Project "Threat Level Midnight"

[Michael Scarn]

Project "THREAT LEVEL MIDNIGHT"

How this will end up earning the name, "Threat Level Midnight" I am unsure. What I am certain of, however, is that I will try my bestest!

I can't really even post a list of parts yet, as this project is going to be done over time. I do I have one part on its way, however!

Lian Li A70F

I wanted to post this up in the [H]ot Deals forum, but I don't have quite enough posts yet. For $160 + $3 shipping for a grand total of $163, it's an absolute steal! It's a Lian Li full tower with great modding capability and lots of goodies to boot.

I'm expecting the case on Wednesday, September 1st. I hope to possibly do a mini-review of the case as I feel it deserves it. I will be painting the interior black for now. (I still haven't settled on a color theme as of yet)

Couple of things I have planned so far:

- I'm looking at doing custom PSU cables for a modular power supply with precise lengths
- No water cooling this time around. Air cooling to the max though! To the MAX!

I was hoping I had my Canon T1i by now for pictures, but the case set me back a bit from that. I'll see what quality I can get on a mini photo studio with my modest Panasonic LZ8

Updates in the future!!!!!

+ Part List + (as of 12/6/10)

Case
1x Lian Li A70F case

Motherboard
1x Gigabyte X58A-UD3R motherboard

Processor
1x Intel Core i7 950 processor

Memory
2x G. Skill Ripjaw 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 ram

Graphics Card
1x EVGA 460GTX 768MB graphics card

Power Supply
1x Corsair AX750 power supply

Storage
2x Samsung F3 1TB hard drives
2x Western Digital Caviar Black AALS 640GB hard drives
1x Western Digital Caviar Blue AAKS 500GB hard drive
1x Seagate 7200.11 500GB hard drive
1x Western Digital Caviar Black FALS 1TB hard drive

Optical Drives
1x Sony Optiarc SATA DVD Burner

 

[B-Sal]

Sounds interesting, ill check back in a couple of days. Good luck with it!

 

[Michael Scarn]

Just finished learning the basics of Sketchup as I've never used it before. Made the skeletal portion of the chassis and added some fans to show what airflow should look like.

I like keeping my hard drives and PSU at freezing temps

I'll update with some more sketchup pics when I get a chance to finish up some more. I don't have the case to measure out proportions, but if I did, I don't see why I would be making a virtual version of it

+ Update +

Picked up some self etching primer and black paint at Menards for painting the interior. Also did some more work on my SketchUp model! Honestly though, that program feels several years behind some of the other 3D programs I've used. I almost installed Unreal 3 just to do this project!

+ Update 2 +

Finished with it I'm thinking. Can't stand some of the geometry problems you get with SketchUp. Same exact stuff from Half Life 1 modding days, actually a bit worse. Anywho, I just threw in some components, added the fans and made cable routing holes. Not sure if I'll venture into doing the cables in there as I see that being a nightmare in SketchUp. Case should be here in two days

+ Update 3 +

Guess what I have?

Even better news me thinks, is that I should have enough money rounded up to grab an SLR and a nifty fifty lens for some pics! I think I will hold off on unpackaging, reviewing and modding everything until I have acquired my camera equipment.

+ Update 4 +

My Canon T1i is on it's way!!! Also picked up a 50mm 1.8 lens (nifty fifty). Saving up for a Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 as well. The camera is suppose to arrive tomorrow.

+ Update 5 (12/6/10) +
Finally back on track! Made a lot of progress in the past few days. Picked up a Corsair AX750, Intel i7 950, and some modding supplies. 2 sets of G Skill Ripjaw 12GB (3x4GB) memory kits on their way as well as a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R Mobo. The first memory kit was purchased for $185 on Newegg, and after finding that Newegg dropped the price $25 only hours later, I decide to buy another kit hoping to simply return the original one. But seeing as Newegg doesn't honor price match like your local brick and mortar stores (which is understandable), I'll have to live with it. Video Editing will be fun for sure!

The i7 950 processor. Picked up at Microcenter for $200.

Corsair AX750 power supply. Purchased on Newegg for $135 shipped + $20 Mail-in rebate = $115. Total steal in my mind!

