The Mirage 2.0

[dexaroni]

Hello TBCS! I posted here awhile back with a Quake 4 mod that I never completed, and had a brief hiatus in which time I just enjoyed the stock nature of my Antec NSK6500... That didn't last long, and I built the Mirage, which I won the PDXLAN 10 amateur mod competition with.

After PDXLAN I decided that the Mirage was to be torn down, and out of the paint chips the Mirage 2.0 was to be born. The Mirage 2.0 will be everything that the Mirage was supposed to be, and more.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog001.jpg

There is Mirage 1.0 in all its disgusting, paint chipping, bumpy glory.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog003.jpg

Time to pop some rivets off and get this beast cleaned and painted!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog004.jpg

Say goodbye to the blue, this new system is going a different direction. Hope you like Black, Orange, and Chrome...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog005.jpg

Thats better, painted the way a case should be...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog007.jpg

OMG! Put some clothes on you nasty e4300!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog008.jpg

Thats better, sporting the smexy Danger Den TDX waterblock donated by the awesome Markkleb! (Thanks Mark!)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog010.jpg

Here we are sporting our new Lexan rack cover. That little sheet of lexan is hiding SO much stuff, and it looks good too.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog011.jpg

Close up of the brains of my system.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog012.jpg

Top down anyone?

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog013.jpg

The PSU is in! Thanks to Darthbeavis for the sweet PSU!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog014.jpg

And a shot of er bum.

Lets get this shiz all installed up in da hizzle!

All wired up!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog015.jpg

A view of the bay...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog016.jpg

And from the front!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog017.jpg

Gotta pump some fluid into this beast...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/Worklog018.jpg

Started painting the case tonight, will have updates soon.

[NightrainSrt4]

Nice Guts!


Can't wait to see what secrets are in store for that beauty.

[elbarto241]

love the wire management. one of the best ive seen. makes me wanna re-do mines. +rep and welcome to TBCS!

[dexaroni]

Thank you for the kind words! My goal here is to make the cleanest PC possible, which is a lot harder than I thought it would be. My only problem is imagination, I am running out of ideas! Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do to add a little more "cool" to my system?

Thanks,
Dex

[elbarto241]

LEDs? place a couple bright 2000mcd white LEDs behind the mobo tray to give it a glowing look. maybe a cool etching on the window [if you have one]

oh and pics of the front would be nice :D just saying

[chaksq]

Great wire management, at first I though you didn't even have anything connected until I saw the wires hidden in the back.

[dexaroni]

Got some paint slapped on today! Next I need to pick up some Red LED's at Ratshack, and make some ground effects for the system. I also plan to backlight the mobo tray. And unfortunately my PCI wifi card didn't come today, so no updates on that front.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/worklogz009.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/worklogz006.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/worklogz007.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/dexcarm89/worklogz008.jpg

[SgtM]

Dude, don't get LED's from Radio Shack, they'll rob you blind. Check out lsdiodes.com, they're IN Portland. $0.45/LED. Much better than $4/LED at RS.

[dexaroni]

Definitely, I will have to look into that for sure, especially since I am getting aproximately 30 of em.

[Remy]

Dude, don't get LED's from Radio Shack, they'll rob you blind. Check out lsdiodes.com, they're IN Portland. $0.45/LED. Much better than $4/LED at RS.

Ebay is a pretty good place too. I got some from this guy twice, http://stores.ebay.com/BestHongKong_Loose-Super-Bright-LED_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZ1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm. He's got all colors and UV. He's in Hong Kong, so the shipping is a little high, but he ships quick. You're still paying about 15 cents per LED w/shipping when you buy 100 at a time.

[Killdrath]

Heh. I'd buy from the guy in Portland just to support my home!

I second (or third or whatever) the idea of the white LED's. The inside is a tad dark right now.