Project: gazlan gameserver

[cobalt6700]

(ive pulled this over from wizd)

So!

ive finally got my arse in gear and im sorting myself out a budget gameserver. now that i run a local lan, having a deddy is going to be a must, and thats what this project is about. i have no idea for a name, so i called it what it is.


anyway, component list is as follows:

lancer ATX case, aluminum
antec 500w basiq power supply
tyan k7x pro dual athlon xp mobo
2x 1700 palaminio core xp's - converted to mp's
512mb ddr2100 ecc reg ram, thanks to TC for that!
40 gig seagate hardrive
usb 2 pci card
nvidia mx 420
1 cd + 1 dvd drive
Linksys wrt45g

all of this was free, apart from the case, mobo and the powersupply.

well, plans for the case are as follows:

i quite like the blue and silver, so the handle on the side will be cut out and mesh put in plus then be painted blue. the top as well.

also im going to take out the strut, drive cages and the rear i/o and pci bracket bit which will then be annodised blue.

120mm fan is going in the back, and maby in the front.

all holes are going to be finshed with some blue anodised look c-strip.

and then a window kit in the side.

aircooled ..... for the moment

thats all i can think of right now

so onwards we go

The case:











as you can see, its a pretty ok case, no sharp edges, and its really soild compared to my antec lanboy. only £25 as well

The router taken apart. it was quite easy actually, it clips open, and then there is one screw to undo. sorted



some things had to go, like fan grilles and stuff. the case comes with a dual 80mm fan holder that swings out, and im not going to use that, so these mounts went.



i was also thinking of putting the angel eye water window into the side panel as well, but i just dont think it would work with 1/2" very well, so im leaving it out at the moment.



ive been thinking of an idea for a while....and that was to incorporate the router into the pc. i was looking for places to put it, and just above the PSU seemed like a good idea.




so i set about taking the case apart, first the door came off:



and then the lid



i marked out where the ports needed to be using the original case, and then stuck it to the ports on the router. i then put some doubble sided sticky tape and stuck it to the case, and peeled it off the ports, thus showing me the exact place to cut out





i needed some more support where i was filing, and id tryed putting it flat over the edge of the table, but it wasnt working. so i put my pcu in a plastic bag, and then screwed it in place. that worked a treat





i got to this point and then needed a differnt file, so while i waited for my mate to get back so i could go get a file from him, i sorted out the routers power.

[cobalt6700]

the nice boys at linksys have made this a 5v input, so i took an old laser led, chopped it off to give me a power lead, then modded it so it was getting 5v instead of 12v.



i then took the plug off the router, and soldered the wire directly on:



i then got on with the front fan grille:







not a perfect circle, but its good enough for me!

i then recived a square needle file and did my best with the other port cutout:



a quick shot of the bench:



i then lined it all up and stuck the router to the psu:



and you can still see the lights from the inside:



i then worked out where i wanted the ariels and marked it out:





you noyice the two dots on the left hand side? they are 5mm apart, and yep, you guessed it, i drilled the wrong one! sortred it out with a bit of hole elongation though

ariels fitted:



and then a few piccys of todays work:







some ideas to play with are firbe optic cables between the lights and the front panel of the pc, and what im going to do with the window.

cheers

gaz out

[cobalt6700]

mobo arrived, you can see why i got it cheap, its got one damaged ram slot.

huge bugger of a mobo though, cant wait to get this thing up and running!





im dismanlting the case a bit more at the weekend so some of it can be anodised at work next week...



i realised if i need to take the psu out - ummm. lol.

ill have to undo the bulkhead ariel fittings.

im probably going to little updates from now on, and heres the first, got it running (only on one CPU mind, i need to mod them :P ) its installing xp as im writing this. also another 512mb on its way.







look what i got this morning!!



its he CPU modding kit from highspeed PC! <banana>

im amased, it only took a week to get here! niceee

and inside we have:





and the bridge i have to mod, L5:



ill edit later with finished pics

gaz

and here they are:

found something strange, turns out that the other proc is actually an MP! lol. so i only neeed to mod one cpu.

gap filler



i then wiped it away and put down some conductive grease



and the already MP cpu:

[cobalt6700]

well then,

i got lots of stuff through the post today, some to do with the project and a couple of bits that are indirectly linked to the project.

list is as follows:

512mb of ecc reg ram (2x 256mb sticks) £12 off ebay
1meter of blue annodised c strip, for the fan holes
4 120mm fans for the case - of which two are going to be used, but they were cheap so i got more
2 artic cooling socket A coolers -very nice
1 5 port usb 2 card
2 usb a to b cables - so i can use one keyboard and mouse for the two comps
2 ide ribbon cables

i got a black ice stealth 240 rad to replace my 120 on the main rig, this means i can use the 120 if i need to in the server.

also a holesaw set for fan holes.

ive managed to aquire some scsi bits from some mates, mainly:

3 drive scsi cage
scsi ribbon
2 scsi host cards
5 10 gig 10K drives
3 20 gig 10k drives

and ive got another CPU on the way, as the mod i did hasnt seemed to of worked.

ill get some pics up tomorrow eve, my cam is on charge.






i have two processors running!!!

im very happy!



and some piccys of today messing around:

you can see how close this power thingymajig is to the socket, and of course, the clip had to foul on it, so i chppped that bit off.





and some pics of the board and the nice coolers:





and one of those modern arty farty shots:



gaz

[cobalt6700]

so, a bit more work tonight, i sorted the side panel.

and i have to say im f'ing pleased. and it needs a f because its is right where i wanted it to be. YEAH!!

right. lol.

so the pics:

marking out:



saftey first!:



half way through cutting:



hole cut:



rubber strip and window (im sorry i dont have any inbetween pics it was a bitch to get on) and the little tool i used to get the window in:



how it looks on the case:



and this is what you will see when its installed. LUSH!




im also having second thoughs about annodising, and the fans are a probelm i need to work out.

gaz

[Jipa]

Good work there so far! I like the router and how the antennas stick out. You could also make a top window so the leds would be visible? That's what I tought first..

