Project: Air Force

[technodanvan]

Don't just post pics when you are done, show us a worklog! I would also like to mention that you may not be able to overclock as much with RAM that does not have any heatspreader, but at least it is rated at higher speeds than the standard 800Mhz.

 

I thought of that already, my friend. Fortunately I probably won't worry too much about overclocking too much, I'm considering getting another two sticks to go with it. I've also seen numerous heatspreader kits that might work out very well and will consider using one. The voltage requirements for the memory do seem awfully high so I might return them for something a bit more reasonable.

 

Oh, and of course I'll be showing off each step as I get to it. Hell, when more parts come in I'll throw up a picture! Right now is mostly the planning stage though and basically I was waiting for some input before I began ordering some stuff.

 

My Chieftec case was that horrible paint job with raised flecks of paint that looking like someone put a load of paint in their mouth and went pbbppbpbpbttt all over the panels

 

So I just used an orbital sander with 1/3 sheets...

 

BUT... mine was paint on steel... I'm pretty sure Lian Li cases are anodised aluminium? I've never repainted anodized alu, so if this what your panels are, you can probably find stripping guides... it might turn out that you only have to sand it to scuff the surface to get the primer to adhere rather than getting rid of the black as if it's anodised it's not really a layer of paint over metal

 

Yeah it's anodized. There's a chemical process to strip them, just like it was a chemical process to anodize them in the first place. I can't really do that without having big tanks of chemicals at my disposal though. Sanding really didn't work very well...short of a badass belt sander (which would likely significantly decrease the thickness of the panel itself) I'm not sure what'll do it. Still looking for a local place that could get it done for me. Fortunately I've figured out around 70% of the design and can get panels cut now. Unfortunately the design is fairly intricate so I'm pricing laser cutting.

 

*sigh*

Edited September 6, 2008 by technodanvan

[hardnrg]

looks like you can do it the regular way of power-sanding followed by using an etching primer:

http://guides.pcapex.com/pcapex_paintshop/...ed_aluminum.php

 

CNC water cutting might be another option to look into for the intricated design if you haven't already

[technodanvan]

looks like you can do it the regular way of power-sanding followed by using an etching primer:

http://guides.pcapex.com/pcapex_paintshop/...ed_aluminum.php

 

CNC water cutting might be another option to look into for the intricated design if you haven't already

 

Good call!

 

FYI, the theme is the "United States Air Force"

[ccokeman]

I thought of that already, my friend. Fortunately I probably won't worry too much about overclocking too much, I'm considering getting another two sticks to go with it. I've also seen numerous heatspreader kits that might work out very well and will consider using one. The voltage requirements for the memory do seem awfully high so I might return them for something a bit more reasonable.

 

Oh, and of course I'll be showing off each step as I get to it. Hell, when more parts come in I'll throw up a picture! Right now is mostly the planning stage though and basically I was waiting for some input before I began ordering some stuff.

 

 

 

Yeah it's anodized. There's a chemical process to strip them, just like it was a chemical process to anodize them in the first place. I can't really do that without having big tanks of chemicals at my disposal though. Sanding really didn't work very well...short of a badass belt sander (which would likely significantly decrease the thickness of the panel itself) I'm not sure what'll do it. Still looking for a local place that could get it done for me. Fortunately I've figured out around 70% of the design and can get panels cut now. Unfortunately the design is fairly intricate so I'm pricing laser cutting.

 

*sigh*

If i remember right Easy off oven cleaner will remove the anodizing and leave you with clean metal.

[technodanvan]

If i remember right Easy off oven cleaner will remove the anodizing and leave you with clean metal.

 

I'll have to grab some of that and give it a shot, much cheaper than sandblasting.

 

Happily my car was hit by a drunk driver last night though, so this may turn out to take much longer than I anticipated. Why couldn't I have been in the damn car when it happened?

 

*sigh*

[technodanvan]

Ever so slight update:

 

Plans are going ahead, no cutting has been made yet as I'm trying to get everything laid out to do it all in one day. Waiting on the radiators to get here to I can see the placement of them and figure out exactly where they'll have to go.

 

Big, big order(s) of stuff coming in this next week. But even before all that, I still had a damn mess of random gear and parts from the Lian Li.

 

 

So I purchased the dealy in the background for $60 and semi-organized it off my damn floor.

 

 

After next week I'm gonna wish I had another one probably, but once the project is all finished it'll work out great for spare parts and tools. If everything gets in early enough this week I should be able to start cutting on Saturday and get some plans out to Dr_Bowtie and Radodrill for the wooden and acrylic pieces.

 

Still need to purchase (asterisks indicate uncertainties):

 

2x WD 640GB drives

Power supply

Sound card

RAID Card*

SSD(s)*

 

Other than the power supply none of this is all that critical for operation. Given the cost I'm sitting at now I very well may hold off until later, especially on the SSDs as their price will only come down. Still on the fence about a RAID card....I'd very much like to run a good RAID 5 array but they're so damn expensive.

 

We'll see.

 

Semi-update over. Pics of gear coming next week.

