morning and have got a fair bit done. I removed the HD bay, which was pretty easy. It just meant drilling out some rivets. I was surprised how much space it created within the case without it.

Then I got to work sanding the case down. I went out and bought a palm sander this morning and it took me about an hour to do a rough finish. I then gave it a sanding by hand with some fine paper. My hands are still buzzing from the palm sander

Now I have come to a tricky spot, and thats what to do with the front bezel. I don’t know whether to sand it all down and repaint it in another colour or what? I like the bare aluminium look on the case and am thinking about going with that instead of painting. If I do, it means a load more sanding to get a nice shiny finish on it. I am thinking about using an acrylic panel for the front, and I reckon some mirrored or coloured opaque? (not see through lol)acrylic might work well. I could mount some nice switches onto it and it would be a doddle to fix it to the case. With a nice grill over the front fan it would look pretty cool I think. Opinions would be appreciated!!

I will post back when I have some more work done.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[PV5150]

Nice one mate. I'm looking forward to seeing how you pimp the Aurora

 

[TopSecret]

I have just started a new project, and haven't thought of a name yet

I am going to be rehousing my current rig in a modded case and will be redoing the watercooling loop. The case I am going to be using is a Gigabyte 3D Aurora, and the specs of the rig are as in my sig. The case has been sat collecting dust for ages so I want to see what I make of it. As it was on aircooling it was crap. The throughflow was pretty restrictive. I do like the look of the case so my challenge is to pimp it up a bit. The wc loop will have a 240mm rad with just a CPU block for now. I will be adding a GX2 block somewhere down the line, but I want to get the case done first. The rad and fans are going to be mounted inside the case on the top and I have cut a hole ready for this.

I have an XSPC dual bay res/pump but this is going to be no good for this project as I need 3 drive bays clear so I can fit the rad, fans and tubing in. I am removing the bottom HD bays and will be using the floppy bays to house the HD. I need to do this so my 9800GX2 will fit OK. It should also help the air intake do it's job as it won't be impeded. There are two mounting positions for 120mm fans on the rear panel and these will be getting used. I am wondering whether it would be worth using these as intakes as well as the front fan, then have the rad fans as exhausts. Might have to experiment a little when it's all built up.

Regards the cosmetics of the case, I am going to be sanding down and either polishing up or respraying, I haven't decided yet. I want to do something with the door over the drive bays too, maybe make a new one or motorise the existing one. Any suggestions would be appreciated

I will post with pics as I get through the various stages. My first job will be to make all the neccessary layout changes and then I will be deciding upon the finish to be given to the case.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[TopSecret]

Somethings kooky here!! My thread disappeared and I had to search to find it. The dates are all screwed up, I only posted yesterday!

Anyway, some progress on the design idea has been made. I decided to do away with the existing front panel and build a new one using mirrored aryclic. I am using 1 way stuff so the chassi won't be visible underneath. I am going to pick some up tomorrow and hopefully I will get it fitted.

 

[PV5150]

Somethings kooky here!! My thread disappeared and I had to search to find it. The dates are all screwed up, I only posted yesterday!

Same here. I had to search for my Firefox 3.0 issue thread that I posted yesterday, and replies that I've made to peoples threads somehow end up half way through the thread. Even though my post was the last one. Jim........lol

Anyway, some progress on the design idea has been made. I decided to do away with the existing front panel and build a new one using mirrored aryclic. I am using 1 way stuff so the chassi won't be visible underneath. I am going to pick some up tomorrow and hopefully I will get it fitted.

Nice! I can't wait to see your results. Are you cutting the acrylic yourself or getting it laser cut?

 

[TopSecret]

The arcylic I ordered hasn't turned up at the suppliers yet, so I have been doing some more sanding and polishing the aluminium. I am going to be cutting the arcylic myself when it gets here. Other than that not much has been happening today.

I got the finish on the aluminium to how I want it. I didn't want it to be very highly polished but just enough where it starts reflecting light. All it needs now is a light polish once the builds finished. I decided to keep the original side panel cutout, because if I cut a new one I would lose the door catch. I will be spraying the plastic trim with some chrome or silver paint and fitting some arcylic.

I am going to be concentrating on the internals over the weekend and coming up with a theme (lighting, colours etc). I really liked that red and white theme that someone done and may go with something similar, with a bit of chrome bling.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[TopSecret]

I finally decided on a theme for the interior, and have made a start on it. I am spraying the insides gloss white and I have also changed my mind on the front panel. I am now going to be using white acrylic with chrome switches. I tried a piece of scrap white acrylic with the case and it goes well with the aluminium, plus I didn't want to be cleaning the panel every time the kids went near it, leaving paw prints. If I can find a chrome DVD RW bezel, I will be using that too.

The liquid within the WC loop is going to be UV reactive red, which will be a nice contrast to the white. The side panel plastic trim will be gloss white too.I have primed this already and have sanded down the rad casing and primed that white too )the fins and pipes will have to stay black, I masked these off before spraying). I am think about braiding the wires in red, and buying a rounded red IDE cable for the DVD RW. I already have some red SATA leads for the HD.

I am not sure on what colour lighting to use, and I will have to mess around with some different colour when it's all finished.

I will probably post tomorrow with some more photos.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[TopSecret]

I managed to get a couple of pics done of the case.

