Project: Dragon III

[ebmusicman84]

Greetings folks. I've been lurking here for a while, but I though I'd actually get around to posting something.

Some of you may know me, I frequent http://www.gruntville.com and am a member of the =GvL= CoDUO clan.

At any rate, this project (the Dragon III box) is my main gaming rig and as such won't be as heavily modded as some boxes I have planned for the summer.

A little background on the case: It will obviously be Dragon themed, but it actually gets its name from a limited edition series of PRS guitars, of which the Dragon III is my favorite.

http://www.arctic-dragon.com/pics/computer/dragon3reborn/d3neck2.jpg
http://www.arctic-dragon.com/pics/computer/dragon3reborn/d4body.jpg
http://www.arctic-dragon.com/pics/computer/dragon3reborn/dragonseries.jpg


Here is what the hardware will be when I am done:

Case - Enermax CS-517FS-B
PSU - Antec TrueControl 550
MoBo - ABit NF7-S v2
CPU - AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 400FSB
HeatSink - ThermalRight SLK-900A
Fan - Vantec Tornado 80mm
RAM - 1GB (512x2) Corsair XMS PC3200 (2-3-3-6)
Video - ATI Radeon 9800Pro w/ ATI Silencer 1
Sound - SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
NIC - Netgear GA302T Gigabit Adapter
CD/DVD - NEC DVD±RW 3520A-BK
Hard Drive - x2 Western Digital Raptor 36.6 GB
Western Digital SE 80GB

Basic lighting scheme will be predominately orange, with occasional red, and will be accomplished mostly with LED fans and a CCFL or two.

Planned mods will include:
- PSU Mods including custom length wire looms.
- Diamond shaped window with a Dragon made out of positive space
- Custom 3.5x2" drive bay fanbus with USB 2.0 headers

I will also possibly be cutting out a top window, and modding the front bezel to increase airflow.

At this point in time I have most of the hardware assembled and am just beginning on the mods. I am currently missing the Raptors, the sound card, and the RAM.

I will be posting pictures as soon as I get my new domain name online.

 

[Seer]

Nice setup. Can't wait to see the pics.

 

[-UrbanAssassin-]

Hey eb, welcome aboard, I too am a member of www.GruntvillE.com and its clan =GvL= as well, so I know EB very well. Anyways, good to see ya over here.

 

[pilotman2004]

Looks like a nice setup you're planning. Will the dragon in the window be painted to match the guitar's dragon?

 

[ebmusicman84]

No, it will be a dragon I've photochopped from a popular fan grill, and added flames to. It looks pretty killer, hopefully the DNS servers will propogate soon so I can start posting the pictures!

Also, a question for you electrical savants. When buying molex pins for my custom power looms, is it really worth the $16 ($6 over the non gold ones) to get the gold plated molex pins? If your opinion is yes, please let me know what kind of performance boost it will give me.

 

[ebmusicman84]

This is the cut out design I have planned. The white is what will be removed.

Many thank to Chris over at http://www.customwatercuts.com for helping me get everything together. I highly reccomend his service to anyone who needs the precision of water cutting for their windows.

 

[Goat]

that looks badass......i'm gonna be watching this project

 

[Rupi]

Realy nice man.
Maybe a special casecon: PC in a guitar. har har.
I have got a Shuttle barebone inside a djembe-drum. Lets rock'n roll.

MFG

 

[JessAlba452]

Hey eb welcome to [H] Looking good!

 

[ebmusicman84]

Here are some pictures of assembly:

All the new stuff in boxes:

Stuff I had on hand:

Installing the video card cooler:

Assembling the motherboard:

Everything else installed:

Front of the case:

Hard drive in its caddy:

Desk shot:

As you can tell I need to strighten up some things, and I don't just mean the desk! Wire managment in the case right now is non-existant. I am awaiting a delivery of molex pins from frozencpu so I can begin. Stay tuned for more pics!

PS: That other computer is a PII system I built out of spare parts so I could play TIE Fighter again

 

[-UrbanAssassin-]

Looking good.

 

[starhawk]

this looks interesting... i will watch.

 

[ebmusicman84]

All righty then, wire care was need, and delivered!! I have completed and tested step one of the PSU mod. (I tested it by going 152 and 2 in a CoD BEL pub )

At any rate the goals were:

1) Sort the wires to make them easier to direct
2) Sleeve and shorten the P4 connector
3) Sleeve and shorten the 4 pin molexes
4) Create custom wire loom for the hard drive and DVD±RW
5) Create custom wire loom for the 9800Pro
6) Hide everything else

And I am proud to say that it is a complete success! All the wires I am not using were routed behind the motherboard, between the tray and the right side panel. I did this because last time I just cut everything off I had to go back and re-solder the P4 connector in when I got a new motherboard.

Tools and supplies:

1) 18 AWG stranded wire (Red, Orange, Yellow, Black)
2) 20 Black molexes (15 female, 5 male)
3) 200 gold plated molex pins* (100 of each)
4) Black 1/4" heatshink
5) Black with red tracer 1/4" sleeving
6) Molex pin crimper
7) Needle nosed pliers
8) Regular old scissors
9) Antec TrueControl 550 PSU (duh)

*Funny thing is I agnozied over goldplated vs non-gold plated for like three days, after deciding to go with regular, they send me the gold plated ones anyway!! More than one way to save $6 I guess


Here's the pics:

Round up the usual suspects:

The victim before:

The victim after:

Neatly ziptied to be routed behind the mobo tray:

Everything in its place:

Well that about wraps it up for now. Next on the agenda is:

1) Shorten ATX connector
2) Ship the side panel to be cut
3) Begin work on the fan bay
4) Buy that list of stuff up there in post one.....

Adios!
-eb

 

[-UrbanAssassin-]

Awesome job eb.

 

[JessAlba452]

Looking good eb

 

[ebmusicman84]

I am in hardware heaven right now. I just got done installing Windows to my BRAND NEW PAIR OF 36GB RAPTORS IN RAID0!

I've also installed my new XMS 3200 2-3-3-6 RAM

Left on the hardware list:

Creative SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum
NEC DVD±RW 3520A (a second one)


Left on the to do list:

side panel cut out
create fan switch panel
80mm in the top
more wire managment
lighting
shorten ATX connector

Hopefully I will be shipping the side panel soon!

 

[zapperfish]

I had one of thoses TT fans and it F..Ked up after 2 weeks the blades brock off at the centre hub and when flying through my case

 

[ebmusicman84]

I've been using this particular fan in all the computer I've built for a long time now (almost a year) I've never had any problem. This one is no different.