Project: Afterburner

PROJECT:

Well, Part Crysis is finished, so I am moving onto my next project.

This will be based on an Antec 900 case. Since I got a new shuttle for LAN parties, I decided I can build a rig with wreckless abandon since weight and value are not a concern if it is staying on my desk...

The case itself will be airforce themed, I can't go into much more detail there, but I am sure you will start to see it's fighter-jet inspired designs popping up as I go through the worklog.

Today I just have a few prelimenary shots for ya'll, the markings for wire management, designs for custom displays and power on options, a one of my displays in motion.

First, here are the holes I need to cut for the wire management:

Next, I have the top panel... I am replacing the 240mm fan with a 2x 120mm radiator grill, and setting up one of two radiators up there... I am also putting a "cockpit" (ie a bunch of shiny LCD's and buttons) up there to replace all of the stock case buttons.

Of course, the case is Watercooled, I am having some custom parts made for me by the awesome guys at Danger Den (big throw out to Jeremy, Dennis, and all the boys out there), but I can't show you those yet, as A) It would ruin the suprise, and B) I haven't even designed them yet lol. However, here is what I do have...

I got two of these:

And they will go here:

And here:

Also have an awesome pump! 18 watt DDC, with a Dangerden Acrylic top, a new product. Performance so far is good, about the same as the XSPC one I had, plus it has more customization options. Only concern is that the flowrate is dropped slightly because of the lower bore size.

And the heart of the system: Intel QX9650 Engineering Sample: I won this at the PDXLAN11 Overclocking Competition, and just had to build an uber rig around it.

And what is left to buy?

And finally, a nice little video of a custom script I setup for my Matrix Orbital GX Typhoon:

Tell me, which looks better?

A:

OR

B:

PS, here is a little model I am working on... very rough, when I am done I will have the whole thing designed out... I decided to do this becuase last time I went by the seat of my pants and it would seem to me that the seat of my pants and I have different ideas regarding the way my mods should go.

I also have a rough design for the top panel done:

I have a feeling this will be good :)

I see what you mean and I will have to try and implement it... See, that is the air force logo:

I can understand though, and I wanted to open up airflow down there, so I have to look into my options.

Ch-ch-check it out!

Front panel laser design! (Yes, I even made it myself!)

Side angled shot of the case to give a basic layout idea. Its amazing how well the front panel worked out, I fit an Optical Drive, 2 HDD, and the radiator with about 3/4" to spare up front.

Inside of case, painted it up, cut holes for wire management. PSU is installed, pump is in the relative location it will end up. Holes will be lined once my Performance PC's shipment comes in...

And, the top of the case, I have to rebuild the top panel to support the parts shown... but that shows what I am going to have going on up there.

Well, I ended up using acrylic. Turned out pretty well actually, will end up being perfect once I get it all done.

I will throw up some pictures of my work thus far tonight.

So, as I promised, I have updated pictures! Keep in mind, this is not by any means the finished product, just one more step to the end.

Here is my shipment from Performance PC's, they stuck a cat in the box too, I don't know what to do with it but it sure is cute!

Here is the interior of the case after I got done putting trim on the holes and got my wiring all done up. All the wires will be hidden behind the mobo when I am through.

Here is a shot of the front sans panel.

Here is a closeup shot of that

This is the custom piece that I built to extend the top panel so I can mount the thermochill.

A shot of it all together

And finally my desk with the current shuttle that I am using while I build this:

I'll have to look up marine tex. I was going to use bondo, but I have had bad past experiences with it. Is marine tex a two part mix?

I'll get some more pics up later once I start doing cutting and moulding on the top bezel.

Okay, get ready for a BIG one! Lots of pics and work done!

First, I got the top radiator panel made up.

Obviously, I need to do a lot of bondo and sanding on it, then paint! I also need some longer screws, the ones I bought were the right thread but about 1mm too short! A real shame.

Here is a great money shot showing off teh sexy AC Ryan Blackfire fans.

And finally, I got the side panel (partially) cut... my diamond bit blade ended up rounding off right on the home stretch :( I will be fixing that soon though. And of course, the top panel in all of its glory, fully mounted and locked to the top of the case!

And one more for yeh!

Suggestions, comments, questions, all are welcome!

Yes, I have teh pictures!

First, I got the top piece finished for the most part... there are still some grooves and ridges I have to take care of but this is where I am at thus far.

Sooooo smooth.

Here is how it looks in the back. That was the easiest part obviously.

Heres the wiring work that I did... I got all my wires fed through behind the mobo, the pump(s) are in place, its lookin great!

