My Sister's Box

C

Captain Colonoscopy

2[H]4U
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Messages
3,861
Hello, I just finished this project for my sister as a late Christmas present. It was supposed to be done by christmas, but it didn't happen. :) This computer was originally the first one I ever built from scratch with the help of a guy I worked with back in 1998. It had an AMD K6-2/350 CPU, ECS mobo, 64MB RAM, 12MB Voodoo Banshee VGA card, 10GB IBM HDD, a 56K WinModem and Win98. w00t. I thought it was really cool back then. :) Anyway, she wanted this one upgraded on the cheap and I thought since Christmas was coming up I would mod the case as a present for her since I would be doing the rest of the crap anyway.

So, I decided I would keep the case since it had an interesting layout and put a window, front/top blowholes and some fans in the back to accomodate the XP-M CPU I'd be putting in. Specs ended up as follows:
300W InWin PSU
MSI K7N2-L mobo
Athlon XP-M 2400+ CPU
512MB PDP PC3200 RAM
80GB/8MB WD HDD
32MB GF2 MX200 AGP
Original 3 1/2" floppy
16X AOpen dual-layer DVD burner
Old Sony CD-R/W drive whose specs I don't remember.
Same case with front 120mm intake fan, top 92mm exhaust fan, 2x 60mm rear exhaust fans.

Here's the pics:

Before:


After:










I had to cut holes for all of the fans. There was a mount for one 60mm fan in the back of the case but it was very restrictive so I cut it out. Where the other 60mm fan is used to be knock outs for AT-style ports. The HDD rack was originally positioned to hang off a support beam so it kinda sat on top of where the CPU is. That wasn't going to work so I modified it with my dremel a little and riveted it to the bottom of the case in front of the 120mm fan. The window is riveted on as well. I also custom made the fan bus on the front which controls all of the fans except for the HSF which is controlled by a 3-position switch in the rear of the case. Also, after I was done with everything, I noticed that the top panel kinda has an [H] on it which was not intentional at all.

Whatcha guys think?
 
Pretty cool, I have to admit that I saw that thread title and automatically thought of soemthing else. ;)

BTW what fan controller is that? I've been looking for one like that.
 
Oh, yeah. I also OC'ed the XP-M to a little over 2GHz. Wasn't stable any faster for some reason, methinks the wimpy PSU is the culprit. What can I say, I was on a budget, no $ for a turbo-cool 510 deluxe. :D
 
hahaha a thread entitled "My sister's box"

doesn't get much better than that folks.
 
very nice...
i like the flowing motion of this case...
very smooth front to back...
 
Very nice.. and I love where you mounted the HDD. I bet it stays pretty cool there.
 
Definately a wonderful job.

That is an interesting place to have a floppy drive. I never saw that before. Oh well, you learn something new everyday.
 
Squishead said:
Definately a wonderful job.

That is an interesting place to have a floppy drive. I never saw that before. Oh well, you learn something new everyday.
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You know what your right, now that you mentioned is I never noticed that either. That is cool.
 
arock1_3 said:
You know what your right, now that you mentioned is I never noticed that too. That is cool.
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The floppy drive is located there on several of the older era PC's. You're just not very observant :D
 
That's hot. Your sister's computer, I mean. It's such a huge improvement over what it was before. I'm a big fan of the stripes too!
 
Thanks for the positive comments guys.

The floppy being up at the top required a long-ass floppy cable. I wish I would have remembered to take pics of the inside of the case. The internal layout is really wierd and compartmentalized or something. That's part of the reason I didn't do a huge window. That and there's a rat's nest of wiring in the top. :) There is also an internal 5 1/4" bay behind where the floppy drive is, my guess is it's for an old-ass HDD. The next time I'm in Madison I'll have to bring my camera so I can take some pics of the inside.
 
Yo man i really like your case.
I really wanan do that side panel see through thing with my old case.
Any tips or advice or better yet any more work pictures =).
Props man
I really dig the clean insides as well and the front is that a 120mm intake fan.
 
