BEHEMOTH: Hardcore mod

[dr.walrus]

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about some modification scenes, including this one. I'll explain.

If you look at any group of people with a common interest, you see a 'soft' and 'hard' side of that interest through the people who embody it. In some cases, 'hard' is interpreted as 'extreme', or 'dangerous', like in extreme sports. In others, like re-enactment, it might mean 'more historically accurate'. But what it always means is personal alignment to its ideals, whatever it may be, and a wish for what is done to be more than aesthetic; more than skin-deep.

I guess I've always leaned towards the people with a real wish to make things more..just MORE. To push something as far as its logical extremes permit.

This mod involves more than drilling some holes in a computer case, more than applying some filler, sanding it back and fitting in some real big cooling products and UV lights. It's much more difficult and less flashy, and frankly less attention-grabbing. It's over-engineered for the sake of being over-engineered.

It's an homage to the funny Victorian idea about big and heavy being better, with traditional Victorian materials and construction techniques. This is very visibly (and perhaps amusingly) juxtaposed with the modern idea of miniaturisation in costructing a computer using this method.

The aim is to complete the contruction in three pieces of cast iron, with as many brass fittings as neccessary. That's right, the outside shell will be two pieces of cast iron and the motherboard tray and base will be a third.

There are to be no visible external buttons or lights, CD drive tray or anything of the like. vents will be low and on the sides, but nicely worked in and recessed (not worked into my current 3D models yet. There will be no external ports. All interface ports will be internal or wirelessly connected, wired to an external interface box, should design deem this necessary. We are yet to see if 7mm of cast iron will allow wireless connectivity at all. DVD drive will be a slot-loader vertically mounted to the case seam on the front. Switches will be mounted on the interface box if one is used, but ideally either motion-sensed down the case seam (a problematic idea should there be false positives) or by remote control, which is an ideal solution. Any cables will be mounted as low as possible and within metal cores to hide their identities as much as possible. Based on the practical probability of finding an appropriate desk (ie, one that a hole can be drilled in), all external cables will be routed through the base. I have an old beer fridge I can strip down so I may well be building a refridgeration system in. Fingers crossed!

Internally, cables will all be routed and tidied as much as possible. All possible liquid cooling will be routed through a 'thermal channel' to another thermal zone from the motherboard. Any heat generalting components that can be will be mounted in the 2nd 'heat dump' thermal zone, where heat removal will be locally concentrated.

There's a hint of giger in the iron and the curved shape. But it doesn't look like a computer case in anything other than that familiar throb and the vague relative diensions. I want to bond sculpture and computer 50/50; a piece of fully functional art. Is it cyber-punk? Steampunk? Maybe a little of both; there's something sinister and dystopian about its industrial yet somewhat organic form, but both cyberpunk and steampunk are aesthetic, fantasy genres. The metal protrusions are supposed to suggest chinese plate mail or metal pins in the doors of medieval castles to prevent axes breaking down the door... or maybe even something organic, like an armadillo, or reptile scales.

Both curves used in the design (there's only two) are semicircles. This subconsciously implies order, engineering, neatness, as do the square protrusions, and as such the organic nature of the curves is diluted, even though there are no vertices on the main body of the case. Front is symmetrical with back, to further detract from any suggestion that this is a computer.

In line with the minimalist but overengineered exterior design, the interior config will match the outside; hardcore but with no frills. Spec will be a Core 2 Duo Conroe , 3.0Ghz, 2GB of DDR21066Mhz RAM, a Radeon HD3780XT and a single 150GB 10,000RPM hard drive.

I suppose an aim of this project is to define to myself exactly what a 'heavy mod' is, and to experiment with some materials and techniques I'm familar with seeing but have never worked with.

First things first, I'll be building a stable system (pending finance!) and then stripping it down and putting it in the new case. It's going to be a good few weeks yet, so this is more of a tease really.

