Need help picking parts.

[CanaBalistic]

This is the case im working on:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/100_1773.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/100_1872.jpg

Im going to wrap it in aluminum so it looks like this:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/macpro04_20060807.jpg

Thies are my available parts. I can get somthing special if you think it would compliment the design. I havent resized the images so you can "zoom" in on the parts (thoes are the links :) .

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/100_2023.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/100_2021.jpg

Some cool parts:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/100_2022.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/Mod1/100_1822.jpg

I have so many options to choose from. I dont know where to start...

[Slug Toy]

well first... i would say lets go through a checklist of tools. cant do much without tools.

dremel? jigsaw? file? sandpaper? hammer? things to bend metal on? drill/drill press? heat gun to bend acrylic if necessary? those tools there should get you started anyways, and get you to a point where you should discover anything else you need. oh, and of course rulers and compasses and all the necessary geometry stuff to get cool shapes.

actually, another thing you should try to do is get a sketchup model happening. whenever i need to see something that i just cant make in my head... i try to model it. you can usually figure out any design flaws that way too.

now, putting all that aside... from what i see, you want to have a very clean, ducted and shrouded computer. not to mention an upside down motherboard... or is that a btx motherboard? i cant tell. ill just assume you intend to flip an atx board. in fact, it looks like everything is switched around quite a bit. almost looks like someone put the case upside down by accident for the picture. actually, you know what... i have no idea what im looking at in that picture. its crazy.

anyways... lets not worry about that too much. the key to this looks like black, silver, and a little more black. black heatsinks, black pcb, black slots, and everything else is different shades of silver. you can probably get away with painting things black (not sure about the boards though... you may want to spray a sealer on it before painting, and plenty of tape to cover sensitive things... or colour it in by hand with a felt or something). the silver is easy enough... sanded or polished aluminum, but it may been anodized clear and/or greyish. i cant say any more than that because i cant SEE any more than that unfortunately.

god i like this idea now. its so clean and logical-ish. why didnt i think of something like this? and why am i not stealing this idea as we speak?

[CanaBalistic]

I've got access to all the tools i need. Thats not even a concern. :)

As for sketchup... i havent really found out how to use it properly. I cant seem to get things the right size (i know you can resize) but i dont know how to modify complex shapes. I am working on it though.

I've only been thinking of flipping the mainboard. The computer in the picture is an Apple G5 (Mac Pro), which is why it looks as it does. I love the sleek styling of apple computers. I didnt really think of making ducts like the Apple but i had planed on making aluminum panels to hide the drive bays and PSU. Now im thinking of making the panels more duct like but now entirely like the Mac. I want to keep some originality in the design :)

I am unsure which buttons and toggles im going to use. As you can see, i have tons of switches. I just got some cool buttons i salvaged from an elevator. So there is yet another possibillity.

I want some red in the design. The aluminum case fans i have, have red leds. So i was thinking RED BLACK SILVER for a color scheme. I know a guy that'll do some custom airbrushing on the case, most likely in black. I was thinking either flames or somthing tribal. I have also been pondering on a silver paint job. the idea would be to make the flames/tribal look ghosted onto the surface.

I want to pick my switches and lights ect now while im getting ready to bend the shell.

[ForceFedFlesh]

isnt that a mac g5? arnt u jus better off buying that case on ebay(if u can find one)

[CanaBalistic]

Well, yeah i could buy it off ebay... Where's the fun in that? Im not trying to copy it exactly. I just like the exterior of the mac and want to incorperate that into my design.

There are a few reasons for doing what im doing... I have all the stuff to make the case and it didnt cost me anything. In the future, i plan on sticking in a 360mm rad in the front for a killer water cooling system. The apple case is small. And the amount of modding required to fit an ATX mobo in the Mac is about the same as making a new case.


In the end, i hope to have a mass air/ mass water cooled rig. The water will have to wait untill after i pay off my licence and get my car on the road. In the mean time... I have allready made spots for 4 x 80mm fans on the back. Im going to put 3 x 120mm fans on the front. Possibly 2 fans in the bottom of the case.