 

PS:

 

Before anyone else points out, yes that book is entitled "Sexuality Now". It was for a Human Sexuality course back in college. I bust it out every now and then to check out the sweet pictures of STD's.

 

You lose your appetite pretty fast after seeing a dude with Gonorrhea of the eye.

[technodanvan]

Well by my count I should have 9 packages coming this week. With the possibility of two more depending on when stuff gets shipped. Don't blame me, it's not my fault one freakin' vendor can't have everything I want at a decent price. Also not my fault I'm super indecisive and by three different things from the same company on three different occasions, just so I can pay more in shipping.

 

Whatever though, the first of my packages arrived today!

 

Just look at them...aren't they beautiful...

 

 

Alright, first up is a wireless PCI card I purchased from a fine member of OCN.

 

 

Sure, it's not a big deal as far as the mod itself goes, but what's the point in having a sweet computer if it doesn't have any internet capabilities?

 

I'll answer that for you - there's no point. And this badass has 3 freakin antennas which allows me to use the word "antennae" when describing my computer. "Antenni" may also slip into the conversation, just because I'm like that. And just how many antenni does your rig have? 0? 1? Maybe 2? Suck it.

 

Moving on.

 

Package #2 was a mystery to me. I honestly had no freaking clue what the hell could be in....huh? G.Skill? When did I order that?

 

 

Oh yeah! Totally RMA'd some G.Skill HZ's (2x1GB 4-4-4 DDR2-800 sticks) that died on me over a year and half ago, back when they were almost $300. Dunno what they go for now (considerably less I imagine) but I found them in my move to Tucson and was like "I should totally RMA these badboys then never use them again". And so it was.

 

Really dunno what I'm gonna do with them, they ain't going in this rig and I've already got another 2x1GB set that is arguably superior (both in speed and they have the LED factor) so maybe they really will sit on a shelf for a while. Or I'll build a third rig to go with this one and the next one.

 

Whatever.

 

Big package up next, this guy happens to be from our friendly friends at MNPCTech! Woo modding! Yeah!

 

 

I ordered this forever ago and half expected some stuff to show up that I either bought again or decided to not use. Fortunately that's not the case. Yet.

 

The two important things here are the modders mesh and about 20 cutoff wheels for my Dremel. I hope that's enough, because I honestly don't know. Also included:

 

some carbon-fiber look sticky stuff that I'm probably gonna wrap around my DVD player, assuming I use one. Not sure what else I'll do with it, but it's nice to have.

 

4 billet aluminum case feet. These looked cool in the pictures online but seem kinda small. Might use thme anyway, not sure yet.

 

A whole crap ton of that rubbery plastic stuff you line case windows with. At the time I ordered it I hadn't decided on my design...now I have it and I'm not certain it'll work out all that swell.

 

1 kit of wireties and assorted dealybobs to help route wires. Yeah, it'd be cheaper somewhere in town but I was already getting up there so I said "screw it, I need it".

 

Oh, and one switch. Just one. I'm thinking I bought it to mount an external CMOS clear on the back of the computer, or at the very least somewhere more handy than a jumper likely covered by a graphics card or something. I'll probably end up getting more switches in the future after I see what exactly I'm dealing with, but it is what it is.

 

That's it, and my hands hurt from typing so I'm out for now.

[Andrewr05]

Look like its coming together great so far dude!

 

I cant wait to see you get down to the nitty gritty parts...

[technodanvan]

Look like its coming together great so far dude!

 

I cant wait to see you get down to the nitty gritty parts...

 

You mean like the parts that make it a computer? Yeah, I can't wait for those either...

 

Gonna be a long while on the video cards. I found an 8800GT for a great price I intend to use until the card(s) I want become cheaper/available at all. It oughta suit for the time being as video games on this machine take second boat to other things.

 

Like awesomeness.

 

Awesomeness costs money, apparently. Wish I could just wash a bit of it off of me onto the thing, be way cheaper. Then I could bottle it too and probably make millions.

 

Maybe I'll do that anyway, I hear there are some suckers on the east coast.

Edited September 17, 2008 by technodanvan

[technodanvan]

I got another box today!

 

 

Nothing too special:

 

2 kits 2x2Gig Geil "Black Dragon" DDR2-1066 (no heatspreader+glowy eyes ftw!)

Windows Vista Home Premium x64 OEM (to be heavily trimmed at a later date)

Nod32 Retail (best software ever)

And a free Geil T-Shirt that's far too big. Seriously guys, you couldn't at least offer a freaking large? Maybe that's just too much to ask, I'm sure they know their demographics average waist size...

 

 

And that's it. More stuff I can't really use yet.

 

*sigh*

Edited September 18, 2008 by technodanvan

[technodanvan]

Oh, some pics of the memory unboxed as well. I challenge you to find sweeter looking ram.

 

 

 

I really need to sit down sometime and figure out how to get decent picture out of this damn camera. Definitely not my thing.

 

Anywho, the intense coolification of these sticks is said to drop system temps by 6 Celsius. So...yeah. Suck it other sticks. You all suck.

[dr_bowtie]

Man those are sweet...I gotta get me some of those for sure....sweetness...