That's the case painting done, apart from cleaning everything up once the paint has hardened and installing everything, I can't wait now!! I will have to polish the aluminium up again once I am done too.

My lovely daughter used all my masking tape the other day, making models, so I had to use sellotape, should be fun trying to get all of it off I hope my acrylic turns up tomorrow and I can get started on that next.

 

[Pat123]

I have this case and i was just wondering how did u remove the Hdd cage?

 

[TopSecret]

I have this case and i was just wondering how did u remove the Hdd cage?

It's held in place with some rivets, and all you need to do is drill the heads out. Once thats done, it just pulls out.

 

[Pat123]

Ah right yeh, sorry you said at the beginning, i didnt see the top ones as the thread opened half way down??? The first post is the third. Wierd.

Cheers man good luck with this ill stay tuned.

 

[Socks]

looking good, theres not many new projects going on lately, think people are kinda slowing on the modding front, or i'm just being impatient and not waiting long enough. XD.

Loving this build though, keep it up.

 

[TopSecret]

Thanks!

I just ordered the wc parts I needed from Aqua PC's today, I got a Laing DDC1+ ultra pump with an XSPC acrylic top and some PC Ice coolant. The acrylic for the front bezel still isn't in at the suppliers, so things are at a standstill at the moment. It will give me some time to plan out the cable management though. I am itching to get this rig built up now

Cheers,

Stu

 

[kataras]

*subscribed* could you please include more photos next time, and maybe higher rez plz . Looks awesome, myself got a case, which i am gonna mod with similar idea

 

[TopSecret]

*subscribed* could you please include more photos next time, and maybe higher rez plz . Looks awesome, myself got a case, which i am gonna mod with similar idea

Glad you like it! I think the white goes really well with the bare aluminium. My digital camera is knackered at the mo, so I am having to use my N95 camera. I also resized the snaps so as not to break the layout on the forum.

I am still a noob when it comes to writing project logs, so shout up if you think I have missed anything

Cheers,

Stu

 

[Socks]

Do like i do, get pics of the good stuff, leave out the crap stuff, and if all else fails, just write "Too lazy to do it properly", ROFL!!!

 

[TopSecret]

Cheers for the Advice mate!

As it's comng nearer to the point where I will be assembling the rig, I thought now would be a good time to recap on whats actually going in it, so here's the details:

Components

Motherboard: Abit IP35 Pro

CPU: C2D E8400

Mem: Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 4gb (2x2gb)

Gfx: Inno3D 9800 GX2

PSU: Corsair TX650

Opt. Drive: Philips 20x DVD RW DL

HD: WD Sata II 250gb

2x 120mm fans pulled from Antec 900 modded with red LEDS

WC Loop

Tygon 1/2" Clear Tubing & 1/2" Barbs

Laing DDC1+ Ultra with XSPC Delta Top

Swiftech Micro Res (temporary till I get a Aqua-Computer res)

Danger Den MC TDX 775 CPU block

XSPC RS240 Rad with 2 x Blackfire4 Kameleon Fans (120mm)

Primochill ICE coolant (with blood red dye).

There are still a few things I am waiting for to progress the build, the 6mm white acrylic for the front panel is the biggest hold up at the moment. I have ordered the arcylic cut to measure and asked the supplier to polish the edges for me (lesson learned from previous build). Then I need to cut the relevant holes for the DVD RW, front fan and switches.

I couldn't find a DVD RW with an all chrome bezel to buy, so I might just spray my existing one. It will never look as good though. I want the front panel to look clean and uncluttered, in fact thats the look I want for the whole of the exterior.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[TopSecret]

Well today is the day I get to build the rig up and try it all out. I still haven't got my acrylic for the front panel, but I can build the rig up for now and fit that when I get it. My youngest daughter woke up at 1am throwing a hissy fit, and has decided she wants to play, so I can't see me getting much sleep between now and the morning. It's a good job I have the day off

I made a bit of a

up when it came to measuring everything up for the rig. I was a bit lazy when it came to the PSU, and instead of measuring up my intended one, I used a spare one I had laying about in the workshop. Using the spare, I had plenty of room for the rad at the top. Last night I decided to do a test fitting of the rad, PSU and mobo, and that's when I realised my dumb mistake!

The spare PSU I used to measure up with was a standard ATX size, and didn't have modular cables. The intended one does have modular cables and it's case was 20mm deeper. With the modular cable plugs the total difference in length was more like 40mm. So the frigging rad wouldn't fit in!! I felt like chucking the whole lot with my dummy!

I had visions of me having to bodge it somehow, but I then decided to use another PSU, the Corsair TX650. It will fit a treat and still leave enough room for me to route the cables, pity it's just cost me another £60 though

Cheers,

Stu

 

[PP Mguire]

Question. Did you use spray paint or regular paint?

 

[TopSecret]

Question. Did you use spray paint or regular paint?

I used spray paint. The interior wasn't completely dry when I took those photos.

Anyways, I have got the first fix done with the rig, and I am well pleased with it so far. If there was one thing that did bug me though, that was the long length of the cables from the PSU, it made the cable management a bit trickier.

Here's some snaps, bear in mind that this rig is still a work in progress.

There's still quite a bit to do yet, and the fluid dye hasn't come yet. Let me know what you all think so far fellas!