Case Mod - In Progress Project: Way of the Warrior - Update 5/05 - Status Update and Things to Do

Congratulations on a sponsor.

 

Way of the Warrior - Make flowers bloom on a tree



I got an email from the Crucial guy today, letting me know they sent out the ram. Simply amazing, this is a great feeling.

On the heels of that good news, the post office found a label addressed to me from Performance PCs. Unfortunately, there was no package attached. Guess that explains why my emergency cable sleeving resupply hasn't arrived. <sigh> Anyway, resent and will arrive on Thursday. This is cutting it rather close with things because of the 22nd deadline, but ha, i scoff at deadlines! laugh in the face of fear! ... bring on the Starbucks for the late hours! Roommate has also been sick for a couple days and sleeping more, so I've not been cutting and drilling. There are other things to do though!

While contemplating what to do with the 80mm fan holes, I turned to the video card and motherboard. First, I removed the stock 8800GTS fan and heatsink, along with the PCI 2-slot bracket, replacing it with a single bracket. It was amazing how thick the thermal pads and grease were from the factory.



On goes the the lovely EK full cover waterblock in sparkly nickel-plate.



The motherboard received a similar treatment, installing the C2D E8400 cpu, along with the Apogee GT waterblock. The black and silver for these blocks should really make the uv red tubing and new ram jump right out with the color.



Other water cooling components include a Black Ice GT Stealth 240 rad in black and a Bitspower acrylic reservoir top for the Laing DDC pump (you've seen a glimpse of that already.) This is a stock closeup of the res, followed by one showing the led lighting in red.




My desire for this case is to minimize or stealth some of the other components to highlight the look of others, especially the watercooling system. With this in mind, flat black self-adhesive vinyl was applied to the two hard drives (a 74Gb Raptor for OS and a Seagate 250Gb for storage) and the optical drive. Painting the shell would have been great, but this was done quickly without having to disassemble the drives for painting/masking and dry time. As mentioned above, my ability to do any painting is very limited at the moment. If, god forbid, one of the drives needs warranty work, the factory stickers and seals remain under the vinyl. Bare Raptor drive, followed by cutting and finished drives.






There are a few tiny bubbles that will be pressed out from under the vinyl.

The optical drive was test fitted in the bay as I was double checking placement with the radiator and fans that will go on that side, venting to the top of the case. The dvd drive will be getting a stealth treatment to match the front case panel. Following it is a side view of the case with side panels removed.




Cutting for the etched window on the motherboard (left) side of the case will start tomorrow. Will have more photos and progress to show you then! Thanks for visiting.

 

Nice work. Cannot wait to see more. How do you find the mobo tray in it? Is it every strong? As there is nothing holding the top front of the mobo tray in the 2nd last photo it looks like the mobo tray is on a little angle but it mite be the photo. Just wanting to no as having a hard think of getting a mountain mods cube or just getting the Lian Li PC-V2100B plus 2

 

Ohhh..This system is gonna kick major butt! I really like white theme builds.. they're just so clean looking

Brilliant idea with the black film too!

I like that dragon tattoo artwork, will that be incorporated somewhere Scirocco?

 

sirocco, i have seen that illustration before somewhere, about 5 years back, liked it the last time, like it again

Is there any place i can find it as a poster?

 

@ icutebluezone: Thanks for the encouragement. The motherboard tray is quite sturdy, made of 1.65mm thick aluminum alloy according to MMods' site. Since I was just eyeing some fittings, I did not use the tab and screw on the forward, bottom edge of the tray to add more structure to it. There's also a nice cutout on the bottom edge to provide for routing of cables, etc. in a neat manner. I'll take a photo of it later to show what I mean.

@ mnpctech: Thanks, Bill! I wanted something a bit different as the base for this mod, and the white just let's the rest of the gear show even more I think. There just may be some cool graphics appearing on this mod!

@ Xtrafresh: Haven't seen a poster for this cover image, although that doesn't mean there isn't one. l have only seen the cover scan from that particular issue. Would certainly make a great one for a door, wouldn't you say?

More updates later tonight.

 

This will be made of pure win.
The detailing of the log itself is amazing and the project generally is very nice.
A lady hand that touches Casemodding CAN'T go wrong

 

Wow dude! I didn't know that anyone else had interest in the Shi series. I used to read the series way back and I still have all the comics, I'll have to keep up on this one!

