Project Mini Me [Archive]

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:10

I'm hoping this will be a quick project, but knowing my luck something will go wrong half way through or I will run out of time so I wouldnt bet on it being quick hehe.

The basis for the project is to use the spare shuttle pentium 4 motherboard and p4 cpu I have lying around my office and make it into a small cube for the girlfriend to use.

I'm going to use sheet aluminium with square section aluminium to build the chassis. It will be taped so that I can screw directly into the sqaure sections.

Onto some pics, the first are of the parts I'm using, the shuttle mobo/cpu ,the 250w psu and a laptop slot loading combo drive.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02348.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02348)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02349.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02349)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02350.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02350)

The first step was to cut the aluminium to size, its only rough as I haven't decided exactly what dimensions I'm going to use yet hehe.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02346.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02346)

I then cracked out my drill and taps and set to work doing a test peice to see if it would work if I threaded the square section of aluminium

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02352.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02352)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02353.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02353)

It worked very well and was much easier than I imagined. I will decide the dimensions tonight and cut the aluminium over the next few days I think.

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:10

My first update on this project, I've cut the top and bottom pieces to size, I've also trimmed also trimmed the structural square sections of aluminium. Last thing on the list that I've done are the motherboard standoffs. I'm hoping to break the bak of this project this weekend as my main rig needs to be rma'd :(

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02363.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02363)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02364.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02364)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02365.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02365)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02366.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02366)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:11

Another update from the work I've done today. I spent most of the day drilling holes in the square section then making threads in the holes to allow me to screw bolts directly into them. This took ages and one of my threading tools broke, luckily I could use another to finish the job. I've screwed the two structural sections together and placed them onto the top plate to show you how it will look in the final version.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02367.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02367)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02368.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02368)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02369.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02369)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:12

I've done some more work over the last few days. First off I got the backplate cut and drilled to size, then mounted the back plate and bottom plate onto the structural elements.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02370.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02370)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02371.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02371)

I then started thinking about how to mount the hard drive and optical drive. I orginally wanted something really simple but due to the layout it will have to be slightly more complicated but much more secure and solid. I've done the first parts of building the drive bay, first are the L-shaped sections and then I mounted one side to show you how it would look.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02372.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02372)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02373.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02373)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:12

Another update for you kind folks, this time I've been working on the drive bay setup. Its almost complete , I just need to drill the holes for the drives themselves.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02374.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02374)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02375.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02375)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02376.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02376)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02377.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02377)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02378.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02378)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:13

Work has progressed well today, I finished the drive bay holder by drilling the mounting points for the two drives. I then attached the front panel to the chassis, and then the drive bay holder was also mounted into position. Finally I did a cut out for the mobo ports and put the mobo in place for a test fit

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02379.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02379)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02380.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02380)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02381.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02381)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02382.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02382)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02383.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02383)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02384.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02384)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02385.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02385)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02386.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02386)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02387.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02387)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02388.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02388)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02389.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02389)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:13

I had a couple of setbacks today, first was when I started doing a blowhole for the rear panel, the holesaw forced the panel out of the holding clamps and made the whole panel fit for scrap :(

I quickly made up a new one (isn't it frustrating how quick you can do something the second time hehe) I made sure the panel didnt budge the second time with 5 clamps holding it in place.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02390.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02390)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02392.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02392)

The second setback was that I hadnt check to see if the psu would fit where I wanted, and sods law being what it is , the psu wont fit grrrrrr. It needs a quick re jig of the drive bay mounting, it shouldnt be too bad hopefully. I will attack this tommorow.

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:14

A quick update, I've done a few bits today mostly re doing the drive cage so that I can fit the psu. Only got the one piccy tho today.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02393.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02393)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:15

I've made some more progress on the project over the last week or so, what I have done is ditched the panels I made before as they werent of the quality I was happy with and one of the support bits was out of true which made the cube not a cube. I've gone back and fixed this now and with some thicker aluminium stock I've made up all the panels required and done a test fit.

I've taken some pics of the cube for you all to check out, its still in its protective coating but you get the idea, I'm going to try to do some more work on it tommorow before I go away for xmas.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02414.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02414)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02415.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02415)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02416.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02416)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:15

I've made some real progress over the last few days as I've had some spare time at long last. What I've done is completed all the cutouts for the rear panel. I've also created a bracket to attach the psu in securely. After that I cutout the slot for the optical drive and mounted all the switches/led holders onto the front panel.

Hopefully I will be finishing up the minor things over the next week or so to finish the project.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02428.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02428)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02429.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02429)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02430.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02430)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02431.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02431)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02432.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02432)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSC02433.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSC02433)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:16

Another project update, I've been working on the finish for the projects panels. I orginally intended to brush the sides with a wire brush then clear coat them. Unfortunatly when I did the first panel there were lots of marks coming through after brushing that I couldnt remove. I tried various cleaners and vigerous scrubbing but nothing would shift it.

