VOGONS


Reply 20 of 170, by x0zm_

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Excuse the poor lighting, I was doing this well after the sun went down.

Wanted to get my mind off having a chunk of my collection stolen (a story for another thread) so I started putting things in the case.

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Cold cathodes (and some of the radiator too)!

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Inverter is apparently just the right size to fit. Was meant to be 😀

Haven't done any cable management or the like, I just wanted to do *something*.

I'll take some better photos tomorrow when the sun is up and there's no flash glare.

Reply 21 of 170, by chinny22

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I like this project and have thought about doing it in the past but I like my PC's like I like my cars, air cooled.
So taking advantage of you doing it all for me and enjoying watching how this comes along.

Reply 22 of 170, by x0zm_

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Doing more things today, ran into an issue I'll have to solve.

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The GF2 Ultra overlaps the IDE ports on this motherboard. Tried a number of different cables to no avail.

My plan now is to find a combo IDE+SATA PCI card, but I'll have to find one that I can boot from. If worst comes to worst I'll skip the IDE or SATA drives and just use one of them with their appropriate card. The more likely option is replace the IDE HDDs with SATA HDDs of appropriate size and use those with the SSD. Depends what works out being the best deal vs total cost.

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Also some sleeving... without wire inside them. Was just remeasuring lengths and testing combinations 😀

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I am also hoping to finish these acrylic designs today.

Still waiting on CPU from Korea x-x

Reply 23 of 170, by x0zm_

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Jade Falcon wrote:

A pci sata/ide card can have problems with an overclocked pci buss. Be careful if you plan to overclock the system.

Yeah 🙁 Just something I'm going to have to accept when putting form over function.

Anyway, some updates.

Ordered the following over the last day or so:

  • Promise SATA150 TX4 SATA controller PCI card
  • 80GB Seagate SATA HDD (NOS)
  • Remaining fittings for the loop
  • Misc mounting hardware
  • UV SATA cables.

I settled on chrome fittings to match the big chrome CPU block.

Did the following today:

Cardboard cutouts of things I'll be doing in acrylic to test sizes.

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An overall view. A secondary PSU/Rad shroud (which I had to increase the height on). I'll be doing some sort of design here, and it is also where I'll likely be putting the appropriate case badges.

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GF2/V5 5500/Sound Card backplate sizing, plus case back sizing. I have one for the SATA controller too who's dimensions I got from the user manual.

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PSU back shroud since Corsair didn't think to provide one for some reason in the actual design to hide all those cables. 🙄

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Final cutouts. If I can find some other small, neat things that are fairly easy to cut out that I can fit on it I'll do that too.

I'll also be deciding on a name for this computer. I tend to name all my serious builds that I've done over the years.

Really hope that CPU comes this week. Really stuck without it. This is all taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. 😢

Still having a lot of fun when things do arrive and I get the chance to do something though, and that's what matters!

Reply 25 of 170, by x0zm_

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Still no CPU this week, but should be getting some final things Monday/Tuesday.

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Top are some modding tools that I thought I had but I didn't, middle is the SATA Controller, and bottom are my Acrylic sheets to cut up.

My fittings were shipped from China today by ePacket, so I should get those in 5-6 business days based on prior experience.

Sad when things come from China/USA faster than they come from another state locally. 🤣

I'm going to try to do all the cable sleeving this weekend as long as work doesn't call me back in.

Reply 26 of 170, by x0zm_

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Didn't get a chance to do cables on the weekend. 😢

But the Acrylic came at 7am on the dot this morning, and I have today off since I worked on Sunday. So here's some pictures of what I made in the last couple of hours (and still working on the rest)

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Oooh. Pretty.

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Fits well!

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Need to get some acrylic solvent for these pieces, but it fits and that's what is important.

Unless something goes horribly wrong, I'll update next with everything in place.

Reply 27 of 170, by x0zm_

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Early update, because cool stuff happened!

Had a mate over and we went over some stuff and did some experimenting - testing all different things under my spare UV LED kit which I plugged into my main PC.

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Backplate fits! There's a top bar that goes above it, but I need to disassemble the whole PC to get that in, and I can't put it in until I've done the 20 pin ATX cable.

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Oooh.

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Aahhh.

The phone camera doesn't pick up how bright all this stuff is. It's insane.

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SATA controller came today. I also forgot that PCB edges glow.

A name has also been decided for the build -- TOXiC RESURRECTiON.

