The Machine

[jdbnsn]

Why is it that when I look at this worklog I always here "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd? Maybe we need to do a video worklog eh?

[Eclecticos]

Hell Yea! Badass!

[Frenkie]

Why is it that when I look at this worklog I always here "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd? Maybe we need to do a video worklog eh?

Hehehe, you just made my GF's day. BIG Pink Floyd fan

Quick test how the UV waterhoses look like with the dual UV lights.

One of the fake UV waterhoses around the logo/passsive Sapphire cooling block, looks kinda nice.

Close-up of the baybus on the bottom of the case, where all lights and fans are connected. Had to make an "access window" in the outer shell to be able to use it though.

The reason why my updates are slowed down, is the very limited space I have to work in. Fixing one problem, got me in trouble in another one. I had to put the radiator and the 120 mm fan outside the case; there was simply -no- room. With envy I gaze upon the -LARGE- cases here, and wish I had it so easy with that much space....

All fans are now connected to the fanbus, AND are blowing towards the RIGHT direction.... ( OOPS )

Had to make an access in the shell, so I can control the switches, without having to open the case.

The air intake is behind the radiator, there's a 120 mm fan blows over the components in the direction of the PSU
There the 120mm fan of the PSU takes over, and pumpes the air over the PSU components, passing it to the 80 MM of the PSU which blows it all out of the side.
Efficient? I think so. Speedfan indicated a "normal" temperature of the 160 WDC harddrive of 27 degrees celsius, when I played a few hours it is a steady 45. The Seagate is even better, normal temp is 26 and after gaming 36 degrees.

The flow in the case and ofcourse the Zalman coolers on top do their job good.

The CPU underneath the Zalman watercoolingblock is a AMD64 3700+, which runs an idle 29 degrees and stressed no more then 32.

I just came back from another lanparty, there I found out that the Sapphire X800GTO with passive cooling just dont cut it. Ok, he is fast but boy, he is one HOT *********.... The intergrated VGA sensor of the XFX, i stuck behind the large heatsink, and that indicated a temp over 60 degrees.

Why do I say 60 ? Well, because THEN the internal alarm goes off

Temperary solution on the lanparty; One shell cover open and an external USB fan over the Sapphire heatsink. Ah well, if all goes well, Sapphire will send me a new card soon to test.

I cut one of the shell windows from the XFX case, to place the tubes. BTW, they are running on 5 V, you cant hear them.

Started meshing the PSU, but why didnt anyone warn me in advance that this is a *********** job !?

Today I received a new watercooling set from my friends at Space Promotions, an Vantec Stingray.

Thanx Space Promotion !

[The boy 4rm oz]

Nice work, keep it up.

[Trace]

Looking really good

[Frenkie]

Yes, it looks like bomb fell on it.

Here a close-up of a scale model part glued on the case. Also started taping everything that doesnt need to be painted.

Another close-up of a 'technie' detail.

Other side, same idea only now with UV green mesh.

While at it, made the two pipe-fans with clean connectors and mesh.

BEFORE

AFTER

Working on the scale model parts, the largest pieces are attached.

After that the 'medium' parts....

And now I am working on the smallest parts.

Now then, the Vantec Stingray set from Space Promotion; with a little adjustment, I was able to fit the radiator on the rear. That looks really so much better now. Only the pump and reservoir; I really can't put them anywhere inside the case. BTW, those two parts came mounted onto a plastic base, and what struck me immediatly was that the exhaust of the reservoir was 13 mm beneath the intake of the pump. Weird !?

Thought of a solution; I manufactered a new base to mount the pump and reservoir onto, while levelling out that 13 mm height difference.

Also came up with a new place for the pump and reservoir, and that meant I had to cut the outer shell, so be it. Lucky I didnt paint the shells yet. Have to make a lot of adjustments.
Over that reservoir, i am going to place a Markus Mayer Skull ( polystone ).

The idea is to light up the reservoir INSIDE the skull, with a glowing UV light show. To get more light into it, I hollowed out the skull where ever i could.

Holding a light beneath it to see if the effect is satisfactery. I guess that will do fine.

Finaly the watercooling up and running, The new videocard fits..... barely! ( check the SATA connectors )

Left over are some small sub projects, but nothing major anymore. I adjusted the skull to fit on top of the reservoir, but was not satisfied with the result. It stuck out too high to my liking.

So, with some milling, I made a large hole in the back of the skull, now it fits all over it.

At the same time, the front of the jaw fitted much better with the DVD player.

By placing the watercooling on top, both outer shell parts had to be modified more extreme. Now it looks a lot better.

For decorating the outside I bought some black Hamerrite paint.
Also here you see a tin of transparant paint and a bag of UV reactive powder.

My solution for the missing hinges on top of the outer shell, I made some stainless steel chains which will hold the two parts together.

Marking and drilling

Made some threads.

Fitting bolts and nuts for the chains.

[jdbnsn]

OMG!!! This is soooo cool! Where the heck did you get those wire connectors (the red wires and the wires with green sleeving)? My only advise in my eyes would be to exclude the skull-screws. You are making such a wicked custom design that I think the preformed skull screws detract from the originality just because they are themed. But seriously, this thing is awesome!

[Frenkie]

OMG!!! This is soooo cool! Where the heck did you get those wire connectors (the red wires and the wires with green sleeving)? My only advise in my eyes would be to exclude the skull-screws. You are making such a wicked custom design that I think the preformed skull screws detract from the originality just because they are themed. But seriously, this thing is awesome!

Thanx jdbnsn! The most parts that I used came from the ACRYAN UVGreen PSU Sleeving Kit and some crimp pins from my work. The skull screws are so small, they dont stand out and intergrate into the rest of the case decorations that I will post very soon. Remember, this case was made in 2006.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Holy crap man...that looks bloody fantastic. A+ work there mate. +rep

[Frenkie]

From two old office-lamps, I made two arms which I mount on the back of the case.

To give it more sturdiness, I made some solid PVC inserts.

Then I made those so that I was able to connect them to each other, like a hinge.

I drilled several holes into the lamps to reduce weight and a bit of art deco

More detailing. Oh and no worries about one beeing brown and one white. Gonna be painted anyway.

Now it is time to make "hands". I used the leftovers of the designer tube and some strips of aluminium.

With some creativity they turned out quite nice fingers. Did anyone say Freddy Kreuger?

And the hands are finished* ( * for now.... )

And here you see one of the arms.