Completed Case Mod: Tribal Eclipse **Lots of Pics**

[SuAsDu]

Hey folks. I haven't really shared this case online. It was built for a contest, so all the developed and work log had to be hidden, as not to give the other compeitors an upper hand. This case was done in about 3 months with moderate modding time (a few hours a week). Since teh contest is over, I wanted to share it with the forum. So here goes:

Hardware Specs:

Processor: Intel 630 (3.2Ghz) @ 4.2Ghz
Motherboard: Abit AW8
Ram: 2GB (2x1GB) Geil DDR2
Video Card: eVGA 7800GT CO
Hard Drive: (2) 74GB Western Digital Raptors Raid 0
PowerSupply: 550watt CooleMaster Real Power
Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5

Background:

I started with a base concept of using Tribal design as the visual and creative focal point of this case, and incorporate features that have not been done or rarely seen on a case mod.

The “Eclipse” is a specially formulated HEAT sensitive paint that will change color based on temperature. For this case, the side panel will be a dark black cherry red when cold, and turn to a light red when heat is applied. Check out the movie for the full effect. It is a 2.2MB WMV file.

http://www.ironmods.com/movie/SAD_TribalEclipse.wmv


Case Modification Highlights:

1. Heat Activated Color Changing Paint – This is the most dramatic aspect of the case. The ability for it to change color based on heat. The paint will change color around 75F. On the right panel, there is a hidden message / text that is very difficult to see when the case is cold. When the case is heated, the secret message is revealed, which is the name of the case, “Tribal Eclipse”. I have attached a set of pictures that shows the case changing color, and another picture of the case changing color when my hand is placed on it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_03.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_04.jpg


2. Dual Scissor Doors – Both side panel on Tribal Eclipse can swing up in the open position. This is similar to the way car doors open on exotic sports cars. The window was cut with a tribal pattern to tie with the case theme. This also allows for the interior of the case to be accessed without having to completely removing the side panel. It is great to quickly swap out video cards and memory, and give a little extra fresh air during those hot Southern California nights.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_05.jpg


3. Top Panel Tribal Design – The main tribal design for this case is located on the top panel. This tribal design was used to build and develop all the other tribal accents and features on this case. The top panel was hand cut using a dremel. Once the design was cut and painted, a Red UV Acrylic was added. The window allows the internal components such as the modified PowerSupply and the cd bay devices. In addition, this allows the interior of the case to be lit, without having the PC on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_03.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_04.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_04A.jpg


4. Front Panel Lift and LCD – The original front panel was cut in half and mounted on friction hinges along with a fully functional LCD Display, which serves as a secondary monitor. When the front panel is down, all the drives are hidden, and revealed when the door is raised: This serves as a great way to display Mp3 information, and other system vital statistics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_01.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_07.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_08.jpg

5. Power Supply Mod – The CoolerMaster 550 Powersupply was modded to follow the case theme. Custom windows were cut from aluminum to match the theme of the case. The side of the powersupply has the Tribal Images, along with the title of the case. The front of the unit has the word “SAD” cut from it. Which is the abbreviation of my online nickname, SuAsDu. The PSU is lit by the 120mm BLUE LED fan, which ties to the lighting scheme for the case.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_17.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_18.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_19.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TEMP_20.jpg

6. Custom Automotive Paint – The case was painted with Alsa’s Neveda Metallic Silver and then covered with Candy Apple Red Paint. The front panel aluminum accents were also painted candy apple red to match the rest of the case.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_10.jpg

7. Lighting – Blue LED Lights were used to offset the Red of the case and follow the eclipse theme, since red and blue are on opposite spectrum. The Blue provided a nice glow to the interior of the case. The lighting were provided by only the fans. No CCFL tubes were used in the case at all. A total of 4 Blue LED Fans were used (80mm Intake, 120mm Exhaust, 120mm PowerSupply, and 100mm Heatsink.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/suasdu/TECC_09.jpg

I hoped you enjoyed the case.

SAD[/img]

[pym]

Hey SuAsDu,

That's a very very VERY impressive modding project you have there.
Really beautiful, enjoyed it very much!

[shanewu]

Damn, that's sweet! I love the paint. Was the paint really expensive? Do you have your own paint booth or were you able to use one at a car shop or something?

[SuAsDu]

Pym,

Thanks for the compliment. I do have another mod to share. I may post it here too :)

Shanewu,

Thanks for the compliments on the paint. Well.. the paint is "real" automotive paint. So its not cheap. I wish it was. As for a paint booth.. no such luck. This was done at my house w/ an HVLP gun out in the open.

I am still new to using automotive paint. Its differnet from the regular rattle can. I still think using regular rattle can still has its benefits.

SAD

[shanewu]

Shanewu,

Thanks for the compliments on the paint. Well.. the paint is "real" automotive paint. So its not cheap. I wish it was. As for a paint booth.. no such luck. This was done at my house w/ an HVLP gun out in the open.

I am still new to using automotive paint. Its differnet from the regular rattle can. I still think using regular rattle can still has its benefits.

SAD
How'd you deal with / prevent dust problems without a booth? I had a friend working on a paint job for me and he had problems with dust.

[SuAsDu]

Shanewu.

Well.. dusts, bugs, lint, all that stuff is an issue w/o a paint booth. This is a painting issue in general, whethere you us rattle can or HVLP gun.

