Project: Passion

[Datech]

Ok, I just joined the boards a few days ago and I've already been inspired to start my own case mod. The name of the project is Passion, and I plan to have it done no later than March of 09. This will be an easy mod compared to what I've seen already, but I'm not sure what kind of time and resources I will have between now and then.

Background:
I've been into BYOPC for the past few years, and so far I've based my parts on the performance/cost/coolness ratio, heh. I've wanted to get into more serious modding for a while now, and then I found TBCS and was hooked and almost immediately inspired. I currently go to the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), in Atlanta, GA, so as you can see I'm somewhat of a geek by nature to begin with.

My girlfriend (hereto referred to as Girlfriend) is the owner of an aging Toshiba laptop that simply isn't meeting her needs anymore. Like anyone, she likes a fast internet, fast load times for programs, and the occasional spiffy game every now and then. As the months go by on her laptop she is becoming more and more frustrated with what is now definitely considered a POS. She doesn't have the money to get one while she is in college, and her father isn't in a position to get her one either.

Project:
Well I'm seeing a need, so I guess its time to fill it... And from the smoke and flames of college relationships, spare computer parts, and late night take out arises Passion. Ok, maybe its not that cool, but it's my first mod and it beats the hell out of buying her a Christmas present she'll never use again.

My plan for this is a simple, single side panel mod with enough LED's to make the thing glow red. In my mind, the word Passion stems thoughts of red, hearts, and most importantly love. On the flip side, it also stems thoughts of regret, blood, and hate, cause as soon as I shed blood on this hateful machine I'll regret building the dang thing... However, with Girlfriend really being a girl, I'm sure we'll both appreciate the time, effort, and hopefully craftsmanship.

Components:
Spare tower ATX case with a sleek handle on top and curving faceplate.
ASUS P5N-SLI mobo
Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 @ 1.83 GHz CPU with stock HSU
A-Data 2x 1GB DDR2-663
XFX nVidia 7300 GS
150GB WD HDD
20x DVD-R/CD-RW
430W Antec PSU
Niko 1920 19" widescreen monitor
Red LED case fans

All of these parts are basically my last computer. A few of them are still in my current computer and will be replaced by Christmas with the following:

Christmas Wish List:
ASUS P5Q Intel P45
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz
Artic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro HSU
Patriot Viper 2x 1GB DDR2-1200
500GB WD HDD

Status:
I don't have my digital camera yet, so i can't give you an idea of the case I'm modding, or what my system currently looks like. However, I did play around with SketchUp enough to make a decent mockup of my side panel design.

My first task will be to get a Dremel drill and a piece of metal for the new side plate, as the current side plate has a glass pattern in it. Once I get that it will simply be an exercise in not screwing up the pattern or the component wiring.

I would love any suggestions on this. I'm usually pretty good at turning someone's random comment about, "Wouldn't it be cool if..." into something that actually goes into my design and build process for projects. As you can tell the side panel design is similar to nVidia's logo, and sort of resembles Roxy/Quicksilver as well. Girlfriend loves the beach, so I figured the subtle reference to waves won't hurt either. Just remember: extrapolate off of 'Passion' as I want this to be about pure emotion bundled into a computer.

Can't wait to hear the responses and get working!

[Datech]

Here are some pics of the case I will be using for reference. It is a little scuffed up at the moment, but I should be able to touch up most of the blemishes.

Right side panel won't be touched. See below for face plate mod.

Left panel will be replaced with cutout design.

Handle and power buttons.

Faceplate.

Faceplate with black part removed.

After searching around Newegg and Xoxide today I came to the following decisions about the case:

• I'm getting a P5Q Pro mobo and a 750W Rosewill PSU in a combo deal from Newegg that saves me about $80 for my rig.
• I'm getting 2x1GB OCZ DDR2-1200 once it comes back in stock for my rig.
• Instead of having a side case fan that glows red, I'm getting 2x red cold cathode tubes to light the case and window.
• I'm backing the entire cutout with clear acrylic or similar since I won't need to worry about airflow from the side.
• I'll be painting parts of the face of the case a dark red to go along with the Passion theme.

And that last bullet is what I need advice on. I successfully dismantled the case I'll be using today and found that it disassembles into fairly nice pieces. Now I just need to know how I should paint them. The most experience I've had with painting anything is getting a can of spray paint from Home Depot and painting some old sandals in my garage for Halloween.

