w00t! motherboardage! My camera screwed up so I don't have any pics of the motherboard mounted on the plexi ready to go into the computer, but I managed to salvage some pics of my RAM, motherboard box, and motherboard with the 2800+ installed (with the ZIF handle up, of couse). The motherboard with some CoolerMaster high performance and the processor on there. I ended up not using the thermal paste in the end as the heatsink already came with a square of thermal paste on it. Oh well. It's handy stuff to have around. My shiny new RAM. - there's a bit tech seal of approval on the back of there. You guys better be right... The motherboard with the processor in mid-install. Well, it wasn't as much of an update as I wanted it to be, but oh well. A small update is better than no update. My video card is coming on Thursday and then my custom PSU from Performance PCs should be shipping out any day now as well. Then I'll have this thing up and running! Bye for now, -TX297
Right, motherboard pics as promised: Closeup of the motherboard. Yes, that's a TMD fan on there. It is really quiet for idling but can get some really high RPMs (and decibels, too) when you set it to high power mode. It's a great fan and I don't see what some people have against ThermalTake. THe motherboard mounted on the plexi and sitting outside the case. I currently have my cards in there (not in this pic) so I know where I can mount the D-Bracket (diagnostic LEDs and USB port) and the Processor fan speed controller. My Performance PC's stuff is being shipped tomorrow so if it gets here by Saturday (probably not with USPS) then I can get my PSU installed and the computer up and running. Then I can sleeve the cables and work on that LCD a bit more. -TX297
This turned up on my doorstep today: The box of mystery... /me opens... Yaay! The video card finally arrived! Time to rip open the box and see what we've got... The card in all its glory. Unfortunately, the camera died at this point so I couldn't take any more pics. I'm going to take a picture of the tormented CD case bottom to see if you like it for the rest of my drives, because at the moment they look naff. I'm open to any comments/suggestions. -TX297
Looking pretty good man. Going to be sick with that LCD. As reguarding to the rant of the lack of attention to your log, this forum seems to be pretty slow. Don't take it personaly and keep it up.
yeah - well I am at fault here. I have been lurking this thread and have not been commenting. Sorry about that. I know there is a lot of effort in this type of project and it sucks to just have folks like me read it and not say anything. Can't offer any sugggestions or anything though at this point. Nice work so far.
Sorry, I havent been commenting much, and I kinda lost sight of your project... Sorry. Great work though man! Keep it up!
Dont take it personally. The forums have been really slow latley it seems. No one really posts in my project either, but yours is quite a bit more interesting. Very good work so far...keep it up.
Great. Now it feels like I forced you people into posting here Oh well, thanks for the comments. I had just noticed a lot of progress posts in a row and no comments (and isn't project logs the most popular forum?) and I was thinking nobody loves me but now I know there's still some interest in this project log. It's staying I won't have any progress until Wednesday, but that's when the last part is coming that I need to make the computer run. After that I can order the LEDs and CCFLs. Thanks, -TX297
Na I dont think you forced anyone here. You have a very interesting project just like alot of other people do. I dont know if its just me but I read a project log and think the project is great but I wont post any comments because I dont know what to say. Nothing against you or your project.
Rightey dokey. A bit later on I'm going to take the Dremel to one of the one CD drives (I forgot to get the one from school) and tell me what you think. The prototype is going the be sanded with the Dremel and have a circular pttern, the other just straight sandpaper to aluminium. I'd rather not go for the cliche "brushed" look but go for something different. I'll upload pics when I'm done. I will definitely be clearcoating the drives and possibly painting them before that happens. -TX297
Wow... Long time no update... Sorry it's been so long. School got in the way of everything and it turns out NewEgg had sent me a dead motherboard (so I ended up using the thermal paste). On with the pics again... My Performance-PCs shipment. Great company to deal with. I'll post my reseller rating when I finish it. The PSU. All cables sleeved in UV-reactive green. Great quality. (I seem to be talking at a 2nd-grade level here...) I'm not quite sure what this cable is for... #Bit-tech informed me it as for servers so I don't need to worry about it. I can't really tuck it out of the way anywhere in a clear case... Oh well. The fan trio. The motherboard in mid-install. A nice image of the PSU. I may use this in a web design thing at some point so COPYRIGHT me Everything in the computer with the side sealed up (ok some of these aren't in order). Isometric view (kinda). Another view of the stuff hanging out the side. I sleeved the CPU fan controller myself! when I took the little 3-pin cable out I kinda ripped one of the male pins out so I had to take a cutoff from an LED and solder it so now it's a bit iffy on if it works or not. I just have to plug it in really carefully and it'll work fine. Even MORE stuff hanging out the side! My makeshift male molex pin remover. It worked fin until I realized I could use a female pin... I temporarily sleeved the 3pin-4pin connectors until I build my fanbus. It was a tight fit but I managed to get the fan in front of the hard drive! I kinda figured to blow cool air onto the hard drive but this thing is so noisy I'm going to have it off most of the time. It helps if you put a video card in the machine when you try to boot it... I swore I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. At least I remembered to buy one this time, though! Well, that's enough for this update. The next one should be in a few minute or so. This as just a catch-up one to get up to date. My laptop crashed so I'm having to use another computer to do updates from... -TX297
Well, it didn't boot. Here it is (was) sitting on my desk with the side off. I felt like a surgeon... So I went to home depot and got some new stuff. A bunch of dremel attachments, a couple of threaded rods, some 800-grit sandpaper, and some chrome paint. I decided to paint the drives in the end. I'm having trouble getting stuff for the LCD mounted so I may just scrap the idea altoghether. I really want to do it but the time/budget/space won't allow it so the LCD may end up being static, which I really don't mind. The fate of the drives has been sealed... Bwahahahahahaha Anyway, that's all for now. -TX297
ouch! no boot, man i cant tell ya how many times that happens to me. my friends all say i have horrible luck... o well, very nice so far, i hope that you get it runnin again, i know how it feels to be out a computer
Ow man, good luck with organizing those powercables, i've been there, it's now but a long forgotten nightmare . How about dremeling out the fanholes, those grills are kinda flow restrictive. Some nice UV grills will look nice.
Oh, well it runs now. That was an update I forgot to post. I had to RMA the motherboard and now it runs fine. Once I take some more pictures I'll et them up here. The XP setup is going at this very second. -TX297
It's for a P4 system. I desoldered mine inside the psu, but some people cut them off. I'd be careful if you cut it off though and heatshrink the ends. Don't want that +12V hitting anything it shouldn't. Nice case so far, but what looked like gold paint scares me.
