As some of you know I have been thinking of building my own case and a new system, well after thinking, designing, drawing, and budgeting I have decided to get started.

Now after I got done with all my designed and budget the case cost I found that it would cost me around $400.00us, my case design is very similar to Mountain Mods U2-UFO Optimax, so similar that I decided to contact them and see if they would be able to alter their design a little to fit what I wanted and they replied stating yes with some extra cost involved and after figuring out the cost for them to build the case and to ship would be around the same as if I was to build the case.

So I figured might as well let an experience group of people build me my case to my specs then for me to possibly screw it up.

The main changes to the U2-UFO Optimax that will take place is that the motherboard will be on the right side of the case in what is called upside-down or reverse ATX standard where the cpu is towards the bottom of the case, the psu will be located at the bottom of the case as well on that side of the system however will be mounted on the top left side of the case instead.

The only thing that will be on the right side of the case will be the motherboard, the 3 DD D-5 Pumps, 3 custom built res, and the 2 fan controller and lcd readout screen, everything else related to the computer will be mounted on the left side of the case.

This Project thread will be the construction and modification of the case itself and the water cooling system that will be installed, as far as the computer parts that will be installed will come at a much later time depending on Vista and what sponsors I can pick up at that time.

I plan on running three water cooling systems in this case, one for the two graphics cards and one for the CPU and one for the North-bridge, HDDs and ram. On the graphics cards I plan to run EK Full coverage blocks and for the cpu and north-bridge I am still researching what block I will get once I decide on which AMD cpu I will go with.

Here is a picture of what the case looks like when I got it.

Product Link: MountainMods.com - Home of the U2-UFO & Twice7 aluminum cube computer case
My Review on the case: U2-UFO Optimax - 3dGameMan: Kickass Forum

Here are some video clips shot of the case for use as a before referance, there will be follow up clips as I begin to mod the case.
Here is Part 1 of a 3 part shoot.

Part one shows the case with the side panels on.

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Here is Part 2 of 3 part shoot.

Part two shows the case with the side panels removed.

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Here is Part 3 of 3 part shoot.

Part three shows the case stripped down to its frame and all the parts that are removable.

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The back of the case will be cut off and rotated to create the reverse ATX affect.
Here is a fast not accurate in dimensions just as reference design of the back of the case.



Alright well here are some pictures on after I cut the back panel off and then after I used the JBWeld, once that cures (15hrs) I will apply a second coat to the inside of the case and where the clamps were located and then after complete cure will sand it smooth.




Here is the video of me cutting the case, you have been warned lol

<embed style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-7636707949965641236&hl=en" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" scale="noScale" salign="TL" FlashVars="playerMode=embedded"> </embed>

Here is the bottom and the inside after the jbweld



when I was setting the top, I cracked one of the corners, which lol happen to be the corner that I knew would be weak but afrer I sand that down and reapply thinner coats of jbweld it should hold like the rest.



Here is a before and after shot ^^

Before:


After: (the motherboard tray is just sitting there not mounted)


Alright seeing how I dont have the bigass air compressor installed yet so I wont be able to use my air tools so...

I will be doing all my sanding by hand.

I will start off with some ruff files and work my way down to a finner file to get the excess weld material off and from there will work with the ruff sand paper with the block and again then work my way down to to a finner sand paper until I get it to a smooth finish.

I dont plan to film this but I will film the mod of the side panel and when all that work is done, I will use bondo to fill any imperfections in the case and side panels and sanding that down and then priming the case and panels, I will film that whole process for all of you ^^
Im hoping by that time I will have the camcorder so it will be easier on me to film it all.

I recommend wetsanding as it allows your sandpaper to last longer and with a little less friction you get a smoother results.


Also wetsanding is very messy lol

oh and those blocks you see are wheights I use on the race carts, Im using them to keep the case from moving when Im sanding.

wet sanding is by far the most labor intensive part becuase a lot of the sanding has to be done by hand.