My idea is that I paint most (probably not all) of the silver parts a nice dark red. The most obvious part is the bulk of the face plate that is completely silver and. The top silver portion around the power button doesn't come away from the black parts, and I'm not sure that should be painted anyway. Also, the area under the handle comes apart quite easily and can be painted completely if need be.

So, seeing this, how do I need to go about painting it in anyone's expert opinion?

Also, in regards to the area under the handle, notice how it is slotted. That is actually open space under there, and I'm considering throwing another cold cathode down there so it glows through the slots. I might make some pinhole heart (or similar) designs after the handle as well to make better use of any lights down there. I found out that Girlfriend's father has a Dremel drill and a drill press, so a day at his place should cap off the fabrication part once I find a spare side panel.

What do ya think?

[Datech]

They got that one red paint w/ metallic pieces in it, to maybe give it a little more pizazz or something.

Xcartguy

Yep, that's probably what I'm going to use. As a small update (since I'm really excited), I ordered most of the pieces of the thing today:

• eStreet Plastics Transparent Red Acrylic Plexiglass (window)
• Xoxide's 12in Dual Red Cold Cathode Kit (pretty lights!)
• Xoxide Wire Sleeving Kit in UV Red (better cable management and look)
• Xoxide's Sunbeam OC Cooling Kit (not sure if this will be on hers or mine, either way it will reflect the light nicely)
  
• ASUS P5Q Pro mobo (my new mobo)
• Rosewill 750W PSU (my new PSU)
• Western Digital Caviar 500GB HDD (my new hard drive)

Over Thanksgiving I should be cutting and painting the pieces. The computer hardware should get here Friday, in which case I will have new pics of my rig, and mock ups of hers whenever the mods arrive.

Now I just have to find some scrap computer that I can rip a side panel off of and cut up. Anyone want to donate? Haha.

[Datech]

WoohoO! I got the new components in today, so my computer is about to go under the knife for the sake of Passion. Hopefully my next post will contain bragging rights picutes of my new parts and new system, complete with Vista x64 Ultimate (perks of being an IT manager), new mobo, new PSU, and new HDD.

Wish me luck!

[Datech]

K, so after wrestling with food poisoning over the weekend I finally got my computer back to where I want it to be. The new parts work fine and I'll probably write a review on the P5Q Pro if someone hasn't already.

As promised (no one really asked for em, I'm just a giving kind of guy ) here are the pics of my new parts, and the parts that are going into Passion. I somehow managed to run out of screws while I was putting my computer back together, so I don't have enough to install the PSU, HDD, and mobo into the case I have yet, so this post is more about my computer than it is about the mod, heh. The cooling kit, CCFL kit, sleeving kit, and plexiglass should all arrive tomorrow though, so I should have pics up of the finished mod (minus the components I have yet to buy) after Thanksgiving. That will be the real meat of this mod, and after that I'll just throw in updates on the upcoming CPU, RAM, monitor, and keyboard purchases to round out the system. And, of course, Girlfriend's reaction come Christmas.

The new mobo:

One of the cool little things not shown in this pic is that the IO panel is actually padded. I've never seen that on any other mobo or IO panel, and its really nice because it allows a snug fit of both the panel and the mobo inside the case. You also don't have to worry about anything pressing too hard against something else inside it.

Shiny box for the Rosewill 750W PSU

The PSU is completely reflective, so a direct pic is kinda useless. It has two 80mm fans with Blue LEDs, but they aren't terribly strong and are easily overpowered in my green monster of a case, heh. I'll probably go with a modular design for my next +650W PSU, because as you can see this thing has a ton of cables. I'm only using one of the four 12V rails, and one out of two SATA and one out of two Molex power cables at the moment, so I kinda just shoved the rest into the spare drive bay.

Honestly though, this is the first Rosewill product I have any respect for, which is saying a lot considering how many POS products I've purchased from Rosewill (about 6). This PSU came with a great user manual that outlined every connector and its purpose, which you can see in this pic. It also had other goodies that most +650W PSUs should/probably do have, such as a 4 pin ATX AND 8 pin EPS mobo connector, as well as a 20+4 main connector for both types of mobos. It also came with a 6 to 8 pin PCI-E adapter (950W version comes with 8 pin connectors stock, no adapter required). I have to say its much better than the little Antec 430W I was using. You can see my gfx card and my heatsink all put back together here.

500GB HDD, to start my movie collection.

