I didn't mean to compare the two projects. I followed both projects and both caught my eye for some nice work. I would agree, plexi would be a hard material work with. The "BLACK" case mod is more up my alley and like the way it looks.....maybe except for the top. I believe soundx98 did an AMD window mod awhile back.....can't find the picture, but the image is still stuck in my brain, that was one I did try.

Today's post is brought to you by "Sisconsin",
America's Dairyland and home of Brett Favre, Technodanvan's favorite football player.

Lil shot of I-94 going west towards the Twin Cities.
I bet I have driven back and forth between Chicago and Minneapolis over a 100 times over the last 40 years.
About 7 hours from Home to Chicago's northside (da Bears)



Got home about 30 minutes ago and thought I'd show you where I am with cable management.



here is a big mofo pic of it
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//inside1.JPG

The 24-pin cable on the SkyHawk 620 is too short to route through to the other side of the case.
Hale, it barely even reaches at this point.
But the SkyHawk PSUs have an "always on" molex for the DVD Writer/CD-Rom.
I like the fact that I can "eject" the tray with the PC off.

The Molex connectors in the upper right hand corner (next to the 24-pin) bug me as well.
(I may just remove the molex connectors and hard wire the cable)

I relocated the mobo cables for PWR/Reset/HDD LED.
Sorta sandwiched them in between the SATA connectors.
(gave me a chance to neaten those up a bit in the process)
Just not up to disassembling everything, taking the top off and then lengthening the wires.
If I need to do all that I may as well make an "especiale" six conductor cable and run it under the motherboard.

The fan cable for the Zalman VF900 is plugged into fan 2 on the mobo and you can see it on the left side of the pic.
Not sure if it is worth the effort of replacing (the FanMate2 controller is nowhere to be found)

The AC Ryan 30mm Dual Overburst CCFLs came in the mail.
Unfortunately they are two and a half inches too tall. (fug)
But I already snuck one in near the HDDs and it lights up the area nicely.



If I can remove the other one of the CCFLs from the plastic tube (without breaking it) and then mount it "nekid" (without breaking it) it MAY fit and clear the rear fan (window side).
(Course I will probably break it the first time I move my case)

Got a couple of other ideas in "da haid", so stay tuned if you are a glutton for poor photography

Reel, you got PM coming your way.

It's actually not too hard to remove the acrylic tubes from the A.C.Ryan CCFLs. The cube on the end with the wires isn't glued to the tube.


p.s. PM replied

looking absolutely awesome dude, your beginning to inspire me to do something drastic, its probably a good thing that I can't find my Dremel lol

As always, your cable management rocks. This mod has inspired me to finish the mod I had started several months back.

I have a simple fix for the Molex connectors. Right now they stick out becayse they are white. Just buy some black ones and they will blend in more. Anyone else looking probably won't see it when they look in (especially with the 2-way mirror), but of course you'll know they're there.

That's easily fixed with a trip to Lowe's

I don't think there is any greater compliment than your case mod inspiring others to mod their own case.

Shortly after starting the project I decided it would be a greater challenge to spend time on cable management than cutting holes.
The main cable from the SkyHawk 620 is just too short.
Plus, since everyone with this case biatches about cable management I had to give it a shot.

Yes, I could have used some type of 24-pin cable extender and cut the holes but you know that generally decreases the case value.
And yup, some type of "channel" could be used to hide the wires.
Panduit has a ton of options http://www.panduit.com/products/browse.asp?classid=1006
but that would have required cutting a hole underneath the PSU and flipping it over so cool air would be drawn in from the bottom.
It's a three year old PSU and I thought it might be better to just play it safe.
When I do upgrade to a quad core whatever, the board layout will probably be different, so conduit seemed premature at this point.

Some great ideas were brought up by the forum members and I really appreciate that.
My thanks to all of you, it's what makes this such a great forum.
I am under some severe budget restrictions with this mod and living in an apartment with no shop area makes it difficult for sure, but it has been a LOT of fun and added some excitement to the oldfaht's life.