TOXiC was the name of my first UV PC way back when. Mid 00s or so, with UV mods bought with money I saved over time. Had to order parts (by phone!!) that the store I worked at didn't have/couldn't get. I poured my heart (and savings) into that build, and in a way I've done the same here. It's not only a resurrection of old PC parts into something new and (imo) beautiful, but a revival of the very thing that got me into modding in the first place.

So with more jigsawing and sanding completed and almost all my acrylic cutouts done, I had a decent amount of scrap. There's not much else I can do with it, it's just some pieces here and there, except for a long bit in the middle. There is an acrylic and plastic place about 5 minutes by car from my house. We called in to see if they do laser cutting, and they did. They normally work on commercial quantities, but we asked if they could recommend anyone that would work on small or one off projects. After some back and forth about what it was, they agreed to do it for us for a couple of pizza hut pizzas from just down the road and some beer.

So we went back home and did up the file and brought it back with two pizzas and a 12 pack of Australia's finest VB, and now I have a nice laser cut build name...!

Had to get it cut over two pieces of scrap since it was a bit larger than expected. They were laser cutting some other small things at that time, so they fit my design onto their sheet of some type of adhesive paper, placed the scrap next to the actual things they were making (same thickness thankfully) and did whatever machine programming they did, and now I have this:

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It's backwards there because that is the part of the adhesive I could keep. I'll find a way to make it line up somewhere in the build, most likely on the bottom or side shroud. I'll probably use the scrap it was cut from as a template to place it, but welding it will be a challenge.

Anyway, thought that was worth a write up. They said I'm welcome back on the same arrangement if I need more done on another project and they have room/time. Gives me an idea for a scratch build, actually... another thing I've been planning possibly longer than this build. 🤣 🤣

I need to get back to working on these designs so I can paint 'em!

Reply 28 of 170, by x0zm_

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An initial design without text.

Bottom 5mm of each card's green is visible, along with the strip shown. Those strips line up with strips on the case backing plate - which isn't properly in place in the photo - and that will also be green.

5mm border around cable holes will be visible too, with an exception of a 1mm black border where the strips run through them.

Rest is black.

Will have to refine, but just some early sketching tonight after work.

I picked up the spray paint after work as well. Didn't even ask me for my ID so I must have passed that age where they don't even bother asking anymore. 🤣

Reply 30 of 170, by ATi_Loyalist

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x0zm_ wrote:

TOXiC was the name of my first UV PC way back when. Mid 00s or so, with UV mods bought with money I saved over time. Had to order parts (by phone!!) that the store I worked at didn't have/couldn't get. I poured my heart (and savings) into that build, and in a way I've done the same here. It's not only a resurrection of old PC parts into something new and (imo) beautiful, but a revival of the very thing that got me into modding in the first place.

I can relate exactly to your feelings here! That's precisely why I am here at VOGONS!

P4/XP Rig: P4C800 | P4 3.4 | Radeon X850 Pro
A64/XP Rig : A8V | A64 X2 4400+ | X1950 Pro
Ancient Rig: Pentium 166 W | S3 Trio

Reply 31 of 170, by x0zm_

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Had some time to do some cabling tonight. Forgot how rough PET can be on your hands.

20 Pin + one molex.

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20 pin combs don't exist so I'm using 8+8+4 combs but that doesn't work too well either. Not much cable will be visible so as long as it looks nice in the visible area that is all I am concerned with.

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Decided to give UV blue connectors a try to bring out some UV blue highlights. if I don't like it I'll swap back to the green ones.

Still need to do another molex as well as the pump and some fan sleeving. Depending on how much I have left over, I'll sleeve some more things like the UV lamp wires.

The battle damage:

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Worth every bit 😀

A motherboard IO plate also came today which fits perfectly. It's nice that they were all fairly standardised back then.

Watercooling fittings have left China and are on their way to Australia via ePacket. Hopefully I'll get it this coming week. I've had good luck with ePacket shipping in the past, only taking 3-5 business days after arriving in Australia.

STILL no CPU 1.4GHz Modded Tualatin though. If I don't get it mid next week, I'm going to put in a not received claim on eBay, since its been over a month now. If it doesn't show up I'm not sure what I am going to do. I might have to settle for 1GHz or suck it up and spend more money from another seller.

This is the part that's worrying me most at the moment, since the whole concept relies on a CPU with a heat spreader. I could do it without it, I guess it would be no different to a delidded CPU today, but not comfortable with it.

Reply 32 of 170, by AzzKickr

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If you payed via Paypal you are at least fully covered for the purchase amount, even if Ebay is not willing to budge.

BTW: in the event that it does turn up, or you get another one, I have an idea to have some quick benchmarks between us as I'm running a P4 1.4 and also have both GF2 Ultra and V5 in my collection 😀

Heresy grows from idleness ...

