Sunbeam Acrylic UFO Cube Case Build

andrevautour

New member
I have always had a fondness and affection for acrylic cases. Even though they are not as practical as fully functioned as normal steel or aluminium cases, I still absolutely love the look of them, and they remind me of when i was first starting out in computer building/light modding and first becoming an enthusiast. If you have seem my thread on my computers throughout the years, then you will have likely seem that I had a sunbeam mid tower style clear acrylic case back in 2004, which i used to house my 2nd desktop system I ever owned.

I have also always loved the cube layout acrylic cases even more than the tower layout ones, there is just something about the look of a square transparent acrylic case with hardware in it that i just love. It reminds me of robots or various other types of electronics and hardware, like stuff from a Sci-Fi movie, or a piece of art.

This evening I bought a case that I have seen before and always loved the look of, the Sunbeam Acrylic UFO Cube Case in UV blue.

yhst-39083765508394_2223_1180596121


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This case also has 2X 120mm fan cutouts, opposed to the 80mm cutouts that a lot of the acrylic cases have, so I will be able to run 2 120mm fans at low speeds and have the system be almost silent and it will be cool as well.

Another thing I like the look of in acrylic builds is sort of older looking, classic hardware. I love the look of traditional green motherboards, multi color unsleeved PSU cables, grey power supplies, and cold cathode tubes. Something about the look of that type of hardware inside an acrylic case always really appealed to me.

The system that I am planning to build will consist mostly of older hardware I have around the house, plus a couple small things I ordered. I have some pictures of all the hardware that i am planning to use, which i will include in a future post.

I'm going to be using the MSI micro ATX motherboard that came in my hp pavilion back in 2007. it is that sort of dark taupe/orange color, which I think suits the aesthetic of this build well.

m2n68-la-narra2-2__04641.jpg


The cpu will be the one that came in that hp, which is an AMD athlon 64 X2 5200+

For ram I have 4gb of corsair xms2 which is the ram i upgraded to back then, but the silver large heatsinks do not suit the aesthetic of the build, and since it is going to be a mostly aesthetic based project i will probably use the ram that came with my hp, which is 2gb of bare sticks with no heaksink and a green pcb.

I have a radeon hd 4870 graphics card that i might use, but again it doesnt quite fit the aesthetic, and there will be no need for it so it will just be taking up space, using up more power, and making additional heat in the case, so i might just use the on board geforce graphics that the motherboard has.

the hard drives and optical drive will be a samsung writemaster dvd drive with a black faceplate and a 320gb hitachi deskstar.

i have a couple of orange msi sata cables that i really like the look of, and i think they will add a really nice accent to the case color scheme, and they wil fit the aesthetic.

another thing i've already sort of liked the look of is purple lighting and in particular purple cold cathodes. i really like how cold cathodes look in acrylic cases, and i think the common blue, green and red color are fine looking (and i have 2blues and 2 reds already) but recently ive really liked the look of purple cold cathodes tubes, its definitely something different so i ordered 2X 12 inch purple cold cathode tubes for this build.

I have 2x 120mm teal uv fans that are very nice looking and i will run them at a low speed so it is very quiet.

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the power supply is a seasonic ss-400et 400w. i wanted something that was grey with multi color traditional unsleeved cables, and also something that was good quality, and i have seen this great seasonic units for great prices around before, so i decided this was a good choice.

Seasonic-SS-400ET.jpg


here are a few more pictures of the case

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Project Update - Change of Plans

So this project has been on hold for a bit because I decided not to order the cube case because the shipping was going to be very expensive.

I do however have another idea for building an old "classic looking" system with some dated looking parts. Since I have a spare Cooler Master HAF 932 around now, which is dated looking and borderline tacky, plus all the parts from my original hp pavilion from 2007, I figured I would have some fun and just do a hobby build first with everything original and see how it is to use a computer with those type of specs now, and do some benchmarks for fun to see how the performance is, then I have some other stuff like the 4GB of corsair XMS2 ram and the XFX HD 4870 that I can add in and do some benchmarks with those.

This build, like the Sunbean build, will be mainly for looks, and I may do something tacky for run like add in cold cathode tubes or something like that. It's really another excuse to tinker around some more and have some fun and also get an idea what it's like to use mid range 2006-2007 era hardware now.

I also plan to take some pictures as I go and I will update the thread with those later.
 
Build part 1 -- All original hardware

Here is some of the pictures from part 1 of the build.

I started out with all the original hardware from the original Hp pavilion PC, except for the power supply, which i used an ultra xconnect 2, which is the power supply i upgraded the hp to just about a week after originally getting it.


IMG_0048 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0050 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0051 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0052 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0053 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0054 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0055 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0056 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr



MSI M2N68-LA motherboard


IMG_0058 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0059 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0060 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr



2GB DDR2 800MHz


IMG_0061 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr

Hitachi Deskstar 320GB


IMG_0062 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr

Samsung DVDRW drive

IMG_0063 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


Ultra X2 power supply

IMG_0064 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0065 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


Complete build without any additional hardware


IMG_0067 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


LG Flatron L192WS, the screen that came with my hp desktop

IMG_0069 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


PS2 HP Keyboard

IMG_0071 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr


IMG_0073 by Andre Vautour, on Flickr
 
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Here is some of the pictures from part 1 of the build.

I started out with all the original hardware from the original Hp pavilion PC, except for the power supply, which i used an ultra xconnect 2, which is the power supply i upgraded the hp to just about a week after originally getting it.

Hi Andre can you re-upload all the images? Please I want build my home-made plexiglass case
 
yikes this is a old thread, I'm not even sure Sunbeam Tech still sell cases. I'd think long and hard about a acrylic case I have a Gigabyte Acrylic case and it's a nightmare to work with they scratch dead easy, dust is attracted to it like a magnet, cable management is just beyond a joke and recently I received a static shock from it so it's being binned pretty soon unless I can somehow remedy it.
 
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