Hello everybody, i decided to start something new.. its been a while since my last project and i really need to get my hands dirty! So, its going to be a scratch build this time. I was always thinking, why do i have to compromise with the design and the free space of my case? That was the spark to decide to build my own... Exactly how i want it to be.. My first thought was that i didnt want another gaming rig with intense colors and "happy" attitude. This time i was going for something "classy", with mild colors but with a big contrast regarding the colors. The materials will be mostly aluminum and curved plexiglass as a display for the hardware from all four corners! I decided to implement an LCD touch monitor ( 9 to 11 inches, not sure yet ) with a slide out mechanism so you can controll your system directly from this monitor without alt - tabbing from what ever you are doing at your main monitor. I made a "rough sketch" of what i have in my mind so you can see what i am thinking of. All the surfaces you see in white is made of aluminum and the 2 black parts is tinted plexiglass. I decided to tint the plexiglass so when the system is powered off nothing will be visible but when the system is running then the illumination at the motherboard department will make everything visible! The dimensions will be approximately 50cm x 50cm x 75cm, more on the dimensions later on. Behind the curved plexiglass will be the top compartment. The top compartment will house the motherboard. Below the top compartment there will be the bottom compartment (obviously ) that will house most of the cooling parts ( radiator pumps etc ) along with the power supply and the SSD's/HDD's . I was trying to figure out the layout of the interior. This is what i came up with.. I will be using the Phobya NOVA 1080 for cooling a GTX 680 3way sli, CPU and Motherboard. I will use the MSI Xpower II with a Bitspower's full cover waterblock along with an i7 3930k with 32 GB of Dominator Platinum. I am going to use four MCP655 pumps.. i dont know if its an overkill but i dont want to have flow issues I will make 2 loops that will share the same radiator. One loop for the 3way Sli and another loop for the motherboard and the CPU. Regarding the dimensions.. I dont know if its just me but no matter how many sketches i make i cant understand how big will it be until i see it in reality. So i started last week to make some prototypes using cardboard and polystyrene so i can figure out the true size of the build. I didnt add any details on the prototype, i just made it so i can see how big or small it might be. After 4 prototypes and after many different dimensions i ended up with 50 x 50 x 75 cm. Its like a tall cube, very symetrical and minimal design. The prototype looks huge and thankless but when i start fabricating it with aluminum i am 100% sure that it will transform into a sexy piece of art! Hopefully ( fingers crossed ) Now, the hardware that i ll be using.. For VGA's i decided to go for a 3way sli using 680 reference design so it will be easy getting some full cover waterblocks. Motherboard will be the MSI Big Bang - Xpower II with Bitspower's full cover waterblock along with an Intel i7 3930k. I picked 32 GB of the Dominator Platinums.. too sexy! And for SSD's i picked two OCZ Vectors 128 GB, i dont know yet what HDD's i ll be using for storage. I hope i didnt said too much.. i will pay you back with some photos! The Dominators The happy couple Special thanks to Emil from sleeve-modding.com for supplying me the sleeving materials along with some other great stuff! At this point i really want to say Thanks to my sponsors for giving to this project "flesh and bones"! Without them i really dont think i was going to be able to make it happen! Thats all for now! I will be updating my worklog in a weekly base so stick arround!
Not much of update but i wanted to show you guys the PSU that i will be using! Its the Coolermaster's Silent Pro M2 1500 and its huge! Enjoy Special thanks to Coolermaster!
I thought my 1'x1' x2' rig was obnoxious. I like the setup. If you can keep it really clean it'll be great. ...Jut watch out. The wife will want to put a lamp on it. 16 amp@125v PSU: Confirming my fears that the average US home is underpowered at the outlet for these PSU's
Thanks Pranja! Dont worry.. i will mod on! @Cheapskate Its going to be big but that doesnt mean it cant also be sexy! I want it to be ULTRA clean.. you wont be able to spot a single screw to the outside surfaces.. all 4 side panels will be attached to the main frame using hidden magnets! Even the power/reset switch will be hidden behind the touch screen! Regarding my wife.. i promise to keep it out of her reach! I dont want lamps or anything on it!
Hello everybody, i am really sorry for the late update, i was really busy with my work.. Anyway, better late than never.. I got some of the aluminum parts from the waterjet, there are a few missing but i dont need those parts for now.. Some 3 mm Aluminum sheets, i will use this pieces as seperators for each of the "floors" in the case. These 2 parts are made from 3 mm Aluminum also and i will use them as the 2 side columns that will support the case. This one is 10 mm aluminum, i will use 4 for each floor, 1 at every corner.. This will be used as a bracket that it will be welded on the side columns and it will support the 3mm aluminum sheet that will seperate the floors from each other. I filed and sanded one piece, just to see how it looks! I like it! I wanted to make a "ruler" so i can mark the drill holes at the same position on each piece. I took a piece of acrylic and cut out a "copy" of the bracket with 2 holes so i can mark the drill holes properly! So now, i want to check the diameter of the rivnuts so i can choose my drill bit! I made some testings at a spare bracket so i can see what type of rivnut fits better. This is what i ended up with as the best result i could get! Dont mind the marks on the aluminum bracket, it was a spare bracket made just for testings! Thank you very much for you time! I am really sorry for not updating in the last couple of weeks! I 'll do my best to pay you back!
Hello everybody! I would like to begin by saying to everybody that i am sorry for taking so long for the update. I had some personal problems the last couple of months and my free time was really limited. I am here now, back to the project and i am moving forward with it! Lets go now to the update! After grinding and sanding all the 10mm parts.. My goal was to insert rivnuts in the 10mm aluminum pieces. Those rivnuts need some availble space in the back so it can pop behind it and stay in place. I cant really describe it.. the photos will help you understand. I had to widen the back side of the holes from 5 to 8mm wide and in 8mm depth. I kept 2mm depth with 5mm diameter so the rivnut can grip on it. I am just making it worse.. See the photos and you will understand! I marked and punched the drill spots The 5mm holes are done Here you can see the back side of the hole where the diameter is 8mm instead of 5mm Preparation for the countersunk rivnuts And the rivnut is in place! Similar procedure was made at those pieces. On these 2 piece its going to be mounted the backplate of the motherboard. Here you can see the 2 main components of the structure. These 2 columns will support the structure. Now, the brackets that you saw earlier are welded on the main frame. The welds look slugish and thats because the 2 materials had great difference in thickness. Its really hard to weld 10mm aluminum to 3mm aluminum. 3mm aluminum is really easy to get holes while welding.. while you try to melt the 10mm aluminum at the same time the 3mm aluminum is under great tempetratures and its very easy to get holes on it from melting. Anyway, when i started the welds were looking like that.. But with a little help from my grinder and this is how it looks now! And the last photo for this update.. Some of my favorite tools! Stick arround guys..! I will be updating regularly!
Thanks a lot guys! Next thing to do is to mount motherboard's backplate and figure out the tubing/cabling route!
