Project: eVGA tribute scratch build

[Okele]

Hello all,

First let me say, I love this site. It's finally nudged me in the direction I want to go. This will be my first project ever attempted. After learning a few things and looking through some guides, I have come up with my first concept. It seems like it will be a fairly easy and straight forward build. This image I will be posting tonight is in the preliminary stage of development. I've done all of the image work in sketchup which I downloaded 3 or 4 days ago.

Things to note from the image: The dials represent cooling fans, I will spend some time detailing the finer points of the system as I go. Im not totally set on the colors either. Although making the entire thing out of wood would be a blast, and would look kinda cool too. But all that said things change and this will likely be no exception. I will update images as I proceed and hopefully I will be able to start building in the next few weeks. On to the image(provided I can figure out how to post the image =P)

Edit: need to dig through some tutorials later for image posting, my brain hurts now. heres a link instead.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4/Okele/evgaconcept.jpg

[jdbnsn]

wow, cool design bro! I'll definately be watching this.

Welcome to TBCS and good luck with the build!

Jon

[Okele]

Thanks jb, and thanks sgtM for editing for the img. I cant wait to get started but I know I need to finish the design stage first hopefully I will have that done by late next week. Any suggestion on colors are welcome. I like the wood look but I dont know how easy it will be to impliment.

[jdbnsn]

Well what material are you going to be building it out of?

[Okele]

That's still kind of up in the air. If I go with the wood look, it will of course be wood. If I go with a different color I was thinking of sheet metal for the main case, of course that means painting painting and oh ya more painting. For the top I was actually thinking of taking the easy route and seeing if I could find a large PVC pipe to destroy, simply because they are generally designed in a perfect diameter. Otherwise Im all ears on materials to use. With the exception of the symbol and the acrylic/plexi areas the box should be pretty straight forward whichever way I go.

[jdbnsn]

well you could build the bottom half out of wood to keep that texture (which I agree looks great) and for the top use something like polystyrene which is easy to form and paint it. I think gloss black would look great.

[Okele]

Ok I took to the coloring with sketchup and changed a few color schemes. it doesnt have a gloss black that I could find so I went with simple black. I had to change the color of the "gap" spots to yellow because the green got washed out. I also changed the color of the case logo to a yellow translucent. It looks pretty decent. I'll keep you updated =)

[mofo]

The sketch up could be replicated pretty easily with false wood. Like linoleum(sp?). Either construct with aluminum or foam or even mdf or ldf. Then cover with countertop covering that looks like wood. Remember peeling up the desks and tables in school, like that.
This website has a bunch of "grains":
http://www.interiorplace.com/vmchk/Contact-Paper-Self-Adhesive-shelf-liners/Pine-Wood-Contact-Paper.html

[Okele]

I had actually thought about using contact paper. Only thing I didnt really care for with it is the issue of having to cut really small pieces. The prices on that site arent bad. I also did some looking around on the web for polystyrene, anyone know of a decent place to get some?

[bentleya]

nice can't wait for more :thumb:

[Okele]

Ok so today I had a lot of time at work to think about some directions I want to go with this case, you know because things werent busy enough with people buying cases and cases of eggs today. Anyway, about a year ago a friend of mine and I did something completely strange and bought 5 gallons of mineral oil(this wasnt cheap), we completely submerged a 800MHz mobo and video card into a fish tank. We also submerged a PSU into it. The result? A working computer with very low temps. We installed Vista on it in about an hour. The computer is still running in his friends house who is a computer builder for a local shop. I fully intend to impliment a completely submersed mobo and vid card into a designed inner casing with mineral oil(industrial).

Leaks will be a problem if not done correctly so I will be visiting a local glass shop in the next few weeks to see if they can help me solve the problem of leaks while making it possible to swap out components if needed. Of course that means my build has taken a turn from "could be done in a month or two" to will be close to being done in 6 months.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Idea is very nice, I love the wood look.

[Okele]

Ok Ive done a little bit of a redesign of this case and am looking for the materials to begin doing this build. I realized after looking at the supports of the old design that any material I use would need to be extremely strong to hold up the E and hold the stealthed DVD drive. So in the spirit of fixing that I have readjusted the design and changed the paint scheme a bit. Suggestions are welcome. I will be looking for the materials that Ive decided on in the next few days and hopefully will be able to start on Thursday(my days off).

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4/Okele/evgaconceptradiator32.jpg

[Okele]

well since I cant seem to get the images figured out heres a link.

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4/Okele/?action=view&current=evgaconceptradiator32.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4/Okele/evgaconceptradiator32.jpg

[bentleya]

kk cool i like it

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4/Okele/evgaconceptradiator32.jpg

[vastonecat]

well since I cant seem to get the images figured out heres a link.

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4/Okele/?action=view&current=evgaconceptradiator32.jpg

well you are headed in the right direction using photobucket... when you look at the pic in photobucket there are like 4 links listed that you could use under the pic cut and past the bottom one into your posts to get the effect like Bentleya did just now.