I thought about painting the whole thing black but I kept that as a last resort, so instead I took my hand sander to the panels which give an excellent finish and there was no nasty marks. I'm working through all the panels in turn to get them finished.

I've done most of them so far and here are the pics of them, I've done some before and after shots, for some reason the chrome switches look black but they arent hehe.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0099.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0099)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0100.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0100)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0102.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0102)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0103.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0103)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0104.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0104)

I'm going to try to finish all the panels tommorow.

Gordy

5th January 2005, 14:16

Apologies for the spam :D

I wanted to post the full log and I've been working on the project for a while so there was lots to post :p

fivecheebs

5th January 2005, 14:24

haha gordy, ive been following this on bit. As ive allready said, I like it :D

biggiy6

5th January 2005, 17:02

Nice cube, I like how you did it from the ground up. The only thing I can pick at is the slot for the optical drive. It looks like it is a bit crooked and could use some sanding.

Canada_Dry

5th January 2005, 17:59

glad to see a good custom case made out of anything besides acrylic :)

Gordy

5th January 2005, 18:48

Nice cube, I like how you did it from the ground up. The only thing I can pick at is the slot for the optical drive. It looks like it is a bit crooked and could use some sanding.
Its the picture that makes it look a wee bit crooked its not like that in real life. Sanding it is on my list of jobs to do :D

FastRedPonyCar

5th January 2005, 21:52

I like it! I want a small cube case so bad but every one of the cases are just so limited in space and heat build up. I'd like to eventually make one for a full size ATX board and mabey 1 optical drive and a pair of HDDs. I want fulll ATX becuase the mini ATX board selection just plain sucks. :rant:

Gordy

5th January 2005, 22:25

I've never had any problems with heat and shuttle sized systems, I've used about 10 different ones ever since the first one years ago :)

Olly

6th January 2005, 00:14

well done gordy, it looks great - you make it look so easy (even I might be persuaded to have a go :D )

Gordy

6th January 2005, 01:40

well done gordy, it looks great - you make it look so easy (even I might be persuaded to have a go :D )
Its fairly simple , the main problem so far has been getting everything looking perfect. The main structure has to be bang or the rest will be out slightly getting worse as the project continues :)

zer0

6th January 2005, 09:22

looks realy good only think i have to say is the drive sllot is realy rough lookin meaby a little file work and perhapsrounding the ends would loook realy sweet

Da_Rude_Baboon

6th January 2005, 09:56

How easy is it to tap the holes? Is it hard to get them straight and how did you bend the metal to shape?

Nice Project! ^_^

Gordy

6th January 2005, 11:01

Zero:
I'm going to be redoing the drive bays, I'm going to be doing it with bends instead of L-shaped brackets. I've got a my sheet metal bender set up but I need a couple of new clamps which I will be getting today.

Da_Rude_Baboon:
The thread is remarkably easy. You drill a pilot hole keeping it straight and in place (A nasty battle when you have to use my cordless drill , I really need a bench drill!). Then you get a thread tap and tapping fluid and just carefullly screw into the pilot hole. It takes a minute or two for each thread.

I've not bent any of the metal so far so I assume you mean the structural elements? if so they are held together by eight bolts (4 front and back). I've not used this technique before and I have to say its great. Its far easier than anything else.

:)

Olly

6th January 2005, 11:11

yeah I was wondering about that, did you use any particular method/tool to help ensure the frame was square, or was it trialand error ?

Cheers,

Olly

Gordy

6th January 2005, 11:36

yeah I was wondering about that, did you use any particular method/tool to help ensure the frame was square, or was it trialand error ?

Cheers,

Olly
My eyes :D Well that and a right angle thing, I did it by eye and checked that it was 90degrees afterwards. Both sides matched to within 1mm , using handtools that was about as accurate as I was going to get.

I've just discovered a right angle clamp in my local tool shop so i will use that for my next project.

Da_Rude_Baboon

6th January 2005, 12:04

Thanks Gordy. I had thought you had bent some of the metal for your hard drive cage yourself but your reply to Zer0 where you mentioned the sheet metal bender answered that. :)

Gordy

6th January 2005, 14:11

Thanks Gordy. I had thought you had bent some of the metal for your hard drive cage yourself but your reply to Zer0 where you mentioned the sheet metal bender answered that. :)
I'm using the metal bender at the moment to make a new drive cage , its going quite well :D

Da_Rude_Baboon

7th January 2005, 10:14

Is it a big thing for doing large sheets of metal or for a mini one for SFF sized peices?

