08/09/00 11:00PM - Slashdotted? Indirectly :)

*Scroll Down for the Pictures of my Case*

Slashdot had a post about the QuakeCon Case contest winners. Here I am looking at my log file for today and it's 50 megs! Thanks for all your visits :)

A lot of people have been asking for a parts list and measurements. I'll be pretty busy with school and work this week (hey! I graduate this summer, hire me! ... ok that was a shameless plug) But I will try to make a parts list with measurements early next week. If you want me to notify you when I have the parts list ready, just drop me an email at [email protected]

For those of you that have already emailed me regarding a parts list, I've already added you to my "Parts List Notification" mailing list.

08/09/00 10:00AM - QuakeCon Case Contest Winner!

My case won Grand Prize at the QuakeCon Case Contest!! woooot! hehehe

You can see the results at http://www.planetquake.com/quakecon2k/casecontest.shtml

So what am I going to do after this? I'm thinking of plans for PVC Jr.

PVC II was a little big, but that's fine considering the massive fan that was in that thing. I'm currently looking for suggestions on a good MicroATX motherboard with built-in sound. Built-in video is optional, but I really want it to have an AGP slot so I can move my Prophet II 32MB over to it. I've also heard of Flex ATX, but I don't know which one to get either. I'd like to stick with Abit or Asus since I've never had any problems with those two manufacturers.

Any suggestions? Please let me know!! [email protected]

Thanks! :)

EnVaDoR

P.S. - scroll down to see pictures of my case :)

08/01/00 10:57PM - Pictures of the Case Improvements

Here they are! I made some cosmetic improvents for the case this past weekend.

1) I replaced the fan grills with this chrome-plated plastic grill for flourescent light fixtures. I found it at Home Depot... most of my case is from Home Depot hehe.

2) The plexiglass surrounds the fan on the front, top and rear. I was too lazy to put a bottom!

3) I put casters on the bottom to make it easier to move around.

4) hinges are there so I can open up the case and show off/work on the insides of the PC.

Maybe I'll look like less of a goon at QuakeCon with these new changes :)... doubt it hehehe.

New Case Pics:

Questions? Comments? [email protected] email me dammit. I like getting emails :)

07/24/00 12:30AM - First glimpses of the case



It's finished! here's a picture of the final Case

(Click to enlarge)

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

PVC II Details

The Fan

The Case

In the dark!!

Fan and Case become one...

Miscellaneous

Computer Details

Why did I do this? *shrug*

Anyway, here's what's in it if you're curious

Processor Athlon classic 750 @ 950 1.85V. Using a MAXIM(I)ZER. :-) Operating temp with the case fan on is 95 F Motherboard Abit KA7-100 with the RY BIOS for RAID Support RAM Mushkin High Perf. REV 2. 128MB PC133 Cooling Thermaltake Golden Orb Video Hercules Prophet II GTS 32 MB Sound SB Live! Value NIC 3COM 905C DVD Toshiba 10X DVD-ROM with Hollywood Decoder card. Why a decoder card even though I have a GeForce II? Because the Prophet II has crappy TV-Out that's why. CD-R Smart & Friendly 8x Rocket SE w/ Diamond Fireport 40 SCSI adapter HDD Two 15GB ATA-100 7200RPM IBM Deskstar's in a RAID 0 Config. Power Two power supplies. 1) Old AT 250W For all the drives, cdroms, internal light, floppy ... 2) Sparkle 300W ATX for the motherboard and Maximizer Case Fans Just one ... a really big one ... 18" diameter to be exact :)

Performance

I haven't gotten around to really testing it with the benchmark utils or anything. It's not like this system will run any faster than any of the other o/c'd 950 athlons out there anyway hehehe. I did a Quaver timedemo and got 77fps on the normal setting. Then I started messing around with the quake settings and I get 63fps. Oops :( I'll look into it more later.

I built this for QuakeCon. See you in August!

Q & A

Q: Is it Loud?

A: No. In fact, the Power supplies and Orb are the loudest in the case.

Q: Electro-Magnetic Interference?

A: Haven't noticed anything so far. Not even while turning the fan off/on high/low - update 08/01/00 Still haven't had any problems with electromagnetic interference.

Q: PVC Case II? Where's PVC Case I?

A: See it at http://www.envador.com/Photos/oldPVC

Q: Is that thing covered? Stick your finger in and "slice"!

A: update 08/01/00 Yes! it's covered. The fan is surrounded on the top, front, and rear of the case so careless fingers or kitties don't get caught up in the blades. But also don't forget that it's a PLASTIC box fan. Those box fans don't have much torque to begin with and you can stop them with your hands easily like a ceiling fan.

Q: You wired a light to your power supply?

A: No, it's a long LED I found a few years ago at an electronics parts surplus store.



Q: Does that thing actually keep it cool?

A: I think so. It's a 750 running at 950 and 1.85volts. The temp after playing Quaver over and over was still 95F

Q: Is it heavy?

A: With all the stuff in it, yes it's heavy. However, the PVC II Case (when it was empty) was quite light. I have an InWin Q500 Full Tower for another computer here and I think the PVC II Case was about the same weight. update 08/01/00 I put casters on it to make it easy to move now. Check pictures at the top of this page.

Q: Don't you need wheels on that thing?

A: Yes! I put them on. Check the pictures at the top of this page.

-EnVaDoR

Questions? Comments? [email protected]