The Beginning: On a cold rainy day ( never happens in the summer) in Dallas Texas during Quakecon , I met Mark From MSI who really like my Quakelive Case Mod( Pc that actually lifts out of the case) and gave me his contact information about possibly working on a project. Not too long after Quakecon we started to talk about building a case for CES, I gave him 4 hand drawn designs and he pick one and I ended up not using the one he pick and sketchup of the one that I liked instead. I show him the design and we where all set. For me to mod I have to get in the right mindset and focus. I get a lot of my inspiration by look at Darthbeavis, Bill Owen and Boddaker projects. 3 of the best in the business and all original modders, Nowadays so much is being out sourced it takes away from the originally of a MOD, Ship off to be lasered here ( Darth your good you laser cut your own) and paid to have it shipped here painted there and sleeved cables order here. If I don't create the case in my own garage I wouldnt feel like I made it and take credit when somebody else does the work. After waiting to find this modding motivation & changing the design of the base to give it a angle edge and having most of hardware in i was to begin after building over and over in my head. A big Thank you to all the Sponsors Involved, They are a huge factor in helping me keep making these unique mods. Specs: CPU Intel® i7-5960X Haswell-E 8 Core MB MSI X99S GAMING 9 ACK VGA 2x MSI GTX 980 GAMING 4G Memory Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4 32GB Memory HD Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD PSU Lepa 1000watts (Enermax Vegas Fans) CPU Cooler Bitspower Rez/Pump combo and radiator Material used : Wood, wooded dowel rods, Acrylic and rods, metal Mesh Tools: Dremal, Table saw, Scroll Saw, Belt and palm Sander, Drill press, router Creating the Base
Update Number 2 The one drive i had was to make a solid base, I went from have original 2 pieces of wood to 6 just to give it a solid base and to have a place for the power supply, I also used dowel rods to spread teh weight of the build and make for a more solid structure Next up was the backlit logo. To make sure the item was uniform i used carpet tape to hold a clear piece and white plexi together. while using my very very old craftmans scroll saw My newest tool i got for modding was a belt sander for $45 wow it was way better than palm sander and definalty speed up the process of getting and piece sanded down to be uniform. pretty close to the effects of i was looking for i decided to go with a mesh front to help with airflow from the fans, my first designed was enclosed and i was worried about airflow and the designed that i had in my head was way more open. next up was cutting out a border for the mesh using a thin plexi piece Stayed tuned for more!!!!
Update 3# Now onto one of the hardest challenge I faced during this 30 day process, The making the dragon outline and how to get this awesome MSI Gaming 9 GTX 980 into the build, slightly taller than your average GPU. So i had to make a few modification to the MSI logo in order for the gpu and MB to fit in the build.well. After cutting 6 piece of of 18 * 24 red transparent acrylic & 2 18 * 24 acrylic and attaching together using my magic tape so they wouldn't shift i began the long 8 hour process of cutting the dragon out using my ageing scroll saw. the next challenge was to outline the exterior white dragon to be proportionate to the red back pieces. After cleaning up the the red acrylic and test fitting it to the base more to come !!!
Update 4 December 24 , well after battle with bronchitis for 9 days, my deadline for CES was fast approaching. I came to the realization that the project just my not make it I need to ship it in a few days. When building a scratch build you always come to a cross road , should i take a break or press on, I could see it built in my mind and it was going to look amazing , but getting there is going to be tough. Off to painting and pressing forward I added a little fade mesh look to the outside pieces and finished securing the front secured the lettering My original Red rad was too thick with the fittings and fans so i had to incorporate and skinnier blue one. Measure up and cut the motherboard tray for back lighting and pump assembly Fits nice and snug , I am also using the Bitspower X station for the lighting pump and fans tap the MB standoffs and ready for assembly And a Big Thank you to the amazing staff at Bitspower I was having trouble getting on the watercooling to finish teh project and this arrived on Christmas eve Just keep pressing on !!! Next up final assemble
