sooo...I've been cruising these forums constant for the last week, or so. I have been absorbing more information and knowledge than I really know what to do with, but that's the way I am, I have a parched throat and only knowledge can cure it. Since I'm tired of my current set-up, which is my "super-budget-bin-sale-part-POS-weaksauce-computer", I have decided to upgrade, in the most over-the-top way I can, which means I've got some work ahead of me, not only on the mod, but I'm gonna need to pull some OT to pay for it Won't go into details of my plan till I order/recieve parts as it's ever changing and evolving as more information comes into my head and is computed, but I can tell you what I have on the way, and I'll give some stock pics as I have no decent digi-cam, which will also be taken care of by a new Canon G5 as soon as I can. On order I have some important parts to my mod, they are: (pics courtesy Newegg.com and SVC.com) --AMS gMono black ATX mid-tower First time I saw this case, I knew I had to have it, it's perfect for what is being drawn in my head. --couple Thermaltake 80mm fans --a pair of Swiftech MCR120 radiators (black) (SVCs pics are too large to post here, but I bet you all know what they look like, here's a link if not http://www.svc.com/mcr120-fk-28.html ) --Swiftech Clear Bay-Res Resivoir --some red UV Active water dye I've got a couple other things, like some CCFL tubes coming, but that's all for this check as I got to save for my next big purchase, which will strap me for me next check w/ bills, so I kinda got some essentials to get me started, get some things in my hands to start playing with them. (the big purchase is 3, WD 74GB SATA Raptors, go RAID 0+1 ) soo, my vision here is this, I'll try to explain the best I can, but as I go through the mod you'll get the picture better: Exterior of the case will be pretty low-key, taking a page from Project: MacroBlack in the stealthy exterior but full-on lighting assault when the switch is flipped, though mine will be a bit more low-key. Color scheme is red and black, straight up. My material of choice (as I'm calling it) is going to be fiberglass, as I've noticed alot of people don't use it much. You will see the things that'll be sculpted from this fine composite as my mod progresses. There's going to be alot of ducting as I like air to go where I want it to (prolly ties into my history with performance cars, ducting plays a big role) All the ducts will be custom made out of fiberglass, and will have a cool, organic feel to them, some sort of organic red/black color thingy, dunno if it'll be lit up or just painted, got some testing to do in that department. The exterior of that case is very cubic, and I like that alot, very mechanical almost, and with my ducting, I want the computer to have an organic "living" feel to the inside, well, the front mostly. The radiators will be set-up in a "V" shape with intake coming in a custom front-grill (not the stock on, gotta get the for this part) with ducting sending the radiator exhaust out the sides of the case, it'll help keep case temps down, and will add to the feel of my case, I believe. Coming out from the middle of the "V" facing towards the back of the case will be the harddrives in a custom organic looking mount set-up, imagine the pods in The Matrix. They'll be mounted to a big tube that connects to the front of the case with an 80mm fan to cool them off, and get a little fresh air in the case (even though everything, and I mean everything [minus PSU] will be watercooled, other things still need air) and the drives will have little oval openings for the air to come out of and empty into the case. --(I really wish you guys could see my vision, it's totally awesome if you can visualize what I'm thinking here, if not, you'll just have to wait till later in the mod) The DVD/RW drive as well as my Audigy2 front-panel will have fiberglass covers to give them an organic feel as well, and the Bay-Res will have one too. Going to the back of the case, everything gets blocky and mechanical again as you get into the stuff that makes it a computer, but all the waterblocks will have a block in-organic feel to them, so it looks like, hmmm...cyborg-ish, I guess. Or maybe like the computer is growing things out of it. Anyway, stay tuned, nag for updates if they don't happen, give suggestions, do what you want, FYI, this is my first mod, my first REAL computer (power wise, I built my current one, but it's a little "off" on the power) and my first post here!! thanks guys, and sorry for the LONG post, I'll edit it later as I get stuff done, etc etc, I'll make it look more organized later on.
after I posted this, I just had an another awesome idea, as I was looking at the DIY spiral wrap article, one problem I had was coming up with a way to make the wiring look good (a very difficult task in ANY mod) going with that organic feel, I could make the wires look like vines, or what not, from the odd fiberglass tubes that will be made, it'll make it look like the computer is actually being powered by what I'm now naming the "tentacles", I keep having this "Day of the Tenticle" image pop in my head. It'd be like the tenticles are living in symbiosis with the computer,
well, I guess this should have been in modding till I actually WORK on it, eh? got the pics part, just not the actual working on it, sorry 'bout that, move to modding