As you can see the bottom of the case is sanded smooth, the other side is also smooth, now all I have left is the inside corners and the top part of the case which by 3:30pm pst should be cured enough for me to start sanding, I have been sanding since 12:30 ><


alright all the sanding is done, now on to the motherboard placement, here is some pics with the motherboard and top panel secured to the case.






okay instead of moving the motherboard tray leg back and re-tapping where the thumbscrew would be located at the top panel due to flipping the back panel instead I created a new bracket so that I can use the existing thumbscrew location to hold and secure the motherboard tray. Oh and dont worry even with that long leg there I can still pull the tray out with no problems. ^^

This is what the new panels will look like, I will be modifing the side panel that will hold the rads as you can see I will cut some alluminum scrap into an L shape and then jb weld them to the side panel, then use modders mesh to close the opening and cut the window panel to fit, the other panels Im not to sure about maybe just do a wicked lazer job and create some cool etched windows, still deciding. ^^



Here is a link to the Modders Mesh
moddersmesh

well did some messing around heres what Im doing for the radiator side panel.



Alright, I measured and calculated and measured again, made my markings and have the side panel taped out.



The second picture above shows where I will be cutting the panel to allow for the fans on the rad to get better airflow.



Picture above to the left shows just some of the markings made and the picture above to the right shows the part of the window that will be cut away and in its place will have the honey comb grill placed and then a nice L cut brave when overlap both the window and the grill to help secure both and give it a nice clean finish.

Alright I went a head and cut the side panel, this is part 1 of the side panel mod, part two will be the cutting of the plexi and the L brace that holds the grill and plexi window in place and cutting the honey comb grill to size. Part 3 will be putting it all together.




Here is the Video - There is sound of the cutting and the bumping and whatever so you have been warned lol

Part 1 of The Side Panel Mod

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alright well the power went out today when I got home from work, some guy speeding around a corner slid and took out the power poll so with nothing to do I decided to go to the shop, break out the generator and worked on the side panel some more.

Part Two of the Side Panel Mod:

Here is a pic of the plexi window all taped up and ready to cut.



After the plexi has been cut and filed down.



The left over scrap of the plexi window which I could use somewhere Im sure and some left over of the honey comb grill after being cut to size.



Here it is all layed out for a test fitting, all that is left for me to do is make the L-Brace that will lay over the plexi and the grill to give it a nice clean look, I will make that brace and finish up the panel on Part 3 and Part 4 will be the cutting of the cross.



More updates soon to come.

Well with the temps droping the items I had curing was not ready to be handled so instead I decided to work on something else and I was looking at my HDD Brackets that came with the case and well it looks a little too plain for my taste so I decided to do something about that.



And the bracket all taped off ready to be cut.



Here is a video clip of me using the dremel to cut and grind on the brackets and then I used a file to clean all up.

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And here is the HDD Bracket and the grill glued into place, when its dry I will take some more pics of the finished mini mod. ^^



Moving on here is a close up of the modded hdd bracket.



Here is the top panel with the grill done.




Now here is the L Brace laying in place to be fitted, its always better to have to much then not enough, the extra will be cut away to make a nice clean fit.



L Brace has been cut to size and JBWelded into place, once dry I will JBWeld the other side of the panel and then when cured sand all the JBWelds and then install the grill.



Okay I have the grill installed so here is a quick pic of the Radiator Side Panel with the grill installed, tomorrow I will sand all the welds and prep it as well for paint.



Alright went to a paint supplies store and $40.00 came home with part one of the painting process.



Left to Right:
Tack Cloth, Black Etching Primer, Black Gloss Enamel, Wet/Dry Sand Paper ranging from 600-2000 grit.

So now its time to get to work... woot ^^

oh and by request another picture of my Doggie Spirit, this is one right after a bath.



ya she's not to happy ^^

The panels will be black and the lighting red, the fan blades red, casing black, the rads will be red.

Here are some pics, first pic is the front grill that will have the cross attached to it and the second pic is the rear fan grill and the final pic is the mobo panel after the first coat of primer has been sanded.





So after 6 hours of prep work, priming, wet sanding, and priming again, I am all done priming all the side panels, all that remains is the frame, mobo tray and 5.25 bays but those will be last as I am not sure what modifications may still need to be done so why paint if I have to repaint later.

Anyhow the following pictures is one on of the side panels I primed.

1st picture is after the first coat of Primer
2nd picture is after the second coat of Primer
3rd picture is after the third coat of Primer





The next two pictures if of the final coat and is now drying over night to get ready for paint tomorrow.




Alright well I have put a few coats like umm 6 coats of paint on the mobo panel and is now curing, it will take about 24-48 hrs before I see the real final results of the paint and up to a week to two weeks before I can wetsand and buff the panel, as it stands Im still not sure if I want to keep the panels flat black or go with glossy black so Im putting painting the panels on hold until I can wetsand and buff the current panel that is painted so I can then come to a conclusion on which was I want to go.

