The Big Black Beast - My Prometeia/Peltier Cooled Case Project

[pwnt by pat]

I'm working on your shrouds trying to get 'em finished by this weekend like I promised.

 

[felinusz]

Thanks pat, I'll be needing that radiator setup soon

I'll be building the machine side of things as soon as 3700+ San Diegos come out in Canada. I currently have all the components that I need for the machine, except for the processor, and the motherboard.

I may as well list the system specs I've decided on.

PSU: OCZ Powerstream 600W
CPU: 3700+ San Diego (need to order one)
MOBO: DFI nForce 4 Ultra-D (need to order one)
RAM: 2x256 megs of BH-5 I have that does 260 MHz in an nForce 2 board, I'm hoping for 270+ with nForce4 and an A64 memory controller
GPU: 256 Meg X700 Pro (I chose this low end video card because I only game at 1024x768, because I am on a very tight budget right now, and because it will easily hold me over untill ATi's Fudo comes out, at which point I'll splurge on a high-end card if I can afford it. I'm also planning on trying to set some world records with this card )
HDD: 2 x 36 Gig Raptors
Cooling: My Mach II for the processor, and a 172W peltier cooled by a large single-pass radiator for the video card.

Because of my tight budget (I'm off to University next year, and need to start conserving money) I have also decided to not modify the Mach II yet. I'll be running it stock to start with, and will invest in thorough Chilly1 modification later on when I can afford it.

Somewhat dissapointing given my quite ambitious starting plan, believe me .

However, I strongly suspect that the machine will still be a hell of a lot of fun to overclock, despite the crummy video card and stock Mach II .

I'm off to the powdercoaters on Monday, more pictures are on the way

 

[the garynator]

sounds like it's going to be a real beast

 

[pwnt by pat]

One is under the 'paint can' step sitting on the bench now. The other is being preped for paint canning. Both will be bondod and at least on coat of paint tonight.

 

[sicloan]

*waiting for an update*

looks very sexy. Cant wait to see some more pics.

 

[felinusz]

I just got back from the powdercoaters, dropped off all the metal parts that need gloss-black coating.

The fellow at Colourific (Colourific being the powdercoaters that is doing my case coating, and the only powdercoaters in Ontario with a mirror black powder mixture, as seen on the already-coated case parts ) told me that everything should be done mid-way through this week.

That means that I'll have some detailed pictures of the assembled and finished case side of things quite soon


Now is a good time to explain how powdercoating works.

Powder coating is a paint application consisting of fine dry powder pigment and resin. It is applied electro-statically to metal parts and heated to a temperature of about 400°F. The powder reacts at this high temperature, resulting in a beautifully smooth, highly durable finish.

Pretty much, they put the parts to be coated on a big trolley line, hanging on hooks. The parts then move through the various stages of coating (pre-powdercoating wash, powdercoating, heating, etc.).

The folks at Colourific were nice enough to let me into their work area to take a few pictures

Here is a picture of the trolley line. These fences are uncoated.

 

[felinusz]

Here is a picture of the powder application stage. That's a lawn-chair in the picture, being coated a rich brown colour.

The powder adheres to the pre-treated metal electro-statically, and is then 'melted' on.

 

[felinusz]

I have also finished painting the plastic case-front bezels a gloss black colour. They turned out fairly well - I used Krylon Fusion Gloss Black spraypaint for plastic on these bezels. Below is a picture of the finsihed product... the bezels match!


There isn't much more to be done on the case side of things. I need to install the windows (which is quite fast and easy), install the wheels, velcro-install the bottomcase bezel, and do the topcase/bottomcase connection piece. I also need to do the Mach II LCD window mount (I will be mounting the LCD in the side window of the bottomcase), and put together the computer hardware side of things, as well as the watercooling circuit.

More updates and pictures will be coming shortly

 

[Klimpen]

Looks awesome man, but I am a picture junkee so I need more pictures...

 

[Suma]

I love your project felinusz.
Keep up the good work cause I'll be watching you!

Suma.

 

[felinusz]

Thanks a lot guys - feedback really means a lot to me

Klimpen - Don't worry dude. I'll be posting a lot of pictures of the finished case, inside and out

 

[Zulu-1]

he he looks good bud!

 

[trailnut]

Really looking good so far. I especially like the airflow design; hope it works really well.

 

[Klimpen]

Klimpen - Don't worry dude. I'll be posting a lot of pictures of the finished case, inside and out

I'm not worried anymore
May I dare you in a challange where we try to have the cleanest looking inside of the case??
No dust, no visible cables and so on....

 

[firebat45]

no dust is a given... i hope

looks great so far, ive always wondered why more people didnt mod their prommys/vapos to match their cases.

 

[felinusz]

I'm not worried anymore
May I dare you in a challange where we try to have the cleanest looking inside of the case??
No dust, no visible cables and so on....

I'll be trying my best to keep the cable clutter to a minimum, but the size of the case means that some of the cables are already quite close to being too short .

Challange accepted though - once I've put together and built the machine side of things, we'll start a new thread

 

[Klimpen]

Challange accepted though - once I've put together and built the machine side of things, we'll start a new thread

Fine, challange accepted *smile*. I won't win the competition "Heaviest" or "tallest" though

 

[Sucka]

Whoa, i never saw this log before. Looking great. I didn't even see it in your profile

 

[OCS911]

can you take a picture of you stand next to the case?

 

[felinusz]

Klimpen

Fine, challange accepted *smile*. I won't win the competition "Heaviest" or "tallest" though

LOL! I'm pretty sure that you'll win the 'clean' prize hands down dude... which leaves me with the tallest and heaviest prize

can you take a picture of you stand next to the case?

I sure can . As soon as it all gets back from the powdercoaters, I'll take a nice picture of me (almost) being dwarfed by the Beast