Gordy

7th January 2005, 11:40

It can do sizes upto about 1/2 a meter wide, I will take some shots later of it for you :)

Gordy

7th January 2005, 14:03

I've been working more on the project. Mainly just testing out my new metal bender which is ace. I'm going to redo the drive bays in a neater form. Using bends instead of lots of seperate peices. I've done a few test peices to see how best to do it. The bender produces great right angles but it has its limitation on how small the distance between bends can be so i tried out other methods as well.

Onto the shots the first two were taken a few days back of the panels in place after brushing to show you how the final thing will look

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0176.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0176)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0177.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0177)

These are my test peices for the drive bay, nd the bending brake itself

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0184.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0184)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0185.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0185)

Da_Rude_Baboon

7th January 2005, 14:39

Wow! Thats looks great!

Gordy

10th January 2005, 23:24

After having a play round with the new bending brake I've redone the drive bay with bending instead of L-shaped channels. Its much neater now. It needs to be brushed but you can see the shape in the pictures.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0271.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0271)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0272.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0272)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0274.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0274)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0275.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0275)

And a couple of shots with the drives in place. It needs the holes to be put in so its not finished yet.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0276.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0276)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0277.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0277)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0279.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0279)

Pug

11th January 2005, 10:01

Spot on Gordy!

I've been trying to convince my mate to do something with his shuttle for over two years now (since we did this (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=19374), actually).

He was always worried about trashing the original case. Mebbe this'll serve to convince him... :cool: :D

Gordy

11th January 2005, 10:23

Pug

11th January 2005, 11:12

He can always get a replacement , there always one on ebay :D
Tbh, I'm of the mind that what we had planned was so much an improvement on the original, there would be no point not doing it though! :lol:

Gordy

11th January 2005, 11:24

Tbh, I'm of the mind that what we had planned was so much an improvement on the original, there would be no point not doing it though! :lol:
hehe, just steal it and do the mod :D They wouldnt notice :D

I've got another shuttle mod on at the moment but I had a setback when my parcel went walkabout some in the usa for a few months.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/main.php?page=liquidbloo

I need to finish mini me then I will go back to work on the other one :)

Just trying out my tasty new 20in tft at the mo :D

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/others/DSCF0294.jpg

Pug

11th January 2005, 12:12

Mmm, sweet rigs. I'll definitely be showing him those worklogs. *nods*
Lovely TFT. ^_^ My desks are currently trying to accomodate 4 CRTs together with my one. :wacko:

Gordy

11th January 2005, 12:34

Mmm, sweet rigs. I'll definitely be showing him those worklogs. *nods*
Lovely TFT. ^_^ My desks are currently trying to accomodate 4 CRTs together with my one. :wacko:
tfts are so the way to go, once you've swapped you won't go back! :D

Pug

11th January 2005, 13:55

tfts are so the way to go, once you've swapped you won't go back! :D Oh, don't get me wrong, I love 'em. I've just 'added' rather than swapped! :D
I have a 17" WXGA f/panel and a 28" Panoramic widescreen TV dual-heading off HexaDragon. The CRTs are just on the work rigs. :lol:

Fibbles

11th January 2005, 14:17

tfts are so the way to go, once you've swapped you won't go back! :D
Yep. I bought a Hitachi 17" back in 2002 I think, it was whatever year they came out with one of the 1st 16ms panels. I'll never use a CRT again, even bought a Dell special so my mom could have a TFT. I want a 12ms 19" or higher soon.

Nice work on the box. Nice desk layout too, I've got a speedpad, but it's the n52.

Gordy

11th January 2005, 14:52

Yep. I bought a Hitachi 17" back in 2002 I think, it was whatever year they came out with one of the 1st 16ms panels. I'll never use a CRT again, even bought a Dell special so my mom could have a TFT. I want a 12ms 19" or higher soon.

Nice work on the box. Nice desk layout too, I've got a speedpad, but it's the n52.
I thought about swapping to the n52 but this one has everything I'll ever need and its very comfy. :)

What dell tft has your mum got? My first tft was a 17in dell which my parents now have hehe :D

Starbuck3733T

11th January 2005, 17:36

Gordy

11th January 2005, 18:28

Thx starbuck :)

I think you need to get used to tfts for gaming they arent as chrisp as a tft but more than do the job

Fibbles

11th January 2005, 19:33

I had a samsung 912N LCD (19") that I sold to my boss after I got a really good deal that involved waiting in the freezing cold for several hours. I absolutely freaking hated it. Garbage. I went, happily, back to my 19" Hitachi.

Why did I hate it? It ghosted in games. It wasn't sharp by any meaning of the word. I can't fscking game at 1280x1024 with all the details up. I'll be sticking to CRTs for a while, now.