From what I see now one of the big downside of going with the glossy black is that if the panel is not perfectly smooth, every defect will show up and reflect back as I have noticed from the current panel that I have painted but I think I will be able to wetsand and buff those out, one of the reasons why I am waiting on painting the other panels is to see if this can be done.

Here are a few pics of the panels, one showing the flat black and one showing the freshly painted glossy paint keep in mind the paint at this time is still considered wet, then one pic of the two together.

alright well you can all thank Robodude as I will be going deeper into this Gothic Theme, the case will be left flat black or will be semi glossy.

I plan to add more gothic design into the case and use gothic hardware.

Found these Gate handles, 1.5" wide by 14" long, Im thinking of using a pair of these for the top of the case for lifting the case
http://www.wildwesthardware.com/door...ate%20copy.jpg

This is a gothic style door bell, what Im thinking is using this for the power button and where the screws go the top one for the power led and the button one for the hdd led.
http://www.vintagewoodwork.com/image...rbells/298.jpg
I may use this under it for the reset button
http://www.vintagewoodwork.com/image...rbells/291.jpg

and maybe these for the top corner area of the case
Gayle Bright Cabinet Hardware

granted these will be painted to match each other.

I have a few other ideas playing in my head and as soon as I have them worked out I will post them, oh please let me know if you have some ideas or what your thoughts are. ^^

Alright today was sunny which was a surprise because the weather said otherwise lol well I jumped and got to painting and the panels are one more coat away from being done, once the last coat has been set it will cure overnight and then I will apply clear coat in a few days.



Next to be painted will be the chassis ^^

Well picked up some more paint supplies, this is what you get for like $43.00 lol ya not cheap stuff.



Anyhow its pretty cold out so Im going to set up a couple of heat lamps and a free standing heater in the area Im going to paint, if I can raise them temps high enough then I will paint the rest of the 5.25 bays and the motherboard tray.

alright here are a couple of pics with the first coat of paint, once that coat cures a little more I will throw on another coat and then let it completely cure then I will wetsand and see what I got might have to do one more coat after the wetsand and then when cured again wetsand and then apply the glaze to bring out the color again.




The red paint work is now done, all that remains is the chassis of the case, and once thats done everything will get wetsanded and then glazed and with luck I should finally be done with the paintwork on the case ^^



alright some more updates but first another picture of my animals this on is Buddy my outside Dalmatian that it was raining pretty hard so I secretly let him into my room just for the night, he a good dog a little dumb but a good dog. ^^



This pic is of my outside cat DJ that sneaks through the doggy door at night to run to my room and sleep on my bed and then bolts before my dad wakes up in the morning lol



now onto the updates

Well I am for the most part done with the chassis, Im done with the inside and the outside needs one last wet sand and a final coat and it will be done, then a 2 week cure time then I will wetsand and add the polish glaze. ^^



Now I have a few days of rain and then two sunny days so thats when I will sand and do the final paint work on the chassis.

Well I still have some wetsanding and a final coat to go on this case but I decided to do a test assembly and see how it looks and see if I wanted to change anything as well as figure out if I was going to leave it the way it is or buff it to a mirror like finish and well Im looking at it and Im thinking Im going to leave it as it is and wetsand it and put a final coat and I will be done.

Anyhow here are some pics. ^^






When I get another full day of sunshine and good weather, I will finish up the paintwork on the case and be able to call it done on that part ^^
Also I have decided to change one thing and that is the hard drive brackets, I will be repainting those to be Red instead of black

Okay folks here is a pic of the sound dampening foam that I got in yesterday



This is the first piece of SD Foam that I laid into the case, as you can see this case is pretty massive



And now the whole bottom of the case has been layed with SD Foam, I will have to wait until I get a few items in for this case before I can lay the rest of the sound dampening foam so this will be completed a little later down the road. ^^



Here is a pic of the rear of the case with the foam in place and done, ya I know you can see lines but no worries this case will be jam packed with stuff you wont be able to see the lines/space between each foam piece ^^



Also I plan to use Sonex Mini Willtec professional acoustic absorption foam from mnpctech.com for all the side panels, this foam is just for areas where I need it to be as flat as possible as things will lay or be bolted down in that area.

