Cello

Gaiamitesh · February 10, 2016

Well to start off I currently go to the University of Connecticut but I did this build while I was a senior in high school. I did not know all that much about computers at the time as this was my very first build. I used a Sony Vaio as my main device for almost 5 years at that time and was looking to upgrade it as fast as possible, I wanted to use programs such as Autodesk and game more than just League of Legends. I saved up over $1,200 to build a computer but to me that didn't seem enough. I was a constant viewer of Linustechtips and he made building a computer so easy. I didn't want to just be able to say I put together my computer. I wanted it to be able to represent me. (Also I was hoping for it to get me some sort of scholarships or at the least recognition, but that didn't end up happening, either I didn't look hard enough for them or there just happened to be none available for case mods at the time.)

To put things shortly, I had an old broken cello so I decided to build it inside of that:

Specs:

i7-4790k

Asus z97-Pro

Samsung 840 EVO (I got the Evo because it matches my car-somewhat)

The hard drive from my laptop

16 gb G.Skill Ripjaws

XFX R9-290 (Now I have an XFX R9 390)

650W Rosewill Hive PSU (Not the greatest)

The first thing I had to was cut out the entire back of the cello to extend it far enough for the graphics card to fit, at the time I did not know about pci-risers. Extending the cello did give way to more airflow in the end though, and it looks way better in my opinion. I also cut out a rectangle as I wanted a window to look into it.

My favorite color scheme is green and black, it also explains how all of my peripherals are Razer products. I painted the red stripes and the blue heatsink on the ram black afterwards to match. I installed standoffs to mount the motherboard and the hard drive is underneath the green Raidmax fan next to the Corsair AIO. The ssd I duct taped to the top of the cello. The power switch and power leds are run beneath the motherboard and I drilled holes as to be able to access them (They are located to the right of the ssd). When I installed the 290, it was leaning too much for my liking but I did not how to fix the problem so I just used a line of zip-ties painted green as to hide them, it is not noticeable at all when the back of the cello is put on.

I painted by alias GaiaMitesh in old english lettering onto the front. I put a double layer of mesh on the gaps where I extended the back of the cello. I also put a big green led light strip on the inside. There is is a Netgear wireless adapter near the neck attached to a hot glued usb port, I thought it looked pretty cool. Currently I use ethernet but I keep it on just for show.

Oh I should probably add that I put new strings on it and a new bridge so it is still fully functional as a cello too, Canon in D for computer cello.