Shadow Box CORSAIR MOTM Oct. 05! (Finished July 26, 2005)

Yay another project log !

This project is going to be a very small and quite simple mod for a group of computer nerds named Ni!.

Ni! (Network Integrity)
http://www.ni-online.org/about.php

I have recieved a new Epia SP Mainboard (mini ITX) to play with

Specs:

http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_sp_spec.jsp?motherboardId=261

It has the proc, video, sound, and almost everything you could ever need and its only 6.75" x 6.75". This little guy rocks the casbah.

I know, I know, shut up and give me pics....

Here you go.......




The task I have been given is to make a mod that :
1) showcases the board and its abilities
2) is tiny tiny tiny
3) is clean and simple looking
4) advertises for Ni! and Via
5) will be shown at Quakecon 2005 Linky http://www.quakecon.org
(it will not be part of any mod contest at Quakecon itself because of conflicts of interest)


I have chosen to use what is called a shadow display box. (used for arts and crafts to display things) Pics further down on page.

I am donating a stick of RAM to be used in the box. CORSAIR XMS 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145544

yeah the one with the LEDs


I will be recieving the power supply soon. It is a tiny 90w minimalized power supply. ( Should be more than enough for these purposes) The mobo only pully 20W at full load so even 90W is overkill.
http://206.14.132.88/products/PowerSupply/DCCONVERTER/C4/DC-C4.html


A hard drive has been donated to our project by my roommate. It is a 40 gig IBM Travelstar 4200 RPM (hopefully this will be replaced with a 2.5" SATA HD somewhere in the future but, this will get the comp up and running)



As of right now the main idea of this mod is going to be a showcase or picture of a computer and be very simplistic yet elegant.

Anyway, more too come.

Vazz

Comments, suggestions, and ideas are always welcome and appreciated

 

Looking good=) good luck man ,,, ill be following this one

 

The box itself looks like this:



Its dimensions are 8"x10"x2"

Here is a rough fit to give you an idea of the layout I have planned along with the scale.

 

Go get em Vazz! I thought that was you posting over in my Lupine thread!


This looks pretty cool! Looking forward to the updates!
I've always been intrigues by thos little Epia boards... lots of ideas in my head on one of those little beasties!

So, is your "Ni!" group a bunch of Monty Python players too?

Have not see you around here, and did not realize you were a modder bro!
(learn something new every day!)

Post up and bring on the updates!

 

Hey tech! yeah they came up with Network Integrity and the name kinda stuck.

If you are goin to Qcon 2k5 stop by and say hey man. If you went last year I had the big yellow newspaperbox mod that took up half of one of the aisles.

These boards seriously do rock too, im gonna see what I can find for reviews...

EDIT: review of this board- http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=767&dPage=2


Mod on


EDIT:Here are some initial materials I have scrounged up that I plan on using for this mod:


zip ties, switches, 120 mm fan grill, UV cable braiding, heatshrink, and I found some decals I can print off with a printer to look very pro.

 

I have just ordered $100 worth of stuff for this mod.

The order includes...

2- coolermaster Blue Ice Chipset Coolers
40 x 40 x 10 mm blue LED fans with 3 pin connections (all I wanted these for)
http://svc.com/slc-s41-u1-19.html


1 - XPER 3 x 40mm fan intake (hard drive cooler)
http://svc.com/fhd-3410b3e-42.html
1 - UV Blue Cable Sleeving Kit


1 - Coolermaster Aerogate II fan controller w/ 40mm fan and temp sersors
http://svc.com/aerogateiiblack.html


2 - 3 laser LED clusters in UV
http://svc.com/lazerleduv.html
1 - 4 port USB miniHub


1 - LED case feet Acrylic
http://svc.com/ledacfoforch.html


As you can probably tell I am going with blue lighting to fit the colors of Ni! and Via at the same time. The overall color scheme will be blue, black, chrome , and possibly a little white for contrast.

Anyway, this mod should be progressing along at a decent speed soon.

 

Damn, makes me want one of those boards even more!

ive been planning some cool mod's and what not, and my dad really likes the idea of a kitchen pc, now one of those would make a GREAT kitchen pc in a TINY acrylic case hehe plans... plans!

cant wait to see how this evolves

 

that is an awesome idea, are you planning on wall mounting it?

 

no i was planning on having it sit flat, but it could be wall mounted with a little modification.

Im still awaiting a digicam and a dremel to make some real progress, but that should be any day now.

 

Looking nice.

I'm planning to do something soon with one of the cheaper mini-itx boards and a full size quiet atx PSU in a small case (18cm cube) so I'll keep an eye on yours for now.

Phil

 

i always have liked those boards... i once saw someone build a full computer into a teddy bear using a mini-itx board, kind-of a frankenstein moment i guess. I'm going to wait for the nano-itx to come out before i buy anything from via though, 3.5".

edit: hmm... the nano-itx board is on the market... i'll have to whip out some of my old sketches...

 

im looking into nano-itx, it looks great, BUT i may wait 'til it comes out, as the the older larger itx boards will be cheaper which is the best time to buy them

i just like the fact they are sooo damn small and need such a small amount of power!

 

Via has been touting nano-itx since almost the beginning of time, yet I have yet to see it actually on the market (just like Apple advertised that they had a 1GHz cpu 2-3 years before it actually appeared). I am guessing that they are waiting for the release to coincide with Duke Nukem Forever release.

Looks like a nice plan, but I don't see any in-progress pictures? Also, most places do not take kindly to hotlinking, so you may want to cut that out

 

workin on that Yo-DUH_87

gonna get a hold of a digicam here in a day or so along with a dremel

EDIT: got a hold of a dremel and a digital camera fixed all of the hotlinks.

While waiting for parts, I decided to do a little work on the heatsinks. I removed them and cleaned off the factory thermal goop and thermal tape. I then lapped both heatsinks with 220 and then 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper and cleaned them again. Then I added some Arctic Silver and reattatched them.

These boards don't put out that much heat so this really isn't necessary but I took these few extra steps to be sure that this piece really is a showcase of Via's abilities.

 

Sweet lookin man. I will be at QC2k5, got me a spot in the BYOC. Woohoo!

I'll be the 6'10 white guy wanderin around with his eyes buggin out. Probably had to miss .

 

Did a little bit of work this afternoon on what I am going to call the Mobo tray.

Cut out a hole for a 120mm fan grill:



This will not have a fan on it. It is just going to allow air to escape under the mobo itself. (hidden under the mobo) I plan on having 4 40mm fans all as intake onto specific areas and this will allow the hot air to escape easier.

I also used 6 mobo standoffs to give me a little more room inside as well as give me a way to easily unscrew the mobo tray and open the case. These will have to be re-enforced with some JB-weld to strengthen them up and keep them sturdy.



Lots more to come

 

Damn! I'm 6'8" bro!
Glad to meet 'cha!

VAZZZ!!! Bring the updates!
"Must... work... faster..."

 

Working as fast as I can Tech

Well, today I did a bit of work. I have recieved my box O'goodies and started modding them all.

I replaced the stock fan on the mobo with a blue LED fan and sleeved the tail. I also rewired the 3 fan HD cooler and sleeved that as well. I replaced the stock fan on the Aerogate II with a blue LED fan and sleeved that also.

And now, testing photos!



The LEDs dont show very well in the dark photo because I had to use the flash a little bit to have it make sense.

Vazz

 

Fitted the LED case feet and tested those out this evening as well:

glory shots:






WEWT !

Vazz

 

Wow, I am looking forward to seeing this in person. WooT!!!