Pimp-my-Dell

[BinaryDemon]

While I await for some parts to bet delivered for my 1st mod project - The Horror-ible PC (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7228), I have decided to start another called 'Pimp-my-Dell'.

I had an old Dell Optiplex GX1 (P3-450, 64megs, ATI RAGE PRO 4meg, 16GB HD) sitting around and decided to make it be all it can be- both hardware-wise and externally.

I figured if there is 1 color that screams bling-bling it has to be GOLD.

Pre-Painting:
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/prepaint.jpg

Coat1:
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/postpaint1.jpg

I was surprised that covering all the surfaces of those parts with just 1 coat took the entire can. Off to the store I go for more gold paint.

To round out the hardware upgrades I purchased an ATI Radeon 7000 PCI, and plan to purchase additional ram and a Slot1->Socket 370 Powerleap upgrade kit- that will support upto a Celeron 1.4 ghz. Ill probably need a new HD too if I want to install XP on it. It currently is running WinME.

So what else does it need- some fake jewels? or a disco ball?

[Mitternacht]

I LOVE GOOOOOOO000ooooold!

[/goldmember] Never seen Gold in a PC. Nice. +rep

[Ichbin]

Omg! thats hilarious! I love it man!

Dont forget to add the "Ice"

[B1Gtime]

Pretty hot so far

[chaksq]

"Throw some Ds on that s***"

Or a better option would be to buy some of those fake $ sign bling and paint it to match. and put them on the case somewhere.

I think my school used to have some of those old Dells. Where do you get that socket adaptor kit? I have a couple of old socket-7s needing some upgrades.

[BinaryDemon]

Throw some rims on that ****.

Or a better option would be to buy some of those fake $ sign bling and paint it to match. and put them on the case somewhere.

I think my school used to have some of those old Dells. Where do you get that socket adaptor kit? I have a couple of old socket-7s needing some upgrades.

I think I'll be getting the slot1->370pin adapter off ebay.

It's probably not a cost effective upgrade- it would be cheaper just to buy a new motherboard and cpu. Although I doubt a standard atx motherboard would fit this dell case correctly.

I like the idea of $ bling decorations. I'll think about that and see if I can make it work.

[Spacehonkey]

You've got to put some rims on that case. I would use some spinners.

[Spacehonkey]

Man, this mod has many possibilities. You got me thinking about a dozen different ways you can go with this one. The major question is what direction do you want to go with it? Do you want to go high class or low class bling-bling? By that I mean do you want to put a few expensive things together and make it look classy or for lack of a better word ghettofied it.

[Drum Thumper]

I vote for a chrome faceplate on the optical.

And twenny fo's as well.

Thumpa

[Spacehonkey]

Oh-Oh, I just got another idea for you. Instead of just mounting 24's on the bottom of the case like I origanal thought you should mod your intake and exhaust fans to look like 24 spinners. Sorry, before I get to ahead of myself I guess I should wait and see if you're even into the whole idea.

+REP for just getting me thinking about something new.

[BinaryDemon]

I vote for a chrome faceplate on the optical.

And twenny fo's as well.

Thumpa

I already painted the faceplate of the cdrom drive gold - so no chrome there ;)

I will think about using chrome paint elsewhere. Thanks

[BinaryDemon]

Oh-Oh, I just got another idea for you. Instead of just mounting 24's on the bottom of the case like I origanal thought you should mod your intake and exhaust fans to look like 24 spinners. Sorry, before I get to ahead of myself I guess I should wait and see if you're even into the whole idea.

+REP for just getting me thinking about something new.

Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of spinners. To answer your other question I want it to look good, but I'm not about to make it 'real' bling. For example if Im thinking about spinners - I'll probably go looking at toy automobiles and see if there isnt something I cant cannabilize from there. If I add $$$ signs, they will probably be plastic or wood painted chrome or gold.

[Spacehonkey]

To answer your other question I want it to look good, but I'm not about to make it 'real' bling.

I completely understand that.

Did you ever see the the $24K PC.
http://blog.wired.com/expensivepcs/2007/01/voodoo_omen_240.html

I'm sure there are more expensive ones out there but I thought you might like to see one that was painted with real gold.

[Crimson Sky]

get some good coats of clear gloss to protect that gold finish--it will tarnish very quickly. Nice idea!!

[Ichbin]

I have to say this AT LEAST once on this worklog....


fershizzle.


you should make a dolla sign badge and slap that sucker right on the top.

