Mission.. Build Clear case.. BIG clear case !

[Mithin]

Okay here's the problem I had.. I had a Chieftec case with the removeable hard drive cages enough for 6 hard drives(got ahold of another cage and put it on the bottom for a total of 9). Good design.. except when a big old AGP card is in there(Radeon AIW 9700). That and if I wanted to remove one hard drive out of the 9 I have in there I have to disconnect everything. Thats pratically a whole day affair.

Solution ? Build case bigger.. and I mean BIG

The case I知 building now is made from clear acrylic(thick stuff) and is twice the size of the chieftec case in width and several inches taller and longer. Below is the picture of it next to a soda can. Its so big that the acrylic wont hold up with everything inside I think, So I知 using aluminum angle brackets to hold it up(going to polish them to a shine) I知 also going to rework the power supply to give me the number of leads I need without putting on 6 Molex Y's
No Molex痴 or 5v 3v connectors will be seen when I知 done..


The carriage for the drives is going to have them all vertical in a circle. The wires for all 10 drives are going to come from below then bloom from the middle of the top and look rather good I hope. Using metallic sleeves for everything so nothing looks like a normal wire.

I have blue uv paint that I知 going to light everything up with then use led uv cannons to pin point certain cases to high light it.. I知 also planning two hidden(behind the aluminum supports) uv cathodes mic controlled to respond to sound.. Hope fully Ill have a pulsing living machine ! muhahaha... god I need to get out more..


Anyway Ill post my progress... Still waiting for parts including my brand spanky new Athlon 64.. *drools..*


Im also looking for suggestions and ideas.. also I have a few questions.. Since Im a cheap bastard and dont want to drop $150 on a 650 watt psu Im thinking of doubling up.. having one PSU running the HD's and Video card + fans(minus cpu fan)+ little stuff.. The other one running everything else. Good idea bad idea ?
(Currently running a cheap 550 watt. Also have another moderately priced 420w sitting on the shelf)

What else should I do ? Or not do.. Open to suggestions...

*****update*****
Going to list my current supplys for this project...

Computer Hardware
AMD64 3000+
MSI K8T Neo motherboard
1x Corsair CMX512-4000PRO 512MB DDR500 (with the led's on it!)
Radeon AIW 9700
6x WD 120gig 7200rpm Hard drives
2x WD 250gig 7200rpm Hard Drives
1x Maxtor 80 gig(hay variety is the spice of life)
1x Santa Cruz Tutle beach sound card
1x WD raid card
1x Maxtor raid card
1x real pc power 550w PSU
1x whatever came with the chieftec case 420w PSU

6x 36 inch clear/braided silver rounded cables
4x 120mm clear blue uv reactive fans
8x 80mm ultra quiet black and clear fans
8x Blue LED cannons
8x UV LED cannons
1x Bottle of Blue UV spray paint(goes on clear)
50 feet Clear Flexo sleeving(for fan,led,cathode etc wiring)
Cheap 6 fan speed controller(knobs light up blue)
2x Blue Cathodes
2x UV Cathodes
All aryclic needed for the job
25 empty molex and molex plugs for rewiring the power supply/s
1x empty wallet


Tools...

Dremil
Drill press
Hacksaw
Imagination








The lights are your friends....

[sam]

you can use a second power supply just follow these simple instructions on jumping out your second power supply in thinkin it is connected to a motherboard
http://www.gideontech.com/guides/psu_powerup/

[speedyvision]

you want good cooling too??? cuz if u do then i say u fill 2 sides facing each other with fans all blowing one way, make them all glow some kinda color, then connect all ur components to the remaining 2 sides

[tgxiii]

I like the dual power supply idea. I'm very interested in seeing how this turns out.

[RedFury]

Looks like that one is going to need a few 120mm fans!

And, I doubt you'll be using any Dynamat in that, huh?

Personally, I'd build some acrylic legs for it ( inch high at most ) and put 3 120mm fans on the bottom, pulling fresh air up.

The reason I suggest this is that you can have a filter and not have it show, plus you capture the coldest air possible.

[Mithin]

All ready have 6 120mm clear blue reactive uv fans.. But they are going to be used sparingly because I want to go to water cooling but cant afford it at this point.. Im basically looking at 2 120 mm's in the front over the Hd's and 2 120 mm's in the rear.. The cpu will also be a 120 mm using a 120mm to 80mm adaptor I have.

After looking at that page about wiring the power supplys It looks like it will be easy to wire them to one throw switch on the front of the case.. hehe Im thinking about geting a big breaker switch like you see in old frankienstien movies..

As for the suggestion of putting fans on the bottom well.. I've got some plans for the neglected bottom of the case. Im going to put a super shinny mirror on the bottom and then put a piece of clear arylic on top of it(so if something is dropped on it it doesnt shatter) Should add a whole new dimension to the see through case..

But I might just drill 2 holes in the mirror and put some fans there.. who knows.. friday I will have alot more of the materials I need to finish my sketchs on the final design..

**Oh also updated my first post with all my supplys**

[The Terk]

when u said big, you did mean big! i liked the comment of 1x empty wallet, very clever! what kinda computer is this going to be? a server, digital editing?

[Mithin]

answered in post below

[tim1477]

wow, thats alot of hdd's.... why so much?

[Mithin]

Well as for the Hard drives I have this place to thank for the cheap prices I got on them.. 5 of the 120 gigs were had for $40 1 1/2 years ago.. the 250 gigs were had for $50 each after rebate(black friday sales).. The rest were gotten with good sales and such..

Well one reason I use alot of space is netflix eats up quite a bit.. what I do is get 8 dvd's each week.. then copy them using smartripper then put them back in the mail the same day.. Then everynight when I go to sleep I setup the conversation using Pinnacle Instant Copy and when I wake up I have a new dvd waiting for me.. This allows the max value to be had from netflix as I dont sit around with the dvds for a long time. But it takes alot of HD space.. 8x 6-7.5 gig per week.

Besides that Im a tinker in all things 3d.. so I have a library of 3d objects patterns skins etc.. for 3dmax maya and other programs.. I also like to download quite a bit with emule so I have a good 200-300 gig with that..(no not porn.. get your mind out of the gutter..)

That and considering my whole rig so far costs under $1000 Im content that I havent spent too much(Remember the days when any near top of the line computer was $2000+??)
I also have a Raid setup that increase performance and mirrors.. that eats up 3x 120 gigs..

Add that all up.. and you know the reason I have a 1.5 terabyte system.. and I still need more space !?!?!