I realized last week that I had lost the rubber grommets for the rear of the case (water-cooling pass thru) and the good folks at Antec were kind enough to send me two more at no charge.
Good support, gonna remember that.

I have been having some problems contacting AC Ryan with some questions:
What is the best stuff to clean the Acrylpanel Mirror2 with?
Where can I buy 8 inch Blue Overburst CCFLs?
Where can I find the 5 pack of UV reactive paint?

So I contacted Radodrill (really nice guy, very helpful, and extremely talented)
I had been sending e-mails to "info AT acryan DOT com" and "sales AT acryan DOT com" and he suggested I try "contact AT acryan DOT com".

So we'll see if they respond. Thanks rado!

Now I did find this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...:MEWA:IT&ih=004



My thought is to paint the "edge" of the video card and the "edge" of the Hauppage WinTV-HVR-1600 I just bought from owcraftsman.



Don't want to be too gay (gaye?, gai?) with it. Just something subtle.
It dries clear and I am hoping that it picks up enough light from the Blue CCFLs to light up.
I should have a ton of this stuff left over, so if you are in need let me know and I'll try and put some in a small container for you. NC except shipping.

Just realized that not only did I order the wrong size AC Ryan CCFLs (12" instead of 8") but I ordered UV instead of Blue.
(Another "senior" moment I am afraid)

Haven't opened them yet but there is a 20% restocking charge (plus shipping) even if I return them sealed.
Probably not worth the hassle.
I could mount them in the top area and I am sure they would help light up the RAM slots and stuff at the top of the board but may not do justice to the card "edge".

I will tell you that the apparent quality of the AC Ryan CCFLs is MUCH SUPERIOR to the Logisys CCFLs.
Logisys - fugly blue transformer, male and female connectors (more wires to hide), yellow and red wires to transformer input, white wires out of transformer to CCFLs, and a "slide" switch for on/off.
AC Ryan - Beautiful flat black transformer that is easier to hide, single Black "pass-through" molex, Black sleeving to transformer, silver wires to CCFLs, and a "rocker" switch.
Plus as Radodrill said, the CCFLs are easy to remove on the AC Ryan's.
You get what you pay for (just make sure you order the correct sheet)



I am becoming more and more impressed by the Acrylpanel Mirror 2.
With good lighting inside the case it's just way kewl.
Case turned off (I really don't think this will happen much)



And best shot so far of the see-through mirror.
You can see a little reflection from the monitor and the Logitech G15 on the right side of the pic.
And you can see that the Blue light close to the UV spectrum helps light up the Yellow reactive parts of the motherboard.



ReelFiles has shouted "dibs" on the "fake" G5 case.
real big pics here: (56K warning)
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//P1010513.JPG
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//P1010512.JPG
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//P1010511.JPG
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//P1010510.JPG
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//P1010509.JPG

We agreed on $30 plus $9.00 shipping for the case, plexi window, 92mm Thermaltake A2017 Blue LED smart fan with controller and 120mm Thermaltake A2018 Blue LED smart fan with controller.

Steve needs to sell some goodies first (watch for his sale) but ALL the money will be donated to DIY-street.
Not a lot but every little bit helps.

PLEASE dig into your pockets if you can help DIY-street this month!
Just give a little click on the PayPal donate button on the bottom of the page.

Yep, I donated $30 bucks from the $130 AceGobber paid me for my RAM. I am also gonna try to donate 5-10% of what I make off the other sales, but I have to make enough to buy a laptop for wifey. She desperately needs one for her Master's degree.

That mirror stuff looks really good, I'd like to get some of that for my MozartTx as well.

I stay away from the logisys lights now, I had two of their inverters burn up on me within a few months. I think they just run too hot in their stock casing. I took the lid off the last one I have and covered it with a floppy drive bay cover from my Tsunami Dream, and it's worked for a year now.





I guess drilling larger ventilation holes would work just as well.

