Project: Part Crysis

[dexaroni]

After working on this case as "The Mirage" for months and not getting the result I wanted, I decided to tear the entire thing down and start from scratch. Here is what I have so far.

My goal with this case is to make a fairly small PC that houses a full ATX board, SLI cards, watercooling, dual hard drives, and basically an all around high performance PC, while still maintaining a small size and looking good.

I started with this. The husk of the original Mirage. Note the bottom mounted radiator holes, which ended up blocking my PCI ports. This just won't do. Today, I will be cutting the holes for mounting a radiator up front.

I had to get all of my tools together, the paint, acrylic, tools, etc, and of course the Mountain Dew.

First I cut out the existing holes in the front of the case for intake. I didn't need this to be clean because it would not be shown.

Next I had to cut out the bottom bay of my drive rails, so that I could fit a full size 240mm radiator up front.

Finally, I drilled the holes to mount the radiator in the front of the case.

I will post more pictures tomorrow morning, I will be doing the paint as well as interior prep.

[Luke122]

I guess my Zoolander joke is no longer relevant.

[dexaroni]

So I got down to polishing the turd today.

Here is the whole thing. I got the top panel painted, as well as the chassis.

Here is a shot from the back. I love those chrome bolts.

And the front cleaned up nicely, eh?

And finally, a shot of things to come...

[NightrainSrt4]

I don't really see what completely differentiates this from the other "thread" as this is essentially the same project. You probably could have just asked a mod or someone to change the name or something, instead of two threads that are the same case. The only thing differing this case from the other to me right now is color and a whole in the front of the case. Just seems like you could have just put this all in the other thread and had the name changed if it was that desperate.

If everyone made a new thread for everytime their projects took a slightly different turn we'd all have a hundred threads. Im just telling you to stick with it, you can do it. Your work looks good so far. I know sometimes it feels like your project isn't going the way you want it to, but if you stick with it, even through all the changes it will work out.


I like the layout though. Are you making a new panel for the bottom? As i see its cut out. So far so good though. Hope to see this as it goes along. Keep us informed.

[dexaroni]

The Mirage was completed, and I never finished the thread here. It won the Amateur Mod Competition at pdxlan. With this mod, I am doing an entirely different theme, layout, colors, its only the same base case, which is why I feel that I should start a new thread.

Anyways, the bottom will be having a mirror put in, I had one that I intended to install today, but it snapped in two when I tried to slide it in, so I will be ordering another one and having it cut smaller. I should have that by tomorrow, so I will update the thread then.

[NightrainSrt4]

Oh well if thats the case then go for it. Just

not getting the result I wanted, I decided to tear the entire thing down and start from scratch.

and the state the other thread was in didn't show what you just said, so you can see why they look remarkably similar. Just looked like "hey my thread is old. Lets just make a new one. Paint it and call it something different" type of thing. But I see it isn't. Sorry. You should get some pics of it from the competition, if you have any. Or of the near completed state. Im sure everyone would have loved to see those.

That sucks about the mirror. With the mirror in it that should be cool. Can't wait to see it.

[dexaroni]

Edit: Found the winning pics.

As for the mirror, I did find a use for it... I'll be posting what I did with it in an hour or two, just waiting for paint to cure.

[Fallen]

cool orange stuffs man

[dexaroni]

I need to redo the front panel to accomodate the radiator, and I also don't like the general way the stock panel looks, too much going on. Lets make this REAL simple, shall we?

Going to pick up a piece of acrylic tomorrow and cut out the holes, then paint it black, so the front of the case is a black mirror. Should look good...

[NightrainSrt4]

Mirage looked nice. I knew you had something cool. I like it. I was watching that thread before waiting and didn't get any more pics now I am happy.

But I can understand why you want to redo it. I love orange. But I am the type of orange lover that I love it for a month, and then don't want to see it for half a year. It grows old to me. So I can understand you wanting to redo it. It looks pretty cool though. Im glad you finished it, just sad you didn't show us sooner. But what can ya do, no?

The way your doing your front panel seems similar to the way I did mine in Nightrain. The pics aren't up yet. Im changing it though. I had it like black glass look (made out of plexi) but I have sanded and painted the front as well so its more like a full colored acrylic. Can't wait to see the front panel when its cut!