So I'm new to the forums, some of you may have seen a few of my posts but I thought I'd make my big entrance with a ****ty comptuer turned awesome. Well, hopefully. This is my first real mod project, and I'm hoping it turns out the way I want it. Here is what I'm starting with. Inside is a Intel 2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB memory, ATI Radeon 8500 and a Gigabyte mobo. Nothing too impressive with the exception of the chip. I plan on taking the case and making it something worth looking at, instead of this eyesore down by my feet. Above is the mess of a room I'll be working on this project in, I'll be sure to clean that up before I start this project. Here are the plans I've got so far- - I saw a cool Acer case that had about 300 small holes drilled in the bottom of the sidepanel giving it a "bubbly" effect. I plan on doing something similar. - Window on the side panel with some logo etched into it. In the etch i'll put UV paint that you can only see when UV light hits it, should make an interesting effect. - I plan on getting the case powdercoated in a jet black finish. - mount a fan on the top, and make a stealthed blowhole. - get rid of the ugly front ports down at the bottom of the case. I'm excited to see how this turns out, should be pretty interesting when I'm done. Anyone want to lend me a laptop so I can keep you updated while the computer is ripped to shreds? Keep reading, I'll update fairly often.
I just hope you get some pictures of some modding quickly. You gatta have some mods posted to keep it in here I love the idea. Cant wait to see it.
Just a quick update- I got around to cleaning up the workroom, and I think it'll be suitable to work in now. I'll start workin on the computer tomorrow after work, stay tuned for updates! And yes, that is a gun
So its time for an update- I got a new case to work with since I lost the key and I'm too lazy to go out and buy a $.30 key to get the sidepanel off. Yes, the sidepanel has a key, it is lame. So, I brought home a case a customer donated to my work. Its an old Gateway case, full tower, looks pretty cool, I'll have pics as soon as I get home. I've got new plans though! - Still gonna do the window and bubbly hole things. I have one question with that though, Should I put a frosted peice of acrylic behind the holes to diffuse light through the holes? or should I use the holes as added ventilation? - I now have a place above the power supply to throw in a watercooling radiator, so I'm gonna go with that route. - The hard drives are mounted on their sides, So I'm going to try another windowed hard drive- hopefully with better results than the last one. - The front of the case has a cool vent thing, its a pillar with vents on each side of the pillar. I'm gonna put a CCFL behind the pillar to light shizzat up on the outside. - I now have room behind the motherboard tray to run wires behind it so I'm gonna try that route with stealthing the power cables/ide cables/etc. Pics as soon as I get home! It's 12:30 now and I get off around 5ish. So come back to see more!
Another update today- here are some pictures of the new case! First of all, I had to get rid of that ugly Gateway logo down at the bottom of the front bezel. Be gone with you! Some of you may be familiar with that lock tab that sticks out of the back of some cases, I hate those things, so be gone with that too! Tomorrow I'm going to mark out the area for the window and probably get to cutting that. I might put some handles on the back to help ease in pulling the cover off. No, not the back of the case, that little lip on the cover that goes over the back of the computer... You'll see later.
Another neat little idea I had was to throw a CCFL in that tube that runs across the case. What a great way to hide the cathode! While running some hardcore diagnostic tests (shoving a cathode in the tube) I came across a problem. The cathode goes across the screw holes for the drive cage, and the screw prevents the cathode from sitting inside nicely. Problem solved: Modded screws! Boo ya!
one question, how in the heck did you remove the gateway 2000 logo from the front bezel? I have almost the EXACT same case that I wanted to do something with. did you just cut it off or sand it off?
sanded it- i used a dremel sander while the logo was still fairly big, but i wouldnt try a dremel to finish it. just hand sand it
I love these old gateway cases, I have one in my living room as a server. Of course the inards have been replaced but the amount of stuff you can put inside these old towers and still have plenty of room is astounding Also I dont know if you know this or perhaps you already do. The easiest way to get rid of the ugly OEM sticker between the power and reset buttons is to take a needle and stick it through the little pinhole in the back of the front bezel behind the sticker thus creating a hole in the front to grab onto to rip the sticker off with ease. at least thats the way I did it.
Time for another update! I know I said I was going to mark out the window today, but I lied. I didnt mark the window, I didnt even really think about the window till just now. So shush, I've got a cooler update. That bar going across the middle of the case I've decided is going to stay. It has a purpose now When I put the cathode in there and then powered it up, the light was only projected directly forward. Damn the man. So, with little planning I came up with an idea. I decided to cut the bottom lip of the bar off to let light shine down. So I pulled out the handy dremel and cutting wheel, droped my pants and got to work. Okay, so I didnt really drop my pants. and disaster strikes! My last cutting wheel obliterated itself a little more than half way through the cut. It's 9:14 at this point, and I rushed to Home Depot before they closed. It's 9:58 now, got my cutting wheels and a few more goodies: Yay! It's Christmas time for the phat one, I've got most of the non-computer parts I'll need now. I finally finished the cut and it turned out not as well as I would have liked it to, but oh well, it'll all be hidden soon enough. I want to hide all my wires, so I came up with this little idea to keep things clean: and the front: Shortly after making these cuts I realized I could have just drilled a hole at the end of the tube and completley hide the wires, but thats what happens when I think.. Well, I always think AFTER i do. And here is what it looks like with the bottom lip cut out: I'm not using blue cathodes in this project, but the camera wouldnt pick up the UV light as well. Thats it for this update!
lookin good, don't yah hate it when a cutting wheel just disintegrates when you need it the most? lol. Looks like that cold cathode placement gives off a lot of light at just the right position in the case as well, keep up the good work!