Everything placed and ready, kinda. That's my cable TV/FM radio/S-Video/input recorder card on the bottom there with the 9600's fanless heat sink behind it. The TV card worked awesome in XP, but the Vista 64 drivers aren't working so hot right now.

All wired up and ready to go!

Purring (6x80mm + 2x120mm fans) and glowing like a little radioactive kitty.

After I switched the RAM slots the new system hit BIOS with no problem, and I installed Vista Ultimate x64 no problem. I'm actually loving this new system, and I can't wait til I can grab new RAM (mobo can take DDR2-1200, I have 667) and a new CPU.

So, from the aftermath of Datech's Smilodon (Raidmax's weird case name, not mine) arises the first glimpse of Passion's heart, mind, and muscle:

One perfectly good Asus P5N-SLI

And a very capable Antec 430W PSU.

That's all for now folks. Hopefully this time next week I'll be bragging about my leet Dremel skills, maybe not... We'll just wait and see.

Oh, and always remember: When using speakers that are THX certified, make sure all the stupid 'Environment enhancements' are disabled at your audio drivers....

[Datech]

I got 5 reinforced metal cutting discs and a tungsten carbide metal cutting bit. The discs I got supposedly work amazing for the kind of design I'm doing, however, I didn't realize that the discs require a special kind of attachment in order to use it with the Dremel. It's called the EZ lock system or something, and I guess it stabilizes the discs a lot more than normal. Either way I didn't pick it up, and the cutting bit is too uncontrollable on the case side on metal this thick.

I'll probably paint the plastic tomorrow, so maybe I'll have some project pictures. I may not be able to go to the store again and work on it until next weekend, so that sucks. Oh well, we'll see what happens, sorry guys.

[Datech]

So it has definitely been a while since I updated this mod, but I am still working on it!

Issues:

• Girlfriend's father's Dremel died
• End of the school semester and beginning of a work semester
• I'm a noob when it comes to painting

Progress

• Cutout is pretty much done
• Case sides primed well
• All parts except monitor ready

Once I finally got the mandrel for the EZ Lock system I got a good bit of the cutout done. At one point though I turned the Dremel off to reposition the case and the poor thing never turned back on. That's ok though, as Girlfriend's mother promptly bought Girlfriend's father the latest Dremel set and I went on about my work.

The cutout design is shaped just how I want it, but unfortunately there are so many curves I am having a hard time getting it just right for my own standards. I'm going to give it one more go this weekend and see if i can smooth them down how I want them, but since it is a steel case my only option is the tungsten carbide bit that can be unruly sometimes.

I painted the silver plastic part of the case well, but I ended up not liking the color. I picked up a good metallic red from Advance Auto Parts that I really like, and hopefully I'll be applying that to everything this weekend. I finally showed the case to Girlfriend, and we both decided that I should paint the case sides dark red as well. This will leave the top of the case and that removable plastic faceplate black, and leave the power button area and plastic under the handle silver in order to balance out all of the red.

I intend on cutting and applying the plexiglass this weekend as well, and if all goes well I will actually have the whole thing done. I know I've said that before, but this is actually the first weekend I don't have anything else to do. I have decided to keep both side panels, and I cut into the blank one, so I will be putting the red plexiglass in both windows. Also, since I won't have enough drive covers to cover all the holes, I'm going to fill that with the red plexiglass as well and etch some sort of design in there, most likely dealing with hearts.

So, sorry I kept everyone waiting, I know the suspense was terrible, but if all goes well I'll have it done this weekend.

[Datech]

K, so here are the progress pics I promised.

This is from one of the three cameras I have pictures on, so unfortunately this is just pictures from today. I'll post the lead up pictures when I get those cameras back so I can complete a real work log.

This is after 3 or 4 layers of red paint. I ended up using Automotive primer and paint from Advance Auto Parts since it was convenient, and we're pretty sure the case is steel. This is, of course, the heart side of the case.

And the other side that came with the case originally.

I'm going to throw another layer on tomorrow. As you can see the primer is still kinda visible.

Inside, in the light. This is your first real view of my handywork, but I have more in depth pics showing the flaws of my cutting on another camera. The rectangle sides are pretty straight, and remember that I did all this using a 1.5" cutting disc and a tungsten carbide lateral cutting bit. Given that, I'm kinda content with the final product, but of course I always want to do better.

All the components are in the computer now, and I decided against sleeving the wires because I couldn't figure out how to get the molex and some of the SATA connectors off.

The other side came out the best out of the two.

Unless Girlfriend says otherwise, I will definitely redo this plastic part.

