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Zygo writes "Again a little bit of hardware news for today: At MonkeyReview a very cool case... At DV Hardware a little article about an aluminium mousepad, called the Steelpad... OCCanada takes a look at the Gigabyte GA8PE667-Pro... ExtremeMHz brings you a guide to power... Some Christmas stuff... And Modthebox checks out a cool tachometer for PC's!" richie2000 submits a holiday-themed case mod: "A gingerbread case mod. Don't tell me you didn't see this one coming. And here's a mirror of one of the images."
would make a nice holiday present. it reminds of those old grid lined steel mouse pads that were shipped with Sun Sparc and Ultras. I think Sparc were shipped with a digital mouse, and so were SGI machines. I had a Sparc 20 and 10.
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
I just put a really sweet computer together for my son's big Christmas present this year.
I made sure to get him all the best computer case stuff, since that what all his friend will see. Looks are really important to little kids! I can't wait until he opens this up and sees how non-beige his very own PC is!
Case: Kingwin KT-436B-WM Aluminum Case - Blue (image)
Power supply: Enermax EG365P-VE(FCA) 350 Watt (image)
Light kit: Dual Cold Cathode Light Kit (image)
Screws: Anodized Thumbscrew - Blue (image)
Seriously, just pick up the better processor and you will save time and money. Overclocking is NOT reccomended by the big two. There are multiplier locks for a reason! Lets look at the costs.
AMD 2000 : £60
AMD 2700 : £250
Your not gonna get much gain from buying the more expensive one, but overcloking the 2000 to the 2700 speed is more expensive than buying the 2700! Ive seen processors burn out, and its NOT a pretty picture. Unless your mad, buy a nice cheap processor and save yourself some trouble.
I guess not many people clicked on the "Christmas Stuff", huh? For one, I'm glad to find a source for the LED christmas lights. That's a really big plus. I haven't shopped at Albertson's for a while because of the prices.
But come on, someone has to mention something about overclocking the Christmas Lights. Going from a mild 30hz to a blazing 60hz! Imagine a Beowulf chain of those... *
* - These lights cannot be chained, from what I've read.
It is a steel 'Alienware' case.
Oh, oh, be still my beating heart.
First review sites praise aluminum cases and now they praise a case because it is steel.
Can PC case makers build some taste into these things?
I hear so much about how compatablity with computer accessories isn't a an issue anymore. I never believed it myself....(page 4 of the aluminum mousepad review):
"Another problem is that the pad isn't compatible with most of Logitechs optical mouses , only with the MX serie."
OLIVER
Better VDF than VD...check it out: Data Access
Wouldn't that have smoothed out the power and removed the flicker?
"Dogs and cats, living together...it's mass hysteria!"
Using a plastic prop for the cake is the sensible approach. Easy to work, and you don't need to worry about spoilage.
Ooo! I know! How about building the computer into some sort of diorama. Use fibre optics so the drive lights become building lights, have the CD tray rise from out of the middle of a street like some sort of evil monolith, and make that heatsink really a 'Volcano'.
The problem is that sometimes "cool" and "practical" would clash. I think a 50cm aluminium cube with no discernable features would be "cool", but I'd wreck ventilation, have to develop some clever approach to get to drives, and it wouldn't fit anywhere.
Perhaps a really well-done computer-in-the-keyboard, like an Amiga 600. It would have to be 1000% professional though. Great mini-ITX application.
Or an extremely flat desktop (like those 1U cases), but quite large so you can place it on the desk like a blotter and have your keyboard and mouse on it.
Of course, I like the "retro" modifications... the big huge AT tower with ATX board inside. Perhaps one of those with a big old AT desktop would be nice. You could put more drive bays up front because the ATX board is shorter in that dimension than an AT, and you could save much space by replacing the big AT PSU with a small ATX one and rearranging the back.
Odd materials might work. How about sheet brass? Easy to work, shiny, unusual colour, potential for nice patina over time.
Sometimes, all you really need though is a classy colour scheme or art. The Atari 600XL didn't need windows and blowholes to be cool. It just was, in silver, black, and white.
For fun, don't forget to use the case badge from your original 286.
A trick I did was to tie front-panel switches to motherboard jumpers. I did this for the multiplier jumpers on an Elitegroup K7S6A recently. Took up one 3.5" faceplate. Might be useful to have a momentary "CMOS clear" switch
The ultimate front-panel LCD: Bury an old Toshiba Libretto (remember those? Those little P75 laptops with the 5" screen, mass about 1kg) in the front panel, boot it to X, have it export a monitoring app from the "real" system. Colour and infinite display flexibility.
There's been a lot of work on lights and displays, but little in movement. How about a "heartbeat":
-rubber membrane over hole
-slow motor behind membrane
-off-centre cardboard/styrene oval on motor shaft
-oval presses membrane, creating "throb"
-For extra credit, tie it to system load
It's just like a fascist dictatorship, without the punctual rail service!