[Commando]

Darn it. Spacehonkey beat me to it. You can get R/C Car wheels that are chromed out for intakes to totally get the super bling effect.

Something like this: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXLRD2&P=0

[BinaryDemon]

Some pictures of reassembling to test if everything still fits and works.

The top is a little splotchy- dark and light spots- not completely uniform. The case fits much tighter, but everything still works.

http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/reassemble1.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/reassemble2.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/reassemble3.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/reassemble4.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/reassemble5.jpg

[Mitternacht]

haha, that's so frickin' awesome. Love it.

[Cagedconnerman]

awesome, never seen gold on a comp before this, +rep

[azminisk8r]

really you guys have never seen gold?? its the only kind i use that chrome and black, btw try putting a real srinner on like the side of the case then lighting it up internally with some lazer leds, atd look real cool, and add a small motor so it spins at like 20 rpm then put a plexiglass cover over the rim. yeah...

[Spacehonkey]

Guess what? I was just looking at your pix and had some more ideas that you might want to use on your mod. First off I think you should chrome out the grill on the back. Second if you want to use some diamond/jewels you could use them on the head on the buttons/screws/bolts. Third if you're planning on leaving the star design that's on top of the case you should do something to make it stand out more, maybe a different paint color or cut the pattern out and light it up from the inside.

[BinaryDemon]

Hmm I like the star design idea.

Here's what I was thinking-
- DELL spelled out in rhinestone letters on front or side.
- An automotive hood ornament for the top. I was thinking something expensive like lambo, or porshe but even the hood ornaments are expensive. So I will probably settle for Catillac because they appear to be cheap and prolific on ebay.

[Spacehonkey]

[QUOTE=BinaryDemon;87182]Here's what I was thinking-
- DELL spelled out in rhinestone letters on front or side.
QUOTE]

Why spell out Dell? Why advertise Dell when the whole idea modding is to make it your own? If you're going to spell out something why not make it your own, something like a cool name for the mod.

[BinaryDemon]

Why spell out Dell? Why advertise Dell when the whole idea modding is to make it your own? If you're going to spell out something why not make it your own, something like a cool name for the mod.[/QUOTE]

I want to keep it Dell to pay homage to its roots. Sorta like its still the same system just 'pimped out'. I can understand why most of the modders here would remove any brand naming from their mods, but for this keeping it fits my theme.

[Spacehonkey]

I want to keep it Dell to pay homage to its roots. Sorta like its still the same system just 'pimped out'. I can understand why most of the modders here would remove any brand naming from their mods, but for this keeping it fits my theme.

Oh ok sorry I must have missed that part, I understand know.:D :up:

[xmastree]

and stuck on the ' 24" ' emblem..


Instead of just mounting 24's on the bottom of the case


And twenny fo's as well.

:? Erm, what are these twenty-fours of which you speak? :?

[Ironcat]

Awesome! I love it... +rep for sheer bling coolness...

Cool ideas others have mentioned, and places to get them... or ideas I had...

1. You can go to a junkyard with a flatnosed screwdriver and get yourself an auto emblem for 2 or 3 bucks.
2. You can go to any pep boys, or discount auto parts and buy a whole set of fake spinners for 40 bucks, experiment on 3 and mount the final product.
3. You can go to any claire's, spencers, or hot topic in the mall, and buy yourself a ton of rhinestones and bling gems.
4. Also at the auto parts store you can find yourself a little of that fringe with the balls... or maybe a little fringed flag of your nationality.
5. Go back to the junkyard where you got the emblem, find yourself a little whip antenna.
6. Pinstripe a soundwave or a heartbeat wave on the side of the case the way the "boom cars" did in the 80s.
7. Put a pair of teeny speakers from a clock radio or a walkman on the back in a little carpet covered box so they look like 12 inch subs.

[Drum Thumper]

7. Put a pair of teeny speakers from a clock radio or a walkman on the back in a little carpet covered box so they look like 12 inch subs.

That would be pimp. Or better yet, use the PC speaker.

[xmastree]

TWENNY FO INCH RIMMMMMS.Erm, wouldn't they be a bit big for a computer? :?

[Spacehonkey]

Erm, wouldn't they be a bit big for a computer? :?

LMAO!!!

[DaveW]

Erm, wouldn't they be a bit big for a computer?

Not if you...wait, better stop. One of you guys would actually go out and do it.

-Dave

[.Maleficus.]

Not if you...wait, better stop. One of you guys would actually go out and do it.

