Project: parallel HEX (completed!)

that looks great, i love watching these cool mods, best part of working with hardware!!!!!
 
:eek: WOW... that is at least 3 times cooler than I thought it would be. Absolutely amazing!
 
wow. just wow. that stuff looks great! Did you fire polish it or did the place where you bought it?
 
WOW thats awesome, Havn't been posting much in this forum lately, but its great to be back and seeing this work log of your really make me miss hardforum! :p

Good luck and Keep it up!
 
looking good man, how heavy are the panels and the hex logo when not mounted .. like case empty weight figures ..
 
I am astonished. I knew it would look good, but man, I didn't expect THAT. It isn't even finished yet :).

Keep us posted.
 
Thanks for all the props guys!

SpangeMonkee, the place that made it for me finished the edges. They used an 'edge polisher' and made it 100% better than I could have.

omegatotal, the total weight of the case parts is over 17lbs (under 8kg) so it isn't a lan-party special! When all the components and water are added I expect that to almost double :eek: . The weight could be significantly reduced by using thinner material. I've used 10mm thick for the HEX mobo mount and 6mm for all other panels, but these could all be half the thickness.

Here's a shot in the day with no flash:

stage_117.jpg


Now off to start masking and marking!
 
board2death986 said:
I think i just wet my pants. . that is freaking gorgeous!!! about dam time i would say


Hahaha..once i saw the work begin I couldn't beleave it either.. :)
This is an outstanding mod for sure ,, :cool:
 
Darkside said:
Hahaha..once i saw the work begin I couldn't beleave it either.. :)
This is an outstanding mod for sure ,, :cool:

When i saw that i was like "okay so you bought some glass thing, what does that have to do wiht the mod?"

Then i looked closer and saw it's nto really glass and it IS the mod! OMGWTF!

AMAZING
 
Yea this will look so cool with hardware inside... especially with the insane watercooling loop you have planned with that insane res and distributer... INSANE!! :cool:
 
have to say that the case looks really cool, surface looks allmost like class.
this thing is goingto look sick then all the hardware is installed. can't wait.
 
just about when alot of us were startin to loose hope here you come and make us all need to clean our selves...damn
 
Thanks guys, that was the effect I was going for! Anybody who doesn't know what I'm doing thinks it's a fish tank, it really does look like glass.

I got the plastic from and had it cut at The Frazer Company (UK), this build may end up on thier portfolio :cool: . They did an amazing job and it fits together just like the sketchup model. I had to pay a bit extra to have my files adapted for their machines but the real cost was £130, a bargain when you consider the material cost. It would have been cheaper if I selected thinner material and a smaller design!

I'm considering having a few smaller versions made to sell. These would be the thinner material, not the behemoth that this case is, and a lot simpler. I can get it pretty small by taking away all the watercooling stuff and placing the motherboard at a funky 45 degrees! The case ventilation would be superb. That may well be my next project, but I'd like to get this project completed before I consider that!
 
Mysterae said:
Thanks guys, that was the effect I was going for! Anybody who doesn't know what I'm doing thinks it's a fish tank, it really does look like glass.

I got the plastic from and had it cut at The Frazer Company (UK), this build may end up on thier portfolio :cool: . They did an amazing job and it fits together just like the sketchup model. I had to pay a bit extra to have my files adapted for their machines but the real cost was £130, a bargain when you consider the material cost. It would have been cheaper if I selected thinner material and a smaller design!

I'm considering having a few smaller versions made to sell. These would be the thinner material, not the behemoth that this case is, and a lot simpler. I can get it pretty small by taking away all the watercooling stuff and placing the motherboard at a funky 45 degrees! The case ventilation would be superb. That may well be my next project, but I'd like to get this project completed before I consider that!
What I think would be pretty cool is a µATX sized one...cute little desktop size with a laptop slot load DVD burner and such... that would rule. :cool:

 
uzor said:
What I think would be pretty cool is a µATX sized one...cute little desktop size with a laptop slot load DVD burner and such... that would rule. :cool:


What he said... :D
 
uzor said:
What I think would be pretty cool is a µATX sized one...cute little desktop size with a laptop slot load DVD burner and such... that would rule. :cool:
+1111111111
 
I might build a much smaller pc for the next project, but got to get this one finished first!

