Case Mod - In Progress WCPC Mini Project log

Maybe I should try lapping my Q9300. Its temps are a bit high for me as it stands. Thanks for the guide!

 

some pics with better lighting


The finished ATX extension cable with red painted connector





Some new fans for my baby... After researching the Yate's I had, found out that they are not very good. So out the go (they 'll probably be used as case fans)

These Zalman F3's were recently reviewed in a large comparison of many fans on Xtreme Systems forums and actually turned out to be suprisingly good radiator fans, coming 2nd only to the much more expensive Sanyo Denki's. So these will be used for the rad.

 

Go for it, definitely the best way to lower those load temps without having to buy any new hardware IMO, You'll get best results if you lap your heatsink/waterbloack as well.

 

Even though I was getting better at it, and depinned the ATX24 extension cable pretty easily, the pins/connectors on the PSU cables just would not budge. Could not get even 1 out.

I considered buying a tool, but from what I heard, they aint that good, so I decided I'll make my own.

using mini needle nose pliers, I grinded them dow till I got this










Hooray!! it Works! Finally manage to get some pins out!

 

another cable to add to the collection... this time its the ATX8 pin (EPS12) Didnt have the right lighting to accurately represent the colours on these photos. I'll take them again, when I have the right lighting conditions.

 

be wary on the next order - over $1k will incur customs charges

 

?? What do you mean?? Im not sure what you're referring to

 

I think he means if you spend over $1000 then you'll get charged by customs and excise (import people) for the delivery

 

yeah, on the ocau mdpc gb2, if the total comes to over $1k aud (inc shipping) -- or more importantly if the total nils puts on the package declaration exceeds 1k - then you will likely be charged customs duties (and will require a broker to help you handle it I think?)

 

Oh OK, I see, thanks for the heads up. Luckily, the total for the 2nd round was ~EU$800 so we should get a away with it this time? or do the go by AU$1000? in which case it will be over (~$1300 worth of sleeving!

@Everyone following this build, I apologise for the lack of activity recently. Between work and my dremel dying, and my camera getting stolen, I havent had a chance to get much done apart from the sleeving.

The case internals is almost ready for a coat of paint, so once I get a new camera, I'll be pulling the case apart to do some painting.

I've seen Bill's guide to getting a mirror finish on your paint job, but cos Im such a noob, Im looking for a more detailed guide. Im not after a mirrored finish, just a nice deep gloss. Can anyone point me to a good noob painting/buffing guide?

 

OK sorry for the long time off. Fortunately Santa came early this year and brought me a new camera for being a good boy lol. I doubt it will help my photography skills any but hey its better than my crappy phone camera

So as promised, a big update to come, but its probably not what you were expecting... even though this project was delayed, I did continued modding...
Here's what I prepared earlier...

I recently won this 17" Toshiba P100 for peanuts at an auction. Even though its not the latest & greatest, it has decent specs and is more than enough for my kids who will be using it. It has a hi-res 1680x1050 17" screen and a dedicated 7900GS Nvidia graphic card. I'm going add 4GB ram and a 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Momentus HDD. I salvaged a P8600 CPU from a faulty laptop but unfortunately it is not compatible with this Toshiba.

However, I soon discovered why no one bided, it has countless scratches, burn/melt marks and dents and chunks missing from the lid & underside. But considering how bad the body was, I was amazed that it still works and even more amazed that the screen & keyboard was actually in very good condition.

So I decided to restore & customise this laptop with a custom paint job. Im going to use the same paint/colour scheme I had bought for WCPC mini, a dark metalic grey/gun metal perhaps with some red accents.

I took alot of pics of the damage but Unfortunately, I had only uploaded a few. Most of the photos I took prior to disassembling the laptop was still on my camera that was stolen, so I apologise for not being able to show you the all damage originally. But believe me, I have been repairing PCs & laptops for many years, and I have never seen a laptop this badly abused that still works. It had chunks missing from the sides, back & top, dents in the lid, and lots of burn marks it was as if it had been placed too close to a fire or heater which caused the plastic to start to melt(on both sides)






































As you can see from the photos (there was more damage to the lid, the back and DVD drive bezel), she was pretty banged up,

so I took it all apart, sanded & filed (I took ~4-5mm off each side of the lid as the chunks missing was too big to fill with putty)the crap out of it,

used a shitload of putty to cover up all the dents, burns & melted parts (this took forever cos I used blade putty and did multiple layers ~3mm thick. Plus I kept finding more & more dents that needed filing),

then sanded it down with 400/800 grit paper

and put 2 coats of primer on it with light sand in between coats.

Finally, I lightly sanded with 1200 grit before spraying a coat of dark metallic grey automotive paint (which I'm bought to use for the WCPC). I ran out of paint (those tiny 150ml cans was barely enough for 1 coat) so I need to buy more.

I will be putting on 1 or 2 more coats of the metallic grey and then Im going to use a cutting compound? (not sure what to use yet) to buff it to a nice shine. Then she'll get a couple coats of clear to seal it.

Im considering doing some red highlights (the screen bezel & speaker surrounds) as it looks a little too stock standard in the dark grey. Opinions anyone?? Also anyone know of a good painting/buffing guide? I want to get a nice deep gloss, but Im not sure what/if I need to use carnuba wax and whether I do it before the clear coats or after.

And for everyone who wanted to see some progress on WCPC, I managed to do this







I painted the blades on the Zalman F3's and 8cm Silverstones fans a dark red. My camera couldnt capture the colour probably, in real life its a much deeper, darker red and matches the eVGA X58 motherboard very well. As you can see, I fully sleeved the fan cables. The MDPC sleeve is so nice, I think it will be more of a highlight of the interior than something that needs to be hidden.

The paint job is pretty rough (I did it with a "liquid paper" type paint brush) but you' wont see anything once they start spinning. Im looking for some round badges/stickers or anything to cover the back of the fans. Anyone have ideas on what to use?

 

I bought some more paint and gave everything another 2-3 coats (3 for the palm rest & lid) of colour (Holt's Charcoal Grey Metallic). I used up 4 cans of the stuff, cos I wanted a durable finish that can stand up to the abuse my 2 boys will surely dish out

This is what the palmrest & lid looked like after 5 coats




Before putting on the clear coats, I experimented a little and used cutting compound to give the lid a little extra gloss

Here you can see the effect, only left side has been buffed


After buffing it, I washed off all the compound and starting spraying on the clear coats

My photography skill aint very good and I didnt have the lighting conditions to be able to show off the finish, but as you can see, its looking not too bad.


Nearly finished! just one more (2 for the palmrest & lid) coat of clear and I can start reassembling. I was going to do red accents but decided against it, cos the sliver/dark gray looks pretty good together

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Stayed up all night to finish the laptop, and so after 1-2 more coats of clear, it was ready to be reassembled.




At Last!! Finished!! man I wished I still had the 'before' photos to show you what it looked like originally, it really was pretty banged up and in bad shape... but here it is originally, (you cant see all the dents/scratches & chucks missing from the lid as well as all the burnt/melted marks on the side and underbody)


And here's what it looks like now...





Im actually very happy with the finish, my photography skills really doesnt do it justice, I cant capture the gloss & depth of the colour, so I put the can next to it so you can see how reflective the finish is.








Overall Im pretty happy with it, and glad I didnt do the red highlights, the sliver on gunmetal I think looks classier, even though its not as 'custom'. The deep glossy finish makes up for it. Late x-mas present for my boys, I hope they'll be happy with it (and not destroy it too quickly)