Project NineFarted

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NeilFarted

Gawd
Joined
Jun 14, 2004
Messages
513
Ok, so i've been working on a gaming rig for the last year or so, and now that it's getting closer to being completed, i think i'll make one of these nifty worklogs that i love to look at.

Ok, so The idea is that i am modding my Antec 900 case with some simple ideas in mind:
color scheme: black exterior, white interior with blue led lighting.
using all 3 120mm fans in the front of the case, which leads me to a slim slot dvd mod.
adding a fan controller where i can fit it

So what i have done so far:
  • Painted the interior gloss white. Sorry, i don't have any pics of the process. Thanks to the incredible thread by Arcygenical, i was able to do a decent job of painting the interior. I'll have more pics of the painted interior soon.
  • Replaced all the Tri-cools with yate loons
  • Started working on the slim slot dvd mod. More on this a little ways down.
  • installed a fan controller
  • cable sleeving and wire management

The meat of the computer will be:
EVGA 750i FTW mobo
Q6600
4GB 1066 RAM
2x GTX 260 in SLI

I already have the mobo, the rest of the parts i will eventually be picking up.

So here are some pics!
DSCF0299.jpg

^Sleeving the PSU cables. Right now i have a Raidmax Volcano 600W that i will try to use for this build. I know it's not the greatest PSU, but i picked it up for cheap and it has a nice blue led fan... I'm actually kind of torn, because i'd much rather put a Corsair 620 or 750 HX in there, just for peace of mind, but i've already put so much work into the cables for the Raidmax, i dunno.
DSCF0298.jpg

^This cable game me so much trouble lol. I had a horribly tough time removing the connector, i ended up ruining a lot of the pins, and had to get a crimper and a set of new pins.
DSCF0296.jpg

^But the upside is i learned how to crimp, and i also learned how to use the pin removal tools properly!

To complete the first post, i'll talk a little about the slim slot dvd mod.
DSCF0329.jpg

^First i cut out the area from the front bevel of the case. This was the point where i started to wish i lived in a house with a garage with some really nice tools instead of living in a 1bedroom apartment with a dremel.
DSCF0330.jpg

^When it became apparent that i wasn't going to be able to make a perfect cut, i got some milliput black on ebay. Right now, i have used the milliput to affix the dvd bevel to the case bevel, and have sanded down roughly the front. I have some pictures of this, but i haven't uploaded them yet, so hopefully i'll put those up tomorrow with the fan controller mod.
I still need to finely sand the bevels and paint it to make it look nice.

Thanks for looking, and i'll try to put much more pictures in future updates!
 
That Raidmax will straight melt through the floor and / or explode and send caps in to the next room if you load it with a quad and a pair of GTX 260s in SLI. Do not do that. It's almost certain to take something with it when it goes, quite possibly everything. It's a shame you already sleeved cables, but honestly, it's just not worth it.
 
I agree with silent-circuit. It'd be a shame to see this system go up in smoke simply because of a cheap (and flawed) PSU. I have heard pretty much only negative things about Raidmax PSUs :(
 
silent-circuit said:
That Raidmax will straight melt through the floor and / or explode and send caps in to the next room if you load it with a quad and a pair of GTX 260s in SLI. Do not do that. It's almost certain to take something with it when it goes, quite possibly everything. It's a shame you already sleeved cables, but honestly, it's just not worth it.
Click to expand...

Even if it is manufactured by Topower? From what i understand, the Raidmax Volcano is a rebadged Topower, so it should be better than a craptastic Raidmax case PSU, no?
 