So, after you've read all that, here's my renders. This is my first time 3D modelling (ever) so any feedback would be appreciated.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/angle-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/front-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/side-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/top-1.jpg

I'm fully aware that there'll be some smartarses out there who'll flame me at the idea of there being no external ports, but again, THIS IS AS MUCH A PIECE OF SCULPTURE AS IT IS A COMPUTER CASE, so I will not be getting into that discussion. By the time I've built this PC it'll be my third current computer, so this just needs to sit on a desk and look pretty and be my gaming rig. Would be nice to hear what you think of the design and aesthetic though :).

Oh, and I'm 2 weeks into my trial of 3ds max. Does anyone know any decent open-source 3d modelling programs other than sketcher or blender? Cheers.

[jdbnsn]

I'm fully aware that there'll be some smartarses out there who'll flame me
Well, that was a fairly guarded introduction, but I doubt you'll find much flaming going on here and just about everyone I know here is quite welcoming. As for your preferred style of modding, that's fantastic, and I have found that there are not many styles that I don't appreciate. It is a wide ranging art form that takes many different perspectives and imaginations to produce. I don't know if I would view those who drill a couple of holes and toss in some LED's as an inferior form, it's just what that person either wanted, or what skill level they are comfortable with, etc... We have all types here, and love'm all.
As for your design, I really like the shape. It has a very appealing composition to me and if those texture contrasts between the side panels and edges are faithfully executed, I think it will look excellent. It does look like a tire, but I'm sure you are aware of that.
The 3D skills are pretty damned good, especially for a first timer. I have none what-so-ever so you already have a leg up on me. Good luck with the mod and keep us posted, looks like an interesting build.

Welcome to TBCS!

Jon

P.S. 2 things I forgot, if you find yourself in a jam and absolutely must mount external switches, you might be able to use these "vandal-proof (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13633)" styles and blend them in to some of the scales toward the base.

And the other thing, do you have experience with refrigeration units? If so then never mind but if you do not have a strong working knowledge I would use caution, they can be very dangerous.

[dr.walrus]

Cheers buddy, nice to get a decent reply for a first post on a forum!

As for the tyre comment, that's pretty funny because I've been working hard on the design to stop it looking like a jukebox, with the curved top and all, i had to scrap some of the fluting stuff i was going to be designing in.

There's probably not going to be any 'ports' at all, really. The cables will pretty much be attached to their ports on the motherboard and run out through a hole in the base (sorry desk). The slit down the case will allow the (slot-loading) optical drive to be accessed without the user having to see anything- it'll just pop out and go back in, pretty much invisibly.

[b4i7]

first off, welcome to the forums!

you wont have to worry about people being a**es around here... this IS the friendliest case modding community ive seen

cant wait to see what you bring us

[jdbnsn]

There's probably not going to be any 'ports' at all, really. The cables will pretty much be attached to their ports on the motherboard and run out through a hole in the base (sorry desk). The slit down the case will allow the (slot-loading) optical drive to be accessed without the user having to see anything- it'll just pop out and go back in, pretty much invisibly.

yeah, I overlooked that the first time I read it then noticed what you had said so deleted it. I really like the idea of a fully cable-less and button less design (kind of an xbox 360 on crack).

[dr.walrus]

P.S. 2 things I forgot, if you find yourself in a jam and absolutely must mount external switches, you might be able to use these "vandal-proof (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13633)" styles and blend them in to some of the scales toward the base.

And the other thing, do you have experience with refrigeration units? If so then never mind but if you do not have a strong working knowledge I would use caution, they can be very dangerous.

Just spotted these questions, and I'm glad you picked up on probably the two most salient points here. Thank you for that link, it may come in handy. One of the problems about the 'purist' approach I'm taking is the choice of material; cast iron has poor machining qualities and it will be difficult to make changes after the case is cast, so I'll be looking at getting one of those fancy Asus motherboards with a remote control, which will solve all of my problems. Hopefully!

I don't have any experience working with refridgeration units, but I'm going for a 'closed box' approach if I use it; there will be no modification made to the unit itself, just a new housing, fan, and I also seem to remember the power switch being screwed up, so I might need to build a PCB with a monostable to start it when the PC boots. Boo.