Spike23 said:
Yo man i really like your case.
I really wanan do that side panel see through thing with my old case.
Any tips or advice or better yet any more work pictures =).
Props man
I really dig the clean insides as well and the front is that a 120mm intake fan.
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For some reason I didn't take any work pictures on this one. I did for my Antec project which still isn't finished, that one's in the worklog forums if you're interested.

As for the side panel. Draw some lines and then get out the jigsaw. Then, after you've realized that your jigsaw is a piece of crap and you can't cut straight lines with it, whip out the dremel to fix all your mistakes. Then file everything down. Drill mounting holes for the plexi. I clamped the plexi to the panel, marked where I wanted the holes, then drilled through the plexi and into the side panel just enough to leave a divot. Then I unclamped everything and finished drilling through the sheet metal. Then I pop-riveted the pieces together after cleaning and painting.
 
Thats a sweet looking case dude, luv iT!...

But your title is misleading....
 
Excellent Job!

One question, is that silver on there bear metal or some kind of paint. If it is bare metal did you seal it with anything?
 
DaRkF0g said:
Excellent Job!

One question, is that silver on there bear metal or some kind of paint. If it is bare metal did you seal it with anything?
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It's Kyrlon fusion silver paint on the outside. Stripes are Kylon Fusion black. The inside and back of the case was painted with a Rustoleum Hammered Finish blue/silver color.
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
It's Kyrlon fusion silver paint on the outside. Stripes are Kylon Fusion black. The inside and back of the case was painted with a Rustoleum Hammered Finish blue/silver color.
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Ahh ok. Myst day I have never seen krylon fusion in silver before :confused:
Are you saying that you used the silver krylon fusion on the top and sides of the case too? How well did it bond if you did, does it scratch off or chip easily?
 
Sweet looking case... like the silver black and red and how the red mobo matches
 
DaRkF0g said:
Are you saying that you used the silver krylon fusion on the top and sides of the case too? How well did it bond if you did, does it scratch off or chip easily?
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Every removable outside surface was painted with krylon fusion: side panels, top panel, front bezel. Stripes were put on over the silver paint, one week after the last coat of silver. With the Fusion paint you're supposed to let it sit for a week, after the last coat, before it's considered cured. After that it's supposed to be pretty chip resistant. I think that only applies to plastic surfaces, however. My son accidentally knocked over the side panel with the stripes on it after three or four days and it got a few small chips in the paint. They weren't really chips though, more like the surface of the paint was "moved." After another couple days I went at it with some rubbing compound and an orbital buffer, that kinda blended it in a little bit but you can still see some spots where its a little borked up. Oh, well. It still looks good and you can't really tell it's there unless you stare at it for a while.
One thing a learned, the hard way, from a previous project I did with Fusion paint is this: You CANNOT sand that shit off if you fuck up really bad. You'll either need to dissolve it or get out a paint scraper and chip the crap off. I do really like the paint though. You don't need to prime if you're doing a darker color than the surface and it coats really well. It's not very friendly to mistakes though.
 
Heh unfourtionately I also had to learn the hard way with krylon fusion. Its very difficult to sand.
 
:( I've never used Fusion myself, I stick with the Duplicolor stuff, so I think I'm going to avoid it like the plague now.
 
Your sister's box inspired me to give a makeover to one of my spares.

(god that just sounds so wrong...)

You're right about sanding on plastic! Almost done however. Maybe I'll post pics if I can get a hold of someone else's camera.
 
CrimandEvil said:
:( I've never used Fusion myself, I stick with the Duplicolor stuff, so I think I'm going to avoid it like the plague now.
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It's good stuff if you don't mess it up before it has cured. :)
 
Yeah make sure it if fully cured for at least 5 days. Use a type of sandpaper called crocus paper. Its extremely fine and works excellent if you are trying to clean up the surface to put another coat on.

Oh and one more REALLY important thing with fusion. If you try and recoat after 24 hrs or before 5 days your paint will have a chemical reaction and bubble all up. Then you are really in for a mess!
 
nice mod, i'm thinking about doing somehting similar for my little cousin.


edit: LOL @ thread title :eek:
 
First thing i noticed too. I didn't even read any of these thread

My sisters box......

lmao
 
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