Blue-Hellfire

[Cobra]

Hope everyone has had a good christmas and santa brought them some bits to help the modding days to come.
Santa (wifey) was good to me this year on the PC bits front.
while i am still sorting out components for the hellfire mod , she picked me up some good bonus bits to hold me over till i can grab the hdwe to continue on the mod.

one of the things i had planned was to pick up one of these and Mod it

wifey clause took care of the "get one" so now i am gonna have to figure out what i want to do to mod it. might actually only get a matching paint job because to be honest it is one of the best keyboards i have used and the laser cut backlit keys are awesome for gaming in the dark.


next thing wifey clause picked up for me is another Saitek toy =o)

works great but somehow it annoys me that it does not have a blue led option for the backlight.. only yellow,green or red (hint at a mod there)
one other thing that i have to work on is how to program the thumb joystick properly because following the destructions didnt help much to get it to yse the common wasd keys.
if i can do that then i can use the command unit to play the 3rd gift wifey clause got me for xmas.

yea yea i know. its not "Official internet crack" like all the WoW fanatics out there but in the short time i have been playing it, i love it. and with no monthly fee's it suits me just fine for the long haul =o)~


last bit of pc gear wifey clause got me was this lil thing here.

Optiquest Q2202wb
22' monitor for me to play games on.. beats the hell out of the 19 i had lol
i think once hellfire PC is done this may have matching paint scheme cause i just hate to have things look out of place hehe.
i can feel wifeys eyes burning into the back of my melon right now at the thought of me taking all the new bits apart to "tweak them" but she knows thats kinda what i do with everything =oX

few short weeks and i should be back to regular updates on the main build again. pissmas is over and most bills are paid so we can afford a bit of playtime here and there to work on the Mods.
cya in a few days and have a Happy new Year!!!!!

[Cobra]

Xmas is over and a new year has begun, time to fit some modding in =o)
decided to install the side window into wifeys machine permanently so lets start there.
her self etched dolphin side panel:

double sided tape from homebase:

a bit of extra protection just because i dont know how much i trust the tape on its own to keep it in place for the long haul:

started with a strip of tape all around the edge of the opening
placed the window where i wanted it and stuck it in place
then followed it up with some epoxy on each corner:

then a bit more on each edge ( i dare this to fall off on me) lol

all installed and waiting on hardware:

speaking of hardware, wifey and I did a bit of thinking, since neither of us does extensive gaming or other extreme bits on the PC we have decided to drop a touch in the proginal hardware list i had first hoped for.
it will still do way more than what we ask of it and believe me they are worlds better than the current 4 and 6 year old machines we are currently using.
and to be totally honest alot of this decision was the money factor.
we have settled on this hardware setup and its all been ordered and on the way for me to mess with hopefully by this weekend.
OCZ GameXStream 600W SLI Power Supply

Thermaltake CL-P0333 Blue Orb FX

Kingston KVR800D2N6K2/4G / 4GB DDR2 800Mhz PC2-6400

5600 Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core ABIT Board Bundle + 1GB Memory

the memory that comes with the bundle will be set aside for a future build as we will be using the matched pairs from kingston in these builds
since they didnt have heatsinks on them and i am a sucker for add ons i also ordered a pair of these
Geil EVO CYCLONE Memory Cooling System

Nvidia® Geforce 9500GT 1GB PCI-E Graphics Card

overall thats the layout of the hardware on the way.
with a bit of luck i should be able to have wifeys machine up and running in about 2 weeks while mine still needs some paint work before i even think about assembly.
cya in a few days as hardware rolls in and i start installing to get atleast one of these 2 builds tucked away.
have a good one.

[Cobra]

Bah!!!
decided to return the mobo bundles back to maplins for 2 reasons.
first off there is no way in hell i can make both the cpu cooler and mem cooler fit in it as the memory slots are too close to where the cpu sits on this board. (pics follow)
secondly come to find out this is a B grade setup (previously used and returned) funny how it doesn't say it on the site when you order unless ya read the real fine tiny minuscule print. grrrr
no biggie, we are opting for a different setup now. just have to wait for the maplins refund so we can reorder the different set.
heres some pics i snapped last night
Damn this cpu cooler is huge =0)

memory cooler is pretty cool as well

motherboard, layout is just a bit too compact =o/

here is where the problem was:

no way i can trim either bit to make them both fit on this board.

heres a few pics of the PSU's

these things are pretty heavy, felt like i was holding a brick lol

wifey wanted me to leave the stickers on here as she is not bothered by them, I on the other hand cannot stand stickers, so they just had to go.

