EvilNeverDies
11-18-2008, 05:10 AM
Well Really it's a complete case build for a media centre in some A3 sizes of Perspex.
This mod is sponsored by:
http://www.crucial.com/images/crucial_logo.gif
The Memory Experts
Great thanks to Joan Lunny, Public Relations Executive for sorting this out.
(2Gb 800Mhz Ballistix Ram)
http://www.amd.com/images/AMD_logo_gb-uk.gif
Great thanks to Ron Martin at AMD for setting this up.
(2.6Ghz Phenom & HD4850)
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/images/logos/seagate/logo_home.gif
Great thanks to Eleanor Giles for setting this up
(500GB Seagate Hardrive)
I’ve decided to take my modding to the next level. I’m going to create my own SFF case for a media centre. This is going to be entered into the custompc mods of summer contest (if it’s finished in time that is).First of all I’m going to be making this a proper step by step log of what I do, my other case mod blog (beige box to black beauty) was a little thin on the details so I’m going to correct that.
I’m Steven Dodd, 16 years old and currently attending Carmel College in St.Helens. I have never done any formal art qualifications (you’ll see why in a minute), have never done any kind of engineering qualifications and have only ever done electronics at GCSE level (I got a B). I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think you’re not “arty” enough to attempt a case mod. I am not an arty person (I study sciences and maths) and everything I’ve learnt about case modding is either form the internet or through trial and error. I am also currently looking for sponsors for this mod.
I took inspirations from Macs, they’re so compact and elegant but you don’t see many pc’s like that. It’s a shame really.
Without further ado I give you some sketches I drew so you can understand what I see in my head.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/Picture-1.png
This will be what the left hand side panel looks like. The black plexi will have the windows logo cut into the side (I shouldn’t have to remind you that the windows logo is copyright Microsoft *protects his ass from being sued*) and different colours of plexi will be put behind it to give the windows colours. It’s like a case window however the pieces of plexi will be sanded so they will be opaque rather than transparent. I will place a white cold cathode (possibly 2) behind the plexi so that it lights up, however (and here’s the complicated part) I want it to glow rather than being just lit-up. Kind of like when a Mac power book is put to sleep and the apple logo glows on and off. You’ll see what I mean when I get round to it, although I may not be able to find a circuit that does this for me and may have to settle with a sound reactive one (I’ve already seen one of those for use with cold cathodes). If you’ve got any suggestions to help be my guest =D
The black plexi will be covered by a layer of clear plexi (this is how Mac’s get so glossy) and the whole thing will be held together by 4 screws in each corner (I’d rather not use any as again it wrecks the clean look of the case but it wouldn’t be stable enough without) I also need to think of some kind of feet to rise the case off the ground.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/Picture001.png
This is hopefully how it will be laid out inside. You notice I’ve gone for a slot loading DVD drive for 2 reasons;
1) Means that I don’t need a front bezel which would screw up the design (it’s supposed to be pretty clean and minimalist like the windows aero theme).
2) They look awesome don’t they?
One thing I do worry about is cooling however the case will be mostly mesh so hopefully convection currents and good old heat radiation should suffice (the only fan I plan to have is the one in the PSU which is situated at the top to expel all the rising hot air). Also I’ll want to cushion the HDD somewhat to try and make this thing as quiet as possible.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/Picture002.png
This is what the front panel will look like. It will feature AC Ryan HEXX mesh all around the case for good cooling (and it looks awesome). The slot for the slot loading DVD drive is there also, I don’t know where to put the eject button though (or not have one at all) because it could spoil the aesthetics of the case.
Also now you know why I didn’t take any kind of formal art qualifications ;).
Most of my ideas come to me in my sleep (strange I know) so it’s quite possible I’ll come up with some more ideas as the night’s progress.
This is my first microATX based mod and my first full case manufacturing one. Let’s hope it goes ok.