Bascially you need to wetsand between coats to get that mirror flat finish.

lets say you use a rattle can to spray. when you spray a coat, you will get dust, bugs, and "organge Peel". You will need to wet sand the paint between coat. That will remove the imperfections, and make the paint flat. you keep on doing that over and over (paint and sand, paint and sand). Then you put a claer coat.. and sand.. and then you got a MIRROR finish :)

The benefit of using an automotive spray gun is that the paint lays flatter when you put it on. So less orange peel.

Ok.. I hope that helps. Let me konw if you have any other questions.

SAD

[shanewu]

Cool. Thanks for the info. I wish I weren't so lazy about modding. :)

[pc_man_iac]

That case is Fu**ing sweet how do u get the ideas to mod a case like that beyond anything and holy $hit is it amazing good job cant wait to see more cases

[SuAsDu]

Thanks for the compliment.

I am currently in teh design phase (paper / pen / imagination) for my next case mod, which I plan to complete by June.

I am currently very busy overclockign right now, so hopefully overclockign will be done in the next couple of weeks, then off to modding I go :)

This last case mod was for a competition, so I couldn't document it. This next one will be a full work log. I'll drop you guys a link in this thread if you are interested.

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

**** thats crazy another case mod what do u plan to do with that case i would buy it if u are willing to sell it :D :D

[SuAsDu]

**** thats crazy another case mod what do u plan to do with that case i would buy it if u are willing to sell it :D :D

Thanks for the offer to buy :) Right now.. all these cases go on a shelf (to be built), after I finish with the case mod.

I may consider doing custom case modding in the future, but as you know with anything custom, its not cheap.

I actually may also post my "Dragster" case mod I did right before this case mod. It looks good, but not as "Cool" as Tribal Eclipse :) Its a watercooled case, based on the CoolerMaster Centurion 5.

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

Hey great artwork is never cheap so i wont expect these masterpieces to be cheap

[SuAsDu]

Hey great artwork is never cheap so i wont expect these masterpieces to be cheap

The_gimp.

Well.. if you really want a custom case.. we can always talk about a custom one for you. These cases were personally inspired, so I want to keep them for their sentimental value :)

SAD

[alx737]

I like this case too, very good work you have done with it. :D

[tomato]

HOLY #$(@! That is one FANTASTIC mod, SAD!!!! It looks very professional and original :shock: :D 8)

[Coolest-Tech]

SuAsDu, I recomend that you pattent the cases, and try to seel your ideas to the companies. That mod looks really sweet!

[pc_man_iac]

hey nvidia guy you only beat me in 3dmark 06 in cpu, but i beat you in everything else, how come you dont oc your vid card more????

[SuAsDu]

hey.. you guys are playing "OC" w/ the 7800GT? You want to challenge? ;)

Oh damn.. gimp.. iw ill PM you right back.. I forgot all about it :P

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

Yeah man and Yeah i Bet I will win in the 7800gt oc challenge I can easily go to 500x1.2 and have gone up to 550x1.3

[SuAsDu]

Oh? Are SLI or single?

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

Single

[Coolest-Tech]

Actuaily, I'm not OCing the card now, as the card Artifacted at those speeds. As of now, even at stock speeds, FEAR crashes, so I'm RMAing the card. BTW, I have stock cooling on the card.

[SuAsDu]

Ahh.. I just got SLI :P

Hmm.. we can play.. but you will probably think I don't play nicely ;)

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

What company??

[pc_man_iac]

LMAO well yeah wait till i get my next 7800gt from bfg with my fx 53 YOU ARE GOIN DOWN!! lmao

[SuAsDu]

Hmm.you sig says you are running BFG.. they typically make very good video cards.

Sorry to hear your isn't performing well. Mayb eVGA next time :)

I love their cards.

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

Yeah mine is BFG and it pwnzors but than again I got mine less than a week after the 7800gts came out

[SuAsDu]

The older 7800GT seem to OC better then the newer ones.

Gimp - so what is your setup? :)

SAD

[pc_man_iac]

as of now 2x1gb OCS GOLD GAMER extreme me 3500+(soon an FX 53) 1x7800gt, 2x40gig sata as game hdds(soon a 250 for movies, music, and all other ****), a gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI mobo, thats all that really matters, and arctic cooling Freezer 64 cpu fan and hs

[SuAsDu]

as of now 2x1gb OCS GOLD GAMER extreme me 3500+(soon an FX 53) 1x7800gt, 2x40gig sata as game hdds(soon a 250 for movies, music, and all other ****), a gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI mobo, thats all that really matters, and arctic cooling Freezer 64 cpu fan and hs

Oh.. lets drag race man :)

I play unfair.. Let me give you a peak into the currenty system I am tweaking right now:

eVGA NF41
(2) eVGA 7800GT (in SLI 590/1300) still tweaking. Should be 600/1300+ when done (both are vModded)
x2 3800 (LDBHE 0601) @ 3.2Ghz
2GB Corsair 3500LL Pro (2-3-2-6) (2.5-3-2-6 @ 285)
Cooling - Dry Ice on CPU @ -60c
Dry Ice Chilled Alcohol on Maze4 for both vid cards.

I will be posting a thread on my run soon ;)

SAD

[Coolest-Tech]

Actuily, I'm looking at the card in this thread http://mmm.awardspace.com/showthread.php?tid=70

BTW. that's my forum. :)