max302

Those who have seen my previous threads here are probably crying by now. What the hell is this guy doing starting another project while he still has a Rocketfish log going on? And what happened to the dude's rebuild? Let me clear up some things first before we get started on the mod.

First off: Niobium, forget about it, it's dead and gone. Scratchbuild sounded cool, but I don't have the tools, time, or money to construct such a case and fill it with hardware.

Secondly, the Rocketfish is not done with yet. Bloody Bridget, a case which I am thinking about renaming to something shorter and less cheesy, is still going on. Then why are the updates 4 months in between? Long story,but basically it's partially the fact that I've been doing 65 hour weeks, and partially a problem with an order I placed with WatercoolinUK's own Marcus000. A very disappointing problem, which I'll address in a thread when I feel like it.

Thirdly, Fr0stbyte is sold. So I don't really care if it's rebuild was an undocumented flop.

So why the new build? Well obviously, selling Fr0stbyte has made me computerless, so what's a man to do in these situations? Build another one! This time around though, my needs have changed, and I need something different. My previous computer had a C2D nicely overclocked and two gigs of RAM, along with twin 8800GT's in SLI on a 680i, which was nice for games. But for my current sitation, it just didn't cut it. I don't play games anymore, I was starting to get sick of the noise the old box made, so my expectations obviously aren't the same. What I was looking for in this new build was something more amongst these lines:

• Quiet
• Physically Smaller
• Quad Core (Everybody seems to think it's the obvious choice... so why not)
• It has to have ****loads of RAM

I didn't want side windows, top windows, super extravagent LED fans everywhere. I wanted something straight, yet classy, while still being functional. Something you won't drool all over, not something overdone that radiated e-peen, just a honest to goodness powerhouse (the term is relative) box that I would be proud to show off, yet that wouldn't keep me from sleeping with all the LED fans and lighting and whatnot. If it had to be described in one word, I wanted my new computer to represent the word "tight".

What colors could I used on an (almost) LED-less project? The choice was obvious; just like a black dress makes any half decent woman look beautiful, it's black that would make my computer "tight".

Three days later in physics class, we were in Physics class doing optics stuff, and I found the name for the new box in my textbook: Umbra, the Latin word for shade, the darkest, pitch-black part of a shadow.

Parts

• Case: Ultra Defender , my old server case which used to be vinyl clad
• Power Supply: Xigmatek NRP 650W
• Motherboard: DFI Lanparty Jr P45-T2RS
• Processor: C2Q e8400 R0
• Memory: G.Skill Pi Black F2-6400CL4D, 4 x 2gig. A friend already had a set of these, monster sticks.
• Graphics: 8800GT. At least it can fold.
• Hard Drive: Seagate ES.2 250 gig. No need for more when you have a home server :P
• Optical Drive: Liteon SATA DVD Burner

Cooling

• CPU: Xigmatek Dark Knight. It's black!!!212!1
• GPU: Thermaltake DuOrb
• Other: Xigmatek DF1202512B1MN front and back

Mods

• Paint the internal structure flat black
• Cable management to hell and back
• 3 pin DuOrb connector mod
• Laser-cut M logo behind the front panel mesh, with LED lighting.
• Acrylic side panel VGA vent cover, with CNC'd OCN logo?
• Rocketfish style rear blowing VGA fan.

• 18/05/09 - Paint Part 1
• 27/05/09 - Paint Part 2 and Partial Assembly
• 07/06/09 - Front Panel part 1
• 30/07/09 - Front Panel part 2

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Shiryu_Libra

well...

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"Are You Part of the problem, Part Solution or part of the background"
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Shiryu_libra

xToaDx

Umbra, from Oblivion!?

Was that the best sword in the game? I think it was.

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thepiratemonk3y

If not it was damn close. It did massive damage as well as a huge soul steal.

Do its name justice!

max302

I've been laying down some flat black last week. The internal structure will all be flat black, while the exterior will remain gloss black, since it has been perfectly conserved under vinyl film every since I got the case.

There's one thing I learned while painting my Lian Li. Always use a good primer. I used Plastikote Etching Primer. The stuff stuck to raw aluminum like a champ, so it'll stick to basically anything.

As for the top coat, I'm using Rust Check in flat black. Canadian Tire carries it in industrial quantities, and that's what I used to paint my commuter bike in John Deere green with excellent results, so I was and still am confident that the stuff will do the job more than fine.

First, I laid down the first coat.


As you can see, some spots were missing... Not a problem, I just re-riveted the case, and sprayed on another coat where it was needed. I'll be repainting the entire case once more as a final coat, over all the apparent rivet heads. So far, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.


Couple of touch-ups necessary, still a couple of rivets to be driven in. There is some slight bumpiness in the paint, but mostly in the drive bays, which are a PITA to paint properly. So I probably won't be redoing any of that.

More coming soon, hopefully. 34 hours of work this week, in addition to full time high-school... I don't have much time for myself these days.

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max302

Little update... I'm in a exam session, so this will be brief. If I keep going at this pace it'll take as long to finish as the Rocketfish.

With the paint finish, I started finishing the countours of my cuts with the trim I ordered from MNPCTech.


