Super Computer

[BigJohnson]

OK, so lets start with the false advertising. It wont really be super. Its too outdated.

I have been around for a little bit now, but I finally got the courage up to see what I can do. I own a dell. Its about 5 years old and it was the best when I bought it. However. I did a little customization inside. Added another dvd drive and another hd and now it doesnt cool at all. I leave the side off the tower when I have it on. I dont have any pics right now. but I did do a sketch of the mid tower I plan to use and what I plan to make it look like.

Here's what I want to do. The blue on the case is all acrylic. The right side almost looks like flower petals. The left side is just plain. This is no good.

First my old computer that has room for cooling:
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9868/oldfrlftuk7.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/2404/oldfrrghtgm7.png (http://imageshack.us)

Now what I want it to look like:
I want to take the acrylic off this side. I want to reshape the wholes to look like the insignia. Then I want to put blue modders mesh instead. The hole is for a fan that died long ago. I might put a new one in, but I might put a bigger one in. Budget is shallow right now. Im finally moving out of my parents house again.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8238/frrghtsupbp3.png (http://imageshack.us)
The top has this vent. I want to make the opening a bit bigger. Accent it with yellow and perhaps a led fan. Its right behind the drives and I want to keep them cool.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9361/frtpsupsp5.png (http://imageshack.us)
With this plain left side I just want to paint. I want to make it look like the logo is breaking through the metal. I couldnt do this in sketchup so I left it like this.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3748/frlftsupsg0.png (http://imageshack.us)

I'll have some live shots when I get back home this weekend. I have the case apart and the left panel sanded, primered and taped.

Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking. Im also looking for a good way to to make the holes in the side. Since the holes I'm making will be slightly larger at points and smaller in others.
Adam

[p0Pe]

could look cool!
what are you going to make the logo with? red yellow, and blue acrylic xD! would be awesome

[BigJohnson]

could look cool!
what are you going to make the logo with? red yellow, and blue acrylic xD! would be awesome

I haven't really figured it out yet. I was going to paint it and see how it turned out. I might do it mostly out of sheet metal and then finish it off with acrylic to make it look like its floating. I figured a series of trials and errors will help me.:glasses:

[Spawn-Inc]

going with the acrylic idea and steel sheet idea you could make the use sheet metal for the blue and red parts then put a sheet of acrylic behind the two and light it up with some yellow LED's. you can get cheap LED's at Lsdiodes (http://www.lsdiodes.com/), 45 cent LEDs! - $2 shipping to anywhere in the world!

[p0Pe]

I figured a series of trials and errors will help me.:glasses:

yeah... nothing like a lot of errors is able to make a good result in the end :lick: but can be a royal pita if it takes to many trieys :/

[BigJohnson]

OK, so do I get clear acrylic and yellow LEDs or yellow acrylic and yellow LEDS? How many would I need to do the yellow? Keep in mind that the only yellow will be in the logo, the outside is going to be blue and silver.

[p0Pe]

yellow acrylic, that way the logo will shine out from rest of hte case:)

[Spawn-Inc]

if your going to a store to pick out the acrylic then rig up a little led flash light and see which looks better otherwise go with the yellow acrylic just to be safe.

[BigJohnson]

Ok, so here are some of the pics of what my case looked like before.

Yes, it has an atari sticker. It runs about as fast as the Atari 2800.
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4381/phot0004pl3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/4353/phot0002wr1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/9507/phot0006kq1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Here it is, all taped off.
http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/2985/phot0044fy1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I'm doing some paint right now, I want to see how it turns out before i start cutting it apart.


Can anyone tell me where I can find sheets of orange and yellow acrylic? I checked ACRyan and didnt see anything, but I have been pretty busy, so I didn't look long.

[Jim Beam]

whoa dude you gotta resize those pics to 600 x 800 or link them.

[Eclecticos]

You just won the award for the "Largest crappiest pictures on the Internet" :D
Lol. .Just Kidding. Wayyy to Big!

Here (http://www.picresize.com/) is a Simple online Image Resizer.

[BigJohnson]

Sorry about that. Forgot to click 'resize this image'.

[BigJohnson]

Ok, so I have been rethinking the name of this computer. What would a super human computer be without some superhuman stuff inside. So I need some help. Im going to put a list of stuff I want to put in here, and I need help to make it all fit. And be compatible.

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150240

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

I am having an issue finding a nice motherboard and ram. Well to be honest...I havent looked for ram yet. But I want to put 4gb of ram in there. And after all this, I dont want to watercool it just yet. So thats where I am. Help me find ram and a motherboard. And no, I dont want to use ATI Radeon. I like Nvidia.