[jdbnsn]

cast iron has poor machining qualities and it will be difficult to make changes after the case is cast

Oh yeah, that is a tough choice for materials, gotta get it right the first time! lol Something that you might keep in mind would be to build everything except the outer "shell" and build a shell from something else which is pliable and expendable. That way, you can test different setups without having to worry about making sure it's right the first time. Then, when you've got it you can use that disposable version as your template for the cast version.
Since you are going for wireless, you might want to consider building your own remote system like danthegeek made for his Battlefield 2 L.A.N. (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10678) mod (he used a garage door opener which I'm sure will work through your shell).

And about the fridge, I highly advise you to speak with a professional in the field before dismantling your unit for advise on safety. And if you were thinking of using it as a functioning cooling system, just remember that any components with water in them will collect condensation outside the fridge if they fall below ambient room temp. So gotta be careful your watercooling loop doesn't get colder than room air or your gear will be swimming.

[dr.walrus]

I've been lurking here for a long time now, and somehow missed out on that mod. I'm quite blown away with it.

As for the fridge, it's a 12v unit and I'm not touching the actual cooling end of things so safety pretty much a non-issue; as you pointed out, a major issue is condensation, and having looked in some depth at the challenges (if you look at all the neoprene fittings and all that crap you get with phase cooling systems, condensation would ALWAYS be an issue).

There's a good forum post here about an attempt to use a fridge to keep a processor cool:

http://www.overclock.net/cooling-experiments/110378-putting-fridge-cooling-system-rest.html

I'd only be using mine as a 'bonus cooler' to further cool an already liquid-cooled system, which would really be to handle poor airflow through the main case body; however, I'll post my sketches to show an unusual motherboard layout which should allow me to get around the front>back airflow model, since there'll be no vents to the front or back. Since I won't be overclocking this system, stock aircooling should be fine, so long as I get the airflow right.. I'll find out what the temperature will be like once I've got the test rig built.

[h3moglobe0]

Welcome :)

No Smartasses here - maybe me, I have alwasy my 3 pennies:P.
Only honey and Kisses right here ;).

This looks intresting. Can't get whole Idea for project from first post, but case will look unusally.
And that's it for me :D. Enough to subscribe.
Keep up workin' and I am sure that u will get +rep in few days/weeks.

For 3.0 Ghz procs stock coolers are pretty enough mostly.
But you should do some good air flow there:). And for this case it's can be intresting.
There are few mods with shapes like in your project - Retro radio mods alike.
Check them out.

Greetz and keep up good work.

[Vertigo]

Welcome to the boards, as stated earlier vandal proof switches are nice. You can get ones with a black finish as well, I used them in my current mod.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=vandal

I got mine pre wired/sleeved, the wires they put on these are REALLY long.

[jbaldwinroberts]

Looks like an interesting case. it will be cool to see how using iron works out as well. Subscribed

[p0Pe]

i love the design!... and most of all the ideal of having all the wires run through a whole in the desk:D

cant wait to see how this turns out:)

[Wag]

I've actually been toying with the idea of a "wireless PC" and have considered modding a PC to not use any wire save power and video (and even video could possibly be sent wirelessly.)

If you really didn't want to mess with cords, bluetooth is something to consider. It would save you from having to run a bunch of cables out the bottom of your PC (and desk!) while still giving you good performance for your peripherals. Bluetooth is relatively unhindered by walls and other obstacles up to and beyond 30 feet so the adapter could be on the inside of the case with no external antenna. I know that a lot of people scoff at the idea of a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, especially for gaming, but I'm just tossing ideas out there.

Also, I haven't been able to find a slot loading disc drive in years! What model are you using and where did you find it?? I had a pioneer 16x slot loading DVD drive (not a burner) which I love until the day it died. I would be thrilled to find another slot loading drive.

One last though crosses my mind as well. It might be possible to completely hide the power button by finding an old power button from a Mac G4 cube (http://www.dvwarehouse.com/Board,-Power-Button,-PowerMac-G4-Cube-p-25616.html) If memory serves, it had no physical switch but rather some sort of sensor. You would have to look into it, but if you are goign for a minimalistic design, it might be a nice touch.

Also, Welcome!