The water setup i have in mind is very expencive and very cool. I'll have a 360mm rad on the front, 2 x 160mm rads off the back and a Volcano CPU cooler. Two water pumps, Chipset blocks, GPU block(s), HD block, Ram blocks, and if i can find it online, a capacitor block(very rare).

There isnt a popcicles chance in hell of fitting all that into a MAC...

And just so we are clear: I had planed on using square sheets of aluminum to skin the case but then all i'd have is a crappy aluminum block... Not much to get excited about there. I seen the Mac and looked at the huge sheet of aluminum and said "damn... i've got enough supplies to do that". So, here we are...

[Slug Toy]

well im all for what youve got planned, except the colour scheme and paint. red does not go with black and silver. light blue does, white does, and grays do. not much else. i dont know if youd be happy overall with red. i dont like reds in general.

tribal designs dont fit that sort of case either. tribal stuff is curvy and pointy. that g5 case is square and un-pointy. youd be better off ghosting a mesh pattern, or a geometric pattern on some of the panels and ducts. and besides, tribal stuff is a big fad right now... are you giving into peer pressure?

if you cant find some waterblocks, you can always try making them. sounds like you can get your hands on all sorts of free stuff. im sure you can find a bit of copper somewhere to cut up and test on. plenty fo satisfaction in making your own waterblocks and such. i think it has to do with the detail and accuracy involved.

[CanaBalistic]

I could go with silver and red. I have four brand new red led aluminum fans. The color scheme isnt set in stone either. I know a guy who will do custom airbrushing. He's really good doing flame jobs but i think flames are overly used and i dont really want to be a conformist to the flame movment. I have another buddy who is a top notch cartoonist and i could get him to draw up a custom charactor but i dont know if my painter is capable of doing a job with so much detail. I also want to keep it cheap.

I havent found anything worthy of making a waterblock from. I get lots of building supplies and you dont usualy find hunks of copper/aluminum in building materials.

i've got to finalize my parts and get a tv tuner and/or a good sound card.
Speaking of which, would anyone have a decent sound card with a front i/o panel for sale? somthing along the lines of an audigy zs with front panel or even a audigy platinum/pro without the front panel?

[isunktheship]

just buy a g5 case, it'll save soo much time, and then you can still use the aluminum when modding the insides.
http://www.springboardmedia.com/images/store/g5.jpg
I love the rendering you did of it. The only reason I am seconding the idea for the g5 is because I don't have the tools/experience to work with metal... so I just see it as an easier way out.

Good luck either way!

[purdy]

Isunktheship proves a very good point, but can you even just buy the G5 case by itself?

[progbuddy]

idk... but it would be more fun to DIY than just buy it and add lights because you could add your "personal touches". Happy modding!

-not Dave

[EPYK]

i just made a design that i think would be goog for your mod..
ill email you the sketchup if you want.

[CanaBalistic]

-not Dave

LMFAO!

EPYK: Yeah, I'd love to see your idea. jaims@telus.net

I've seen the g5 cases on ebay in the range of $50-70. Its not a big enough case for me. I need upgradeabillity (wow, is that a real word?) with extreme water cooling in mind. The next computer i buy is going to be a very overclockable AMD. I havent decided what one but it should be upper middle class range.

[isunktheship]

Building a case from scratch is very admirable, and I look forward to seeing the results. Either way if you mod a mac, or build from scratch I can't wait.

Btw.. has anyone modded a mac for PC use in in these forums.

Are you gonna hold off until quad core rolls around, or are you gonna go with the AMD's out now? (also what about the Conroes?):)

[CanaBalistic]

I allready have a server chassi so its not as though im building it from scratch.

The mac's are in the lead as far as im concerned. You can get a dual core dual cpu Mac with tons of ram. They can run any windows program and are virtually immune to viruses. And they run way better than any IBM clone(PC).