vwgti

hey man excellent log to date, i check back every day in hope of another update. Keep up the good work!!!!

CyberDruid

Great stuff man--keep us enthralled!

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Current Project: CalligaCab: TV stand/bookshelf/PC-case

Poser

Gentlemen...I am sorry for the dearth of updates of late, I have been buried at work and spending way way too much time checking CD's going pro thread when I have a free moment (color me green...with envy).

Quick Hits:

1. I have completely baffoed my HDDs in the Llama, as I tried to migrate an image of my current xp disk to a partition on my Vista HDD. Well in the midst of doing this I corrupted the MFT and MBR. SWEET! So I will be spending the evening tonight...trying to restore my XP image, and reinstalling Vista. Ohhh Joy.

2. I have begun the task of re-sleeving my PPC silence (yes re-sleeve, it comes sleeved in black). It was a definintely a tedious task at first, a lot of trial and error regarding technique...but now I have it down to a science, so things are beginning to move.

3. I will be pulling apart the Stacker earlier this week and rethinking my whole design approach. Maybe full exterior and interior paint jobs. Since it will be my first rig painting gig...I will have to do some research for the best techniques and tips (choice of primers, spray brands...etc.) I also think I am going to put this beast on casters...and have two 120 s-flexs blowing intake from the bottom of the case. It is florida...and it is beginning to get damned hot.

Pics and a legit update soon. Thanks for all the encouragement guys...the project will get rolling sooooooooon

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Poser

Wow the...last ten days or so have just been brutal, between work and feeling like dog pooh (spring flu) I have completely neglected this project. The good news is that the last 24 hours have seen some actual progress. Alas, as with any progress there is a price to pay...as I change concepts for the case for the 100th time...more on that in a few.

I wanted to knock out something tedious...something to get me back in the modding groove, so I chose to begin the sleeving of my PP&C silencer. Now I am sure that many of you have sleeved a ton of cables...and its like second nature to you. But to the neophyte modder and the dim-witted (I have trouble spelling IBM on occassion)...it can be a daunting task. So here a few tips that I learned along the way:

1. Electrical tape is NOT your friend


As you can see in the above picture...I used the tape to cover up the molex pins to ease the sleeving passing over the cable and pins. Great in theory, horrible in practice. The adhesive side of the tape leaves black tarish residue all over your cables and pins (and remember the tape is non-conductive...so I imagine having this residue deposited on your pins would cause resistance to increase) After cleaning up the mess I created...I revisited the theory, and replaced electrical tape with painters tape. This worked great...same effect without any of the residual crap left over.



At first I found the atx/pcie pin remover to be a complete waste of money as it was about as useful as a racehorse with three legs. I remained about as patient as a 4 year old on christmas morning before I started swearing like a drunken sailor. So when something doesn't work what do we do....we mod it.

You are looking at a close up of the atx tool after I used my dremel to sand the tips down...similar to tweezers. This made it infinitely easier to maneuver around the pin's sockets and pop them out.

Label your pins as you remove them...especially on the 24pin power cable, otherwise rig go boom, when you don't replace them correctly. Imagine trying to rewire this nightmare without labels:


The bottom line is the most important weapon in your modding arsenal is patience. Take your time and try not to get too frustrated. Like anything, it gets much easier with experience. It took me a good 3-4 hours to sleeve my whole PSU...but if I had to do it again (like on my next rig) it would take half the time because everything I learned (by the time I got around to the last couple of cables...I was a sleeving pro).

Anyway here is a picture of the finished product:



Since I finished sleeving, I want to take a look at how it would look with the UV ccl...pretty damned cool if you ask me:


I also stripped down the Stacker to prep it for cutting and painting:


Soooo now I am rethinking fan placement. I am now leaning towards having 2 x120mm sflex blowing intake from the floor of the case (finished product will be on coasters) as that is where the coolest air will be coming from. I may also prep the case for future water cooling by prefitting it for a 3x120mm rad in the top and just using in for the time being with three fans blowing exhaust. I have to run down to the local auto store and sort out the colors (thinking a pealescent black for the exterior and chrome finish on the interior...covered with UV reactive clear coat).

I still feel like crap, so I am going to wrap this up for now...I promise more progress and better updates in the future

And as always suggestions are welcome...as I will steal your ideas and call them my own

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Poser

UPDATE TIME: if you aint dying...then you best be moddin' ...B@#$%!!!

n00b disclaimer: (actually just a warning that things got kinda fubar'd)
Let me first start by saying this is my first serious mod...and being as none of my friends (all two of them) have any interest in technology (other than their ipoohs and crapberries) I have no one to actually get advice from, bounce ideas off of or just generally b!tch and moan to.So basically everything I do is on a first-time, trial and error basis (aside from all the advice I have gotten from you guys and burning out my eyesockets staring at endless pages of google searches, that is). Given this fact...there are going to be some hiccups along the way...or in my particular case, apoplectic vascular shock!

Anyway I'd like to impart these three tips to any and all modders (neophyte or pro alike):

1. I cant stress the importance of patience. Most of my mistakes or mis-steps are not the result of poor planning, but rather rushing to complete one project to start another. Really, I know this is common sense, but don't lie...we all have common sense and then choose to ignore it.

