Hey! Where did my computer go?

[Staz]

This is by far the most functional case mod I have ever done. Although I don't know if it is a case mod since no case was involved.

I have a very small Den which is where my wife and I spend most of our time. Only about 12'x12'. It got quite crowed with a love seat, entertainment center, 27" TV, tons of games, some curio cabinets, and 2 computers with very large monitors (21" &19")

It was crowed but all was well. Then you guys did it to me. My wife checks out what she affectionately referes to as " The geek pages". She reads them just so she has some idea what I am talking about. Then one day she saw a computer built inside of an aquairium. She wanted to know if it was posible to build a computer without a case. So as to hide it in a piece of furniture, such as a coffee table. I said sure. No problem. Then she wanted to know if I could make my computer disappear, too make more room in the den. Well I saw this as an opertunity to build a new computer so ofcourse I said sure.

Well about 8 months later, and after a few mishapps, and a save by a member of our board, my system is 95% complete. I thought it was 100% complete but I have run into 2 problems. First the grill stops too much air and 2 more exuast fans will be required befor I am satisfied with air flow. Second the USB cable for the front USB ports is too short.

Anyway it is far enough along to call it complete and to show it to the public.

Here is a finished pic of the outside.

[Staz]

From the above pic you can see the front of the "drawer". Yep it is a computer in a drawer. You may notice that the gap is uneven but that is because the drawer front isn't prmantly attached yet, and won't be until I figure out the front USB cord. The whole thing is built into the entertainment center. It is made out of cabinet grade plywood and set on a pair of ball bering slides.

On the top left is a hardwood floor heating grate. I found it to be very atractive and yet doesn't restrict airflow too much. On the left side of the grate there used to be an area for the damper lever. After removing the damper I found the the USB bracket fit in there nicely with only a small amount of modification. The only problem is that the bracket that Abit supplied was ment to go on the back of a computer and is about 1/2" to short causing the top of the drawer to be pulled inward.

On the right there are 3 LEDs and 3 buttons. from left to right the LEDs are the HDD, POWER ON, and STBY LEDs. They are simple LEDs in LED holders. Nothing fancy, just yout average Radio Shack stuff. The first 2 buttons are single pole momentary on push buttons, the first being the reset and the middle being the power button. The far left button is a 10amp 120v on/off lighted push button that I call my "master power". It controls the power to a surge protector that I modified. The PSU, monitor, speakers, andwater pump are all plugged into the surge protector. When the power is on the lite is lit. This also makes sure that I turn on my water pump befor I start my computer.

And ofcourse the CD Rom below.

And on to another pic.

[Staz]

You can see at the bottom of the pic is a piece of cabinet grade plywood. That is mounted on a set of drawer slides which slide into the entertainment center in my den.Then you will notice 2 small 2"x2" legs. They are poplar and there are 4 of them holding the motherboard mounting plate. The plate is held up about 2 1/2". The HDD is mounted to the underside on the motherboard mounting plate on aluminum brackets. Also all the hoses and cords are routed under the motherboard. I wanted to run the IDE cables under the MoBo mounting plate but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe sometime in the future, for now I was anxious to get it finished.

The motherboard mounting plate and all the other brackets were fabed out of a sub sea sonar reflector. It's 1/8" aluminum and quite easy to cut drill tap and bend. You'll notice that there is a 1/2"x1/8" aluminum bar mounted to the side of the plate. That is for screwing in my PCI cards.

You can see the radiator box in the background. It is a negative pressure box and houses a monster radiator, 8"x11 1/2"x2 3/4" with a 3/8" copper core. Those four 92mm fans are blowing at 12 volts right now and keeping things quite cool. I started running them at 5 volts and that worked at stock speed, but as I approached 2.434GHz @ 1.9vcore (on a 1700+) 5 volts was inadequate. I tried 7 volts and that worked fine but when I put the front panel on it didn't provide enough airflow thru the case. I think a couple of 92mm fans exausting out of the front of the case @ 7 volts and I may be able to turn the radiator fans back down to 7 volts. You can also see the pump in the upper left corner. That is the only sore spot in the system. It vibrates and since the whole thing is mounted on slides the whole thing vibrates. I have it sitting on a piece of 1/4" neoprene but that doesn't dampen it enough. I am going to have to figure out a better way to mount it.


I already made a tray for my monitor to sit on mounted on the side of the entertainment center. Also I am using a wireless keyboard and trackball setup and the receivers are sitting on the same tray.

Now that it is all said and done I have no external wires at all (except when I plug in my speedpad).

and finally a pic of the monitor on its tray.

[Daniel ~]

Many thanks for re-posting!! Up on front page again where you belong! ":O}

Hey! Where did my computer go?

[cloasters]

I can't believe that I missed this. It looks GREAT, Staz! I hope that a little kid will never slide the drawer open. Personally, I'd lock the drawer for safety. Nice job!

[Staz]

OMG Closters.
I am not worried about kids opening the drawer. But I just had a vision of kids putting coins through the slots in the grate. Have you eve been told that the VCR doesn't work and picked it up and a bunch of change fell out?

Guess i'll have to fix that.

[Mad old tory]

Worth saying again i think... good job

[piccoLEW]

but, now the free aoa case badge wont match with your new, camouflaged (sp?) case

[cloasters]

That stylish gray Viewsonic monitor would look even better with an AOA case badge on it. No need to try and make the case badge look good on the wood.

[CCW]

Very nice and not just the mod but the hardware in there!

Craig

[Staz]

Yep an AOA case badge would look good on the upper right hand corner of the monitor (wife actually wants me to paint the monitor but I told her it would void the warrenty, like I've never voided a warrenty befor).

A second case badge would look even better on my hard hat a work. Maybe even a third for my dive hat, the fish would get a kick out of it. Ok that was just silly, guess I'll stop at 2.

And yes that is nice hardware. NF7-S rev2.0, Corsair XMS3200LL TwinX, T-Bred B , woo hoo. I wanted to put a 9700 Pro in it but the budget ran out. Got and 8500 in it now. I may sell my 226w Pelt and 500w 15v dedicated PSU to help pay for a video upgrade.

[Daniel ~]

No Way! we can afford to deep-six a badge or two! a lot of fish use this forums!! ":O}