ToddK

*** Update: Final specs:
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI motherboard
Cooler Master Nepton 280L AIO cooler
Cooler Master v1200 PSU
2x140mm Cooler Master Jetflo fans
3x120mm Cooler Master white led Jetflo fans
2x12" white Darkside led strips
Intel i3-4130 CPU
120 Gb Adata M.2 SSD
Case:  I don't know
Sapphire R9 270x GPU
8Gb HyperX  Fury RAM
***
 
Hi all, just looking to share a project I started.
 
I've been watching a lot of case modding.  I'm amazed with what's out there and what people have done.  After some minor pimping of my own pc I got the idea for the following project.
 
Basically I'm looking to make a computer tower look like an architectural model.  Googling that you can see what I'm thinking about.
 

 
Being that the parts inside are older I got the idea to make the insides look like an old boiler room.
 

 
After working through a few sketches I came up with the following.
 

 
From there dug into this nasty old box.
 

 
I gutted the box.
 

 
And added some 'creative' cable management.
 

 
And created a template to hold some 120mm fans.
 

 
And got some fans installed.  Still some room for a slim rad should I want to go that route.
 

 
Created frames for both sides of the box.
 

 
Including cutting a window for the left side panel.
 

  Papered the back and grabbed some old cathodes for the 'light box'.  

 
And with the acrylic window in place was ready for some testing.
 

 
The initial cardboard mock up was looking pretty good.
 

 
Picked up some crafter's foam and started refining the mock ups.
 

 
NOW I was starting to get somewhere.
 

 
Finished up the right panel.
 

 
Then started duplicating on the left.
 

 
The right side will be a simpler back-lit painted acrylic window.  The left side allows a view into the 'boiler room'.
 

 
Still lots to do, but the concept is coming together.
 

 

 

 

 
Admittedly this is a bit of a budget build right now.  Most of the budget is going into the esthetics rather than parts at this time.  We'll see how things play out to see what gets upgraded inside.

I love it!  Great job on this build.

By request:  LEGO DUDES!
 

Great! I'll get at it as soon as the I get my update

Wow man this is so creative and original! At first I thought "so much work for such weak hardware" but the I got to page 8
I'd love to do a 3D Model of this, with your permission of course.

This is soo nice, I wish I had your ingenuity... 

Amazing build my friend. I love your log as well.
 
I look forward to seeing any of your future builds as well.

So much for looking like a boiler room inside lol.  Well done Todd, this is awesome.  

Last update. CrossfireX card arrived and installed.  Good to go!
 

What is the building made of?

Forum ID: ToddK
Build Title: Prj2 'Downtown'
Thread URL: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/149587-prj2-downtown-completed/page-9
Description: Just a little inspiration I had after watching some of the amazing builds and mods out there. Very happy with the end result.
 

Project complete.  Much thanks to Gigabyte and Cooler Master for their contributions!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project complete.  Much thanks to Gigabyte and Cooler Master for their contributions!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Project!!

Very cool, really innovative case mod and looks very nice!

Congrats for the feature on Tech Talk

Forum ID: ToddK
Build Title: Prj2 'Downtown'
Thread URL: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/149587-prj2-downtown-completed/page-9
Description: Just a little inspiration I had after watching some of the amazing builds and mods out there. Very happy with the end result.
 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..!
 

 
Disclaimer:  no lego dudes were harmed in the making of this photo.

I hope so.

This is simply put, amazing. Have you planned to paint it?

This looks really awsome !!! Congratz!!

Wow this came out excellent.  Congrats on the build!

Your an Architectural Legend!! One of my favorites of this year..

give this man a build log of the week! submit it man!!! here http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/192131-build-log-submission-thread-the-big-event/

That looks like an architectural masterpiece, not a computer. It's one of the most creative and amazing builds I've ever seen on this website. Fantastic, fantastic job.