Project: Rogue (A little SFF insanity)

[craigbru]

December 31, 2007

With the panel bent, and the notch cut, now I need to get the radiator hole cut.

After the dremel...

I couldn't ask for anything better.

I used my radiator template to mark the mounting holes.

Woohoo! Another one done! This is what it's all about!

[craigbru]

December 31, 2007

Just before Christmas, the UPS guy left me a little present.

A free hat...

Such a little box. Is this what I waited over a month to get?

Pictures can't do this thing justice. It's absolutely amazing to look at in person. This thing may not have been cheap, but it certainly doesn't look like it is either. I think it's really going to set this case off.

[craigbru]

December 31, 2007

Well, now that I've got the second radiator mount done, what does it look like on the case? I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Ah, the motherboard. Of the two possible orientations, both have their pros and cons. Check out the second pic though. If I'm willing to lose a bottom slot on a motherboard, I'll gain a ton of space and not have to deal with routing extension cables to the rear of the case. I'll also not be limited by the length of my video cards. So many possibilities...

Now, finally, I thought I'd throw up a couple shots of the CCFL's lighting the radiators. It looks amazing in person. Perfectly subtle. It's exactly what I wanted.

More coming soon!

[craigbru]

January 10, 2008

I've got a quick update here... I've got some cool little accessories for my dremel. I was walking through a hardware store the other day, when I spotted the box in the picture below. It's a quick-release mandrel kit for cut-off wheels. I seem to burn through quite a few wheels with all the cutting I do, and thought this would be a great way to make the changes easier. Not to mention, the wheels are a larger diameter than what I was using.

Closed...

Open...

Push on, twist, and release! It doesn't get any easier.

As cool as the new cut-off wheels were, I also had something else show up on my doorstep today.

That's a whole lot of air moving potential there. These are all 120mm x 35mm Sanyo Denki San Ace 1011's. According to this review at xtremesystems, they can kick some serious ass.

I'll spoil one result for all of you upfront: the Sanyo Denki San Ace 1011 is king of the hill. And by hill I mean universe. It's really, really good. In addition to its insane empirical results (see below), it makes NO extraneous noises and undervolts like a champ. I have five and they all perform like this and they all start at 4V or lower. They could kick Chuck Norris's ass....silently.

They're ball bearings as well, so you don't have to worry about the sleeve bearing inconvenience. They also perform past their listed specs--something that's exceedingly rare in these SilenX days. Good luck finding any though...and when you do, they're $25 a pop.

Don't let the quoted price scare you though, they are currently available at FrozenCPU for about $14 apiece.

These fans are freaking solid, as well as heavy. High quality stuff indeed. Once I throw a good fan controller on these, I'll have the best of both worlds. A fan that is inaudible, yet can move some serious CFM's when it's warranted.

So, you might be wondering where these things are going to find a home in the case. Well, they all will reside in a custom panel on top of the case. I may not have the specifics figured out yet, but they will tie in with the slightly automotive engine theme. In fact, I'd like them to look something like valve covers. Two rows of three fans, slightly angled to the left and the right...

[craigbru]

nuary 20, 2008

Oh, the irony... As I type this update, DFI has announced the possibility of SLI and Crossfire capable mATX motherboards. It's something that I've wanted for quite some time now. Especially since my current eVGA SLI board is showing it's age. At this point, it's come a little too late to change the course of this project. I've got the perfect case in the Rogue, and it's ATX or nothing at this point. So, that brings me to the following update.

Here I've got the motherboard tray finished. The mounting studs are in place, and it's almost ready to be placed in the case. There is very little room for error at this point. The clearances are very tight between the radiator mounts.

As you can see from the above pics, I need to come up with the rear panel for the case. As luck would have it, I've got the perfect donor. (Yes, it is purple...) I happened to have an old case left over from a mod I had done for my daughter.

With the panel removed from it's donor, it's time to find it a new home. Here you can see it sitting inside the case. It actually fits quite well. You can see that I will need to do a little cutting on the rear of the case, but all in all, it shouldn't be so bad.

Next up, will be to get the panel fitted in place, and repainted of course...

