Project Soprano

Ok it's a week before the lan and I have a machine to build. It should just be a quick, hurrry up and get it together build.

Yea right!! I don't seem to have the ability to just build a plain old machine.

So here goes-

Starting with a Thermaltake Soprano RS case.

The case is pretty decent for the money and I could just stick all the parts in and call it good. But this is for a freind and I think he would want something really kick ass.

First thing was to strip it down to the basics which was pretty easy. It uses a lot of screws instead of rivets.

Then it needed some black paint but then I thought it really needed to be different and I like to experiment. Usually I experiment on my own stuff but what the hell.

I decided I would try out some rubber undercoating spray because it has sound deadening properties and looks kinda cool. So all the insides were sprayed.

and a close up of the texture

It really turned out nice.

I started putting it back together.

I had some clear fans to go in it but I decided it really looked out of place having clear fans and everything else black. I think a blacked out look is in order so these will have to go.

This build is going to be a budget build but it doesn't mean that it should be lame. I think with a case named the Soprano it should be dark and deadly so you will be seeing some more black real soon. I will be posting more pics real soon as I need to get this done before the LAN so the owner can enjoy it.

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That looks clean. Very nice!

Very nice case, and I love the undercoating idea.

BUT, seriously dude...you are further ruining a fairly rare but venerable Galaxian table top arcade machine. Where is the respect for the legacy?! Don't make me come over there! Mad

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BizSAR

BizSAR wrote:

Very nice case, and I love the undercoating idea.

BUT, seriously dude...you are further ruining a fairly rare but venerable Galaxian table top arcade machine. Where is the respect for the legacy?! Don't make me come over there! Mad

Lol - I wondered who would be first to give me crap about that. Laughing

Don't worry the glass was scratched up way before I got it. I will be restoring it this winter.

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I'm working double time on this to get it up and going so I already have another update-

I got some black fans but of course they had a holographic mesmorizing type sticker over the center portion so I had to spray them black to match.

and with the black

Much better!!

OK so here is where things go possibly completely insane. Since I want everything black, I have to really be creative. After a LOT of research I found that I can spray "Conforming Compund" onto electronics and then topcoat it (lightly) with a paint. I say lightly because you are now trapping heat so the more paint you use means the more heat you build up.

Here is the Conforming Compund I bought at a local electronics store-

Here is the pretty motherboard with way too much color-

and this RAM is not flat black either so we'll need to change that.

So I prepped the motherboard and RAM by masking off anything that needed to stay shiny and I used carboard strips to insert into all the slots like PCI-E and RAM slots. Then I applied dielectric grease to all pins of the connectors to keep the paint from sticking. I found a small tube of it so that I could just slip the end of the tube over each pin and coat them.

It worked great!

After spraying the mobo and RAM with the compound I let it cure then applied a couple light coats of flat black. It stuck so good I didn't have to use much which is a good thing. so here it is without the color-

I installed the mobo, added the processor with stock fan that will be changed out tomorrow, and mounted the video card. The flash on the camera makes it look a little funny but it's actually a very cool effect and almost doesn't look real.

I will be replacing the stock cpu fan with a Thermaltake SpinQ to set this thing off. With nothing but black and a dash of chrome this thing will look wicked or as my son called it ,"murdered out". Which is fitting for the Soprano theme. Twisted Evil

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Looks pretty sweet! Hopefully everything works right when you power it on. Smile

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GamingNW

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Damn dude that is freaking sweet...Painting the mobo is kick ass hope it works! Smile

Are you going to do everything flat black, like the GPU, etc.?

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BizSAR

I took everything back out of the case and tested it on the bench and it starts right up. Now I will do a little touch up and get it back in for final assembly.

I picked up the cooler today. It's friggin sweet looking.

I will also paint the PSU but not the GPU. I am a little leary about painting a graphics card mainly because of the amount of heat that it generates. I have some left over aluminum mesh that I may try to make a shield to hide it. That is if I have the time.

Time is counting down so I gotta get going. Have an update soon.

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looking good.

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xer0
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Picture Association Thread: http://www.pdxlan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7466

BOBDBONE wrote:

I took everything back out of the case and tested it on the bench and it starts right up. Now I will do a little touch up and get it back in for final assembly.

I picked up the cooler today. It's friggin sweet looking.

I will also paint the PSU but not the GPU. I am a little leary about painting a graphics card mainly because of the amount of heat that it generates. I have some left over aluminum mesh that I may try to make a shield to hide it. That is if I have the time.

Time is counting down so I gotta get going. Have an update soon.

Nice cooler

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Oh thanks DB!!

That's exactly the kind of glow I was hoping it had. Not too bright but more of a subtle blue aura. Cool

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I decided to go ahead and fabricate a shield for the graphics card out of some mesh I have laying around. It will still allow the card to cool but will hide the circuitry.

This mesh is aluminum with small holes.

I cut it and shaped it to fit leaving a space all the way around it so it can't touch anything and it will mount using the screws for the GPU itself.

I also had to rotozip the area for the power.

I used some self-etching primer and have a couple coats of flat black on it right now. I also went ahead and painted the power supply and the inside of the I/O panel.

I'll start re-assembling it soon. The only thing I'm really sweating is the wire management. It takes so long to hide things! Twisted Evil

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BOBDBONE wrote:

I picked up the cooler today. It's friggin sweet looking.

Those things have the looks, but not the brawn, apparently. Doesn't hold a candle to the CNPS9900. There's even a silver/black NT version with a green LED fan.

It's looking awesome just the same man! Glad to hear it booted up ok.

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BizSAR

oooh I do like the black one for sure. I read some reviews on the SpinQ and they said it was great and compared to some of the best out there but it falls short once you start OC'ing the crap out of everything.
This machine won't be overclocked so it should definitely do the job and it was more about the look as well.

I put the mobo back in and mounted the GPU shield. It works good. The pictures always make things look brighter than they are because of the flash. And since everything is flat black I really have to use the flash or you won't see anything at all.

Now I'm going to start installing everything else and get it to POST so I can set everything. Hopefully tonight anyway.

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awesome blackout . . . .

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Blah Blah Blah

BOBDBONE wrote:

I took everything back out of the case and tested it on the bench and it starts right up. Now I will do a little touch up and get it back in for final assembly.

I picked up the cooler today. It's friggin sweet looking.

I will also paint the PSU but not the GPU. I am a little leary about painting a graphics card mainly because of the amount of heat that it generates. I have some left over aluminum mesh that I may try to make a shield to hide it. That is if I have the time.

Time is counting down so I gotta get going. Have an update soon.

I have teh same cooler, its nice. haha

It went to POST no problem, and I am now letting it idle in the BIOS to watch temps. So far so good. The paint has not seemed to affect it much. (sigh of relief)

Here's the proof-

This is after an hour idling -

I need to get some black SATA cables instead of the supplied pumpkin orange. I'll load W7 tonight when I get home and start wire management. I may actually have it complete by tonight. That would make this about a 4 day build/mod. Razz

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I need some help on one thing-

What do you guys think of the side panel? Look at the first pic in this thread. It just looks like it needs something different to me. If anything maybe just a different piece of acrylic that is smooth and plain instead of having louvered vents.

Please tell me what you think.

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BOBDBONE wrote:

I need some help on one thing-

What do you guys think of the side panel? Look at the first pic in this thread. It just looks like it needs something different to me. If anything maybe just a different piece of acrylic that is smooth and plain instead of having louvered vents.

Please tell me what you think.

acrylic security mirror Wink

I have some

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