here we go, much better looking now ( atleast i think so)

the bits we have decided on now are
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66Ghz LGA775
along with this mobo
Asrock 4Core1600-D800 LGA775, DDR2,VGA,SATA2,7.1Snd,mATX

that setup gives me atleast workable clearance for both the mem and cpu coolers and to be honest i kinda prefer intel anyhow.

hopefully things work out better with this one once its delivered.
i plan on some more tweaking this weekend so i will hopefully have something more for you by sundayish.
cya then

[Cobra]

yay just what i was looking forward to.
a bit of drama when it comes to returning parts.
be careful when using maplins online to order bits here. they seem to drag thier feet a bit when it comes to returning things.
they were supposed to have the mobo bundles collected on weds, waited till 5 to 6 and gave them a call. oops they couldnt make it that day so it had to be thurs. they finally show up thurs mid afternoon to collect the bits and return them so wifey called them up to let them know they were collected.
lady on the phone tells her " when we get them back here we will test them to see what the problem was" ummm they werent returned for being faulty, they were returned for being 2nd hand and partially built with assorted bits missing in each box , ie: i box had sata cables missing, ide cable missing, back panel cover missing and memory just thrown in the static bag flopping around with no protection, second box had been partially assembled, cpu in board, fan clipped on various assorted other paperwork ( from a dvd drive and multi function panel) thrown in the box again missing back plate and no thermal in either box. when this was explained to the lady on the phone all she said was "Oh, then when we get them back here we will process your refund which normally takes about 14 days" hmmmmmmmph sell 2nd hand parts and make people wait 2 weeks to get thier money back so they can go buy the new bits they need. sometimes i just really dont get it.
and to top it off they were paid with paypal, but since they dont refund by paypal they are sending out a cheque, which will take another 3-5 working days to clear the bank after they send it. Bah!!
i am looking at a 3 week wait before i can order the new kit so in the meantime i will have to find other bits to keep myself busy on the mod front.
on a positive note i did get the vid cards in last night and the ddr2 memory.
stock view

fan virginized

i guess i will start looking for a decent cooler for my card as i just cant stand to leave anything in stock form (wifey tends to shake her head at this tendancy) =ox

on the agenda is a bit of paint work this weekend, maybe modding some of the cables on the psu's so they end up the correct length and finding a place to mount my on off switches for lighting in each rig that wont clash with the builds.have to fit that in around reworking the bath surround in the bathroom..=o/

wish me luck and cya in a bit

[Cobra]

hmm dont have a table saw so i think this round is gonna go to the router again. buys me a bit of time before i have to worry about laser straight cuts.
woke up this morning and decided.. Ok today is modding day! suprisingly wifey didnt kick my ass since i finished reasealing the bathtub last night so i had the weekend to mod.
and also i didnt think she would yell when a mojor chunk of the day was spent on her rig lol.
so heres where we start the journey today.

wifeys rig, waiting for bits but still needs wiring sorted out a bit and still needs switches installed and lighting.
2 switches need to go in for the lighting.

most inconspicuous place i can find to put them is on either side of the case in the side panels

down in this area

so i was lazy, grabbed my trusty dremel with a small drill bit on it, and went to work.
notice how clean cut and machine made the hole looks?

nah me either...
important bit is the switches fit.
yay me.

once those were popped in it was time for a bit of wiring for the lights
ccfl's ended up at the top and bottom of the window panel side.
had to notch the upper and lower pillars so they fit along the case tho

used a bit of 5 min epoxy to stick them in place ( cant stand that velcro crap they give you with em.. does anyone actually use it?)

then we had a set of 4 inch ccfl's to illuminate the front si i found homes for these as well.
first ine just inside the front lower frame rail.. then the second mounted on top of the front fan assembly

let em sit for a bit then peeled the tape off so they are perm mounted now.
next had to find a home for the little resistor packs they come with.

a bit more 5 min epoxy

squish in place

tape so it cant move

then go back to it in a half hour. can remove the tape then and it should be perm mounted

same deal for the other side resistor. ended up something like this ( one chrome and one black.. figures i couldnt have 2 match because diff manufacturers lol)

this side also had a hole in the housing so i riveted it to one of the holes in the case =o)

all this stull was starting to feel a bit like work and it was coming up on 9 AM..seemed like a good time for breakfast..
mmmmmmmm ham n cheese omlette

eh while i am relaxin.. look what wifey got me on xmas just so ya wont have to look at me feet so much =o)~

ok back to work
decided to sort out some of the wiring on hers so when the new bits get here i have less to do.
eww beige wires

much better now

did the same with the header connector set

ran the wires for the lighting

thats kinda where i left off on chicks rig today.
now it was time to mess with mine a lil bit.
grabbed the dull black power supply

and decided to ummm errr improve on it a touch

tis ok but its the first time i have actually messed with an airbrush in about 10 years so i wasnt expecting a picasso.
then i grabbed my Maxtor 250 gig sata hd i will be using for this rig

removed the sticker the day after i got it.
thinkin this has to match everything else so grab the masking tape

trim out the area to be painted

and your left with this...

