Hello,
This is my first time posting to any forum. Please forgive me if I make any stupid mistakes. I have been lurking here for a while and I am always in awe of the immense artistic and technical talent of the contributers to this forum.
I started modding about 2 years ago with a rig I built into a desk (I was tired of kicking the case on the floor).
That mod led me to build my next rig (affectionately named Black-n-Blue and
pictured just below) which I finished around November last year.
It's specs are:
Ultra X2 550-Watt ATX SLI Modular UV Power Supply
ASUS A8N 32-SLI_Deluxe NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard
AMD Athlon 4800+ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor
2GB Corsair XMS RAM
Twin XFX GeForce 6800 Xtreme 512MB GDDR3 SLI PCI Express Dual DVI HDTV Video Cards
Twin 150GB SATA Raptor Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar 160GB IDE Hard Drive
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Sound Card
Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers
ANTEC Hard Drive Cooler and Case Temperature Monitor
Thermaltake Blue Orb II CPU Cooler
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Multi-fan Speed Controller
3 Ultra Blue Titanium 80 mm Ball Bearing Case Fans
ANTEC Turbo Case Fan Cooler
4”Dual UV Cold Cathode Lights
Saitek Eclipse Blue LED Keyboard
Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP 24” Wide-Screen
Other than the faceplate mods that I did, the only other element I added was an etching of a picture I found on Deviant Art.
Of course I enjoyed that experience so much that it didn't take long before I was dreaming up my next build. I ran across an article about a Lian Li case that was of monstrous proportions--the 343B Modular Cube Case. I had been wanting to dive into water cooling and thought this would be a great case to try it out on.
And so was born my latest project build. I call it Trapped by the Machine because it seems I can't stop building these damn things now.
Here is my initial Sketchup of the project with some trial colors:
The concept is a water cooled computer using two radiators, two pumps and one large reservoir at the top. I wanted to include more artistic elements into this one than I had on previous builds so on the PSU side will be a sculpture of a woman trapped inside the machine trying to break out and on the MB side a molded Plexiglas face pushing out in a scream. Other design elements have been added to the top as I have gone along and more will be added as inspiration strikes.
I started working on the preliminaries around Jan/Feb this year and have continued on and off when time and work permits.
The sculpture element has taken me the longest. I don't have any experience with sculpting and this is actually only the second piece I have ever done. The first piece is actually in the final picture just to the right. If you have never done any figure sculpting let me tell you--faces, eyes, hands and feet will kick your a@$!
At the same time I was working on the sculpture, I tried to work on the reservoir. Because of my inexperience with Plexiglas, I had to make the reservoir a total of four times before I got it right. I guess persistence pays off with this hobby. Although, I can't complain too much, I am better with Plexiglas now...
I decided to etch the top of the reservoir and light it from underneath. The etching was inspired by another picture I found on Deviant Art by an artist named Spookeriffic:
The image is etched on the underside of the Plexi so the top is smooth.
The top of the case has also been a challenge. I wanted face that looked like it was pushing out of the metal. I used the face from an old Halloween decoration my wife and I have been carrying around for years. It made a great mold for the face. I did it in plaster first, then recast it in Bondo. There were a few air bubbles but all in all I was pretty happy with the results.
I knew I needed to do something with the airflow because the reservoir would block some fans in the back on the MB side. I decided to put some intake fans at the top of the case to allow more air in. I hope the airflow scheme works out. Although the holes in the last picture look like they are blown out, these are actually air intakes as the airflow will go from front to rear.
It has taken me all these months to get to the point I am at and will probably take me the rest of the year to finish.
Tomorrow I am going to start building the aluminum supports for the reservoir. That should prove interesting.
Thanks for allowing me to post my project here and to be a part of this great community. I humbly submit my work for your suggestions and criticism.
Thanks,
Byendor
