King of the Bondo People

by Matt | Oct 18, 2007 | Culture

I don’t really know how auto body shops actually fabricate new bumpers or how “body kits” are made, but after this week, I’m fairly secure in the knowledge that if the need arose, I could totally pimp out your Civic. After giving up on buying a new case, I did a complete and total 360 and decided not only to simply paint me old case but to completely overhaul/mod it, top to bottom.

What started with the idea to put some new paint on the case has spiraled dangerously close to crazy land. My latest brain child is to recreate and pay homage to the awesome Shelby Cobra Mustang. My inspiration comes from some of the photos of the 2008 special edition, more specifically, the front end.

I’ve taken the lower half of the front of my case and built up the equivalant of a body kit using modeling clay, wire mesh and Bondo. I’ve crafted it as close to the style of the Mustang as I can, with a thin sloped “lip” along the top, a thicker lower half with a bar across the middle and a deeper more inset grill on the lower portion. I’m applying the last layers of Bondo tonight and will start the sanding process to make sure all the angles are smooth. Then I’ll finish priming it along with the other front panel and the sides.

Tomorrow I’ll start in on the actual paint. Since I’m not a big fan of silver, I’m making the entire case metallic blue with a thin double racing strip, probably in silver. I haven’t decided if it’ll be strait vertical up the front as in the picture, or horizontal along the sides of the case, much in the same way the detailing on the actual car is done. We’ll see.

In part news, I ordered a not-so-smoking GeForce 8400GS, which will be here tomorrow, courtasy of the Egg. It’s only a stop gap for the time being. Compared to my current card however, it should still be more powerful, as well as DirectX 10 compliant. Not that I’ll be running Vista any time soon, but still, should the need arise, it’s nice to have.

We’ll see how the new parts shake out once I get it all together this weekend. I’ve got a horrible urge to play the Orange Box, mostly Team Fortress, and that’s an urge that simply can’t be denied.

Matt out.

Beige is the new Neon

by Matt | Oct 15, 2007 | Culture

Well, I’m back from Fry’s having decided against a new case. I came close to picking up two different cases, both mid-towers without power supplies, but the construction of them was just too flimsy. I wanted a nice and simple Antec case, nothing fancy, but apparently Antec doesn’t sell cases to retail chains without power supplies and even the lowest base model case was $90. That’s a bit too much to spend on a case with a power supply I simply don’t need. Not to mention that anything cheaper than $90 looked like it was designed by a color blind, creatively impaired 12 year old. “Dude, check it out, my case has fins, a front design that makes no sense AND blue neon!” I think not. What happened to the simple beige box?

At least it wasn’t a wasted trip. I did manage to find an ATX power switch I can use to test the system without a case.

So, I guess I’m going back to my original plan of painting my existing case. I stopped off at an auto parts store on the way home and got some Bondo, sandpaper and metallic blue paint. I’ve got some primer, clear coat and rubbing compound already from the last case I did. I think I’m getting quite good at painting these things. I’ve almost perfected the glossy, mirror finish.

What I plan to do next is benchmark my current system with a battery of tests so I’ll have something to compare it to once my build is complete. I’ll test this system, the new system with temporary graphics card (which will mostly compare CPU scores) and then again later with my final and more permanent card. Should be interesting from a testing stand point. So, that’s what I’ll be doing for the next few hours. After that I’ll make a quick post with the data (mostly so I don’t lose it), then I’ll start disassembling this rig and so I can start the sanding process. Hopefully by next weekend I’ll be back up and running with a newly painted case.

It’s like a junk yard around here…

by Matt | Oct 15, 2007 | Culture

There are computer parts from one end of my study to the other and I can’t decide what to do first. My ultimate goal is to get my number 1 computer up and running with it’s new parts. Secondarily I’m going to build my HTPC with yet another set of spare parts. Last, my current configuration will become my number 2 computer and will go into a case to be picked up later. This whole mess presents a myriad of problems. First, I want to paint my case. New parts just deserve a new case paint job. This will require sanding, priming and painting, a multi-day process. Do I wait and assemble the parts? Do I put them into my second (soon to be HTPC) case temporarily? Do I assemble them on my desk and simply get a switch to turn them on without a case? Regardless of whether I put it together now, I’ll still need to purchase a video card. I’m heavily considering getting a super cheap (although DX10) card to put in there temporarily and save for the big video card I eventually want. Also, there will be a considerable amount of time that I’ll be down completely. I certainly can’t paint my case with the current parts in it. Do I even bother putting those parts into my secondary case? They won’t be staying there, I have a much quieter solution that will become my HTPC. Do I forget all this case swapping crap and just take a trip to Fry’s and buy a cheap case? I think that might be the answer. I haven’t done any backup or computer moving preparations with my current system and I know I’ll have to before I move the hard drives. This would give me a case to paint without messing up my current configuration. It’s sad that I won’t be using my crazy uber case anymore. I have such fond memories of lugging that 200lb piece of crap to and from LAN parties with Chip and up and down stairs in college with Jason. It’s a real shame. Ok, well, talking it out seemed to help me decide what to do. I guess I’m off to Fry’s to pick up a cheap case, maybe a switch or two, and then an auto parts store for some painting supplies. Wish me luck.