Case Mod - In Progress Double Dissipation - Silent HTPC/Gaming PC - the case is back

Still waiting - again

I'm still waiting for the case to get back. And will be for another week since I three weeks have passed and my annoying female coworker is working afternoons again (I wish someone desperate would just do her, for the love of god). So, nothing major to do, and no measuring as well

Anyway, I as arrived from work today I got into my car to go to the post office (I arrived just as it was closing, can't believe they close at 6 PM in the capital city) and got a package

I wonder what arrived from Germany (really I do know, but you don't)



I got my Dremel.



I bought a multimeter on Saturday and got some syringes from work today (bought, to be exact). I'm planning a HI-FI plexi stand and those will come in handy.



And decided to deflower the front panel.



This is where the vandal switch will be placed. I need to clean it a bit still. I decided to go black - orange and have ordered the LEDs as well. 610 nm should do it.



And remember guys, safety first. This was actually a gift from my coworkers a month ago. Looks like they need me up and running.



I got an idea I wanted the get the feedback about. I'm planning to have a custom MB backpanel done and painted to match the rest of the case. I want to get rid of too many screws and make a nice surface for cable routing. There would be a plexi plate somewhere lit by a LED to match the color theme. Something like:



This is just a template without the holes and screws. There is still some space for a sponsor logo

What do you think?

 

Thanks. It's going slow, but I really can't afford quicker pace and as I get things done for next to nothing some of them take more time.

 

I'm being quite frustrated at the moment. To begin, my case is still not painted. My TV has been in the repairs for 2,5 months now. Apperently, they only make some panels in certain intervals.

But it's not all the frustration. I've been very busy lately, having to learn and do a seminar, but I was expecting some more Dremel tools to come on Thursday therefore I came from work before 5 PM (eventhough I start at 7.30 AM, I work till 5 PM on most days). But there was no delivery notice for none of the packages (2 from Germany and one from UK).

I turned out the German ones actually arrived on Thursday, as seen today by tracking number, and the one from UK arrived to my billing address (my parents' place). Luckily, I was there for the weekend since my grandmother is celebrating her 89th birthday.

So, here is how the package should look like (notice the address is in Ljubljana:



But here is how it looked like. Someone turned the bag the wrong way.



Btw, my Lamptron vandal switch arrived (sorry for no-quality).



So my work is on hold till Thursday, I have to learn for an exam on Tuesday and something then on Wednesday. As I mentioned before, our post office closes at 6 PM.

 

I had not one, but two exams on Tuesday, which I passed so I called my "case" guy and he told me that the case was suppose to be ready this weekend. Hopefully it's done by Monday as my coworker doing the transport is away on vacation from Wednesday on.

Nevertheless, it's nice to have some more time on my hands, so I went ahead and changed the LEDs on the front panel. I started to dislike the classic blue ones and decided to go for black-orange theme. Here is the temporary setup, just for display.



And in the dark.





It's powered using this old PCB I found in a box back at my parents' place. Came in handy as it contained all the parts I needed to solder this thing (and yes, I know I the PCB enables me to put all the parts on 9 V using resistors but since I already blew some LEDs I decided to take the safe way). As you can see, the HDD activity and old power LED are powered by 3,3 V battery, and the Vandal switch by 9 (or better 9,9 as read by the multimeter). In the case it'll be controlled by Lampton fan regulator.



And I'd like to thank Antec for using so much hot glue to hold power led in place I had to drill it out.

 

Just a little preview:

I wonder what's in the box? The ordinary, plain, Antec P183 V3 case?



Not really.



Just a little detail.



A big update coming soon

 

Ooh! Looks exciting!

 

Thanks, it is, to some extend.

Anyway, things didn't pan out the way I was hoping for them to, the two cards are noisy because they have to be placed next to each other. So I sold one already, but it got returned because it died on the new owner. Luckily, I still have the one working.

Basically, the plan is to finish the mod (I got a nice big panel or two of accoustic foam that will be lasercut to size to accomodate the MB panel cables). The major setback is however, coordinating MDPC-X opening time, my work and my need to get some rest.

In a month or so.

BUT: I'm already overloading my CPU with Sketchup and AutoCAD, having a scratch build in mind. Already bought some items for it too (hint 2x Radeon HD 6970) and already got a new sponsor. More on that in a few weeks.