[V3ase]

Nice work dude
It's look clean and professional.
Keep going

[his3j3t]

nice mod, keep up the good work

[Duste]

Router inside a server's case? First time I've seen this, and it's possibly THE best idea ever for a server. Nice work man.

[Tile]

Deleted

[cobalt6700]

Originally Posted by Duste

Router inside a server's case? First time I've seen this, and it's possibly THE best idea ever for a server. Nice work man.

cheers dude! ive been thinking about it for a while

Originally Posted by Tile

I like the old-school window on the sidepanel and the white leds.

lol, they arent led's i just stuck my desk light in the front of the case

ill probably be getting some though, cos i like the white.

just going into the garage to sort out 120mm fans holes now.

annodising wise, im getting the I/O plate done blue, but what else do you think i should do? thats all you can really see through the window, but i was thinking of doing the whole inside of the case, and leaving the ouside silver....

any suggestions?

[cobalt6700]

the idea would be that i would leave the outside panels, so the two sides and the front, silver and then annodise the inside chassis. this means that you can only see its blue through the window, or when you take off the side panel.

im actually liking the idea of getting it annodised now.....


hmmmm..update time.

this is yesterdays update.

marked out the 120mm rear hole by drawing myself a template on autocad:



cut out the rear hole, notice there are some holes and stuff which the cutout goes half through, making it look like a rough edge:



close up:



with fan in:



annodised blue c-stip in:



its not a very nice join.....any suggestions on how to get one (this stuff is very stiff)?



fan and grille in:





i had to make a cutout in the door to get it to fit over the c-strip:



taped off the window to protect it:



and put a news paper the other side....this saved my window:





made a front fan hole:



i had to make it big enough to fit a whole fan in because the depth inbetween the drive bay and the front of the case isnt enough to fit a 25mm thich fan in.

so i made some little brackets to hold the fan:



modyfied the drive cage support so i could get the fan in:



made two little brackets:



on the fan:



it got to 7 last night, and i desided i didnt like the brackets. there poo to be honest, i can do much better.

so i packed up and went down the pub.

i had an awesoem idea down the pub, which im not going to tell you, but im just of to do it now. i think youll like it

gaz

[Bluefan]

Nice modding

edit: you just posted before I saw it Very nice modding indeed

[ReFredzRate]

That's some sweet stuff mate!

*edit* I did some thinking on the C-strip. You could cut a C-strip that's just about 1cm too long (about 1/2 inch). Then if you bend it (you might heat it a bit to bend it a bit more in a natural way, not so edgy) you will have just a little bit of slack left, to file the ends off and perfectly put those together.

[jegerjon]

Beautiful, but you gotta work on that c-strip ^^ Else it looks great.

[cobalt6700]

Originally Posted by ReFredzRate

That's some sweet stuff mate!

*edit* I did some thinking on the C-strip. You could cut a C-strip that's just about 1cm too long (about 1/2 inch). Then if you bend it (you might heat it a bit to bend it a bit more in a natural way, not so edgy) you will have just a little bit of slack left, to file the ends off and perfectly put those together.

i hear what your saying there dude, but the c strip is very stiff.

ill have a play tomorrow and see what i come up with.

cheers for the comments guys.

what do you think of this? its to cover the psu lead....either that or i braid it....but i dont know what colour? maby blue?

[ReFredzRate]

I'd use a piece of acrylic for that if I were you. You should try finding the same blue as the blue on the front bezel of the case. (And get rid of the red inside )

[jakeiswicked]

Looking very nice so far! Love the idea of router in case and never seen it done before Also nice clean cuts and professional looking, so well done.

[cobalt6700]

right then,

case is now in bits, i drilled out all the rivets so its ready for annodisng.

i then washed it, and here it is hung up to dry:



ill follow with the annodising later on this week.

cheers

[cobalt6700]

well, i went to the plating shop today, and got some bad news.

they cant annodise it. this is because the metal has some folds in it (so the edges arnt sharp), and acid will get trapped in there, and will then leak out and sod up my nice annodised finish. poo.

BUT

he then told me to hold on, and off he went, to return 5 mins later with loads of bits of ally that had been powdercoated. he then told me to choose a coulor, and it would be done. so i chose full gloss teal blue (one of the most lovey shades of blue EVER) and its ready for me to pick up tomorrow morning.

How cool is that!! i am really chuffed. the guy said it gave him something to as he has been bored for the past week, and i think it needs 3 coats or so.....

tomorrow you will see the lovelyness. i cant wait!!!