Components
Case
As said in the concept section I’ve decided to use lots of different types of Perspex (also known as Acrylic) to achieve the look I’m after. I’m using Perspex rather than metal for a few reasons:
1)It’s lightweight and the colour is permanent and consistent (no paint to flake off, no dodgy paintjobs)
2)It wont short circuit so I don’t need to drill holes into it to allow motherboard risers I can just place the motherboard on top
3)It’s fairly resilient (won’t rust, colour won’t fade very quickly etc.)
I’m using 2x A3 sheets of 3mm thick black Perspex (opaque rather than translucent e.g. you can’t see through it at all) with 2x A3 sheets of 2mm clear Perspex on top of that. I got them from http://www.plasticonline.co.uk/index.php great shop which provides almost any colour/style of plastic you could want in a variety of sizes, they also deliver very quickly so a big thumbs up to them:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00910.jpg
I will also be using some tinted Perpex from them to make the windows window (hehe awesome) andfrosting the back of it to give it a misted over look. These 4 pieces of different colour tinted Perspex will in turn be illuminated by 2 x 4″ white cold cathodes.
I’m using some Ac Ryan AluHEXX mesh to cover the gap between the 2 piece of plexi.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC01036-1.jpg
This stuff cost me about £15 (!!!) from http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=60_97.
Also I’m using 10mm diameter x 1m length clear acrylic rod as support struts. Bought from the same shop I got all my other plastic from.
Disk Drive
I decided to go with a laptop drive as they are usually quieter than desktop drives and because my case is going to be small so the smaller the drive the better. I don’t need blu-ray or any of the HD nonsense so I just went with a plain old DVD drive although I will be playing about 90% of my films from my hardrive.
Without further ado:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00867.jpg
It is a Panasonic UJ-815-B, I got it off eBay for a tenner plus £6 P&P (it was advertised for £23 + 6 P&P but I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse ;)). Of course one thing to bear in mind is that you need a converter to use laptop components (2.5″ hardrive, CD/DVD drive) on a desktop. My first converter started a small fire (=() but I found another guy doing them in the U.K. He only had one though so I can’t really recommend him to you guys at home. Look for one withsome wax or something on the bottom pins as I think the pins touching the metal housing of the case caused the short circuit. If in doubt link me and I’ll have a look.
I could have also used a laptop hardrive in this mod however they are often more expensive, slower and only come in smaller capacities than normal desktop hardrives. As this is going to be a media centre hardrive capacity is very important (more Gb’s = more films for me).
Ram
2Gb of 800Mhz Crucial Ballistix Ram with standard timings of 4-4-4-12
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00949.jpg
CPU
An AMD Phenom 9950 (2.6Ghz)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00980.jpg
Graphics Card
A HD4850
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00977.jpg
According to ATi it’s good for decoding H.264 High def movies which my DVD’s are encoded in. I’m not sure whether this is the first card with H.264 harware acceleration or whether it just handles them better but it seems to be a realy good buy for a media centre that needs to be able to output to a high res and decode H.264 smoothly. Oh and it’ll game pretty well I’m sure ;).
HDD
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC01062.jpg
1Tb of speedy storage, as there’ll only be room for one hardrive best make it a big one for all my hi-def content. Graciously provided by Seagate and it’s been reviewed as the quickest 1Tb drive out there.
EDIT: This 1Tb drive arrived D.O.A after speaking with seagate however they’ve agreed to send me a 500Gb replacement as they had no 1Tb drives in stock.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC01068.jpg
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=25163&category_id=342
(sorry I don’t have a picture, I was rushing trying to get it all together and I forgot)
bought from http://www.cclonline.com (my favourite e-tailor for all things computer related)
Power Supply (PSU)
Coolermaster 650w Extreme Power
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=14801&category_id=263&manufacturer_id=0&tid=rp-650-pcap
Again no picture because I was too excited at getting it ready in time =D
Construction
Ok I have received my Perspex (well the clear and black Perspex, I’ll order the window’s window Perspex when I’ve cut out the holes for it).