...hopefully. I'd confirm that before going any further with it, though. And honestly, 600w for GTX 260 SLI with a quad is way too far toward pushing it for my comfort anyway. I wouldn't do that with anything less than a 750-800w quality PSU; loaded, with a small OC you could easily be pushing 90% of its rated capacity.
 
silent-circuit said:
...hopefully. I'd confirm that before going any further with it, though. And honestly, 600w for GTX 260 SLI with a quad is way too far toward pushing it for my comfort anyway. I wouldn't do that with anything less than a 750-800w quality PSU; loaded, with a small OC you could easily be pushing 90% of its rated capacity.
Click to expand...
yea, i might consider going with 9800 GTXs in SLI instead of 260s in SLI. Or, i might go with a single 260 for a while until i decide to upgrade the PSU.
But yea, as far as confirming it as Topower, i'm not sure where i can find an authority on this. The google search i did led me to several forum threads stating it's a rebadged topower, but i'm not sure where i can definitively find this.
 
yay updates!

So, talking about the slim slot dvd mod, here are a few pics of the milliput-covered bevel before i sanded them.
DSCF0433.jpg

DSCF0434.jpg


I'll post some more pics once i get my paint and finish it.

Now, onto my fan controller mod, which i'm kind of proud of, since i had not seen this done anywhere else. It probably has been done somewhere, i just haven't seen it. :D

So i was racking my brain trying to figure out where to put the rheobus, and after ordering this(only mine came with black knobs, not silver) i finally figured out where. So first, i used my dremel and cut out space at the top frame:
DSCF0436.jpg

The kit from FrozenCpu had a little template to drill the holes, so after drilling those:
DSCF0437.jpg

I installed the rheobus:
DSCF0438.jpg

DSCF0439.jpg

DSCF0440.jpg


And some shots of the test run:
DSCF0441.jpg

DSCF0443.jpg


You can also see in these pics the white case interior, and a little bit of sleeving work i did on the yate loons.

More to come later in the week, maybe!
 
I've personally had a Raidmax Volcano PSU explode. Get something else.
 
sniperbob151 said:
nice looking mods so far! can't wait to see the finished product!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I forgot to mention, but it is probably apparent in this pic:
dsc00559zz3.jpg

I cut 3 holes in the motherboard for wire management, and taped the sides of the cuts with some white electrical tape so my cables don't get sliced.
 
Peanut Butter said:
Lookin really good! Any progress on the Slim DVD Drive mod? I'm really interested in the outcome.
Click to expand...

I'm still waiting on my paint to come from ebay. It's possible it'll be here today, so i can finish this weekend. Otherwise, it'll have to wait till next week, unfortunately. I still am waiting on some foam to place under the drive when installed in the case, but that's minor.
 
NeilFarted said:
mind sharing what you were running on it?
Click to expand...

P4 3ghz, ASUS motherboard, 6800GS, 2xWD400s RAID, that's it IIRC. Huge ass pop+smoke after about 11months of running it @ about 5-6 hrs a day.
 
here's a little update, i've started painting the bezel (finally! i know).

Rough sand with the dremel: (i had to fill some tiny holes with superglue from too much sanding :eek:
DSCF0447.jpg

And after some 500 grit sanding:
DSCF0445.jpg



I've applied a fist and second coat of paint, but apparently i forget to photo that. I'm going to sand it down with some 1000 or 2000 grit and see if it needs a third or fourth coat tonight.

on a side and completely unrelated note, my sister is in a contest in an artistic rain barrel project. If you have the time, please visit this site: http://kentuckypride.com/poll/index.php
and vote for her barrel:
20090402-IMG_3479.jpg



Thanks!
 
subbed and voted :)

shame you couldn't get a good cut for the slim line mod. did you use a dremel?
 
I like it the way he is doing it now, even if he had made a perfect cut the first time. This will look way more stealthy, as the borders of the drive won't be showing through. Just the slot and the button. Should look awesome when its all painted and put together.
 
dystopic said:
subbed and voted :)

shame you couldn't get a good cut for the slim line mod. did you use a dremel?
Click to expand...

yea, i used a dremel, but i don't have any of the really nice attachments, like a cutting kit or anything.

I just used a diamond disc to cut, and since the height of the dvd bezel is smaller than the disc, it was a bit hard to get everything perfect. i pretty much had to go in after the cuts and grind down the edges with a grinding stone bit. But yea, after everything is said in done, i think i'll be pretty happy with the way it turns out.

Thanks!
 
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