2. Plan, plan some more...plan again, throw out those plans, make new plans, revise those plans, revise those revisions of remade plans....
...yeah you get the point. Planning is essential, I don't care if it is CAD designed 3d rendering of your next mod, a popsicle stick diorama or a stick figure blue-print on the back of a ****tail napkin. If you want your mod to be completed the way you envision it...then write it down. Believe me, it is worth the 20seconds and crayon wax. Really

3. Mistakes,.... well...... mistakes....TBH they @#$%ing suck mother f'in donkey balls and are enough to make me want to punch myself in the face repeatedly while swearing like a drunken sailor at a court marshal. But what they aren't: is the end of the world. If you are a beginner, like me, you are going to make some mistakes. If you are lucky like me, they will be absolutely horrendous, hideous disfigurements to your project almost bringing you tears...SWEET! With that said, (as a pull my foot out an old CRT display), these can actually be a learning experience...and in the long run spur your creativity, ingenuity and improve your soon-to-be-mad phat modding skillz.

Why all of this diatribe you ask...well come along as POSER BUTCHERS HIS STACKER

It all started out so beautifully. I had planned to add a 120mm hole in the top of my stacker to add an additional exhaust (my TR ultra 120 orients vertically...so this would aid greatly in improved air flow my HSF/CPU combo), I made measurements, calculations, drawing...the whole nine


note the use of a cd as a stencil...it almost a perfect match for the diameter of a 120mm fan (just stay inside your circle to be on the safe side)

I drilled a pilot, grabbed my dremel and its "hole cutting attachment" (I use that term loosely) and was ready to go.


looks pretty huh...

yeah try pretty disheartening. The "hole cutting attachment or circle cutter" should be renamed "useless piece of horse doo-doo that will only serve to destroy your beautiful CM stacker and cause you to swear in fits like a truck drive with turrets"...and if thats too long, you can just go with "crap", that works for me to.

Within minute...the cutter had bucked, tore up the side of the attachment and skated way off course and scarred the crap out of my case. I really wanted to either cry or just pee myself...I was livid and demoralized all in one shot. When you look at the picture below you will see the lower right quadrant of the circle looks like I tried to cut it with a steak knife and blow torch.


But...like I said earlier...we learn from out mistakes. I found that using dremels new ez-lock cut-off wheels and having a bit of patience I could finish the job and make it somewhat passable.

I then decided, that I would take another stab at it...using the method I just learned and place another 120mm fan hole...where the old 80mm currently resided:

The idea of dual exhausts really was intriguing...if only because I could later incorporate the design into a dual or triple fan rad configuration...

...but uh-oh, houston we have a problem. The PSU cage was definitely in the way of adding another 120mm. A couple of quick measurements told me that the cage was almost a full two inches longer than my PSU...so I decided to cut it.

This time I actually used both patience and planning together! Rather than be a jacka$$ and try to cut the cage in the case...I drilled the rivets and and REMOVED the cage...gold star for me! This will prove even wiser when it comes time to paint...as I am doing the exterior and interior two different colors.


Before:


After:


Next I had to carefully measure and align my new 120mm fan layout to completely overlap the old 80mm square.


Using the cut-off wheel, a steady hand and a little luck...you can see that this attempt was going to work out much much better. (Thank god...cause I was running out of swear words)


and the finished cut:

I know...it actually looks halfway decent...especially compared to the hack job I did right next to it. Regarding the hack job...I was thinking maybe a little bondo to fill in...or even grabbing some carbon-fiber like moddersmesh and making 120mm ring gaskets to line the holes with...to cover up the butchery. (all suggestions welcome!!!)

This is what it looks like with the grills and modded hood in place:


Kinda rough...but I will definitely be doing some hardcore sanding in the future.

One more pic...all artsy-fartsy to make myself feel better


So there we go...we are beginning to talke baby steps along the way to getting this rig up and roaring.

One the hardware side of it...WOW, the expert is one fickle mistress, but I love her. I took me a solid 3 days of fiddling with dram timings, genie bios settings and run o the mill advance bios settings to get my RAID to take an OS. But when it was all said and done (Vista ultix64/ xp x64 dual boot baby)...I am just so impressed. Gotta do a couple more tweaks to the OS's...but once that is done and I ghost both partitions to an external drive...it is on. I got a good feeling that this processor will flirt with 3.0ghz on air (although the ambients here are getting crazy warm...)

More to come....

and remember tomorrow is national hug a grizzly day...(and adopt a circus midget days as well)

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Poser

I am seriously stoked...as this project has begun to pick up some steam. Let me just say...modding is like crack, the more you do...the more you want.