And this is why. I am either really awesome at painting cause I can do the 'old paint' look really well, or I'm really novice cause I did the 'old paint' look on the first try...

Red Plexiglass is RED! I figured it'd be a little lighter, but oh well, Girlfriend likes it.

When I held this up in front of the fire in our fireplace it made the flames look like hell fire, it was sick.

Mockup without glass. Notice how the red side isn't flush with the top of the red front. I plan on painting just that little strip of the top to make it all flush. Girlfriend wants me to keep the rest of the top and front black, and keep the silver parts silver. That may add on to the case later if we decide to change it later, but maybe not. I have only one DVD drive for this comp, so I will be filling the rest of the bay slots for both the 3.5" and the floppys with red plexiglass, and eventually etch some sort of design in it. Probably whatever you guys photoshop up as the header graphic.

Found this Parr bonding glue for aluminum to adhere the glass to the case side.

I tested the side a little too early and the glass slipped off and smeared a bit of glue. I plan on rubbing that off tomorrow.

As I said, tomorrow I plan on repainting the heart side and probably repainting the plastic front as well. I'll put the glass on the heart side and attempt to paint the top of the case as well. I'm also gonna put that OC cooling kit I mentioned way earlier on and see if its worth it. I'll also cut the glass for the front and mock it up for y'all, and then I'll take suggestions on what to put on the glass. Any other suggestions and design tips are also welcome. That's it for now, thanks!

[Datech]

Actually, Girlfriend just asked me if I could paint the silver parts now, so tomorrow they will most likely be red. The silver part under the handle comes out so it will be easy, but I guess I can mask off the silver part when I paint the strips too, so it wont be so bad.

As for the crackle, I did paint it once with a plastic paint, but I sanded it pretty well before I put the primer on and the primer stuck almost perfectly. I think my problem with the red layer on the plastic was that I tried to do it all in one layer. It was really cold outside, and it was already dark and I was trying to finish it, so I pretty much just emptied the rest of the can on it hoping it'd turn out good. Obviously it didn't, so I'll fix it tomorrow.

I mentioned this idea before, but let me know what you think. In order to incorporate a little more red into the black top, I think I'm going to drill a bunch of small holes that shape into a few small hearts on the top. I have two red CCFL's, so I think I'll put one at the bottom and one at the top so I can get good light through all the windows and openings. If I position the top one the right way it will shine light through those holes when the room is dark, and it should create a nice effect.

Oh, and Fuzzy, you never hit the rep button

[Datech]

I made a good bit of progress today. The only things I have left to do are cut and etch the plexiglass windows in the front, and install the OS and I should be done. I won't consider this project done until I get that etch done. And now for the pics!

After another round of painting I'm finally content with the heart side's coating.

Don't mind the gap between the side and front, that is fixed by thumbscrews in the back. This is just a mockup with the bad front and the finished side.

Mock up of the bad front and the finished heart side.

Head on shot.

Mockup of CCFL tubes and making sure the glass has time to bond with the adhesive.

The lights inside are on, but you obviously can't tell in the lighted room. Thanks to all who suggested I use red glass so it shows red in the light as well.

Even though I decided not to use the cooling duct inside the case I did decide to use the directional tube on the PSU fan. I think it looks cool, so does Girlfriend.

With the room light off, yay!

The front panels should show light really well.

Of course the other panel barely gets any light because of the mobo, but that was expected.

Too lazy to paint the rear.

But it glows nicely.

All the parts to be painted/repainted. The handle, the area under the handle, the face plate, and that little stip to make it flush.

And the silver part on the top.

Nice and smooth after 150 grit and 400 grit.

Three layers still leave bubbles, boo!

Same with the handle.

My masking job.

The flush zones turned out pretty well.

I cut out an area on the top in order to let more light through to the handle. Ended up looking like Dilbert.

Most of it turned out pretty good.

But the face plate still cracked a bit. Not as bad as the first time though. We're content with it.

The hole worked out pretty nicely considering I cut it while the grate was still drying.

Yep, still cracked.

Very, very cracked.

The mask job turned out ok, it was getting dark and I was running out of paint.

Comes together pretty well.

Lights up the top real well now!

It glows!

Should be a nice light show in a small room.

Again, not so much on the other side.

Well that's it for now. If anyone reading this gets bored feel free to come up with a good header, or urge jdbson to finish his header, so I can etch whatever y'all come up with into the plexiglass windows that will be on the front. Thanks!