Also the scraps of that thin foam I have left will be cut into small pads that will then be placed on all the parts that slide and then screw down to the case to add as a soft buffer to further reduce vibration and possible noise.

Alright well I got my package today and well here it is, the item that I won off of eBay for $230.00us including S&H a USED Asetek Vaporchill Phase Cooler.

The case is in rough shape but the cooler is in great condition and thats all that matters to me as I will gut it out of the case and install it into my HBD Case.

Well here are some pics;

The case (the case for the most part will be tossed):



The Phase Cooler:






Tomorrow I will be testing the system to make sure it functions correctly and if it does I will then remove the unit and install it into the case, looks like I wont have to modify the case much to get this cooler to work. ^^

Well after looking at the unit I realized that I will have to modify the arm of the cooler to go up not down and well I got a little worried about that until I stripped away the insulation foam and reveled an easy to bend copper tube, so I will be able to easily form it to the shape I need to get it to work with my system without any problems ^^

Okay well I started the process of moving the cooler over to the other case but first some pics of the two cases next to each other.





Alright now some pics of the cooler in its new home, the cooler block still needs to be formed to the right location once I get the mobo in place.





I still have some work to do such as final placement of the cooler and bolting it down and wrapping up the wiring and the like.

Alright here are a few more pics with the 5.25 bay installed, its a nice fit with plenty of room to spare ^^




Okay here is the question, how should I arrange the side panels now that I have this phase cooler it kind of changes some things up so I will let you be the judge.

I was originally going to go with this full window for the mobo side of the case like so




or seeing how that heatsink needs a fan to keep it cool, I could move that top panel to the side and the full window to the top and this way I can have a fan to cool that heatsink.




so let me know if you think I should go with A) Full Side Window Panel or B) Hlf Window with Fans Panel.
Post your pick in the discussion thread.

Well it looks like I will be going with the half window side panel so this changes some things up just a bit.

I redid the image of the gothic girl for one thats more traditional gothic to fit the theme better, so this is what will be laser etched for the top window. It still a work in progress.



Alright here is a draft of the mesh cover that will be fitted over the phase cooler to give it a cleaner look, it will then be back lit with mini red cold cathodes.



Well I got the etch from HyperKore and well I am very happy with it, here are some quick pics ignore the fine dust and finger prints lol once I get it mounted in the side panel I will take some better pics. That will probably get done this upcoming Saturday.





when there is a light source underneath the etch everything can be easily seen and read ^_^

Alright repainted the outside of the HDD Brackets to red, the inside of the brackets are still black but wont be scene because of the HDDs, I think this will work better with the color theme.




Next up I plan to get some of the accent parts cut out, hope to be doing that sometime this week.

alright a small little update, here is a shot of the copper sheet that I nabbed from my dads warehouse and I can tell you what copper even a sheet like this isnt not cheap.



Now a lot of people have stated their dislike for the looks of the copper phase cooler and have said to cover it up and well I love it and it ties well with my gothic theme and this sheet of copper which I have plenty more of will be used and have the grills cut out as well as other accent parts that will tie everything together so you will have to hang tight and see how that goes

Alright Alright Update Time

Today that big beautiful UPS truck pulled into my drive way to deliver this nice and big box.



Where did that box come from you might ask?
Acoustic PC - Quiet Computer Fans, Quiet CPU coolers, Quiet Power Supply

containing all the lovely sponsored goodies, this box came extremely well packaged everything was perfected wrapped and protected no way of any damage during transit and thats what I like to see.

Alright here is a shot of all the goodies that came in this box.



Oh ya thats a lot of fans and not just any fans AcousticPC exclusive 3-blade Delta fans, no worries folks these high cfm fans will be on a fan controller to help keep them in line.



Next up is the two rads that will be used for the two liquid cooling loops that will be housed in that case, Swiftech MCR220 man are they pretty.



And finally a single Laing D-5 Variable pump, the second one will ve coming in a week or so.



These are some kickass products and I again would like to thank Acoustic PC - Quiet Computer Fans, Quiet CPU coolers, Quiet Power Supply for their sponsorship and on going relationship through out this build.

