PCFormat Forum Archive

Two weeks ago I started with this project,my current rigs are getting way to heavy to carry to the lan,and there both running out of space quicker than I can say where's DC++?,I've always wanted to do a more "custom" pc with more mods and with maybe a custom spray job,so to sum it up I want a:

* Smaller pc for lan usage
* Something more unique than my current pc's,with less off the shelve parts
* It had to be as cheap as possible
* Something I can case mod when its not at the lan
* As light weight as possible (baring in mind the budget)
* Must be completed in 2 days (to get ready for next lan)

Knowing all of this I started digging at home to see what I had laying around and found the following:

Jetway XBLUE-P31 Motherboard (Temporary) http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/product_pic ... =XBLUE-P31
Core 2 Duo E2180 (Temporary)
80GB Hard Drive
2x 1GB Kingston DDR800
MSI 8800 GT oc edition (from old rig was running sli)
Old Procase 500W psu I re sleeved ages ago but never used
Asus fan speed controller
120mm Fan bay for 5 1/4" drive
Some Green led fans I never used

PS ALL PICTURES ARE THUMBNAILS CLICK TO ENLARGE

So that's basically a Pc there but I still needed a case,so I started shopping for bargains, and found this beauty, for R400
Coolermaster Elite 334+Window http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product ... ct_id=2868



The case Has a h3ll of a lot of potential

Friday night

This is where the fun starts,the whole case had to be torn down to spray paint it,I've never spray painted before and this will be my first time



So grabbing a drill I drilled out all of the rivets holding the case together and * was there a lot,didnt take any pictures of that though far too many rivets *Sigh*...

Preped and spray painted the entire case black...



Left it to dry over night ,not knowing how it will turn out,I've never sprayed before and I only had internet tutorials to help me...


Saturday

The next day I was pleasantly surprised how it came out, it looked almost perfect, and had a smooth finish all over, not bad for my first time



A few weeks back I saw this very strange vinyl like materiel at a car radio shop that the used to cover there speaker boxes,its made from rubber and has little pyramids on it, I bought some thinking it might come in handy in this build,the picture doesn't do it justice though it really does look good and has a excellent texture



Using contact adhesive I slowly started cutting it and adding it to some of the bare metal:



So that brings me back to the painful job of re-assembling the case, and that means re-riviting the 6000+ rivets *Sigh I'm not going to bore you with that so Ill just post some of the completed pics of when it was put back together



Now as you may have noticed I removed all of the 3 1/2" hdd bays this not only makes the machine a bit lighter but also looks a lot better when the window in inserted, but means I have to be a bit more careful with the front cover to hide any unnecessary wires

I decided to use the 120mm fan bracket for the front of the case to cool the 3 hard drives 1x 80gig Seagate and 2x 1.5tb Seagates , perfect for leeching at liberty Go go dc++



With the Hard drives:



And thats about as far as I got on that day


Sunday

This was the last day that I could afford to be working on the PC its now or never

The front cover was a bit of a challenge first of all I needed to make a new holder for the Asus fan speed controller ,then split it for two fans (yes it can handle it the voltage regulator they use is rated at 1amp so thats more than enough)

So starting with the original fan speed controller:






And ending with:



Yes you can actually still read the lcd,its just extremely hard to photograph

The fan speed controller also had to be split for two fans:



Right the rest of the front cover was wire management everything had to fit together here's the end result



And the first test run with the LCD fanspeed controller:



I will add a Bluetooth and wifi to the front aswell as soon as I get a new motherboard with more USB slots

Now that leaves the rest of the case,starting with dropping in the PSU, remember I re-sleeved it a few weeks ago



Then the Motherboard and starting with some basic cable management:



Now for the final touches...

Adding the wheels:



This actually makes the case look a lot better, it lifts it a bit off the floor giving it that Lain Li look almost

And finally closing it up:



Thats all for now,this is basically just the beginning for the mod Ill still be modding it as I get time,and find slightly better HW,itll probably never be finish ,but then again thats the whole idea behind it is to have something I can constantly mod (Except for the one or two weekends Im at a lan)

This is how far I got with it, Like I said before, this project will probably never end and Ill constantly be busy with it,but for now here's some eye candy

Very nice man! i've love to see more work done on it great job for one weekend though... imagine if you took a couple weeks!!!11! months!!!1!!!!

Keep it up

Oh one thing... what did you use for the fan controllers cover? old drivebay cover?

Thanks for the complement , I plan on spending allot more time on it,but for now its usable and ready for a lan

I just used the front 3 1/4" drive bay cover from the original case

PS I tried to link to some higher res pics but it needs mod approval so heres some thumbnails from the higher qulity completed pics

I'm diggin those casters yo. Way gangsta.

looking good. also like the wheels

Its been a while since we have seen a finished mod. Nice job as well! Now I think I should finish my mod too...