Reply 33 of 170, by x0zm_

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AzzKickr wrote:

If you payed via Paypal you are at least fully covered for the purchase amount, even if Ebay is not willing to budge.

BTW: in the event that it does turn up, or you get another one, I have an idea to have some quick benchmarks between us as I'm running a P4 1.4 and also have both GF2 Ultra and V5 in my collection 😀

Yeah, not worried about not getting the money back. I just really want the modded 1.4GHz. I've got a 1.13GHz on my watchlist (native mobo support) for a reasonable price just incase.

And would love to share and compare benchmarks 😁

Today:

Didn't do too much, been enjoying Quake Champions beta. But I did do 20 Pin ATX cable management. This was a challenge, required taking apart the whole cable again, removing all the internals and redoing the whole cable. End result? Bloody awesome.

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Feeding cables one by one through the small hole at the top. It wasn't big enough to fit a whole connector though.

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Continued doing that until complete. I used a couple of 24 pin cable combs to keep it looking neat.

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Had to reposition one of the CCFLs to be on the side instead of the top now, but made it work. Those cables will be sleeved eventually so they aren't ugly and white.

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All finished now.

Also installed the IO plate while I was at it. 😎

Reply 34 of 170, by AzzKickr

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I always admire good sleeving work, yet have never succesfully completed it. Had some attempts in the past but with lousy results. I blame the sleeving brand 😜
Looking at this I might give it another shot though 😀

I have also been playing the Champions beta a couple of weeks ago. Fun game yet nothing special. I'm just hoping it will provide the same "customizability" as Q3 in terms of console commands, tweaks, mods, dedicated servers, ... bout I doubt it very much.

Heresy grows from idleness ...

Reply 35 of 170, by x0zm_

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AzzKickr wrote:

I always admire good sleeving work, yet have never succesfully completed it. Had some attempts in the past but with lousy results. I blame the sleeving brand 😜
Looking at this I might give it another shot though 😀

I have also been playing the Champions beta a couple of weeks ago. Fun game yet nothing special. I'm just hoping it will provide the same "customizability" as Q3 in terms of console commands, tweaks, mods, dedicated servers, ... bout I doubt it very much.

Yeah, sleeving quality makes a huge difference. I've tried with the cheap AliExpress rubbish before and it was crap. Not very tightly weaved so wires were visible. Didn't melt well and overall a bad experience. Since I started buying better quality (MDPC-X, Darkside, Shakmods and Teleios - whoever has the colours I'm after for a specific build) I've had great results. I used to use Paracord but since I found PET I've never looked back.

Also heard they'll be adding mod support to Quake Champs in the future. Not sure how far in the future that is though. 🤣 But I'll play regardless, because hopefully it won't be dead like Quake Live is here.

tl;dr for upcoming paragraphs:

Considering GPU backplate upgrades to make them special and stand out more. Australia sucks for buying things. I'm getting old and grumpy. Rambling because it is 4am and when I start researching something I can't sleep until it is done.

Updates for Today:

Didn't do anything with the system physically, aside from some overdue house cleaning and ripping my game CDs to ISOs to put onto USB for this computer since there's no ODD, I've gone back to the drawing board on my backplates.

When I got my build name laser cut, I've been thinking more about how great laser cutting is. It certainly beats all the hand cutting I've been doing, but it just isn't feasible for when I'm simply cutting out rectangles and other simple shapes. Meanwhile, I was talking to the guy who is making all my domed badge replicas for ones I can't source for this build since he has a vinyl plotter and printer. We got onto the topic of this project and, he has a desktop laser cutter and 3D printer too. He's into the whole maker thing I suppose.

I'm going to try to get some more acrylic at a good price to do my backplate designs in 3D now. Some transparent acrylic cut out to make the design and painted black (for consistency in colour with the other painted acrylic) with the UV green showing below it. I'd prefer to get some 1mm or 2mm, since the existing backplate is already 3mm and I don't want it getting ridiculously thick.

If that all works out, I'll be building a totally separate backplate for a fellow retro gamer and good friend of mine - a Voodoo5 5500 backplate with built in lighting and a fan controller (which will likely be adapted from a readily available one), so he can adjust the speed on the aftermarket fans he put on it easily. It's now in my long list of acrylic based projects, with the AT test bench and scratch case build, but probably will be first to get done after this build since it is the fastest.