I've been feeling a litle down lately because of money troubles, so I haven't felt motivated to actually use my DV cam to take pics and upload them to make my FS thread, but I really need to get this done today or tomorrow.

Performance-PCs.com has a large selection of A.C.Ryan products including a range of their UV paints and the 20cm blue CCFLs (A.C.Ryan doesn't explicitly label their 20cm CCFLS as overburst though)

I personally use the Novus#1 for cleaning acrylic; that should work with the mirror panel as well

OK, Carl, here's your inspration at work:

http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showpost.p...34&postcount=13

Not as good on the cable management as you, but it's pretty easy to get in and out of.

Good Lord, I think I am ready to give up on shooting the Acrylpanel Mirror2.
Just so hard to get a decent shot without a reflection.

But I am very, very happy with the window to say the least.

I added 2 x 8" AC Ryan blue (bottom rear window side and next to HDDs on window side).
And then I added 2 x 12" AC Ryan Blue "Overburst" on each side of the top.

An awful lot of light in there and it really lights up the entire inside and allows the window to be almost transparent.
I think the pics show that the light is more even throughout the case.
Actually, at night it seems to be transparent (translucent?) with a ting of blue.
I did try the UV reactive paint on the edges of the vid card and Hauppage TV card.
Not as bright as I had hoped but still a good effect.

Love the last pic, looks awesome. I think what you need to do is hang a black sheet right behind the camera, so there is nothing to reflect in the window;)

That UV paint really does look good in there; hmmmm maybe I should have A.C.Ryan for some of that as well.

Thanks for the camera/black curtain tip!
I may try moving the PC, LOL



If they don't come through let me know.
I got a lifetime supply.

it really makes a difference using UV, 4 times as bright at least.

I meant to say should have asked :|

I'll have to see what they include in the prize pack for the MotM victory

The side panel really gives it an element of class bro, Im so impressed with that alone.

man I need a case to drown my sorrows in.

Thinking I need a big chuck of copper and more light in there.
Picked up a Zalman CNPS9700 LED from a forum member.
On the road again this week, pics on Sunday.

They are nice coolers them Zalmans. Just have to find the spare time to strip my antec's of the 939 gear.

I'm going to begin with drilling out the 80mm fan holes to accommodate 120mm and 92 mm. Also a custom new front is in planing.

For The sake of the finish, which is rather scratched due to laning. I will get the Antec Powdercoated ( Like you do with your flash rims for cars yo). Undecided as of yet. Toss between Dark blue or white. Heck I may be able to get both lol Get the whole Shelby colour scheme going there.

The Zalman CNPS 9700 LED got here this afternoon and I just finished mounting it.
Temps dropped 3 degress from the AC 64 Pro and it looks awesome (may take me a while to get used to it after looking at the AC 64 for a year)

Need to work on a base for the rig.
Tried using my silver tongue to commission radodrill for the project but he is just too dang busy.

Rado was extremely helpful though and I have it all planned out in my mind's eye.
Not done yet with this thread

That's good news.

BTW, that mirror side window is hot. I am in serious lust.

hehehe

Should be sweet with the acrylic base you have in mind

Swapped the Zalman CNPS 9700LED for the Arctic Cooling 64 Pro HSF.
CPU Temps down but PWMIC temp increased.

You're pretty handy Carl - why don't you fashion some kind of shroud covering the heatsinks by the PWMIC that makes the Zalman pull some of it's air directly through them. Just a little piece of scrap metal, or even a thin piece of cardboard/card stock should work. You could even use some of that extra UV paint on it

Alway's with the good ideas t_ski

Ya know, high PWMIC temp is something that freaks many out on the NF4s especially.
But I think it's just the location of the sensor itself in a dead spot.
An enormous amount of air is flowing though the case and the PWMIC heatsinks and chip feel cold to the touch.
But I promise to faht around with a shroud as your advice is usually dead nuts on.

What did you think about the Zalman CNPS 9700?
Does it make my butt look too big?

