Project Dakota PC: 2009 Mod Contest

[yAu]

Greetings.

I wanted to start out my mod with a Cooler Master Case such as 100 or Cosmos S.

I got a used Cosmos S from ebay and modded it.

My theme was to add a Dakota (native american theme) to the pc case.
I also found this cool looking MY COLORS theme for Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
I saw the trash can icon and I decided then to go with those colors...Burnt Copper paint
and flat black paint. However, I ended up changing the paint over time to high gloss black.

This is a picture of a brand new Cosmos S case:

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[labellel67]

I took down the case and took out the rivets.
Several parts were missing from the case.

I ordered new side panels for the case and painted everything.

After sanding with 400 Grit sand paper, I sprayed self etching primer sold at Walmart.
After it dried, I spray painted the entire inside of the case or inner support with
Metal Specks Burnt Copper Dupli-color spray paint.

I had dried and hung the pieces for a few days.

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paint

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rebuild

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[labellel67]

More Pictures of the build progress.
Cosmos S case mod.

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the side panels (aluminum) were sanded down with 400 grit sand paper and primed with Self-Etching primer.
and then wet sanded as smooth as possible with 800, 1000, 2000 grit sandpaper.

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ALL CASE PLASTIC PARTS
Scuffed with scrotch brite pads and washed in dish soapy water.
After drying.
They were all spray painted with Krylon High Gloss black spray paint.

After about a 3 week drying period. I gently used buffing compound...3M Rubbing Compound to get any imperfections out of the paint.

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[labellel67]

I had a different motherboard at first for the build and then switched to AMD.

I got a AMD Phenom IIX4 955 AM3 Processor on Ebay for $200 and lapped the processor.
I used a granite kitchen hot plate with sand paper taped to it.

Again. Started with 800, 1000, 2000 grit.
very gently lapping the processor.

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Takes some time.

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Bringing out the shine..the point is to get the processor as smooth as possible.

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[labellel67]

Buffing and Polishing the side panels.

3M compound.

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More Pictures

WETSANDED PANEL

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FIRST APPLICATION OF COMPOUND

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3M HANDGLAZE

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[labellel67]

Replaced all CASE FANS WITH

Xigmatek 120 mm Orange/white led case fans.

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INSTALLING CASE FANS..
NOTE: Had a different motherboard inside the case but changed it later on.

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MOTHERBOARD WAS SKULLTRAIL BUT CHANGED MOTHERBOARD...

[labellel67]

PC PARTS LIST:

Xion 1000 Watt Powersupply

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Hard drives:

2 DRIVES 300GB Western Digital Velociraptors set in RAID0

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WD3000GLFSx400.jpg (74.31 KB) Viewed 1654 times

1 DRIVES Western Digital 1TB SATA HARD DRIVE WD10EAVS

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[labellel67]

MORE PICTURES

dakota3.JPG (199.68 KB) Viewed 1634 times

I went to a wacipi (pow wow) in August and found some vinyl stickers for my truck.
I decided to use my vinyl Dakota sticker on my PC instead.

The vinyl sticker stands for the 4 directions and the 4 colors of our medicine wheel.
There are normally seven feathers for the seven different districts in our tribe but
it was done by someone else for sale so it didnt have the seven feathers.

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HERE IS THE ONE SIDE PANEL.

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[labellel67]

More pictures.

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[labellel67]

FOR THE FRONT PANEL

I decided to make A Dakota logo or dakota panel for the front.
I needed space to hide the water pump behind it.

casevp.jpg (169.49 KB) Viewed 1602 times

I took two cosmos front panels apart plus I used my dremel to put them together to make one panel.

I Did not have any sheets of aluminum.
So. I looked around the house and found an old aluminum cooking pan.
I took the pan and cut off the sides.
I used some of my dad's tools and hammered it flat.
Use blue tape to draw out the Dakota on the front.

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So once I had it all shaped out and attached to my new plastic mod frame.
I then kept sanding and using primer.
I used flat black spray paint.

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I used a small LED orange set from FROZENCPU.COM
attached to the back.

I took the screen and spray painted with burnt orange..so the orange colors will look more orange.

I have a modded picture of it while it is turned on.
THIS IS NOT THE FINISHED PC.

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[labellel67]

Purchased a aluminum billet fan grill from MNPCTECH.COM

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I sanded and painted it semi-gloss black spray paint.
I used a xigmatek case fan with this attached to my HDD cage.
I spray painted the HDD cage black and adjusted the HDD Cage so it would fit forward in the case and screwed it down.

See picture above of fan on with gril.

[labellel67]

MORE PARTS

MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard

msi_790fx_gd70.jpg (52.12 KB) Viewed 1566 times

OCZ DDR3 RAM
8GB (sets of Dual Channel DDR3 10666 1333Mhz AMD Edition RAM)

ocz-ddr3-OCZ DDR.jpg (17.52 KB) Viewed 1565 times

WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE 64 BIT

2 graphics cards in Crossfire

HD4850 Sapphire 1GB DDR3 Ram

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HD4850.jpg (68.07 KB) Viewed 1562 times

OCZ Memory fan cooler

dakota.jpg (112.55 KB) Viewed 1566 times

[labellel67]

WATER COOLING

DANGER DEN XFLOW Radiator

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Zalman Fan Controller, LG Blu-Ray player, XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir - Black

casevp5.jpg (212.56 KB) Viewed 1575 times

[PaPang]

Great look on the paint, but a question, is the black on the outer part the original case paint just super buffed? I like the Dakota motif on the side panel.

You might consider no more than 800 X 600 max. (it eats up a little part of the photo, but fills the page without having to click), great work doesn't have to so big to be appreciated.


Good luck and the Best.

Cheers and Saludos

[labellel67]

SIDE PANEL MOD

Took off the side fan and painted the panel with high gloss black krylon spray paint.

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wetsand, 3m compound, and 3m hand glaze on side panels.

added 1/8" smoke plexiglass
drilled holes for location.
cut hole for fan with dremel.
added Xigmatek 120mm fan with FLAME grill by MNPCTECH.COM

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THen I found a buffalo vinyl sticker on EBAy and used it plus I am waiting for new Dakota letters from EBAy.

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