This is my first high quality mod. I chose the name Delta because my case concept art naming scheme is the greek alphabet, and it was the fourth case concept I made. I am going for a somewhat minimalist, sleek look. There will not be a window, although I could put one in later. The case is designed to be portable as far as size and shape, and is about as big as a briefcase. The actual dimensions are 20.25"W x 17.25"D x 4"H The CPU will be water cooled with a MCW5000A, a Via 1300 pump and a BlackIce Extreme radiator. I plan to include a single channel electrobus for the radiator fan and a voltage bargraph to display it's voltage. Here's a concept drawing of the case: The control panel has (left to right top to bottom) The power led (red) / the power switch (gray w/red highlight) The HDD led (green) / the reset switch (gray w/green highlight) The lan activity led (blue) / the fan control knob (silver/gray) The DVD eject button (gray w/blue highlight) / the CDRW eject button (gray w/blue highlight) On the right side of the control panel is an 80mm exaust fan, the fan on the top is a 120mm fan for the radiatior. On the right side (the far side) are two 80mm fans blowing over the video card. To the left of the control panel is the bargraph. It is sandwitched between the DVD and CDRW. The two opitcal drives eject out the side. The raw aluminium A mockup of the final. The system will be the one shown in my sig, possibly with a 74GB Raptor and a Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB. I will begin cutting the case after my 2U AGP riser arrives from Baber.com I have two questions though, firstly: What color should it be, a glossy navy blue (used by the BC Lottory corperation in their scratch-and-win display boards) or a very glossy black? I can get it in either color for very little $$, but I want some opinions. | Secondly: Bulgin Illuminated switches are very cool, but 1 of them cost between $24 and $32 Cad, depending on the store and color. I?d like to keep a unified look to the front panel, so buying two is only an option if I can find a supplier that has their non illuminated switches in the same size. (21mm-22mm) Can someone: A- Point me to a Canadian or American store that carries the switches for about $15 - $20 Cad. B- Show me a Canadian /American store that carries the non illuminated switches. C- Give me an alternative momentary switch. Comments and questions are welcome.
Nice pic lookin good but i reckon it would look kool actually in a briefcase.. anyway hope it all worx out good
That should turn out to be a sweet case! I have been thinking of doing something similar. Where did you find the aluminum chassis and what are the specs (WxDxH)?
Thanks for the complements. I had the chassis custom bent, it's dimensions are 4" Tall x 17.25" Deep x 20.25" Wide. (I made a mistake on my first post. Fixed) /EDIT Allied Electronics has Bulgin illuminated switches for $22 Cad and non illuminated ones for $18 Cad. I'll order them soon. (Next 3 days)
The 2U riser has arrived, and I am making the final measurements for the cuts. Pics of the riser will probably arrive Monday evening.
Well the camera might not be here for a few hours, family trouble. But there is some good news, I got a 9800 Pro 128 MB.
- Update - Feb 17 Well I have worked on the case, although most of my time was spent being lazy. I got the pics I promised, although they are late. Pics of the PSU hole. The black markered area will be cut for the MB. A different view of the PSU hole and black area. The bottom left PSU mounting screw's hole was slightly out of alignment, but the other three make up for it. Two blurry pics of the riser with a vid card. A pic of the riser from the distributor's site. I hope to do some more work on the case on Saturday, so I might update on Sunday. /EDIT I may put in UV/Red/Green/Blue leds behind the fans, under the case, and in the CD drive bays. What do you guys think? (If I did this there would be a switch in the back so they could be turned off.)
man that is one compact watercooled setup, gonna be sweet. do you have room for a shroud between the fan and rad? if you do, i'd definately put one in and cram the fan up against the top lid.
There's about 1" - 0.5" of space for a shroud, and I will be putting one in. The shroud actually makes construction easier, as the top and bottom mounting holes don't have to line up perfectly.
As per your question, i think definatley black and mod all your led's accordingly, eg.... LOTS of blue
I would do blue, but black/blue cases have been done to death 7 times over. Same with black/red, black/uv, black/green. I think though that black is a good base color, though the leds will be all different colors. I was thinking, Amber leds in the optical drives, red or green under the case inside clear plastic feet, UV and red for the fans. Then put them all on a medium speed throbber circuit.
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=50470&highlight=pelican if you want to save some money and test your soldering skills
I have bad soldering skills, and I've already got the riser. Also an update will not arrive untill I can fix my FTP software, so be patient.
Small update 29/02/04 I got my FTP program working again. The first two are of my work area. There's the case, some stuff that someone else is working on, some cutouts for fans and the motherboard, a 2L modder's power cell, and a machette I was sharpening in the far background. This is a pic of the MB backing plate being cut out of a larger piece of aluminium. The cut plate Drilling out the area that the plate will cover. I have done more work on the case, but I cannot post it because I haven't taken more pics yet.
Well, I got back to work on the case. The drive cages need some holes drilled in them, but their otherwise complete. The drive racks while outside the case. The block of wood represents the drive. Inside the case. The CD rack. Both racks and their component parts. I may do more work tomorrow, probably attaching the drives to the case.
Here are some images from weeks ago that I forgot to post: These four have mainly to do with the MB cutout plate, which is now finished, though I have no recent pics of it.