Here’s a sneaky peek at the black Perspex (I’m sure you can imagine what the clear Perspex looks like, it’s clear):
This mod is sponsored by:
http://www.crucial.com/images/crucial_logo.gif
The Memory Experts
Great thanks to Joan Lunny, Public Relations Executive for sorting this out.
(2Gb 800Mhz Ballistix Ram)
http://www.amd.com/images/AMD_logo_gb-uk.gif
Great thanks to Ron Martin at AMD for setting this up.
(2.6Ghz Phenom & HD4850)
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/images/logos/seagate/logo_home.gif
Great thanks to Eleanor Giles for setting this up
(500GB Seagate Hardrive)
I’ve decided to take my modding to the next level. I’m going to create my own SFF case for a media centre. This is going to be entered into the custompc mods of summer contest (if it’s finished in time that is).First of all I’m going to be making this a proper step by step log of what I do, my other case mod blog (beige box to black beauty) was a little thin on the details so I’m going to correct that.
I’m Steven Dodd, 16 years old and currently attending Carmel College in St.Helens. I have never done any formal art qualifications (you’ll see why in a minute), have never done any kind of engineering qualifications and have only ever done electronics at GCSE level (I got a B). I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think you’re not “arty” enough to attempt a case mod. I am not an arty person (I study sciences and maths) and everything I’ve learnt about case modding is either form the internet or through trial and error. I am also currently looking for sponsors for this mod.
I took inspirations from Macs, they’re so compact and elegant but you don’t see many pc’s like that. It’s a shame really.
Without further ado I give you some sketches I drew so you can understand what I see in my head.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/Picture-1.png
This will be what the left hand side panel looks like. The black plexi will have the windows logo cut into the side (I shouldn’t have to remind you that the windows logo is copyright Microsoft *protects his ass from being sued*) and different colours of plexi will be put behind it to give the windows colours. It’s like a case window however the pieces of plexi will be sanded so they will be opaque rather than transparent. I will place a white cold cathode (possibly 2) behind the plexi so that it lights up, however (and here’s the complicated part) I want it to glow rather than being just lit-up. Kind of like when a Mac power book is put to sleep and the apple logo glows on and off. You’ll see what I mean when I get round to it, although I may not be able to find a circuit that does this for me and may have to settle with a sound reactive one (I’ve already seen one of those for use with cold cathodes). If you’ve got any suggestions to help be my guest =D
The black plexi will be covered by a layer of clear plexi (this is how Mac’s get so glossy) and the whole thing will be held together by 4 screws in each corner (I’d rather not use any as again it wrecks the clean look of the case but it wouldn’t be stable enough without) I also need to think of some kind of feet to rise the case off the ground.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/Picture001.png
This is hopefully how it will be laid out inside. You notice I’ve gone for a slot loading DVD drive for 2 reasons;
1) Means that I don’t need a front bezel which would screw up the design (it’s supposed to be pretty clean and minimalist like the windows aero theme).
2) They look awesome don’t they?
One thing I do worry about is cooling however the case will be mostly mesh so hopefully convection currents and good old heat radiation should suffice (the only fan I plan to have is the one in the PSU which is situated at the top to expel all the rising hot air). Also I’ll want to cushion the HDD somewhat to try and make this thing as quiet as possible.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/Picture002.png
This is what the front panel will look like. It will feature AC Ryan HEXX mesh all around the case for good cooling (and it looks awesome). The slot for the slot loading DVD drive is there also, I don’t know where to put the eject button though (or not have one at all) because it could spoil the aesthetics of the case.
Also now you know why I didn’t take any kind of formal art qualifications ;).
Most of my ideas come to me in my sleep (strange I know) so it’s quite possible I’ll come up with some more ideas as the night’s progress.
This is my first microATX based mod and my first full case manufacturing one. Let’s hope it goes ok.