[craigbru]

January 23, 2008

I briefly mentioned this earlier, but now I've got a few more specifics. This case is also going to have a Via Artigo pico-itx PC inside. It will be wirelessly networked to the Rogue, as well as my home network. It will run independently of the Rogue, and have access to it's own large capacity drive. It will be used for downloading files and data, and will dump that info on to a shared network drive. The Artigo will make primary use of the touchscreen on the front of the computer. Although it will be two separate systems, I will use Synergy to allow seamless transition between the PC's. Sounds like fun, huh?

January 30, 2008

Well, I know you all are eagerly waiting, and this isn't all my progress to date, but I think now is great time to post a few pics.

I didn't get a picture before I made all of my cuts, but here I've taped out where I need to do a little finish filing.

I need to take care of the open gap at the bottom of the case. This piece of aluminum should take care of it...

All clamped in, and cut for height.

Now finally, the back panel is riveted in to place. Just a little more detail work, and I'll have it!

[craigbru]

February 5, 2008

I was gone over the weekend, so I wasn't able to get any real modding done, but work still continued. I was able to get a few more miscellaneous parts ordered, including the elusive LCD screen. I had several sources fall through for different reasons, until I finally found this 10.2" wisdescreen LCD.

I've also got the grill designed for the fans on top of the case. There will be two banks, of three fans each. The grill will be mounted on each of them, with the addition of a hex mesh beneath...

More coming shortly.

[craigbru]

February 7, 2008

I love days like today... Not only is it Friday, but I had a long awaited package on my doorstep when I got home. My new Matrix Orbital display has arrived, after a several month backorder. It is the GX Typhoon MCE. Let's take a look at this thing...

Everything out of the box...

This thing is just begging to be modded...

Since this is the Media Center Edition, it comes with a remote. It can handle all MCE functions.

The model I received is the Tri-color unit. That basically means that I can change the display to any one of three colors, and any combination in between. I've taken a few shots to give you some idea of how cool that feature is.

Red

Green

Blue

Purple

I could go on, but you get the idea...

The LCD uses LcdStudio for it's interface and display design. The software is pretty slick. It's basically drag and drop. You can add and resize display components on the fly. The software supports a ton of additional plugins for displaying information. ATITool, Fraps, RivaTuner, Speedfan, iTunes, etc.

[craigbru]

February 9, 2008

Sometimes you just have to improvise... As (bad) luck would have it, the Via Artigo that I wanted to put in this case, seems to be out of stock everywhere I look. Most eta's put it's arrival at the end of February. Well, I'm way to impatient to wait almost a month before it arrives. I don't want it to hold up any work on the case, and that's where the improvisation comes in. As it turns out, you can buy the Via PX10000G Pico-ITX motherboard separately, so that's exactly what I did. So, I purchased that, along with a DC-DC power supply, hard drive, memory, and wireless adapter. The only thing I'm really missing is the small case to put all the parts in. Well, after thinking about it, I don't know if I really needed the case anyway. I can fab something of my own almost as easily. It's a little strange to think about the fact that I bought an entire 'computer' last night... just to put inside another computer... crazy!

February 9, 2008

Well, I just ordered some more parts. This time around, it was mostly for cooling. After much contemplation, I decided to go ahead and pull out the big guns here. If I truly want this case to be something amazing, plain old watercooling wasn’t going to be enough. That being said, I went ahead and ordered the Wintsch Labs Arctic Web TEC cooler, and a Meanwell auxiliary PSU. I also ordered the rest of the needed tubing, barbs, and fittings. At this point, I don’t know if I’m just really committed to being crazy, or crazy enough to be committed…

[craigbru]

February 10, 2008

Who doesn't love parts? I had another package arrive from FrozenCPU. I sometimes feel like I single-handedly keep them in business. :cheese:

A few LED switches, shrink wrap, wire sleeving, and a laser LED light...

A little hex mesh...

Since the case is watercooled, I wanted a decent sized reservoir. This is designed to fill a 120mm fan hole.

You'll see here why I chose the reservoir that I did. I thought I'd take care of two issues at once. Not only did I need a reservoir, but I had a 120mm hole in the back of the case that I needed filled.

In order to fit the reservoir in place, I needed to do a little trimming.

A little work with a dremel, file, and sandpaper got me the following results.