Project: OptPrime Rev. 2.00 "By the books" - Update 11.01.04

[Optimus Prime]

did some more work tonite. I did some work on the duct and i am really not happy with it. I couldn't get it down to the point where it wasn't ghetto. So what I am thinking is to just make a little scoop on the vid card itself to catch the air comming in from the side fan. See for yourself.

In it's current state this thing is definatly not worthy of being in this case. Not sure what I am going to do now... might just ditch this idea completly. What do you guys think?

I did however find this cool led light strip. It has resistors on it and everything. I am going to try and figure out what voltage i need to supply to it to get it running and hopefully use it to light the etching on the back of the mobo tray. I don't suppose some one already knows the voltage that i have to send to this bad boy?

Actually after closer inspection it seems to just double up on the wires that come directly into the fan to give it power. you know the little 3 pin ones. Well i hope it actually works cause this would be great to light up the etching.

 

[-Superman]

why arent you on AIM so I can tell your girlfriend how much money you owe her ?

 

[evowatercooling]

why arent you on AIM so I can tell your girlfriend how much money you owe her ?

That is funny, especially since I just got quoted for $129.95 for a laser etched window.

Anyways, why dont you paint that shroud. If you did a chrome look to it it would be sweet, and all you have to do is sand down the outside. Any other color would work too.

 

[Vio1]

how did you connect the pieces of the duct? It also looks like your pieces arent perfectly cut... sand down the edges, and let a drop of crazy glue run down the edge(not side) of the piece you want to stick.

 

[Optimus Prime]

small update...

I got the light strip installed. Sorry for the blurry pic but my digicam sux and has probs with night shots... However you get the idea. The light strip really makes the etching stand out. Keep in mind that i have a ccfl back there too that i can turn on and off at my discretion. The light really disperses much better in person then on the pic so the effect isnt as craptacular looking.

What do you guys think. I might take another swing at the duct tomorow. but i am leaning towards the air scoop thing instead cause i think that has a better chance of turning out right. That is all for tonite.

El Primo

 

[SatanSkin]

That etching is ****ing beautiful! good work to the Mrs.! Hurry up and do the tinting so we can see how that comes out!

 

[Optimus Prime]

does any one know a way to test my powersupply after i sleeved it. I am really leary of tossing the a64 in without knowing if it is working 100%?

 

[evowatercooling]

You could use a digital multimeter. You could also put it back on your old computer and see if it works there. If you want I can give you a description later of what the order of the wires is on the ATX connector and the molex connectors?

Also your computer is beautiful. I only wish that I could make my computer look half that good. All I have right now is AMD and ATi symbols cut out right now. And I made a tube out of two peices of angled alluminum with hinges to put all the wires in. It looks really good (to me). I just need to get some cable sleeving to finish it off and shorten the wires. I also need to find a way to etch my gremlin into my window. What kind of bit does your gf use to etch. I wish my gf could etch. She can not even draw stick people well. I still love her though.

With the air scoop, watch out that it doesnt cause too much turbulance in the case. I say just paint what you already have and see how that turns out. No loss except a couple of ounces of paint.

Oh yeah, Your case is CRAPTACULAR.

 

[Optimus Prime]

cool... i got my answer from mashie over at hardforum... I was almost 100% sure of it before... but i wanted to second guess myself. I really don't need a reversed connection on my 6800gt you know. LoL... ne who it appears black is black, obviously i guess. Ground is ground, so as long as i have red and yellow in the right place everything is just peachy.

 

[phrkshw]

Just a lil opinion ..... if you had one more of those led strips on the other edge of the etch i think that thing would stand out a lot more . All in all a GREAT mod . Transformers are teh roxor .

 

[evowatercooling]

Yeah. I had to reconnect a molex last night. I cut all the ones i didnt need off, then realized that I forgot to send connectors to the CD drives. woops. But yeah ground is ground, it all goes to the same place in the power supply.

 

[Optimus Prime]

tnks for the compliments guys. The air scoop will get its second chance tonite and if it fails again... it will be axed. no big loss, i am comfortable with that being unsuccessful if it comes to that.

As for the lighting i did find another one of those led light strips and i will be using it to light up the other side of that window so the etching will stand out much more. I might not even need to turn on the ccfl back there at all. I guess we will see when that times comes.

I have a little story for you. I ordred a 939 board and proc from the egg last friday. In my acct summary it has said shipping in 1-2 days. Today would be the third business day after i ordered it and it still said step 2 of 5... So i was like wtf, and called them. Well the customer service rep said that the prob was that it was shipping from a new warehouse and they were having some probs getting things organized. She assured me that it would be shipped out today... and for my troubles she would ship it overnight shipping for no addition charges. Why do I newegg? THAT'S WHY!

 

[evowatercooling]

NewEgg is the ****nit.

Ordered my entire computer from their. I tried to order my speakers from other web sites. The first site ran out of the speakers I ordered. I then decided I wanted the Promedia Ultras so I searched for the lowest price for those. I found them for $200 at one site (they are normally $300 - $350), so I ordered them. I found out a week later that the order was cancelled because the item no longer existed. I checked the website and it seemed that they did still exist, but where now $300. They cancelled my order just because they f'ed up. Pissed me off so I decided that I would just go with the best service and cheap shipping from newegg. Got them in 4 days. Newegg Rocks.

 

[wfarid]

WOW, amazing job, really its great... and give ur gf my compliments cuz that etching is like woah...

 

[SpeeDj]

Here's an idea for your fan grill at the lower front and to replace the upper. Why not take the face design you cut out of the side panel and do a full mockup of it as a fangrill ? I think it would look really sharp and really draw the whole theme together. You could dremel the two grills out of the excess material you got from cutting the side panel.

Just my two cents.

J

 

[Optimus Prime]

got home for lunch and the ups guy left me a little package from frozen cpu. So now i have my 2 white ccfl's, my ccfl extension cables and my 948u heatsink. The heatsink is a thing of beauty as all thermalright products are. The white ccfl's have a huge ugly switch so i will have to do something about that.

So the plan for tonite is to get the ccfl's mounted and in place. Get the cd drives in. Work on the fan ducting a little and try to put some sort of design together for the font fan grill if possible thinking gen 1 autobots symbol outline if possible. I also have to finish the led wiring on the etched window. I am still waiting for the tinting spray to come in but when it does the windows will be done. Everything is still looking good to be finished with this by Thursday/Friday.

btw speedj im from wisconsin so word up man! Good ole wis ::sacarsm:: lol

 

[phrkshw]

your gf wouldnt be willing to do a Predaking etch for me for cash would she . btw im VERY serious .
Also if you did the grill with your left over lexan ( or plexi ) you could do the gen 1 autobot insignia pretty easy ( i guess ) .

 

[Optimus Prime]

actually i was discussing this with her last night. She was saying that she would be willing to do etchings for people for 30-50 dollars depending on the complexity. I know that price seems a little steep. but trust me per hour for what she puts into these things... it is actually quite cheap. i dont want to market here but if any of you guys are interested please pm me instead of posting here. more updates soon.

 

[pby5cat]

did the LED lightstrips come from fans?

 

[Optimus Prime]

yeah they came from the thermaltake led fans... usually the ones that push crazy cfm for their size. I know that they make a 120, a 92, and an 80... i have one of each and i pulled the ones that i am using for the window from the 80 and the 92... i am thinking that i will be leaving the strip on the 120 but taking the wiring and adding a switch before the strip so that i can turn it on and off.