Hello everyone, Even though I've followed these forums for many months, it looks like my first post here is going to be the start of my worklog. I don’t really know if my project is worklog worthy, but maybe some people will like it or find useful ideas or information. I ordered all the parts for this PC about a year ago. I set everything up right when it came in and it’s been running well since. But… when I placed the original order, I got all the parts for a nice watercooling setup too, then when everything arrived I got cold feet. What if it leaked and my shiny new PC lost the magic blue smoke??? Well fast forward a year and it’s not all that shiny or new anymore, I’m going to go ahead and finish what I started. If it goes up in smoke it’ll be the perfect excuse to buy a new system. Inspiration part 1 – What’s in a name? I work in the IT field by day and I play games by night. For the last year it’s been a lot of World of Warcraft. I get to help a lot of different companies with their networks and it seems everyone uses the same basic convention for naming servers. I see things like NS01 and WEB02 all the time. So when I built my latest PC, I nicknamed it GAMER01. I dunno – maybe it’s not all that 1337, but I like it. Inspiration part 2 – Shiny! I don’t have the design plan fully realized yet, and the parts of it I do think I have down I change my mind about every week. I know what I want in the end though, and I can sum it up with one word – Shiny! If you’re a fan of The Tick, you’ll know what I mean. In the end I want something that makes people go “oooooh”. One thing I do know for sure - it will involve a lot of UV reactive parts. Here’s what I am starting with: MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum Motherboard AMD X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor 2 x 1GB OCZ PC3200 RAM (2-3-2-5 Timing) connect3D Radeon X850XT 256MB PCI Express Video Card SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Audio Card Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10K RPM Hard Drive Yeong Yong YY-0221 Cube Server Case Seasonic SilenX SS430 Power Supply Danger Den TDX A64 CPU Water Block Danger Den Maze4 Chipset Water Block Danger Den Maze 4 GPU Acetal Top Water Block Danger Den DDC 12V Pump Hardware Labs Black Ice Xtreme II 240mm Radiator Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Reservoir Pictures coming up next
The Cube Here's what the cube server case looked like before I started on it. I had to steal these pics from this review since I've already hacked into my case and didn't get any before pics Front: Back: Front with plastic bezel removed:
Here's my case after many hours with the jigsaw and Dremel... One thing I can tell you: the steel in this case is pretty thick! The top hole is for the radiator and fans, with a AC Ryan Radgrill mounted on the outside. I filed this hole down and it's pretty much finished, since the grill will cover up the edges. I just haven't cleaned off the rest of the template yet The "logo" still needs a lot of work with a hand file, unless I can figure out a good dremel bit to help speed things up.
Looks very promosing And I would advise you to use a hand file on that logo.. the dremel COULD do it on lower speeds but I would still do it by hand.. you have much more control over it that way. One question.. are you gonna do anything special with the name? Maybe put some plexi behind it? Light it up? Keep on going
I think you're right. But boy is it gonna take a while with a hand file! Right now, I am thinking UV reactive blue plexi behind the logo, clear plexi on the side panel (I haven't cut that yet). I just want the logo to glow - the side window will be the place to see what's going on inside. I am planning 4 UV CCFL's in this side of the case to light it all up. Thanks for the kind words
Will be watching this one as I have the same case with my main Duallie setup and was thinking about watercooling it. Want to see where your gong to put the rad and what size your going to use
Spent some time grinding and filing... I'll say it again - this is some thick steel for a pc case. If anyone is thinking of modding this case, be prepared to spend some time Still not happy with the logo, but it's getting a lot cleaner. Dropped by Fry's today and picked up a little metal box for electronics projects - it'll become my power distribution box using multipin connectors.