Fortunately, from two states away I can't see your butt Carl. :eek2:

Nah, the Zalman looks good in there. I like how the LEDs match :beer

But he goes to IL often enough :tooth:

BTW I think the Zalman HSF looks better.

Nice build Soundx! The fan on the top is a monster!

Awesome job there soundx, looks like my old zalman is treating you good :cool:
love the case.I really wanted to go with a antec 900 but I went with the ultra black aluminus case...it isnt to shabby at all

Homer Simpson – “ooooo, Nuts and Gum together at last!”

Enter radodrill – Stage Left

After reading radodrill’s thread http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79331 for the umpteenth time, I felt that a plexiglass base would be the “schiznit”.
Polished plexi has always been a thing of beauty to me, but I know how difficult it can be to properly finish without the correct tools or work space.

The base I had done for my Wavemaster was a good place to start.
[img]http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//7pic.jpg[/img]

I had followed the curve of the Wavemaster front and it was a great attention getter.
http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showthread...2889#post452889

With the Silverstone Temjin TJ-07 build (pics below sig) I had used the Matrix Orbital LED Indicator and with a little custom programming I had the LEDs doing some trick stuff.
MO at Frozen CPU http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2912/lcd..._Indicator.html

[img]http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//ssLEDOFF.gif[/img]

[img]http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//ssLEDsON.gif[/img]

It took a lot of programming as I am not “the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree”, but I wound up with this:

LED1 Status
ON/Connected to Internet
OFF/Disconnected from Internet
FLASH/Chipset Fan not running
STROBE/CPU Fan not running
ON/STROBE/OFF (sequential) A voltage rail has dropped more than 1%)

LED 2 Status
OFF/CPU Temp below 35C
ON/Temp above 35C
FLASH/CPU Temp above 40C
STROBE/CPU Temp above 45C
ON/STROBE/OFF (sequential) Temp above 50C

LED 3 Status
OFF/Temp below 45C
ON/Temp above 45C
FLASH/Temp above 50C
STROBE/Temp above 55C
ON/STROBE/OFF (sequential) Temp above 60C

The LEDs offered a ton of information even out of the corner of my eye.

I had also extended the HDD LED in another case. To a plexi fan mount on my CPU.
Any HDD activity would cause the whole “shroud” to pulsate.
I always though it was kewl to watch and sort of “animated” the inside of the rig.

[img]http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98///CoolFlowMod.jpg[/img]

Now if I could incorporate all of the ideas I thought I would have something pretty unique if not totally uber l337.

So I contacted the expert (radodrill) and explained what I was trying to do.

Soundx98: Dude, I got a great idea, and really need your help!
Please Please Purty Please!
Radodrill: You OK Old Man? T-ski, catkicker, and blooz1 mentioned they want to do an intervention.
Soundx98: I need HEELLLPPP with plexi.
Radodrill: Well we all definitely agree you need some help.
Soundx98: No, I’m OK but I can’t get this idea for a base out of my head.
Just a little tired from the “doddering” practice.
I do have “middle-of-the-night” peeeing practice in a half hour.
Turning 60 is tough with all the new stuff I have to learn.
Can I commission you for a project?
PLEASE PLEASE PURTY PLEASE!
Radodrill: I’m booked until January, got a full plate until then.
Might be able to help with some modeling though.
Soundx98: Even if I offer Jo, Susan, and Momma as concubines to ya?
Radodrill: Very difficult offer to pass up, Can you wait until January? It will be here before you know it.
Soundx98: LOL. Does the Pope wear funny hats? Let me bounce these ideas off you.

Embed one of the LEDs in each section of the (three piece) base and then also embed an extended HDD activity LED into the middle section as well.
Not just a base but a visual "readout" as well.

And so it begins

The conversation makes that post 5 stars.

Gotta agree with you there.

And that's exactly how it went ... not really ... but yeah

Fortunately I have another 25 years to go before I need to do the middle of the night peeing practice.