Progress has been slow because I was hand shaping all the constuction blocks and making a bit of an arse of them. So it was time to bring out the big guns!

sander_01.jpg


The disc and belt sander makes light work of the arcylic and is all square and true. Makes a hell of a mess though, but the vacuum cleaner attached helps a lot. The paper on the sander is 80 grit so doesn't provide the best of finishes but that can be sorted with wet sanding with 600 then 1200 grit and rubbing this stuff on, does a great job.

stage_120.jpg


The HEX mobo mount is fixed to the base of the case, shown with the psu in situ.
stage_118.jpg


stage_119.jpg


Here is how the HEX mobo mount is fitted and is pretty secure so should take the weight of the motherboard and be the 'backbone' to the case.
stage_121.jpg


That's about it so far, and it's going to take me a bit of time to finish all the construction blocks. Hopefully the next time I post I will have have that finished and can move on to fitting some components.
 
That glass-look acrylic is definitely worth the extra $$ you paid. Take your time on this last bit, you don't want to risk all that hard work now that it's all coming together. Please take (or pay for) great pics when it's done. It'll be worth it.
 
Lazy_Moron said:
I think I speak for all of us when I say:

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

QF --god damn-- T

this one of the, if not THE sweetist mod iv seen.

keep it up.

and how badly did the plastic damage your sand paper? how many belts and disks did you go through?
 
MrWizard6600, the sanding disk is still the original one with plenty of life left in it! That's after all the construction blocks and some more, plus a chunk of my middle finger :mad: (I'll spare you the pictures!).

All the blocks are made, just need to do some hand sanding and polishing. The case should be structurely safe by the weekend :) .
 
Mysterae,

your build sucks. This is a piece of crap, stop building it.
:)

JOKING!!

Long time no talk. I remember when you 1st came up with this idea over a year ago! And how a lot of people in the water cooling forum at 1st told you it wouldn't work, but i remember telling you to try it anyways. I cant beleive your still building it a year later!! I hadn't checked these forums in ages(but i decided it time to build a new rig, cant play the games i want too anymore! So i came back to look around) and low and behold, i see your still working on the parellel hex!!!!!

AWESOME work. It looks amazing. I cant believe how cool it looks. Impressive as always. I look forward to the finished product!
 
Hi baradyapda! Welcome back, you can't stay away once you've modded something eh?!

Yes, this worklog thread is almost 1 year old, and I hope to have it finished before it's 1st birthday! You are right, I started messing with water cooling ideas before that and some said don't bother, some said it might work, some said go for it like yourself. All good encouragement in one way or another! If you've read through the posts you'll see I had a break over summer, but it's still taking longer than anticiapted...

I'm almost finished getting the case together, I'm waiting until that's done before I post another pic, get the motherboard in place at least.

So are you going to start another worklog with your build? You know you want to!
 
Yeah, as soon as I decide exactly what I want to do and build (there are so many more choices for Processors and video cards than 2 years ago!) ... and maybe changing the water cooling, then i will be back at it with another work log! It will be a couple of months from now probably....

Yeah I saw WHY you took a break, nice lotus!! :)
 
Thanks bradyapba, and good luck in your next venture! I'm waiting until next year before I think about upgrading, would like to get some use out of this pc for a while, but when the bug hits! Thing is, while I build this thing, it's all apart and I'm relegated to my old 9700Pro system :( !
 
It's update time again!

Got the general construction done, still got a lot of cutting and drilling to do to make holes for the rad, psu etc. It's structurely rock solid, I could stand on this thing!

stage_122.jpg


A bit of a messy picture this with all the stuff in the background. That's the motherboard mounts and I/O plate in position. The little construction HEX's in each corner are white looking at the moment because I haven't sanded and polished them down yet.

stage_123.jpg


A clearer picture of the I/O plate and the motherboard mounts in place.

stage_124.jpg


And another...I'm really liking this glass look plexi.

stage_125.jpg


Yay! A bit of hardware in place! The motherboard should give you an idea of the scale of this thing.

stage_126.jpg


Plop in the water cooled X1900 Crossfire cards:

stage_127.jpg


A quick look at the back. The glass look actylic makes the 'bottom' of the motherboard a bit more interesting.

stage_128.jpg


So interesting infact here's a close up :)

stage_128a.jpg


Here's an arty shot of the back, with the flash turned off.

stage_129.jpg


Next on the list is to mount the rad and cut the fan holes, same with the psu. Then the Collector and Distributor of the 'parallel' water cooling loops goes in.
 
:eek: Glad to see it all coming together. Those original SketchUp drawings don't compare to the real thing. Getting all the wiring and cooling organized for continuous display is going to be a bitch, but the payoff will be one outstanding build. The glass-look plex is just wicked cool. I really hope the "HEX" stays visible once it's all together. That would be the cherry on this cake.
 
Ohmygodholyshitwow.

Just beautiful. Very cool, and anxiously awaiting the next update.
 
Back
Top