[dr.walrus]

I've actually been toying with the idea of a "wireless PC" and have considered modding a PC to not use any wire save power and video (and even video could possibly be sent wirelessly.)

If you really didn't want to mess with cords, bluetooth is something to consider. It would save you from having to run a bunch of cables out the bottom of your PC (and desk!) while still giving you good performance for your peripherals. Bluetooth is relatively unhindered by walls and other obstacles up to and beyond 30 feet so the adapter could be on the inside of the case with no external antenna. I know that a lot of people scoff at the idea of a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, especially for gaming, but I'm just tossing ideas out there.

Also, I haven't been able to find a slot loading disc drive in years! What model are you using and where did you find it?? I had a pioneer 16x slot loading DVD drive (not a burner) which I love until the day it died. I would be thrilled to find another slot loading drive.

One last though crosses my mind as well. It might be possible to completely hide the power button by finding an old power button from a Mac G4 cube (http://www.dvwarehouse.com/Board,-Power-Button,-PowerMac-G4-Cube-p-25616.html) If memory serves, it had no physical switch but rather some sort of sensor. You would have to look into it, but if you are goign for a minimalistic design, it might be a nice touch.

Also, Welcome!

There are wireless HDMI and VGA adapters, but they're about £200, which would interfere with the rest of my budget.

There's some nice cheap wireless USB products out there, for example:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/94526

As for slot-loading drives, I can only find notebook products out there, which would be usable, see:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129003

Thanks for the G4 link, I'll look into how the switch works

[dr.walrus]

New render with adapted side panel. You guys reckon it looks like less of a tyre now?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/angle-2.jpg

[Crimson Sky]

I'm fully aware that there'll be some smartarses out there who'll flame me at the idea of there being no external ports, but again, THIS IS AS MUCH A PIECE OF SCULPTURE AS IT IS A COMPUTER CASE, so I will not be getting into that discussion. Would be nice to hear what you think of the design and aesthetic though :).

Howdy and welcome to TBCS!

I'm gonna be pretty hard on this early design, so just keep in mind that you've opened it up to discussion and therefore already prepared for commentary good OR not so good...I Hope...

Design so far: 4.5/10
Aethetics: 3.2/10

In my opinion it looks like the rubberized cap of a USB thumbdrive. Again, just basing this on your initial 3D renders.

Calling it a sculpture is fine, however ya can't sling that phrase in an effort to be the 'end-all' of any discussion regarding the functional design elements of the outter surfaces. :)

[dr.walrus]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/side-2.jpg

now comes with vents!

[Zephik]

Interesting design...

I was just thinking though, it might be pretty "hardcore" if you turned those squares into spikes OF RAGING DEATH! ...or just spikes would be fine. haha

But no really, that might be kind of cool no? Probably a little impractical though... :scratches chin:

[dr.walrus]

Howdy and welcome to TBCS!

I'm gonna be pretty hard on this early design, so just keep in mind that you've opened it up to discussion and therefore already prepared for commentary good OR not so good...I Hope...

Design so far: 4.5/10
Aethetics: 3.2/10

In my opinion it looks like the rubberized cap of a USB thumbdrive. Again, just basing this on your initial 3D renders.


I'm ok with that as i'm still at the stage of rendering, and I think a valid commentary that's been raised is that the flat surfaces extruded from the curved surface are tending to make people think of softer textures, which is something i wanted to avoid and obviously haven't been successful with.



Calling it a sculpture is fine, however ya can't sling that phrase in an effort to be the 'end-all' of any discussion regarding the functional design elements of the outter surfaces. :)

Actually, I think I can, given that any discussion of the functionality of a design has to take into account the aims of the design. If my design reduces functionality, that's part and parcel of it, and I think bringing that discussion into this thread pollutes the aims of what I'm trying to achieve.

So, what I'm trying to say is, please don't say things like 'but you'll need to take the side off your case to plug in a new peripheral!' because i already know that and that's what I intend to do. The exterior is intended to be as 100% non-functional and static as possible.

If we're looking at smart ideas of how to mount drives, port replicators, or different scale shapes, I'm all ears!