3 layers of white primer later and this is whats left

tima to make it match the psu(sort of)
grabbed my net hacked and home cut stencil (can you say ghetto air brush supplies?)

and started messin about

almost to the point i want it.

pick curtosey of da chick
and heres a HD

so now here was the dilema.. clean up all the airbrush gear and continue again messing about tomorrow , or...say the hell with it and start on the case with the layout in mind.
starting on the case won.
here is early early progress pics.
found a cool demon skull n the web a while back and decided that would be the focal point.

after basic outline and shading i started adding a few of the surrounding images i will need to make this look the way i want it to.

at this point wifey actually turned to me and said " that looks like crap"
/hmmmmph.. back to painting and biting tongue.

brought a few of the skulls into the intake area.. thought it looked cool

after about an hour i ended up with this

still got more detail to add and all that but overall i am happy with the way it turned out.
once i got done with the skulls i kinda figured it was time to pack up the airbrush and paint and call it a day.
i am sure i will find something different to mess with tomorrow while i twiddle thumbs waiting for hdwe.
cya soon

[Cobra]

todays adventure takes us to keyboard land first.
remember that Saitek Eclipse 2 that wifey clause got me for Xmas?

heres the before pic

yanno i cant leave anything stock if i can help it at all.
soooooo
it had to come apart..screws were easy enough to drop out of it.

pop the wrist rest off so it can be disassembled too

then off comes the keyboard surround

that took a lil bit of prying even after all the screws were out.. its my guess that saitek really didnt want me to take the keyboard apart.. pffffft
tima for a few more ghetto skull stencils cause of course everything has to match.. so i found a few on the web.

and then proceded to cut em out.

this is the set i will be using for the keyboard

heres a pic of the airbrush i am using for this.. wifey picked it up for me off ebay for £21 + shipping.

i used to have a testors aztec in the states before i came to the Uk and i have to say, as far as fine line and control work goes this one spanks the testors one.
repeated random patterning on the surround and wrist rest till i came out with this

popped things back together to make sure how they look

bingo.. works for me.
now on to the next part of what i worked on today.
that cool Giel memory cooler..

quick show of hands here.. who thought this would stay stock......?

as if...
lol

dont know what about it just doesnt sit right with me so i will take it apart till i figure it out.

construction is simple on it.. basically the fan holds everything together..should make cutting it up all the more fun =o)
fans out

leaves me with these 3 main pieces

i found the one that annoys me so i grab the dremel n the cut off wheel and attack the offending eyesore

put the baseplate/outer cage on a diet

reassembled after streamlining

i like that much better now.
even with the side clip mounting plates on it i think it is better than stock looks

maybe i am biased (duh) lol
eh thats enough for this weekend.. this week i will fit more modding in.. see what i can get done and if i get anything good i will be sure to throw it up on here for people to point and laugh at =o)~
cya soon.

[Cobra]

Ty for the great feedback guys and yes the HD should be atleast partially visible in the finished product.
for now i seem to have a bit of a sneaky wife.
she goes from tellin me we have to wait for maplins to sort a refund to get the new kit then turns around and orders it behind my back just to suprise me. hmmmph
i would try to make it seem like i was upset but ummmm i just cant do it.
so this is what showed up today.

looks like it is time to do some fitting and clearance checking.
first in is the CPU cooler.

damn its still huge lol

next up the ram. these sticks threw me a bit cause they arer shorties compared to what i am used to working with.

they fit the board so they must be ok lol
heres the partially assembled board

atleast the CPU cooler isnt overkill or anything lol

then to fit the mobo into the case....

hmmm bit of a clearance issue with the PSU
twiddles thumbs...all i needed was about 2mm to make the mobo fit.
sooo i grabbed 2 square washers and spaced the lower portion of the PSU off a touch.

