MODS PLEASE LOCK - MOVED TO NEW FORUM :D!!!

what is attached to the ide ports of the cd drives? It looks like a converter, but to what mayb scsi ?

-bob

 

Bob1234, your 2nd guess is right. The drives are 50 pin, but I couldn't find any 50 pin silver rounded SCSI cables. So I got adapters so I could use 68 pin ultra 160 cables instead.

SCSI layout in the system is:
Adaptec 29160
Primary channel --> 18.2 GB Atlas 10K III --> 18.2 GB Atlas 10K III --> Terminator
Secondary channel --> Pioneer 303S --> HP CDRW 8x4x32 (internal termination)

I'm not using any of my onboard IDE at the moment, but I'll probably pick up a seagate Cuda V (non SATA, just b/c I have single device silver rounded cables that match the u160 cable already). That and possibly an IDE Zip 100, god forbid, my LS120 drive.

 

Starbuck: I love the paintjob you have done I wish be able to do same work on my case

 

Looking good boss. Shame about the JB Weld cockup though.

 

Piloux: it's a really need thing to have a paint job you can hit with a hammer and it wont crack or scar or peel. If I scrape it with something sharp, it leaves a bit of a mark, especially on the gloss black parts.

HellDiver: Cockup! Just made my afternoon with that word! I'm sure I can figure out something clever... I'm just not sure what that something is yet

I'm leaning between a custom waterjet cut plate or plexi that covers almost the whole upside down L, and that includes "GOLIATH" in stylized type to the right of the expansion cards. I need to sit down and play around in adobe illustrator.

 

Since I'm waiting (I hate this fsck()ing waiting game) for my 3.06B P4 chip to arrive, I haven't done a full restuff of the chassis. I did do some wire management (aka fun with zipties) and reinstall the motherboard, though.

Wires ziptied into the back of the mobo tray, and useless lines hidden. I didn't clip it because as long as I've had this PSU... well, its sentimental. Why cripple a perfectly good (and in fact, my first respectable) PSU for future use when I can just hide the cable.


120mm Polished Aluminum L1A installed w\ E-A-R mounts (obtained from mcmaster-carr). These were a piece of cake to install once I sprayed them down with some of my high-viscosity silicon. Its the same stuff I use in my paintball gun, doesn't wear away like oil.


Believe it or not, my NIC is under the SCSI card. Nice and small


As you can see, the SCSI card is green . The nic is a light shade of blue, but you don't see it. I'm not sure if there are enough heat-producing components on the SCSI card (Adaptec 29160) to screw things up if I were to apply some faux carbon-fiber vinyl to the back of it. Or maybe I'll make a plexi shield that sits on top of all the expansion cards. Who knows... more ideas to percolate.

I hope you enjoyed this (tiny) update

 

focker you stole my idea! Cause, you know.. I am the first to think of it.

 

the powdercoat looks fantastic, except for the part where the jbweld was, but you know, can't expect everything to happen right. great job

 

how much did all the powdercoating cost?

 

Ed's original estimate was $60 US. The actual was $79.50 US. I had budget $100, so I was okay. The extra was due mostly to the multiple coats required to even STICK the powder to the jbweld.

 

shoulda had them UV cure the powdercoating. Thats what I'm having done for the front (plastic, mind you) panel of my case. Yes, i'm having PLASTIC POWDERCOATED! IT CAN BE DONE!

My powdercoating was much more expensive though, one because the inside is being done in black chrome, which is a two shoot color. two, the front panel has to be cured with a UV light, which i guess is more expensivo.

 

i love your wire hiding technique, might have to use that in the future

 

Well, I couldn't UV Cure the gloss color, as Ed said it would start to chalk. Not sure what the textured would have done. I take it that UV Curing makes it a lot harder?

 

not sure yet, havnt got the peices back yet. I'll let you know then.

 

thanks for your details sharing, your project is as handsome as you...... I have learned much form your post. Thanks.

 

Orion: I really hope that something was lost in your translation... you're freaking me out! thanks for the compliments none the less.

Well, it seems that my last update (albeit a textual one) was eaten due to a database outage on bit-tech. So, instead of retyping the status then, I'll give you the update on status as it stands now.

I am currently overclocked to 3.611GHz (23x157) at 1.625 Vcore. even If I bump it up to a 1.675Vcore I cannot go any higher, and i've changed the CPURAM ratio down to 5:4 so my memory is only going at 126MHz, so I know it is not the culprit as its PC2400. (Well, it is until I get my 2x 256MB mushkin black hi pref II 2-2-2 timings!)

Temps are WONDERFUL. Speed fan keeps the radiator fans and exhaust fan nice and quiet until things get warm. It works so well I think I may do away with the fan control on the touch bus, save for having it flip between AUTO (Speedfan) and FULL (12V). This would make 2 channels: 1 for the exhaust, 1 for the rad fans. The touch bus would still control the lighting in the manner outlined earlier in this thread.