-Dave
...I'm on it.

[progbuddy]

Put zirconia in the Dell logo. Also, spinner fans, maybe a "hood", and hydraulics.

[Spacehonkey]

Not if you...wait, better stop. One of you guys would actually go out and do it.

-Dave

Not quite 24's http://www.badgerpackaging.com/heavymetal/PC_Final_8.jpg

[Ichbin]

Ooooo rofl...seriously...just f'n rofl for that pic...+rep for making my day after a 2 hour meeting.

[xRyokenx]

What you need is a big ass muffler coming out of the back, and the aforementioned, by progbuddy (damn you, you beat me to it), hydraulics.

[Drum Thumper]

Put zirconia in the Dell logo. Also, spinner fans, maybe a "hood", and hydraulics.

Hot damn! Hydraulics on the side panel!

Wait a sec, this is a desktop model. Damn.

Perhaps some airbags then?

[Nagoshi]

Think carefully... it's a desktop model, more based like a car (sitting flat instead of high). It doesnt give you ideas??

Just had an interesting one... gram some big hot wheels truck wheels, mod them so you put spinners on them (or paint them with some shiny 50-Cent GANGSTAAAAA stylishh chrome), and turn it into a pimpy Dell car-PC. Fix them to the case with some hydraulics, and you have it. ;)

[BinaryDemon]

In keeping with the car ideas, I decided to add an exhaust system. I also bought a large case fan to blow air out of the exhaust, but I havent tested it yet. It might create some sort of annoying noise blowing thru those pipes.

Still waiting on some of the Cadillac stuff I ordered for it.

Here's the latest look-

http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/exhaustsys1.jpg

and

http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/dellpimp.jpg

I think it needs a spoiler now...

[moOmL]

Ha Ha! Awesome!! This is absolutely pimp-tastic. Nice job.:up:

[xmastree]

Like it!

How about a chrome air filter sticking out of the top? Functional, of course.

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

lolz these cases altho klunky.... r tuff as nails lolz
nice job on this
i got 2 of these sitting under my desk.... why didnt i think of this... :P

[Bucko]

God, it's bloody awful!

No wonder I like it so much! :p

+rep.

[BinaryDemon]

Like it!

How about a chrome air filter sticking out of the top? Functional, of course.

I am liking the hood scoop idea, although I might have some problems making it functional. I was hoping not to cut the top so that it would still be strong enough to support a monitor.

[progbuddy]

LOLOLOLOL

Whew, that was a lot of laughing *heart skips*.

What that thing needs is chrome fans, a hot chick painted on it, and and a can of Mountain Dew next to it.

[BinaryDemon]

My apologies for not keeping up with this worklog. Well there are other projects I would rather put my time into so I am calling it Complete. Done. Fin. There is more I had hoped to do - like Red LED Tail Lights. I moved the DELL rhinestone letters to the top, since they were not mounted well on the side.

Initially I had hoped to run Windows Vista on this old clunker, and eventually did get Vista running dispite bios ACPI incompatibilities but performance was pretty horrible. So I switched to Ubuntu 7.04, which runs pretty well.

Final Specs are:

Hardware:
Cpu: Intel Celeron 1.4 ghz Powerleap 370->Slot1 Adapter
Motherboard: Dell GX1
Memory: 512 Mb PC133
Video: ATI Radeon 7000 32 megs PCI
Hard drives: 80 Gb ( Ubuntu 7.04 installed )
Optical drives: 16x LG DVD/RW + Spare CDROM
Network: Onboard 10/100 Ethernet
Ports: Serial, Parallel Printer, 5 USB v2.0 (1 internal)
Audio: Diamond XtremeSound 5.1
Power Supply: ATX 200W Power Supply

Software:
Operating System: Ubuntu 7.04 with most recent patches applied.
Office Software: OpenOffice 2.2
DVD Playback: VLC

http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/final1.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/final2.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/final3.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/final4.jpg
http://binarydemons.com/pimpmydell/final5.jpg

[calumc]

you should send a picture of that to dell!!!:p :p

[jdbnsn]

Ahhh, love it man!

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Man, oh man. That's classic, and it sure beats the heck out of beige. +rep

[Ouch!]

It's both fantastic and horrible, at the same time!
You had to go right over the top, if you were going to get away with it and you have.

I love it!
The only problem is, that to actually use this computer, you're gonna have to dress up in big 1970's sunglasses and a huge affro wig!

Well done!

Ouch!