duffsr

Update 8-12-08

I got done painting the chassis. I used several coats of primer, then a chrome dupli-color spray. It was looking pretty flashy till I hit it with the clear coat. The clear coat dulled it down, and made it look like a smooth polished metal almost.

Here's a shot with the DVD drive mocked in place. Note the cuts to facilitate the power and SATA data connection.


The trouble with this can be seen in the hump under the DVD drive. That's a standoff spot. The motherboard actually blocks the bottom of the lowest 5.25" bay.


Neccesitating a change in plans, the main 24pin power connection says NO to my idea of the side mount dvd drive. Looks like I might have one front 120mm exhaust fan.


I don't think this shot does it justice. It took over an hour getting everything in there. Things like connecting the 4 pin power connection took forever!

The HDD won't fit in the 5.25" bay due to the size of the geminii.

With the Geminii, you have to install the motherboard on top of it. This made getting the mother board in the case a huge pain.

Then I realized the HDD wont fit over the RAM, so back out the motherboard goes. Somehow its resting nicely in the 3.5" bay with the fan controller.

Speaking of which, the Geminii is a beast. Idling right now at 35/34 with the fans inaudible (they have silicone isolators). Load is reatty good too, 52C with the fans of about medium (3.6GHz @ 1.4volts).

http://www.overclock.net/gallery/sho...7/ppuser/30342

Cannot wait to get the case painted and on there!



Thoughts are always appreciated!

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Syrillian

Looking good, duffsr.

I really like the orientation of the case (HTPC-ish).

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WIP: Scarab
Custom Cases:
Silentium, Halcyon, Indigo, Gemini, Prometheus, Anvil
Case Mods:
Liquid Chameleon, VF1000 LAN box

Semper Fidelis

Mootsfox

Looking like a BTX setup. Excited for the final product

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duffsr

Thanks! I admit I was spurned on to actually trying this after seeing some of your work.

The idea was to bring back the idea of the traditional desktop (which has become the HTPC in a lot of ways). I feel this brings the PC in much closer contact with the user, after years at college where the pc is relegated to the floor or wherever it can fit often out-of-site. (Worst case scenario) If it's a total failure looks department it very well may become the HTPC.

Me too, though right now I'm about the side mounted drive bay. Live and learn, this is my first mod and I expected challenges.

A quick lesson in size
My concept was for a case 20" wide by 18" deep, about 5.75" high. The footprint of this (the important part) is 2.5ft^2.

The doner case is 16.8" high, 16.9" deep, 6.1" high. The footprint (usable space) on this is only 1.97ft^2.

In otherwords, everything has to fit in 78% of the space. If I do this concept again, I would create a shell closer to the concept dimensions. The space difference has forced me away from some of the design ques I wanted, and definately impacted expandability.

Kudos to CoolerMaster
After buying a 2nd hand Geminii CPU cooler off these forums, we lost the mounting hardware. Despite trying some different make-shift fixes, this seemed to be a deal breaker. Through the Coolermaster website, I asked about getting some replacement hardware. Without question, they shipped off a set of all the hardware. Thanks Coolermaster!

Unfortunately, they didn't respond about what they were sending, and now I've got a Thermalright SI-128 SE heatsink on the way... $50 ouchie . Still undetermined about what to do with that, as it joins the Zalman 9700 in the unused heatsink dept.

If the humidity drops some, there will be painting this weekend!

Thanks for all the feedback and help!

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Brutuz

Buy some folding rigs and use those heatsinks on them, get some OCing done!

Or make two other TACs once this is done and use it and the 9700 on them?

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duffsr

Definately, I want to get a secondary rig up and folding as soon as this is done, plus more opportunity to mod!

I've got a paint preview coming up this afternoon. Unfortunately Hurricane/Tropical Thunder Faye is not cooperating with my painting goals at the moment here in florida, so the preview is small scale.

------------------------------------

Question?

I'd like to get the Overclock.net logo on the side of my case. About 5" high, but either in black or red. Anyone have ideas what a good way to do this would be?

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duffsr

Paint preview.

After seeing Pep$i's great results on his Xbox360, then later xshlashlastdotx's "Unwanted", I decided to not buck the train, and went with Dupli-color's Metal Specks, but in red.

I used painters tape to cover my worn logitech mouse, then trimmed away the white plastic bits.

I used a plastic adhesion promoter, 3 coats of the metal speck, then several clear coats.





After removing the tape,



That's not excess spray, its the spray can reflection.



Far from perfect, but i really like the color. Former USC Game**** here. Once this tropical storm passes I will spray the front and the case cover. Soon hopefully.

As always, any feedback is welcome! :thumbsup:

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BlankThis

Just checked this out from the link from the July Mod of the Month... Now I understand why it's there... Looks sweet
Quick question: The Geminii, is it open or is there modders mesh there?

Keep it going

~B~

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oregonducks45

you should have used orange and white heh
go tigers!

jk it looks awesome

tensionz

Niceee.