that created enough tilt for the board to fit where it should and have 2 frogs hairs clearance before touching the PSU =o)~
now to throw in the stock memory cooler

easy enough to put in and theres a full 2mm between it and the CPU cooler.
o.O
i would love to tell ya all went well and the rest was simply plug it in and test all the lighting and fans since we are still waiting for sata cables to get this one done ( should be here tomorrow) but alsa.. plugged the beast in and hit the switch and it laughed at me....effin thing.. checked the wall sockets (fine) swapped the kettle lead for the psu even tho it was new ( no difference) mumble grumble popped off the PSU connector and hot wired it to make sure it works, hmm yep fired up with no probs and all lights came on.
everything was pointing to a bad mobo problem. pulled off the leads one by one and refit them just in case i had a bad contact with one. when i got to the stupid power on off switch one and re seated it the thing came to life. stupid damned connection thingy!! lol

in the end i popped the covers back on and let it sit idle for a bit to kinda run the hdwe in a touch and also to grab a few shots for here.
this is what we ended up with

even better when the lights are off

both coolers are pretty sweet

by the weekend this one will be complete, then i am down to one to finish and no excuses not to push on and have some fun.

cya in a few days with another update.
ty to all who have stayed tuned and stayed interested so far. your feedback is much appreciated.

[Cobra]

was looking for a place to mount my on off switch for my lighting that was out of the way.

i think i found it

see if i mount it on the top of the turbine intake then ya cant see it unless you know where to look =o)
grabbed my dremel with a drill bit and decided to drill from the insode

camera buggered up on me when i took the final pic of it so i will do a redo this evening when i get home.
heres a crappy pic of the placement for now lol

i clipped the switch in place and this will be followed by 5 min epoxy for the final build...whew this one has been goin on so long its hard to believe i can see a finish line coming up heh
tis fine by me tho.. wifey is quite happy with her rig and i have another project on the horizon so i dont imagine i will be away from the forums much when hellfire is done.
tonight i am hoping to do a bit more work on the paint for hellfire and finish off wifeys rig. hopefully see you tomorrow with a bit more of an update and a better pic to replace the last one
=o)

[Cobra]

ty bud
tis weekend and i have had time to play a bit over the last few days.
first off mr postman brought me a nice gift on tuesday.

picked it up from a place called specialist paints. while it was a bit pricey at £12.99 a can it was well worth it because i had planned to use this colour from the beginning. if your in the UK and need some funky paint colours check them out http://www.specialistpaints.com/.

so with paint in hand i had to start laying down the colour.
laying down light mist coats till i got the colour i wanted
i started with the PSU

moved to the HD

then i figured i would hit the keyboard surround and wrist rest.

mmmm candy
now on to the case

after this dried i grabbed the airbrush again and some white, need to make the flames pop a
bit so some highlights were in order.

then it was time to cover it all in clear
and shazam!!!!

hehe i like it =o)~

reassembled the keyboard once the paint was done

yup like that too heh

last lil pic for this mornings update is the HD after i peeled the masking off

cya in a day or 2 with more fun stuff.

[Cobra]

thanks guys!!
figured it was time to drop some bits in this thing for a test fit. i know i will have issues to deal with along the way so lets hop right into the fire =o)
first i fit the power supply, i know from the dolphin rig that i have a clearance issue even before i start because of the "slightly bigger than normal" cpu cooler so i will do the same thing i did on the dolphin box.

start the top screws for the psu and then use 2 thin square nuts as spacers for the bottom of it.

cant really notice the tilt from the front but it makes everything all snug and cozy.

more lil skulls to hold bits together hehe

then check it with the side window frame on to check visibility

that works for me =o)

ok so next i temporarily throw the motherboard in there so i can check other things for clearance
motherboard fits in fine, so then i bolted up the HD in place to make sure it didnt hit the vid card or mem cooler

looks like clearance to me so far.
now with the side panel

now we have been kicking around ways to keep the vid cards cool for the machines here since we picked them up a few weeks ago.
the card:

decided on these lil things

should handle all our cooling needs for the vids

first up had to lay on the mini chip coolers.
sticky thermal tape anyone?

next we check clearance on the card for the mounting plate....

hmmmmm

looks like one of those capacitor thingies does not wonna play nice
tis ok... have dremel, will trim.

should be close

yup winner!!

now is where i ran into a bit of trouble.
fitting the card to the mobo the new cooler was hitting on the memory cooler(racker fracker #@!!#^*)
sorry for the lack of pics of the problem. just kinda got on with rectifying it before i remembered the camera .
in short i had to trim some of the lower fins off the vga cooler so it would clear the memory cooler.
so i cut right about here

till i had removed enough for both coolers to live in harmony =o)

lil straightening of the fins and some colour on the bare metal areas and we are back moving forward with the fitting

ok lets see what the whole deal will look like once its fit in the rig

side panel in place

yep i can work with that
on the agenda for this week. shortening and tweaking the wiring from the PSU
fitting the front panel covers to the dvd drives
wiring the switches for the front of the case
that should be enough on my plate if ya also figure in the 50 hrs a week i work at my normal job lol
cya as soon as i can and thanks to anyone who has been following alont and posting, its what makes the project log portion more entertaining.
take care till next time
=o)