Funny stuff :nod:

So my man radodrill sent me this



I uploaded the files radodrill sent me if you want to follow along class
(This modeling dealio is way kewl)

You'll need to download eDrawings Viewer only (free) from Solidworks
http://www.solidworks.com/pages/programs/e...2_register.html

Here are the .prt and assembly files (WinRAR file)
http://premium1.uploadit.org/soundx98//Base_rev3final.rar
Radodrill did them in Pro/E so select that when you open them in the dropdown menu (9th One down marked Pro/E of course).

Hit the "play" button in the upper right hand corner when you open the assm file or rotate the drawing manually if you prefer.

radodrill: Have you ever thought about "chamfering"?
soundx98: Once, but I am pretty much hetro.
technodanvan gave me a pretty good scare when he pulled out a Gerbil dressed up as Brett Favre a few months ago.
radodrill: No, I mean a slight bevel to the edges of each section and then make the sections toward the bottom slightly larger. Like this



soundx98: Freakin' awesome.
Schwing!



radodrill: you ain't seen nothin' yet Methusala
We could add some trick cuts to make it totally "leet"







soundx98: Dude!
radodrill: Sweet!
soundx98: Dude!
radodrill: Sweet!
soundx98: Dude!
radodrill: Sweet!



To be continued:

haha carl looks awesme.

I recently (last night and this morning) did some case modding.

All I am left with is 2 broken cases and ghetto rigged computers laying around on everything

Dude, how much of that wine do you have left over from yesterday's feast? You crack me up.....

after all this time and much drooling over the pictures I think old faht SoundX98 is finally going to hit the height of puberty...

Champfer is also very nice touch to plexi-glass...and a quick flame of a propane tourch will make it shine like no tomorro...

I've got another trick up my sleeve; sand it to 600+ grit (1500 is good) then hit it with a cloth buffing wheel and Novus #2

w00000000000000000000000000t!

I am going to be pimpin'
Lookin for some new clothes
geez, they all look good here

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/categories/Pimp_Costumes/

gotta luv teh internets and google

EDIT: They gots the bling too!
One stop shopping.
http://www.pimpcostumes.com/categories/Bling_Bling/

Rado, pick you up in a half hour.
We going to do the shopping thing.
We better pick up some sticks too, to keep the biatches away.
(maybe we should get a hat for Travis instead of donating this month?)

EDIT 2: oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
dey got da pimpin teeth too
http://www.pimpcostumes.com/categories/Bli...g-Teeth-Grillz/

Wow,
Antec 900 for $49.95 after $50 MIR and $20 IR AND Free Shipping
Use promo code EMC1123CASE05 for additional $20 off invoice

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129021

(please order via DIY-Street link)

Did you check out the "yo mama" jokes, too?

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/index.php?main_page=yo_mama

Then there's the "pimp how-to:"

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/index.php?main_page=pimp_howto

If I still had that pic of you Carl, I'd photoshop you into this one:

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/costumes/Pimp-...iams/96,114_123

rado doing the emerald and Mr. Clean thang

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/images/products/WhitePimpLg.jpg

Thought I'd stick with bloooooooooooo to match the fans

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/images/product...mpIceRockLg.jpg

I think I'll go with this

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/images/headers/Deuces7.jpg

and here's Carl

http://www.pimpcostumes.com/images/headers/Deuces1.jpg

I can't wait to see this acrylic base completed. I might even do a similar mod on my Antec 900.



You're a funny, funny man, Carl. There are some great laughs in this thread.

Ha ha!

Good, you saw that sale price at the "Egg"!

Where the hell did you find that "pimpin'" site? Sheesh!
Reminds me of "back in the day" in the early 70's when I was playin' music.

I forgot about this one:


So I was able to whip a little something up:



BTW, did you notice the Grillz?

Good thing there aint no pic of me out there; unless you'd add some nice girls or "ho's"

Maybe... :tooth:

LOL! I think a pic of Carl, in his pimp suit, with a can of Krylon in one hand standing in front of La Quinta saying "WASSUP?? I'm pimpin' my rig, YO!" ... would be priceless.

I just bought one to drown my sorrows