Animus

The project is coming along again, made some revisions in my design and decided that this room gets entirely too hot already and I need water cooling. For that I turned to a nice Koolance system with Danger Den blocks (image below). I'm also working on a flip project for this, the second tower is going to open from the right side instead of the left. As stated earlier, this is sort of a mirror image mod. I will have more information soon, and a lot more pictures after Finals are over. But I have started work on the blow hole up front and I've even gotten a little bit of painting work done, but I want to get a little further along before I show that off. Stay tuned.

Quick Update

I've stripped the case (I love these Lian Li cases) and began working on the front bezel. Here's some shots of today's progress. More coming soon.

P.S. For the moment, I've nixed the idea of using a water cooling system. Atleast the Koolance one.

Thanks guys, a little more of an update. A little revision of my design has come up, I've decided to give the scratch built drive cooler the axe (or hammer actually) and instead have opted for some other options. Here is how the drive setup is arranged (starting from top to bottom)

#1. Samsung DVD Burner
#2. SYTRIN KuFormula SHF1 Series HDD Cooler with red LED fans instead of the stock blue. This is where my brand new Western Digital Raptor is going.
#3. Thermaltake iBox
#4. Modded Drive Bezel with Power/Reset and possibly and LCD display, I'm using some new Black finish Bulgin switches with red LEDs here. And I'm looking for a small red LCD display to use here as well (haven't pinned one down yet).

I've ordered all but the LCD, since I haven't figure one out yet. I've also ordered a set of fans from Thermaltake for the case. I'm going with the stock Lian Li configuration of 2x 120mm Fans, and 2x 80mm fans, just these are quieter and have red LEDs. I've also got to make a run for some paint so I can get to work on this bezel, I'm hoping that all of my parts get here soon since I've got 3 days off to work with. More coming soon, hopefully I'll have this thing fired up soon.

Internal parts are NOT here yet, but I wanted to see how the bezel looks attached, so I tossed it on one of my computers and I was pleased with the results

Fullsize version: [ 2816 x 2112 ]
http://srsbusiness.org/files/worklog...7-fullsize.jpg


I was worried how the grey would look with the red lighting, but I think it turned out nice. I have some finishing touches to do to the paint before I do the clear coat. But overall I'm pleased ^_^

JUST put in the order for the goodies, I decided to quit World of Warcraft, and my accounts look like they'll pay for the remainder of the project (and then some). So, I ordered the following to get the mod going. I'm going to mess around with the configuration possibilities a little bit and maybe post a little pic to give an idea of what I'm doing here. Still waiting on the weather to finish painting the interior of the case, it's primed black now ... but we've had tornado warnings, snow, and lightning storms over the past few days ... not kidding. Gotta love Arkansas.

From NewEgg:
ACCES FAN|THBLADE 80 A1908 RD TT RT - Retail ( Qty=4, Price=$19.96 )
ACCES CS| IBOX ACC 5.25 A2315 BK RT - Retail ( Qty=1, Price=$6.99 )
DVD BURN SAMSUNG|SH-S203B % - OEM ( Qty=1, Price=$29.99 )
HD COOLER MASSCOOL|SHF1-UTRA-BK R - Retail ( Qty=2, Price=$49.98 )

From PerformancePCS.com:
4 x ACE 40x20mm LED Fan - Red (ACE-40-R) Black Sleeves and Heatshrink [$23.80]
4 x Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm Low Noise Red LED Case Fan - Black Sleeves and Heatshrink [$43.96]
1 x *** NEW *** Black Delrin Vandal Proof Switch - Black Sleeves and Heatshrink - Red Dot [$29.95]
1 x *** NEW *** Black Delrin Vandal Proof Switch - Black Sleeves and Heatshrink - Red Ring [$29.95]
1 x ***NEW*** XSPC LCD Display Temperature Sensor - Red [$8.95]

I'm in the process of picking out parts for the inside of this new beast. I've decided on dual hard drives. One, a partitioned WD Raptor with all of my programs and a dual boot of XP and Vista. The other I'm deciding if I want to go with another raptor or ... one of those sexah 1 terabyte drives from Toshiba for copious amounts of storage space.

As for the rest:

I've decided on my motherboard and processor:
ABIT AW9D-MAX LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - 219.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - $269.99

For memory, I'm thinking of going with 4 gigs of Corsair Dominator ram. And a BFG GeForce 8800GT. I'm thinking also of adding some new cooling parts, since I have some Zalman Fatal1ty Coolers and assorted bits laying around from some tournaments. I'll be back with a more in depth parts list and some pics of the interior panting soon. Thanks all :D

Edit:
I've decided to move to this century and upgrade all of my computers with Wireless Cards too, I also got a new wireless Printer/Scanner combo from Lexmark. So ... weee. The compy room is getting a serious facelift!

