Final product! (pics inside)

[Pneumatic]

Well it's all together so I thought I would post some pics. Sorry to go on and on about it, but I am very proud of it since it is my first attempt at actually building one from scratch.


LianLi case
Enermax 430 watt power supply
Athlon XP1800+
Gigabyte KT266A Motherboard (GA7-VTXH)
512 MB DDR RAM
IBM Deskstar 60.0 GB Hard Drive
Windows XP Pro
VisionTek Extasy 6964 GeForce3 Ti500
Hercules Game Theater
Toshiba 16X DVD / 48X CD
Plexwriter 24X10X40 CD-RW
Teac Floppy
Braided Silver Rounded Cables (Can't see them in the pic very well)
Trace Lighting (the "neon tape")

Thanks to everyone that talked me through the tough spots!

zoom-zoom-zoom!

[omegaRED]

Wow!!!

Looks very nice K! Congrats!

[Muad'Dib]

That's a sweet lookin beast you got there Kindness!

[Dilitante1]

cool how many hours invested into that? And how you manage it while saving damsels in distress and playing UT?



-Dil

[Pneumatic]

LOL

It actually only took an hour or so to assemble. It would have been a lot less if I actually knew what I was doing.

The case already had the window so all I had to do other than connect the stuff to the motherboard was install the lighting. That was really easy since all it is basically 5 feet of tape that I stuck just inside of the window. THe power supply for it is about the size of a lighter so it just tucked away (no need to mount it).

The only major problems that I had, have to do with the motherboard. For some reason when I put the RAM in, it didn't "see" it. I pulled it and put it back in (in different configurations and in different slots) at least 6 times and eventually it accepted it. At that point SMOKE came pouring off of the motherboard. I thought I was done right then and there! I was on the phone to Ace at the time so he can verify that I was sufficiently upset . I shut it down as quick as I could and let it cool down while I opened a window to clear that horrible smell! I checked all of my connections and hit the switch again. It powered up but wouldn't post. I was about to give up when Jorden told me to unplug it and pop out the battery for couple of minutes. I did that and when I put it all back together everything came alive. That little battery trick actually fixed 3 problems throughout the install.

At any rate it is working like a champ now!

All and all it has been a pleasurable experience.

[Muad'Dib]

I'm quite fond of the battery trick myself.... (right Jord? )

-D

[Jorden]

I like the lighting
At least it makes you see what you're doing inside your case... Can you make it pulsate to the beat of the UT music?

Jord.

[Greebe]

Smoke? You said Smoke?!... if an acrid smell that sounds to me like a fried cap... replace that MB ASAP!

[Greebe]

BTW.... Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

[Jammrock]

Ditto what Greebe said, replace the fried part ASAP. It may work now, but could cause catastrophic problems in the furutre. If it's a fried capacitor like Greebe suspects, you should be able to pick it out easily. Parts of the cap would be charred and there would be a liquid ozzing out in the area of the damaged part. Get it replaced under warranty ASAP!!!

Really sweet case. This is the case a lot, too:

http://www.3dcool.com/?module=product&sku=HellSTORM-3000

Green metallic...mmmmmmm

Jammrock

[KvHagedorn]

How do you like your Lian Li case?

I want the same case in black with a radiation symbol etched on the window

Oh, and I'd have to find CD/DVD/Floppy drives in black too..

[roadie]

that looks really nice, but what about the colour of the drives???

are you going to try the stealth mods??? or are you going to paint them- i think nissan silver paint is the colour

[Pneumatic]

I looked over every millimeter of the motherboard and it LOOKS fine. I have stressed it out with benchmarks and playing games with multiple other tasks running and it hasn't skipped a beat. I may still pull it, though. It could come back to bite me later when I install other hardware. I just hate to pull it and wait for the replacement. I am having too much fun!


The LianLi was a pleasure to work with! I have not had a ton of experience, but it seemed very easy. EVERYTHING is held on with thumbscrews and it feels really solid. The inside has a nice finish (to show off with the window). The Motherboard tray slides out and the case leads have a plug in the middle. Once you get them hooked up, if you have to pull the motherboard tray you just have to disconnect one plug and all of the leads can stay in place on the motherboard. It has 3 fans with a switch to control the speed (H,M,L).

As for the drive colors, I have thought about the paint thing, but haven't decided what to do yet. The Nissan silver idea is a good one! I may check that out.

[Snake-Eyes]

I'd love to know where to find case leads like those in the aftermarket. Those are the main thing I like about Lian Li cases (not that they don't all look great and perform well). I pull my stuff from my system a lot (whether upgrading or playing around with overclocking), and those would simplify things a whole lot! (I'm sure those of you that have built your own PCs have had your share of having to figure out which lead goes where all over again every time you pull out the motherboard/tray).

Now all you need to do is get some paint for those drive faceplates that matches the front case bezel.

(BTW folks, Kindness claimed ignorance about building PCs, but he went through this one so quickly and with only a couple snags, and the speed he did it makes me believe he probably actually does this for a living. )