Rear hole is going to be used as a VGA vent. Before....


After! I gives is a sleek look, plus it seals up the gap between the rear panel and the VGA side vent that I'll be ripping up from my Rocketfish. Just a quick note on the trim though: although it will fit most SECC steel case panels just fine, the trim is slightly too small for a proper fit on thicker aluminum panels. DON'T order the size MNPCTech stocks if you're going to be working on a Lian Li. Otherwise, go for it! It's super cheap, and a very nice addition.


It's going to be painted flat black, like the rest.


I also did a bit of trimwork on the PSU router hole.... looks mighty clean. I can't even spot the friggin seam, and I'm the one who installed it...


Slapped the parts in really quick. With no backup rig, what's a man gotta do?


Upon seeing my Black Knight and how friggin huge the thing was, I wasn't sure it would fit my case. In the end it did... but I had to be very careful while putting in the motherboard as to not slam it everywhere. There's a bit under 5mm of clearance between my cooler and PSU. Tight fit.

Right now, I'm working on getting the front panel LEDs on, and wiring them up correctly. I also have a Scythe fan controller ordered, so I'll surely be doing a huge cable management job very soon. I'm also contemplating getting a acrylic plate done by CNC (a friend's father has one), something to cover up the VGA venting that originally came on the case's side panel. If I can convert it to vectorial, I could even get the OCN logo engraved in it, which would be awesome.

Stay tuned!

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LiquidForce

Paint looks nice

I like the rocketfish GPU fan too

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HARDER STYLEZ OF OCN CLUB

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max302

Came home from work today, and I felt like working with my hands. What better than to mod?


My workspace... it's a mess. I've been working mostly at my desk, because this place really isn't any fun to work in. I'll get it cleaned up... tomorrow.


The plan for today was to get at least the front panel LEDs done. How it's gonna be layed out is pretty simple: one M logo like the one in the picture painted gloss white in the middle, with three white LEDs lighting it up from each side. The goal is to have a single contrasting element on the front panel, while everything else is black.


Hot glued the heck out of all the wiring and LED's. I'm going to have to hide that for sure.... I'm still looking for some soundproofing foam, if it's thin enough I'm just gonna slap on a layer on all the innards.


The end result is pretty cool. Here you have three pics, one with the lights on, one without lights and no grill, and another with the grill on. Keep in mind that the M still isn't painted yet... I'll have to get cracking on that this week.

I also still have to figure out how the heck I'm gonna wire the LED's to the power supply. I'm still contemplating doing custom length wires for everything that's a fan/accessories, I'll check it out once my fan controller is here.

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unl3a5h3d

Looks sweet. Nice paint job. I love the M. Keep it up.

max302

Finally, an update.

I've haven't been home much for the last... month and a half, partially because I spent almost three weeks in Europe and I was pretty busy making the most of the free time I had before the decisive day where I am to move into the Royal Military College in St. Jean. However, I HAVE to finish this case mod if I want to bring my 'puter to school, because bringing something half-assed / unclean over there means points taken off your room inspections because it looks like ****e.

So I got my ass working on this stuff. First off, the front panel is done. There wasn't much to do really, because the biggest job, the LEDs, were already mounted.

I painted one of my machined Ms white, with a single coat of Krylon fusion, and stuck if to the front of the case with some double side tape.


Once that was done, I slapped the grill back on.


Tight. The power to the LEDs was most probably the toughest part to decide on. I had two options: molex or three pin. Cable management wise, I hate working with molex connectors, as they are big and clunky, and very difficult to conceal. I had a free 3 pin on my fan connector anyways, so I decided to cut up one of the fan wire extensions from my fan controller and get this thing running on a fan connector. For added sexyness, I heatshrunk all the wires. The flat black of the wire will hopefully blend in with the flat black from the chassis and panel, and give me a clean cable managment job.


As you can see, the side of the panel gets pretty crowded... I'll most likely be getting more heatshrink to cover up the ugly colors from the front panel button/LED wires.


The front panel looks sharp!


And the LEDs WORK! I got quit a scare though the first time I tested them. I attempted to hot-wire some power off a molex, but I accidentally my power supply, and the computer shut down pretty quick. There was no damage, thank god for that, since my Xiggy PSU has a short circuit protection system. I thought the LEDs would have died... not even. I'm one lucky bastard.

I took a quick nightshot for your enjoyment:


Three Four things are wrong in this picture:

• The powersupply lighting, which is blue, clashes with the rest of the lighting scheme, and although this case will not have a window, it will be visible through the side CPU vent. I'll be voiding a warranty very soon to fix those darn blue LEDs, they'll be replaced by some white ones.
• The blue lighting from the Duorb also looks like crap.
• Green PCB EWWWWWWW!!!! I'll replace it with a GTX280 or something of the like when my first army paycheck lands .
• No side panels? Nope, those are still needy of paint. Working on it though.

Up next in order of priorities is painting and mounting the Rocketfish VGA side vent, getting the side panels done, removing the PSU blue LEDs and replacing them with white ones. If I still have some time after that's I'll most probably be doing a Daejavoo style DVD tray lighting mod, just to push the envelope a little bit.

BRB soon, got some painting to do!

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