So, it's a good news bad news situation.

First, the bad news.
As you'll notice one of my 19 inchers is on my coffee table along with my towers. The thing died, and I'm currently in the process of trying to RMA it, but I'm not sure how well that's going to work since it's a couple of years old. But, worst comes to worst, I'll get a new one. And possibly upgrade my middle monitor to a widescreen, then I'll have 19 on each end and a wide 19 in the middle. We'll see.

Onto the good news:
The weather finally gave me a break recently, so I managed to get the interior of the case primed and painted over the past couple of days. And as more of my WoW accounts sold, I've been ordering parts. Today, the first delivery of parts arrived 2x Sytrin HD coolers, 4x 80mm fans, 1 Samsung DVD burner, and a thermaltake iBox for a little extra physical storage.

I had intended on getting just red fans, but somehow I ended up with these Thermaltake fans that switch from green, red, and purple. The 120mm fans I have ordered are just bigger versions of these, so I need to figure out how I'm going to switch these. I have the bulgin switches, temp gauge and a few other odds and ends en route now. So, more work coming soon.

And in an odd twist of fate, my wife and I were out touring local head shops for posters to decorate the house with and we found this:

It is a sign ...

I'm getting the Giger poster, and a couple of others I bought today framed in the morning. And hopefully the replacement fans for the Sytrins will be in tomorrow, meanwhile I'll be doing some more detailed painting work on the Sytrins and other smaller parts. So, more as it develops.

Good news:
Since the case will be done once I get the parts in from PerformancePCS.com (other fans, fans for the Sytrin Coolers, and the switches and temp gauge) I made another order from NewEgg, so I can get started setting things up on the motherboard tray. This ram btw, has a $40 mail in rebate for anyone looking. So, I'm probably going to get a second kit, but later after I get the machine up and running. I'm going with an 8800GT, a modular PSU (I'm leaning toward the 620w from Corsair) And a WD Raptor and Toshiba 1TB drive for copious amounts of storage. So, in all the computer should be running pretty soon, another week or two. Oh, and I need to find a controller for the fans lighting. Suggestions?

MB ABIT AW9D-MAX 975X 775 RETAIL - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$189.99)
CPU INTEL|C2Q Q6600 2.40G 775 8M R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$254.99)
FAN CORSAIR XMS|CMXAF1 RTL - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$19.99)
MEM 1Gx2|COR TWIN2X2048-6400C4D R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$94.00)

So, UPS guy didn't show today so I'm still waiting on parts and other parts to dry before I continue work on the project. Meanwhile, I got some decent frames for the posters and got them hung.

Did some work on the optical drives today, primer is drying on those parts now but here's some of the work in progress. I'm changing out the bolts on the Sytrin to some bigger meaner looking ones I had laying around, and adding a few kit bashed bits to the panels, along with the same dry brushing treatment I gave the Li statue pieces on the bezel. These pieces should be painted and clear coated tomorrow, hopefully UPS will finally get here with pieces I need to actually get this crap installed, then I can get the case finished and ready for components.

Right now I'm waiting on the camera to recharge, but I've made a bit of progress, all of the optical drive pieces are painted and clear coated. And they fit the theme pretty nicely. There's only one 5.25 bay that still needs work, and it's arguably the most important. I'm modding a standard Lian Li bezel to include the red lcd temp gauge, and a pair of black/red vandal proof switches (red circle for power, red dot for reset). I've got the LCD fitted, it's tight but that's what I was going for. I don't think it needs any glue, but I'll probably add a little once the bezel is painted and ready for fitting. I've got my buttons marked and pilot holes drilled ... then I realized I forgot the new drill bit when I was at the store ... shoot me please.

Recent Progress List:
* temp power/reset panel - 1/2 finished
* DVD Burner - Complete (need to get a new copy of Nero though)
* Thermaltake iBox done.
* Sytrin Masscool - Complete (Just need a new hard drive to put in it)

To Do List:
* Order Remaining Parts
* Mount case panels and bezel pieces permanently
* Wiring
* Fan Placement!

Need a bit of advice on that last part, I noticed when I looked at the other Lian Li case that I'll be giving the same treatment after this one ... the stock fans are set up a little odd. The rear fan which I would've expected to be an exhaust is actually sucking air in. The blowhole fan up top is infact the only exhaust. I'm wondering if I should stick to this configuration or not. Any thoughts?