My Unnamed Theoretical Project

[mDust]

Originally Posted by Baraspitfire

It would be cool to have a larger tank around the outside, fill it with water (yes i know the complication there) and stick fish in it lol

haha. Unfortunately, my landlord would have a fit if he ever found out I had a fish tank...having repairs done to my apartment occasionally would mean the repair guy would see it and could mention it to him. Also, I'm lazy and the fish would die due to neglect. For those reasons alone, I will not do this...but I think, if done correctly, something like that could look pretty good.

[billygoat333]

wonder if goldfish would be hardy enough to live under the mineral oil in the same tank? lol those things would live in anything.

[Baraspitfire]

correct me if im wrong but i don't think that mineral oil contains oxygen, so is unable to sustain life, and i don't think id want fish getting caught up in the fans, otherwise there could be some nice red looking liquid in the case...

[mDust]

Originally Posted by billygoat333

wonder if goldfish would be hardy enough to live under the mineral oil in the same tank? lol those things would live in anything.

Don't ask how I know...

[MrNintend0]

Nice designs, I was thinking of building one of these myself, but I never thought of using rads to cool the oil; I thought the pump wouldn't be able to handle the density of the mineral oil and burn out well before it's time... I do have a thought for you, it may make it more complicated but here it goes:

It might be possible to mount the disc drive and a hard drive making it "appear" to be submerged... If you can understand what I mean... basically build a small dual-bay 5.25 inch cube out of the stuff you're building the case out of, leaving the front and back opened to mount the disc drive and hard drive. Find a way to make a sort of a sata hot-swap system to install on the back of the cube and seal it good. Then cut a hole large enough in one of the sides of the case and mount the dual-bay cube on the inside of the case, over the hole, with the hot-swap sata rig positioned towards the inside of the case. Then seal that part good and you have yourself an external-internal Drive mount...

BTW I thought of this in like 2 minutes, so I'm sorry if the idea doesn't work out or it's a bit hard to follow through...

[mDust]

Originally Posted by MrNintend0

Nice designs, I was thinking of building one of these myself, but I never thought of using rads to cool the oil; I thought the pump wouldn't be able to handle the density of the mineral oil and burn out well before it's time...

Thanks. I didn't think a pump could handle it either to be honest, but others have had good luck pumping oil so if I don't I'll just blame them!

Originally Posted by MrNintend0

It might be possible to mount the disc drive and a hard drive making it "appear" to be submerged... If you can understand what I mean... basically build a small dual-bay 5.25 inch cube out of the stuff you're building the case out of, leaving the front and back opened to mount the disc drive and hard drive. Find a way to make a sort of a sata hot-swap system to install on the back of the cube and seal it good. Then cut a hole large enough in one of the sides of the case and mount the dual-bay cube on the inside of the case, over the hole, with the hot-swap sata rig positioned towards the inside of the case. Then seal that part good and you have yourself an external-internal Drive mount...

BTW I thought of this in like 2 minutes, so I'm sorry if the idea doesn't work out or it's a bit hard to follow through...

I follow ya. Thanks for the input. I'm considering it, but I may just keep a simple box for the tank to minimize the amount of gluing/sealing work to be done. The seals are the weakest points and I really don't need oil all over my stuff...and I'll bet the tenants below me don't either! I did try to come up with ways to actually submerge them, but it got complicated really fast, and that's when stuff goes wrong for me. As it is, I'm worried about simply gluing acrylic sheets together and then sealing the seam. I'm looking into getting a router to make sort of a tongue-and-groove seam for strength and more surface area for the glue. I really don't want to have to put some metal reinforcing brackets on the acrylic tank, but I also don't want to be evicted for creating a huge mess...

[MrNintend0]

Originally Posted by mDust

As it is, I'm worried about simply gluing acrylic sheets together and then sealing the seam. I'm looking into getting a router to make sort of a tongue-and-groove seam for strength and more surface area for the glue. I really don't want to have to put some metal reinforcing brackets on the acrylic tank, but I also don't want to be evicted for creating a huge mess...

I hear ya... If you're wanting a good sealer, try Marine GOOP Glue, the stuff takes like 24 hours to fully cure, but it's well worth it :]

[madd0ct0r]

Anything happen with this idea?

[mDust]

Originally Posted by madd0ct0r

Anything happen with this idea?

Slowly but surely...I really want to get it right on the first take. I've changed stuff around so many times...then changed it back. lol
I'm also unsure of if I want to get a new system to drop in it or just keep my current system and upgrade the graphics card(s).
I did buy some acrylic and polycarbonate to experiment with. The acrylic seemed to be much stiffer, which I like. It also doesn't yellow over time from UV. I'm currently experimenting with different glue options. I've seen acrylic glued at 90 degrees perpendicular with no visible seam. It looked like it was cast that way which is what I've been trying to figure out. I figured they just sanded the cut edge and polished it before gluing it, but there seems to be more to it than that. I'll see if I can find the pics of what I mean.

Anyone that has worked with acrylic is welcome to pitch ideas or make suggestions!

[x88x]

I think you'd get the most performance boost for your money by upgrading just your CPU and RAM (in addition to the GPU). Drop in a Q9550 and another 4GB of RAM... The only real reason I would recommend replacing it with a Phenom II x4 or i7 system would be if you really need the extra RAM performance. Otherwise, save the money and spend it on the case.

Or, you could always just wait for the i9 or Phenom III (or whatever AMD is gonna call it).