Project: DarkPhoenix (56k... go away)

[tikicult]

My computer has always been called Phoenix since I rebuild it so often (and cause of the meaning of the Phoenix to me). This is the 6th iteration of Phoenix dubbed DarkPhoenix. System specs at the end...

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/00-original.jpg
The orginal case

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/01-day1.JPG
The first day I got home with the case

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/02-cuts1.JPG
First round of cuts

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/03-cuts2.JPG
Cuts continued

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/04-cuts3.JPG
Closeup of rear fan hole

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/05-bracket.JPG
Bracket made for HD cage

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/06-6800GT.JPG
This baby came in half way through the project

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/07-HD1.JPG
HD bracket mounted

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/08-HD2.JPG
HD cage relocated

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/09-paint.JPG
Painting individual parts

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/10-mess.JPG
All the crap that needs to go in the system (not the Sushi book though)

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/11-GTWC.JPG
Oh yeah...

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/13-in2.JPG
Closeup of mounted CPU block

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/14-in3.JPG
Complete inside

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/15-spike.JPG
Lift Kit

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/16-wires.JPG
Mess of wires on back side

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/17-PSU1.JPG
Crappy Plan B for PSU wires

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/18-Pump.JPG
Pump mount

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/19-PSU2.JPG
Underside of PSU

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dgarcia7/DarkPhoenix/20-back.JPG
Back of case

The whole case and panels were powdercoated at a local place. It gets all nice and shiny when I clean it. I cannot figure out how to get a good picture of the entire closed case because of this.

System Specs:
Athlon64 3200+ @ 2.42 Ghz
Asus K8N-E Deluxe @ 880 Mhz HT
BFG 6800GT OC @ 420 Mhz
1 GB PC3200 Corsair XMS @ 440 Mhz
74 GB WD Raptor
200 GB WD
Antec 430W TruePower
Watercooling by Dangerden and Swiftech
Fans are Panaflo M1A

Load CPU temp: 33*C
Load GPU temp: 45*C

-Dave

[EnderW]

nice

[Roach]

I love the placement of the rad very nice. Perhaps some smaller wire sleaving on the psu and that would be perfect.

[ra-odin]

Whats the front look like now?

I do like what you did with the drive bays. Very nice.

[darktiger]

Looks pretty cool so far. More pics of finished project...

[lomn75]

The whole case and panels were powdercoated at a local place. It gets all nice and shiny when I clean it. I cannot figure out how to get a good picture of the entire closed case because of this.
Disable the flash? Just get it in a well-lit room and that should do the trick

[TFR]

I like your solution to reorganize the HHDs and make room for the pump. Damn, I never really noticed how big the 6800 is until I saw your pics.

[CrimandEvil]

I love your case! A couple of questions though, where did you get the case feet? I've seen then pretty much only at UK online shops and what did that use to be?
I love what you did with the HD rack.

[tikicult]

Thanks guys for the comments. The front of the case isn't actually done yet. I ran out of time over the weekend to put in the bezels. They are the only things missing. The front also features purple LEDs for power and HD activity. The HD rack was a pain in the ass to figure out where to put it and how to mount it. The original plan was to build a new one, but the original one actually fit exactly where I wanted to put it. The pump will probally be adjusted by an inch or so. Alot of the case was based on the placement of the radiator at the bottom. I was supposed to have a Maze4 on the chipset, but the radiator ended up getting in the way. I was lucky that the 6800 cleared the rad because I didnt measure beforehand, hehe. The case feet are speaker spikes found here (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=240-717). The PSU sleeving cannot be made any smaller because all the cables are already stuffed in as far as they can go. The only things left for me to do is mount the bezel plates, install fan controllers on the panaflos, touch up paint the few silver items left and wax/polish the case.

-Dave

[DR_K13]

Quote from Eric Cartman-- " supper sweet" :D

[jayjaya29]

Yeah that looks real nice. Nice work. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Muttsta]

Looks really nice, but just one question
Is it OK to mount your HDs vertically?
I always thought it was bad

[CrimandEvil]

Why would it be bad?

[Elledan]

Looks really nice, but just one question
Is it OK to mount your HDs vertically?
I always thought it was bad
Modern HDDs don't care about in which orientation they're mounted, if at all. Just don't shake them violently while they're operating. They hate that.


As for the mod (got to stay somewhat on-topic), I must say that it looks very clean and professional. Can't wait to see what you did with the front :)

[Scubastevie00]

Which way do you have the fan blowing? Sucking air out from under the case or blowing air down from in the case. I'm assuming the first but just curious. Nice man... Nice..

[R@Mo]

You didn't paint indoors now, did you? I see paint stains on the carpet! :p