Todays project was prepping the stacker to accept dual 120 intakes on the bottom, as I am going to put this bad boy on a set of aluminum casters. Fortunately...stackers come vented at the bottom, so I had a pretty decent guide to begin with. Once I removed the mesh this is what we had:


First thing I had to do was dremel off the screw recepticles for the bottom mesh so I could tape off the bottom and make a blue print for cuts and fan placement.
I also was going to have to dremel off the interior lip that runs around as a guide for the mesh and allows it to be slightly recessed (I want the fans to lie flush with the floor of the case, with the exception of dampening rubbers...ahahaha I said rubbers...ahahahaha). Once that was done I grabbed a cd, ruler, fan and sharpies and went to work:


I learned a ton from my disaster with the dremel...since then it has been smooth sailing and this project, though time consuming...was a breeze compared to the first cut I made on the stacker (which looks I used a machete during an epileptic fit). I had my QA inspector in to oversee things:


She can be critical...but I know its just constructive criticism, so I swallow my pride and follow her suggestions (for the most part that is). Once the holes were cut, I opted to cut the mesh bottom seen in the picture above to cover the remainder of the pre-fabbed bottom vent...I will most like eventually fill this in with something solid to promote better flow.

Heres a look at the finish from the interior (bare in mind that I will be using Scythe sflex fans, not the coolermaster ****e, with UV reactive filters)


And here are pics from the bottom:




I think that is the last of the major cuts and re-fabs...so now, its time to prep for paint.

On the hardware side, the expert is a beast. Max FSB of 426...thats obscene. Also, I was able to boot into x64 Pro at 3.00ghz @ stock volts. Of course it was about as stable as a three legged chair....but damn I got a good feeling about this rig! More and more to come...

PS...remember that tomorrow is international rice-cake appreciation day

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Poser

Just a quick note...almost all of my paint supplies have been purchased:


Metallic blue with metalic silver undercoat for the exterior and chrome for the interior. I am thinking about the clearneon UV reactive clear coat for the interior but have yet to make a decision

....getting excited

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JeffB

Heya Poser, was having fun reading this, how's you're case mod going now? You were getting excited, then nada? Or is this some guerilla suspense tactic?

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My Water Cooled 343B Mod Worklog - Updated May 15th

Poser

Well as JeffB has pointed out, this thread is long overdue for an update (not Rosie O'donnell gettin an ass-whuppin long overdue, but damned close!). Its cuckoo clock crazy here...as my "official wedding" is a little over a week away ...05.06.07 (and yes, I know the date is an ordinal progression). So time has been scarce, to say the least.

But thats not to say that I haven't been making some progress...on the contrary, I have been actively sabotaging/modding my rig (you say potato, I say kinetic coefficient)...so lets get up to speed.

PAINT: (no its not a hyperlink...so you can stop trying to click it...jeeeez)

This is my first paint job, and to say that I am butchering it...well that would be putting it kindly. This is okay, as I am actually learning "on the job" and really have enjoyed throwing good money after bad.



Here you can see I have set up my ghetto fabulous spray booth...(which consequently had to be moved once the dog started tracking chrome paint on the hardwood...ouch)...the rig is completely stripped and ready to recieve "blinging"

I'll spare you the multiple images of me kicking myself in the face after I sprayed a clear coat over my chrome enamel and proceeded to watch it turn into a storm-cloud/ gunmetal color. Que cera cera...I can live with it...and lesson learned (talk to JeffB about clear coating and solvent bases...ALWAYS).


After reassembling it...I decided to sand, re-prime and paint it right this time...(ummm in a year or two)

The exterior is where it really counts, cuz thats where you pull the mad hot b!tches. Unfortunately...I did not take pictures of the self-etching primer I used to help the metalcast adhere to the aluminum...but take my word for it...it looked bad arse (in fact...I almost left it that way...it was jungle abush khaki...very primal). Anyway here is a shot after laying down the metalcast ground coat...

Your intial response is probably that it looks exactly the same as if I had left it unprimed...
...to which my initial reply would probably be, "go @#%$ yourself, smart @$$..." But after I calmed down, I would probably tell you that I was concerned about the enamel lifting from the bare aluminum...hence the arduous process of priming and ground coating and wet sanding...etc. (Which in retrospect...was probably all uneccessary...so you were right...good for you, want a medal?)

<urging myself to stay on task here>
While I was waiting for the ground coat to dry, I spent some time modding my zalman baybus fan controller so it would have a cohesive look with my front panel


I think I just like getting stoopid with a dremmel

Anyway here is after one light coat of Neon Blue Metalcast

And after a second light coat of Metalcast



And then...I ran out of paint...

The fun part about working with enamel bases (like metalcast) is that if you let the coat dry for more than an hour, the mfg suggest you dont try to recoat until letting the finish cure properly (7 days per the label)... Thats just f'in great...cause I am super patient, and I would love nothing more than to wait a week to finish this god-forsaken paint job.

Whooooo saaaaaa Whoooo saaaaaaa, serenity now...SERENITY NOW.

Anyway, I have found a fun project to keep me busy for a while (like 10 minutes.) and that will be the subject of my next update:

Drive Stealthing for Morons! Yay

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JeffB

Thanks for the update and good luck on the wedding! Err I mean happy marriage, uh.. well you know what I mean! Hard to say 'I hope it's all you ever wanted' without sounding strange but.. ahh crap I just said it.

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My Water Cooled 343B Mod Worklog - Updated May 15th