Oh yeah, temps, temps... almost got derailed there. With water up to temp (pump running 24 hours plus, full load torture)
33*C idle
42*C load (prime 95 torture test, max power setting)
17*C ambient (measured by my indoor, outdoor themometer)
22*C water (full load)
18*C water (idle)

I've been fiddling around with cathode placement lately, and it's been very frustrating! I can't quite hide the cathodes and get the illumination i've been wanting. So what I'm doing now is giving the photoshop file to my graphic artist friend for some 'virtual modding'! I wanted to avoid attaching the cathodes to the side panel, but it now seems to be un-avoidable. I just can't hide them in the frame and get good illumination.

I also tried to install both my opticals last night, but my 29160 keeps bitching about improper termination. I have the last drive terminated, the first drive unterminated. However, as soon as I pulled out a spare u160 terminator and put it on the end of the chain and w\ only 1 optical (2 position cable), all was well. I'm blaming it on cheap cables for now. I've ordered a 3 position cable from SVC, just in case i need the third position for the terminator.

Routing the u160 cables is fun too, as I need as much length as possible to stay neet by running down along the bottom inside of the case, under the foam that the pump sits on.

This same foam is also occupying the spot I was going to use for my UV cathode... I SWEAR I'll post pictures tonite of my wiring woes.

I'm too darn anal retentive about appearence.

 

WOW!!

Its amazing what people come up with as far as modding goes.
Love the the ideas and the way everything is turning out so far!

Sorry for the jbweld thing...chalk it up to learning experience i guess.

The powdercoating idea sounds great, I think I need to checkout some local shops here in Houston about getting my case coated.

Please keep up the great work and keep posting those pics!!!

 

OMG! An update!

Thanks to all of you who commented, both those whose replies still stand and those whose replies were lost during the bit-tech outage.

Anyway, I haven't put up an update since I restuffed the case with all the components, and my new 3.06HT chip. So here it is (from my premium uploadit account, even!)

Fully stuffed, a bit messy if you ask me What do you all think?


Back end of the case, note the SCSI cables at the bottom, particularly the rightmost one. It wasn't long enough and generally isn't playing nice. Rather miffed about that.


The front of things. More messy, even though things are all sleeved up. My power wire managment leaves something to be desired The white line to the rightof the radiator is the line up to white CCFL #1. I haven't installed the second one yet.


This, on the other hand, looks pretty good. My tubing has gone cloudy again, though :doh:. My 120 rear exhaust plugs into the northbridge's connector because I can control that connector (and the CPUFAN connector) with SpeedFan!! Speedfan Rocks! Why are the wires so long? In case I want to stretch them up to the front of the case eventually.


Radiator fans, you can just see to the left where the sleeved wires come out and go back up to the CPUFAN connector on the board.


With the pump out of the way, you can see some of the clutter that the SCSI cables cause, as well as the power connectors being unruly. I need to do something about that.


And the savior, hopefully, of the tubing. Hyperlube supercoolant, which wont leave a mess like waterwetter, and still provides corosion resistance (like antifreeze).


The astute among you may have noted that the system is relatively empty in the hyperlube picture... that's for a good reason. My bloody pump intake fitting, even with plenty of PTFE (teflon) tape leaked a bit overnight. Bummer, but no harm since the machine wasn't running (no RAM!)

I'm going to go play with my lighting again and hopefully figure out some of the wiring issues. I still have to replace the SCSI cable due to the issues mentioned in my last post.

Suggestions on cleaning up the looks of things? Pwease

 

I dunno. Everything looks nice, the "stealthing" of the wiring looks really nice, but my main problem(s) are more my anal outlook. Your scsi cables are diff colors, I know you gonna chnage 'em, but it looks like a much more complete system with the cables being the same color. Also the CD-drive looks out of place with all the black, just like spray it black -dosn't have to look too good, just to cover up it's beigeyness (is that even a word?) and so it matches everyhting. Also, try finding a black cap to the res, the blue one dosn't match any other blue and looks kinda funky. Last thing: Could I see a shot of the top? I wanna see what it looks like completed.

-Bob

 

Bob: good ideas on all fronts. I do have a black cap, but its the one that has a hole in it for my indoor/outdoor thermometer's outdoor lead (aka ambient/water temp monitor).

I was just thinking about the opticals (there will be 2, but only 1 is in b/c of teh cabling issue) sticking out because they are, indeed, stock. What do you think about polishing up the top U shell to a nice shine instead of painting them black? It'd be easier to do now because of the deepfreeze outside that wont be leaving till april or so.

I'm glad there is someone as anal as I am

As far as the cabling goes, I'm thinking about masking off the areas where you dont see the silver braid (where the cables fan back out to their connectors) with black vinyl dye, but frankly I have no idea if it will work. Also, the cables are, to my suprise, UV reactive. A nice blue glow too, goes with the water.

I got the white CCFLs installed and some of the drive cabling cleaned up (both HDDs and opticals on teh same string of molexes now). Also reinstalled, but not connected, the lighting for the top of the radiator.

Pics when I pull them off my camera, i'm off to shower and go to bed now.