Components
Case
As said in the concept section I’ve decided to use lots of different types of Perspex (also known as Acrylic) to achieve the look I’m after. I’m using Perspex rather than metal for a few reasons:
1)It’s lightweight and the colour is permanent and consistent (no paint to flake off, no dodgy paintjobs)
2)It wont short circuit so I don’t need to drill holes into it to allow motherboard risers I can just place the motherboard on top
3)It’s fairly resilient (won’t rust, colour won’t fade very quickly etc.)
I’m using 2x A3 sheets of 3mm thick black Perspex (opaque rather than translucent e.g. you can’t see through it at all) with 2x A3 sheets of 2mm clear Perspex on top of that. I got them from http://www.plasticonline.co.uk/index.php great shop which provides almost any colour/style of plastic you could want in a variety of sizes, they also deliver very quickly so a big thumbs up to them:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00910.jpg
I will also be using some tinted Perpex from them to make the windows window (hehe awesome) andfrosting the back of it to give it a misted over look. These 4 pieces of different colour tinted Perspex will in turn be illuminated by 2 x 4″ white cold cathodes.
I’m using some Ac Ryan AluHEXX mesh to cover the gap between the 2 piece of plexi.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC01036-1.jpg
This stuff cost me about £15 (!!!) from http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=60_97.
Also I’m using 10mm diameter x 1m length clear acrylic rod as support struts. Bought from the same shop I got all my other plastic from.
Disk Drive
I decided to go with a laptop drive as they are usually quieter than desktop drives and because my case is going to be small so the smaller the drive the better. I don’t need blu-ray or any of the HD nonsense so I just went with a plain old DVD drive although I will be playing about 90% of my films from my hardrive.
Without further ado:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00867.jpg
It is a Panasonic UJ-815-B, I got it off eBay for a tenner plus £6 P&P (it was advertised for £23 + 6 P&P but I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse ;)). Of course one thing to bear in mind is that you need a converter to use laptop components (2.5″ hardrive, CD/DVD drive) on a desktop. My first converter started a small fire (=() but I found another guy doing them in the U.K. He only had one though so I can’t really recommend him to you guys at home. Look for one withsome wax or something on the bottom pins as I think the pins touching the metal housing of the case caused the short circuit. If in doubt link me and I’ll have a look.
I could have also used a laptop hardrive in this mod however they are often more expensive, slower and only come in smaller capacities than normal desktop hardrives. As this is going to be a media centre hardrive capacity is very important (more Gb’s = more films for me).
Ram
2Gb of 800Mhz Crucial Ballistix Ram with standard timings of 4-4-4-12
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00949.jpg
CPU
An AMD Phenom 9950 (2.6Ghz)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00980.jpg
Graphics Card
A HD4850
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC00977.jpg
According to ATi it’s good for decoding H.264 High def movies which my DVD’s are encoded in. I’m not sure whether this is the first card with H.264 harware acceleration or whether it just handles them better but it seems to be a realy good buy for a media centre that needs to be able to output to a high res and decode H.264 smoothly. Oh and it’ll game pretty well I’m sure ;).
HDD
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC01062.jpg
1Tb of speedy storage, as there’ll only be room for one hardrive best make it a big one for all my hi-def content. Graciously provided by Seagate and it’s been reviewed as the quickest 1Tb drive out there.
EDIT: This 1Tb drive arrived D.O.A after speaking with seagate however they’ve agreed to send me a 500Gb replacement as they had no 1Tb drives in stock.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/evil_never_dies/DSC01068.jpg
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=25163&category_id=342
(sorry I don’t have a picture, I was rushing trying to get it all together and I forgot)
bought from http://www.cclonline.com (my favourite e-tailor for all things computer related)
Power Supply (PSU)
Coolermaster 650w Extreme Power
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=14801&category_id=263&manufacturer_id=0&tid=rp-650-pcap
Again no picture because I was too excited at getting it ready in time =D
Construction
Ok I have received my Perspex (well the clear and black Perspex, I’ll order the window’s window Perspex when I’ve cut out the holes for it).
Here’s a sneaky peek at the black Perspex (I’m sure you can imagine what the clear Perspex looks like, it’s clear):