[jdbnsn]

I don't know about the spikes, I think that would look too much like an inverted Iron Maiden. I am liking the design you have so far, I think I may have even liked it better with the circle plate on the top half. I wouldn't worry about it looking like a tire, it won't once it's built it's just the renders that make it look similar.

[dr.walrus]

Interesting design...

I was just thinking though, it might be pretty "hardcore" if you turned those squares into spikes OF RAGING DEATH! ...or just spikes would be fine. haha

But no really, that might be kind of cool no? Probably a little impractical though... :scratches chin:

actually, the plan was to turn them into spikes on the next render anyway, so watch this space!

[jdbnsn]

If you are entertaining the thought of changing the scales, why not consider shorter, and wider plates that have less space in between? I rather like the squares myself, I think spikes make squash the simplistic or elegance of the overall design.

[Zephik]

...and static as possible.

If we're looking at smart ideas of how to mount drives, port replicators, or different scale shapes, I'm all ears!

Hmmm, how bout "hidden "stuff"". Have you ever seen those houses, where your walking down a hallway that turns out to be a dead end? Well its not, it has a "hidden" doorway that is made to look just like the walls surrounding it. I suppose you could do something like that? if I understand what you are trying to get at correctly? I believe we call it "stealthing" around here. A basic form of it would be someone turning a "bay cover" for a computer into the front panel of a cd drive or something similar. Kind of like this (http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2973/both2qd3.jpg), instead of this (http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4945/imgp6895intelpentiumd28wp9.jpg), but I bet you could take it to another level and make it look like there is nothing there until you push a button, then voila, out of nowhere pops out your cd tray.


actually, the plan was to turn them into spikes on the next render anyway, so watch this space!

Woo hoo! I love spikes! *does a little dance*

I suppose you could even make those spikes any length and to however a sharp or a dull point as you want too. Maybe even something short and "stubbly" might look cool. I'm thinking not too long though, you don't want to poke your eye out! ;)

[dr.walrus]

If you are entertaining the thought of changing the scales, why not consider shorter, and wider plates that have less space in between? I rather like the squares myself, I think spikes make squash the simplistic or elegance of the overall design.

like this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/angle-3-1.jpg

[jdbnsn]

uhoh, it's starting to look like a tombstone! :eek:

Lol, I'd just keep milling it over until you hit that Eureka moment. I don't know if I'm advising you in the right direction or not.

[jdbnsn]

Okay, this may be way off base for your plan but it popped in my head as I thought of a drawing by Cam De Leon ("Happy Pencil"). Here is a way you could hide your optical drive, but it would not be an easy build and it does change your one piece design. But I thought I'd toss it out there anyway. I'd post the pic that inspired me but I kind of know the guy and promised him that I'd never snag his pics from the site (he's been getting robbed blind).

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/misc/closed.png

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/misc/open.png

[dr.walrus]

see, this is getting quite far off the point of my aesthetic concept here, but I could make this case out of MDF (which I will be doing as the first step of the 4 part moulding process) in a quarter of the time and at a tenth of the cost - if this was just about how it looked. No lights, no visible components.

[jdbnsn]

yeah, I thought it might be. It was just an idea.

[dr.walrus]

Found this today:

http://www.themodnation-forums.com/viewtopic.php?p=26721#26721

Really admire the machining work on the aluminium, i like the idea of real thick metal panels on the sides.

[Zephik]

Found this today:

http://www.themodnation-forums.com/viewtopic.php?p=26721#26721

Really admire the machining work on the aluminium, i like the idea of real thick metal panels on the sides.

That is one effing nice mod, I LOVE aluminum builds. Especially "thick" aluminum builds. Thats why I haven't boughten a new case for my pc or for a new project yet, I'm very picky. It must be either all aluminum or close to it, and it must be thick aluminum. Meaning, 2mm or more. I'll accept 1mm if the case design is to die for though. I'm thinking... either the Adamas or the Rogue, since they aren't half a billion dollars each like some products from Lian Li and/or Silverstone. :p

[dr.walrus]

actually, there's been a bit of a redesign, which is a bit more complicated than this, but this will be the main shape of the 3d protrusions:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/paul_brack/angle-4.jpg