I have begun the case dismantle already, stripping all the pop rivets and keeping an eye on all the separated parts.

Here are the supplies I have picked up so far for painting and such.

I picked up a second can of self-etching primer, 2 cans of black grill-like paint, and a can of a teal satin paint as a splash of fun for certain case parts. Black and Teal are the colors I decided to go with.

I also picked up an 8oz can of black semi gloss to fill in tough to reach areas or to fill in missed spots or simple scratches.

Along with that 8oz can, some brushes to paint with... so I don't have to finger paint lol

I get some massive finger fatigue after some rigorous spray painting so I figured I'd give one of these overpriced accessories a go!

And it's not a party without a respirator! It isn't... honestly! If you pass out from the fumes, then all the other people still partying are just going to write crap on your face with a sharpie, instead of calling a paramedic... and that just ain't fun at all

After destroying majority of the pop rivets in the case, I figure it would be easier to simply put new ones in... instead of using duct tape!

And after hours of searching and testing, I've found these lovely guys! Machine screws that fill in rivet holes!

And seeing as the motherboard tray wasn't removable, I decided to take things into my own hands. I just don't understand why the top half of the motherboard tray is screwed in, and the bottom half is riveted. Well, maybe Lian-Li will hire me for ingeniously figuring out a way to make it removable! Those little machine screws will work perfect for this plan.

So there you have it! Finally back on track! Things will be picking up even more tomorrow with more components arriving and much case modding to be done. More pictures to come and logging to come!

PS:

Does anyone know why this hard drive would BSOD any windows machine I try to hook it up to? Otherwise this guy will become a mod... probably using transparent casing... a badass drink coaster sounds like a good idea

 

[Michael Scarn]

Reserved

 

[Michael Scarn]

Reserved for later

 

[Michael Scarn]

Reserved Just want to keep everything in one confined area if possible. I'm hoping this is the right way to do it. I apologize if there is a better way, and do let me know via PM.

 

[Michael Scarn]

Reserved 4 should suffice I hope.

 

[Majikka]

Reserved

i get this spot. got any update pics?

 

[Michael Scarn]

Thread has been updated... and the threat level has been raised!!!

 

[fullvietFX]

That's a lot of random HDDs.

 

[Michael Scarn]

The Samsung F3's are ones I just got. The rest are ones I've had for quite some time now.

The two Samsung 1TB F3s are for media/project files (I do video editing and photoshop stuff), one is a backup of the other.
The two 640GB WD Blacks are for the OS, one is a backup of the other.
The 500GB WD AAKS is for Previews/Exports/Renders.
The 500GB Seagate is for Cache/Pagefile.
The 1TB WD Black is in an external and is for off-computer backup.
I'll be getting a hot swap rack for some of the 5.25" bays to use for hot-swappable hard drives normally kept offsite.

Important files require certain measures

 

[godofdeath]

didn't it end up with that name because you watched the office mr mike scarn

where is cat zeta jones?

 

[Michael Scarn]

" "Threat Level Midnight" - by Michael Scott" - by Michael Scarn (lol another hard to find Office reference. It's an inspirational quote by someone like MLK or the sorts, and michael puts it in quotes, and puts his name around that reading something like, [" "to be or not to be" - shakespeare" - Michael Scott], and if you can remember what episode it is from, I couldn't thank you enough cause I can't remember it for the life of me)

No it is completely original! Lol

Cathrine is putting a puzzle together with dwigt. They have all the corners and edges done so far.

 

[pazhman]

Samuel you are such an idiot. You are the worst assistant ever, and you're disgusting, Dwigt.

oh btw looks badass so far.

 

[Michael Scarn]

" "You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take" - Wayne Gretzky " - Michael Scott
Its from the Michael Scott Paper Company episode. haha, found it by accident!

Just wanted everyone to know that the "rough draft" frankenbuild worked. Just wanted to test out my components and setup before selling parts of my old build. Heck, it even recognized all 24GB of RAM on the first windows boot. I've got some pictures already, but will be taking more as the week goes on. I should make a bigger post on Christmas day or the day after, along with a bunch of pictures during the whole painting and build process.

It isn't where it should be at now, but I need this computer up and running so I can get some business work going. I'll doing some additional mods when the funds aren't so damn tight.