Alright folks thats all for now

oh lookie lookie, I come home from work to find this at my door stop



Its more goodies, this time from CoolerGuys.com

alright here is all the prettyness ^_^



So what do I have here okay first up 4 red led light strips



next up the UV led light strips



followed by 2 mini red led strip and 1 mini uv led strip lights



and last but certainly not least the KamaMeter fan controller



again I would like to thank CoolerGuys.com for thie support in this project.

Well the fan controller from SidewinderComputers.com came in today ^_^ what I plan to do is take it a part and paint the face plate black to match the case color.

Well I got the power supply in from OCZ Technologies, they sent me the GameXstream 1010watt power supply and well I dont trust the 4 little screws to hold it up but that means I can make a custom bracket to help hold it in place.

Well I went to the hardware store to pick up a sheet of steel and while I was there I also picked up $15.00 worth of screws and nuts as well as a doorbell.




Now I got the doorbell so that I could do this, and man is it a perfect fit, a little adjustments here and there it will be perfect for my power switch.



Some more updates coming soon.

btw, just a little heads up, your embeded videos aren't embedding correctly and also the images in the last three posts are not showing up correctly. :)

other than that, nice work as always! :D

ya we are currently working on editing the code for the forums to allow such extensions and what nots, so we hope to get it resolved soon.

Edit: Update at this time we are focusing on the completion of the main site and will return to address the known issues with the forum, thank you for your patients.

Well the power supply is now installed and holding but I still plan to make a bracket to help support it further and it will add a nice accent to the theme of the case, all the lighting for the system has been installed although the sticky pads that come with the lighting is crap and does not hold at all, the lights kept coming off so once I am completely happy with their positions I will then epoxy them into place, all but two of the fans have been installed, one of the two rads have been installed, the final rad and two fans will be installed once I get the side panel from MM, the front multifunction controllers are installed, Im not sure what I will do with the one with the mirror finish maybe look at some Victorian style mirrors and see how the surrounding casing is on them and make something similar, once I am done with the system it will be stripped back down, given a light sanding and painted one final time and then reassembled and final cable management will take place.

Pictures will be coming shortly.

alright folks here are some down and dirty quick pics of some of the progress, when I get my camera back from my brother who "borrowed" it when he went on his trip I will be able to get some cleaner shots up but my camera phone and a desktop lamp will have to do for now

The below two images show a mock up of the fan controllers and of the doorbell power switch, the second fan controller with the mirror finish stands out compared to the rest, I plan to make a picture like frame to go around it to help it blend a little better, again this is just mock up not finalized.





The next image shows the radiator installed in the back, the grill that is currently there is just for a ref. one will be made with a honey comb style.



The next two images is of the power supplied installed and yes the four little screws are holding but Im still going to make a nice looking bracket to help support the weight and will add better support when the case is transported.









In the next image is the pci cover that holds the lighting switch, I will be taking the two sets of brackets and merge them into one to take up less space and make it look cleaner, the bracket will of course be painted black to keep with the color scheme.



Well I have this whole week off so I will be able to go and cut out some of the parts like the psu bracket and corner parts and some other little ideas I have in the back of my head.

alright Image tags have been corrected, all left to fix is the embed tags.

Oh and a small update as well, I got the Reservoirs in that I plan to use.

All i can say is WOW that looks really good

Wait, aren't people not supposed to be able to post in here?

They can post replies but can not create threads.

Alright Folks I will be putting a slight hold on this project as I am waiting for some newer tech to come, I also contacted my sponsors and shifted some of the sponsored items over to my FEAR project as I will be able to complete that sooner.

Hey dude how much time do you need to make that moding??
Do you have clients how much will it cost? Will it fit in 300 $
Hey will you post more of your projects??
I like would like a HIM theme or smth kind of rock sth cool!!
I want it to but waiting for money i dont have them at the moment planing to buy 1x4GB corsiars!!!

well if you want to talk about it sure, I am usually on skype, my sn is HourBeforeDawn so feel free to IM me and we can discuss what you have in mind and what we can do to get you started and so forth ^_^

Alright well I redid the side panels, Im going with a modified Gothic Steam Punk idea (Thanks Titus) heres what I got as a rough draft for the right side panels.



and a rough draft for the left side panel.



and the top panel, the etching hasnt changed just the accents around it.



the rear of the case will be black and red so it will tie and with the left panel to balance out the copper on the right and top side of the case.



Here is a draft of what to do with the front of the case, still modifying it and changing it around so this image will probably get updated a few more times...

what system spex are there????