Ahh, all the possibilities. Makes me want to invest in my own laser cutter! Maybe if I was building full time 😀

Rant:

If there's one thing that has really hit home building this, it is that Australia sorely lacks a central place to buy PC modding supplies at reasonable prices. I've been doing this for awhile, but it has generally been simple and straightforward stuff. Water cooling and other hardware components aside, it is impossible to find high quality screws, nuts, acrylics, tools, paints, wire and sleeving components in one place like it is in the US and Europe. We don't even have a company that does custom sleeving locally!

With the amount I spent on shipping and the time I spent waiting, I'd rather have paid someone to make my extensions for me. But not an option here. One admittedly great company does sell MDPC-X and all the sleeving supplies here though, just not the custom sleeving service. They were also out of the colour I wanted when I was purchasing. 😒 Everyone else sells premade Chinese crap or overpriced (and still crap) Cablemod.

Now when I talk about screws, I don't mean standard M3, M4 or 6-32 case screws, I mean the nice ones. Polished/chromed/titanium/anodised ones. I can buy 10pcs of decent quality M3 5mm screws for about $6. They aren't very nice though because they have stamped lettering on them. Same price, I can buy 100pcs of them from China with free shipping, that actually look nice and something you could put on display in a mod project.

It's just frustrating when I have go to go one store to buy one or two things and pay shipping, another store to buy one thing and pay shipping, go overseas to buy some more and more shipping costs, shop around locally to hope I can find things which sometimes does work out, but also often doesn't.

We got some really talented modders in Australia, but sourcing is just... ugh. It's not too bad if you do it a lot since you are going to be buying in bulk, which means you can either buy from the good suppliers here, or just order a lot from China at once. For one off projects though, the shipping often ends up costing more than the actual parts. This has happened to me in a big way in this build, and it is just wasted money I could have actually put into more hardware or nicer mods.

Rant over 😒

Upcoming:

I have a young cousin (16) coming over to my house tomorrow. He loves computers and wants to get into modding, so I said he can sleeve some of the cables that aren't visible / are in the back of the case to get some real hands on experience. I don't expect it to be anything amazing, but it's not visible and he'll have some fun, so it's all good.

Might do some paint experimenting on the scraps tomorrow while he does that. While writing this and proofreading, I thought about my backplate idea for my friend and might implement some of that on my own. Not the fan control since it'll be water cooled eventually, but some low voltage UV LED lighting for each GPU card. Just to make sure it really glows nicely. Guess it's back to eBay/AliExpress for me tomorrow 😀 Thank goodness I'm off work until the 15th. 😈

Reply 37 of 170, by x0zm_

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Bought more wire to finish both VGA card molex cables.

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And then these showed up

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So almost everything has finally arrived save for a few modding bits and pieces. My plan this week now is to set up everything out of the case, install the OS, stability test to make sure everything is working well with the modded Tualatin CPU. Once I'm happy with that and make any changes that are necessary, it's time to install and set up the loop and finally build this beast. 😎 😁

Reply 38 of 170, by Fusion

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Do you have plans to overclock the V5? I'm glad you finally got your CPU. I remember reading this thread and noticed your poor luck on getting it on time. 🤣

Pentium III @ 1.28Ghz - Intel SE440xBX-2 - 384MB PC100 - ATi Radeon DDR 64MB @ 200/186 - SB Live! 5.1 - Windows ME

Reply 39 of 170, by x0zm_

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Fusion wrote:

Do you have plans to overclock the V5? I'm glad you finally got your CPU. I remember reading this thread and noticed your poor luck on getting it on time. 🤣

Already have it at 183MHz, same as I've had it for years. Not comfortable going higher without special RAM cooling. But I'll do some experimenting and see. Would rather have lower speeds and a longer lasting card 😉

And yeah, really happy to have the CPU. Still haven't had time to test it since I've got so much other, more important things to do on my time off around the house. I hope to get around to it in the next couple of days though.

Few more fittings I had to buy since I made some loop plan changes. I bought them locally for more money so I'll get it within a week instead of waiting ages from China. Also bought some silicone dots that I can put between the CPU and the retention clip so it doesn't scratch the chromed finish. Going to play around with some different methods and old retention clips to see the best way to make them nice and shiny to match the rest of the metal in there.

The glass and chrome block/fittings look really nice with some early experimenting. I've actually found some mirror finish acrylic, which I want to laser cut to make a 3dfx/Nvidia(or GeForce2)/Pentium III badge set instead of domed stickers. I think it would look pretty great on the side black acrylic panel with the other chrome stuff, but at the same time I don't wanna be a brand whore and overdo it.

The further I get along in this project, the more I find I want to do. 🤣 Which is all well and good. The important hardware is here. The rest are just nice to have things I can get around to eventually.