[OrsoDesigns]

Can anyone tell me where I can find sheets of orange and yellow acrylic? I checked ACRyan and didnt see anything, but I have been pretty busy, so I didn't look long.

http://www.estreetplastics.com/ (http://www.estreetplastics.com/) has some. I just ordered some acrylic from them the other day and it was shipped fast and well packaged.

[BigJohnson]

So here it is after the blue paint last night. Its quite important that I show you this step, since the paint is practically the same color as the tape. But here it is.
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5140/bluepaint3ky8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

To add to the insignificance of this post. Here's a pic of paint drying. No really. It was thundering and lightning. I figured I'll get it in the garage to dry for the night. Tomorrow the red, then the black. And I finally got my dremel back from my girlfriends house so I can cut once I get the acrylic ordered.
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7515/yellowpaint1ru6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BigJohnson]

If anyone is still reading this...Sorry I haven't posted. I did finish the painting of the case for now. But I don't have the internet at home right now. Moving and still trying to find a provider. But I will post if I can steal wi-fi with my half dead laptop.

[SgtM]

Still watching. Can't wait to see an update.

[BigJohnson]

So the verdict is in. Laptop...way dead. I took it apart to see why it wont start up. Big suprise...nothing. Everythink pushed in, everything still loaded. Nothing loose or broken. So. I'll figure something out.

[liquid_fire]

I am having an issue finding a nice motherboard and ram. Well to be honest...I havent looked for ram yet. But I want to put 4gb of ram in there. And after all this, I dont want to watercool it just yet. So thats where I am. Help me find ram and a motherboard. And no, I dont want to use ATI Radeon. I like Nvidia.

Atta boy! I own stock in Nvidia (NVDA) like cramer says, pick the market leader in the sector..

anywho..
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813138074
That's the MOBO i just bought, will handle your 4GB of RAM (4x1 or 2x2) They had a CPU deal with it as well when I got it. I like it a lot so far.

[NightrainSrt4]

Although that board seems decent for the price, if he wants to use the Q6600 that board isn't going to work.

Depending on what you are looking for there are several nice boards.

If your interested in SLi I would probably get a board with the 680i chipset, and if your not then I would probably have to go with intel's P35 chipset. Or if you need something a little cheaper, the 650i seems to be decent for a budget type system.

It really depends on what you are trying to do with the computer, and what your budget is.

[BigJohnson]

So there wasn't as much to update on. Since I don't have the most recent pictures on my digital camera. I thought I did. So here is what I have. Its the red paint portion of this adventure. So here is what I have. Now that I'm semi settled from the move.
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/9247/redpaint1rv1.jpg
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9105/redpaint2dv4.jpg
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/2038/redpaint3ri9.jpg
All of the tape is removed. Just imagine that the primer is black. I have a new idea for the other side, but I have to see if it can be done first. For whoever reads this, thanks for sticking in there.

[Fuganater]

IDK if you already bought your CPU but, I wouldn't go with the Intel E6600. I have it and its WAYover priced. Mostly it will sell for $279 or $229

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115028 = 3 GHz CPU for $279

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029 = 2.66 GHz for $195

Better processors for less dough.

Hope it helps and the look is sweet!!

[BigJohnson]

Okay. So after all of this time my move is mostly finished. Well finished enough that I don't feel guilty about spending so me time. So I picked up my case from my parents house and brought it home...

Thats when I realized that one side of the case is made to have windows and one side is made to be solid. So when I painted it, I painted the solid panel to be on the left side of the case. And if I weren't a total moron I would have realized that the left side of the case had the window and a fan on it and the right side should be solid. Who would want to see the sheet metal. And how would a fan cool anything if I couldn't get the panel on with the fan attached.

So all of that painting. To be honest I wasn't as happy as how it turned out, but I wasn't fully done with it yet. But now no matter what I have to start over. I'll try and get some pics up tonight so you can see what I mean.

[BigJohnson]

A little blurry but you can see that there are 2 different thicknesses of black. I was going to try and sand it.
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6259/finishedwrongaw0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The left side didn't turn out too bad. Needs another coat of black and some clear. But that window opens directly into the frame of the tower.
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3437/finishedleftte0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Forgive the off centerness of this picture. A sneeze was on its way and I didnt feel like retaking it with my crappy camera. But the yellow paint bubbled and I think I put it on too thick.
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3016/top1oo8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
An example of this on the wrong side of the case.
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4475/wrongside1cu0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
So I'm not sure what to do now. I could do something on the other panel...but I don't really know. I should have done something before I painted it. So I'm looking for some advice.