Heres the front, I am really happy with the wiring up here, it came out really clean... that silver thing above the HD's is an LED bar, it will illuminate the PALIT logo that will be on the front panel once it gets here.

I got some new hardware too!

Corsair Dominator DDR800

I also removed the LED from my Xfi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty edition... I didn't want that stinkin F on there.

And it all together thus far:

Let me know what you think!

I got a fair bit of work done so far this weekend:

First, I got a ROUGH outline for the LCD placement done, as well as drilled holes for the fillports and power button.

Next, I got the side panel painted and trimmed... window will be coming soon.

Close up shot of the paint... what looks like damage is actually the metal flakes in the paint reflecting light.

And, the money shot of my PC, the new front panel custom designed by myself in association with Danger Den. Thanks again to them, and thanks to Palit for the great video card sponsorship! Hear me out, these cards really are great, Palit deviates from reference design at times, in order to get maximum performance, and it shows!

And here is a shot of it all together so far.

Wiring comes up next week, buying mobo monday, video cards coming soon, nearing the finishing steps here :)

Haha, yeah, I figured that would be the best way to show gratitude for the awesome stuff that they are sending me :)

The search continues for my sponsor lol. All I want is a pump. I may get in contact with DD directly rather then one of their retailers.

More pics for you guys, the hardware came in and I got a lot of the wiring done as well as the actual computer itself setup :)

Hardware installed, no video card or plumbing yet.

Closer look at the socket area:

I'm really happy with how the wiring turned out on this one... and its not even done yet!

Got the plumbing halfway done.

Put a fan in there to cool off the chipset:

A few really neat shots of the socket area:

And here is the system in a VERY raw state, the front panel is still having work done on it, as is the top panel, but the chassis is there!

And to all the naysayers regarding Danger Den:

QX9650, on a radiator with one low speed fan and an MC-TDX:

Got pics of the internals taken, along with a few beauty shots... nothing major as far as modding goes, but the wiring is done for the most part:

Internals:

In Light:

Dark:

External:
Light:

Dark:

Of course its not done yet, still the entire top panel and second WC loop to do, but I'm 3rd base!

Dex

Well I can only pray that you didn't quit on me... because I have new pics, new work done, and I'm almost there!

So I'm modding the Dominator Airflow fan, because I wanted to put some fans in there that would match the rest of the fans in my case... that won't be too hard I don't think!

There they are, getting ready to be soldered... nine wires into three. I won't bore you with all the rest of the crap, as its messy, lame, and unimportant... suffice to say that it works, as you will see soon!

I also got my spotlights setup behind the PALIT logo... you can see this in the shots below.

Side Shot:

Another Side:

Fan controller being used to run the radiator fans:

BAM! Check out that setup... I'm really happy with how that turned out.

A shot of the whole thing:

And the Palit logo:

There will be one more set of pics (the top panel), then its off to the LAN, and we will see who wins. My sponsors Danger Den and Palit will be there with some SUPER cool stuff that I cannot yet reveal, however once I have my hands on it, it is open season and I will let you all know about it.

And it is finished... well, some touchups to do, and some hardware to install still, but this is as good as it is going to get before the LAN.

Yeah... same old thing.

But wait... whats that on top?

Oh yeah.

Feedback is welcome :)

Hey guys.

So, I forgot to update.

I bought the system to PDXLAN, finished for the most part. I was filling the top radiator when I realized there was a giant hole in it. Whoops. I had about a liter of water spill onto my system, and the system shut down.

I waited.

The next night, the guys from CPU Magazine asked me to enter it anyways.. I did what I could to get it back up and running properly, and they took pics. They all liked it, however I was ineligible since the system was in pieces and water stains were abound.

But all was not lost.

Palit (my sponsor) requested that I bring the system with me to Nvision to display. Thus, I need to get this thing looking REALLY pretty if it is going to be on public display in such a large place. I will keep you guys in the loop on the entire process, round 1 (trip to the hardware store) begins this weekend.

Pics that a friend took at PDXLAN will be posted when I get home tonight.

BTW, I couldn't use the airforce logo as I had wanted to, the design wouldn't work for the front panel, and in addition to this, Danger Den sponsored me, so I used their logos for my front panel.

Stay tuned guys, I'm going to need all the advice I can get on this one.

Dex

Lights on:

Lights off:

I will update again this weekend when I get the stuff I need to fix the issues (most of which are not visible thanks to crafty picture taking).

Feedback is not only welcomed, but requested.




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