 

i wont give any stars yet, but i will subscribe, you have a very nice collection of ideas and the theme is fantastic.... continue the good work!!

edit: insert in it some kind of samurai sword.... like with the excalibur in the rock... but in this case a sword stuck on top, angled so that is also the carry handle since the sword is curved.... if you don't understand i can sketch something up.....

 

uh, on some hard drives there is a hole with a label next to it that says "Do not cover". did you cover it with that vinyl?

 

hi, Scirocco .... just joining another of the forums you frequent so I can keep better tabs on you. for those who dont know me, I'm a friend of Scirocco's. I've been power-leveling her through several MMOs now for a number of years
keep up the great work, Scirocco!!

Dommi

 

Don't worry, I kept an eye out for those. The top plate on both drives is separate from the raised edges. Didn't cover those over, so should be ok. I will be watching temps closely once the system is set up too.

Thanks for the props, guys! And Dommi... *behave* while you're here! And guys, fair warning: Don't take her up on it if she offers to show you her "play room."

Have the finished motherboard side window in hand. I am so very pleased with it. But, not going to try taking a photo until it's installed and properly lit up. Can hardly wait to see how it looks bathed in sexy red light. Will have more updates tonight.

 

Oh, I remember red lights from my mis-spent youth Sorry just reminiscing to my self. Mod on lady
John

 

Wow I really like this mod.

I was just dreaming up a white case with red lighting, but looks like you have beaten me to it. Oh well I wouldnt have actually done it anyway So just aswell really.

Cant wait to see this finished, hopefully the red and white looks as good as I dreamed it would.

 

Way of the Warrior - Drilling and a test fit

Snow hit Colorado again, which made for a rather achy day. Didn't get near as much done as I had planned, but I have the finished window etch, which I'm REALLY pleased about. My roommate (the Queen of Understatement) saw it and her first words were: Wow... wow.... wow. Sorry you don't get a peek at that yet. I suspect it would need some prep to show it properly with some lighting and all. You'll see what I mean likely over the weekend.

First off, here's a couple inside shots of the case; first one is the motherboard side, showing the tab for a screw to attach the removable tray to the case for added strength and rigidity. You'll see a psu cable poking through the small opening at the bottom edge of the tray which allows neat routing of cables from the power supply side. Rather looking forward to the cable management in this case, as opposed to some of the other nightmares. Second photo is on the power supply side of the case with a Corsair psu in place for a test fit.




I am woman, hear me drill! Went pretty quickly, but realized with my limited Dremel accessories I only had one size of drill bit. Oh well, may remedy that tomorrow if the weather is nice. Eyeing it with the standard Zalman faceplate, it seemed to work pretty well. Tomorrow it is time to break out the files to clean up the holes. Then put it back together with the new front and see how it works. Would much rather there were red and/or white leds in this fan controller. Between time and no experience with electronics and soldering, was best not to try.



Lots of cutting and filing later today. However, sleep sounds real good right about now.

 

Dremel kits only have a 1/8" bit because that's the only size that fits in the chucks. I hate that feature, and found a dremel-a-like with an adjustable chuck.
Nice use of vinyl. I think the glitter glue is further proof you really are a female. How you plan to use it is a mystery...

 

Run if I break out the nail polish for something...

Picked up the little Dremel collett kit from the hardware store this morning. Gives me a range plus some additional drill bits. Working with the needle files at the moment, at least between forum page clicks. Wish that they had the EZ-lock cut off wheel kit, but no such luck.

Finally the sleeving should be here within an hour or so. Want to get these fans done and off my desk. Will put them together with the grills, etc. and you will be able to see it coming together. Silly me found that I was short on 3/8" ID G 1/4" barbs for the water set up. Have several of the old G 3/8" ones and that does me a fat lot of good. So I placed an order for some. And just because I can and on a whim, ordered the EK Supreme CPU block too. I'll save the Apogee GT for an older cpu that will be in an HTPC set up.

 

without wanting to hijack this great thread, i stumbled upon a reasonably hi-res version of that picture above.

I was googling for something else, but found this pic
http://pomac.netswarm.net/misc/DragonTattoo3.jpg

Maybe it's usefull for you aswell, decal-wise?

Keep it up!

 

Nice idea and nice tech. Can't wait for a finished product.

 

Woo, thanks for that, Xtrafresh! Might be able to do something with that great image. heheh

Got the wire sleeving completed last night and worked on a couple options for the 80mm fan holes/grills. Lots to do today, so should have a good update with photos late tonight. Received the Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red ram too... Had to pop it into my test rig for a look... SWEET! I have a set of the regular Ballistix with the blue ground effects and red/green leds, and these are a whole other level of great in looks.