PS: Looking very good gordy. Those bends look quite sharp!
It probably had a 25 ms response time. Lower response times are what you'll need for gaming. My 17" does 1280 x 1024 max, but there's very little ghosting or smearing at all. The 12ms panels have even less, so it's getting to the point where CRT's won't really have the advantage anymore. They even make a few panels with 8ms responses already. The other great thing is that prices are falling fast. I paid $456 for mine, but now I can find a 16ms 19" panel for that. Was it analog or did it use a DVI? I noticed that my TFT is crap on the analog connection, but on the DVI it's sharp and awesome.

Starbuck3733T

11th January 2005, 20:11

It was an analog only connection. I can definitly see the difference, but this was sort of a knee-jerk buy. Black friday discount to $380. I can see the difference, like night and day, here at work. One of my dell 1704FPs is on the analog, the other is on DVI. Huge difference.

Da_Rude_Baboon

12th January 2005, 10:06

Gordy

12th January 2005, 10:17

The one major problem i have with TFTs is the fixed native resoloution. If your screen only looks good at 1280x1024 your going to need a pretty hefty GPU to play the latest games so it means upgrading more than usual.
My 9600xt would run every game and 1280x1024 fine, it was never a problem. The 1600x1200 of my new lcd will be more of a problem. I'm going to be getting an x800 soon I think :)

dutchcedar

12th January 2005, 15:47

Gordy, first... let me take my hat off to your work. I like it. A lot. B)

Second... to the TFT question... I switched from three 21" IBM monsters to three 21.3" Samsung flat panels and it was a major improvement. I'll never go back. Maybe bigger (have eyes on that Apple 30 incher), but never back. I'm not a big gamer anymore, however.

Running them digitally is a "must do" kinda thing.

Da_Rude_Baboon

12th January 2005, 16:11

My 9600xt would run every game and 1280x1024 fine, it was never a problem. The 1600x1200 of my new lcd will be more of a problem. I'm going to be getting an x800 soon I think :)
1600x1200 was what i meant to say but i was working on my work samsung tft which is 1280x1024 at the time. :wacko:

Its a shame to have to miss out on some of the flashy effects and detail to get the game playable at a higher res. :angry:

Gordy

12th January 2005, 16:59

1600x1200 was what i meant to say but i was working on my work samsung tft which is 1280x1024 at the time. :wacko:

Its a shame to have to miss out on some of the flashy effects and detail to get the game playable at a higher res. :angry:
TBH I turn most of it off anyway after the first time playing , its not something I'm bothered about :D

Gordy

18th January 2005, 17:06

I've not managed to do much more work on this project as I've had guest staying in my spare room/workshop hehe. I have done some stuff though, first was me fitting a zalman northbridge heat sink. It looks great. I also installed a nice chrome/clear plastic hiper fan I found.

After these jobs I brushed the drive bay holder thing to fit into the rest of the project.

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0355.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0355)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0356.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0356)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0359.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0359)

Jobs left to do are as follows:

Do the wiring for the switches/leds
Make a wiring loom for the psu
Tidy up the side panels
Install the cables for all the drives

Pug

18th January 2005, 17:30

Gordy

18th January 2005, 17:42

You know, the downside to doing things this well is that when you've finished, people think it's shop-bought. :rolleyes:

Don't let your guest slow you down... alu filings in yer bed are a known hazard when you stay with a devoted modder, surely? :D
Its more a case of aluminium shards in the feet hehe :D :D

I've got guest staying next week too grrr . Mind you most of the proper cutting is now done its more wiring etc which I will do on the desk :D

I've got a more pressing project tho so I'm having to concentrate on that as its on a deadline (tis a secret prototype I cant talk about at the mo :( )

Pug

18th January 2005, 18:59

I've got a more pressing project tho so I'm having to concentrate on that as its on a deadline (tis a secret prototype I cant talk about at the mo :( )
Yeah, I have one of those in the pipeline too. It's doubly frustrating 'cos you know everyone will be real interested in it & offer loads of constructive help & feedback too. :(

:h34r:
... oops :unsure: ;)

Gordy

18th January 2005, 21:22

Yeah, I have one of those in the pipeline too. It's doubly frustrating 'cos you know everyone will be real interested in it & offer loads of constructive help & feedback too. :(

Damn you Honda! :h34r:
... oops :unsure: ;)
Aye, its been 8months in the process as well so its very long term, hopefully it will be sorted soon so I can publish the piccies :D

zer0

21st January 2005, 23:29

i love how the case is turning out only thing is i want to know how you get that brushed look as i might want to do my cube brushed also.

Gordy

2nd April 2005, 00:15

I've done a bit more on this project, but not much. I'm waiting on some parts to finish this off.

I basically added some custom fan grills I used on another project they are the bit tech logo and look v nice

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0872.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0872)

http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/albums/minime/DSCF0873.thumb.jpg (http://www.gordyhand.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery/minime/DSCF0873)