# Dark Energy case



## Error 404 (Apr 20, 2008)

Ok, I'm building a PC for a friend, which normally means buying a case and putting the hardware together. Not in this case. I'm actually building the case myself.
I've made it a bit easier by completely stripping out a PC from the late 90's, which I'll base the rest of the case on.
There is room for 4 5.25" drives and 4 hard drives, and It already has mountings for two 80 mm fans.
The plan is fairly simple: Put on a shell, and then put a window on one side and a LED surrounded picture on the other. A simple paint-style plan is below.





The picture is inlaid into the wall of the case, with LEDs illuminating it around the edges.
The front of the case is shrouded, like on the Dell XPS 720, and is also edged with blue lights, probably from optic fibers.
Here's some pics of the chassis for it!
















The case will be aluminium, sprayed black with maybe some blue trimmings.

Two low noise 60mm fans shall be put into the two drive bays underneath the DVD burner, and a fan control panel underneath that.
There'll be an 80 mm fan at the back and front, a 120 mm fan extracting from the top, and two 120 mm fans on the CPU cooler.
Should be done in a few weeks, as soon as I get money to start!
Any advice or suggestions would be nice.


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## commandercup (Apr 20, 2008)

do something that matches with the name...

Dark energy begs for some unique lighting schemes...


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## Error 404 (Apr 20, 2008)

Hmm. Good point. Can you get purple LEDs? I remember the Dark Matter gun from Quake 4.
There's going to be a really cool looking picture on the side, which looks like one of those gas explosions you see strewn accross space; it'd be especially cool if "immersed" in blue and purple light.
How much do LED fans/transparent fans cost compared to normal fans?

Also, the specs:
Intel C2D E8400 @ 3 GHz, will be OC'ed to at leasdt 4 GHz (Xigmatec 1283 cooler, twin 120 mm fans)
Asus P5N-E SLI Motherboard
dual 512 mb 8800 GTS cards
8 GB DDR2-800 RAM
Westerd Digital 1 TB hard drive
74 - 80 GB Raptor 10k rpm
Cooler Master Realpower Pro 750w PSU
Asus lightscribe super multi DVD burner

Its going to be fast, and hopefully under AU$2500!


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## beyond_amusia (Apr 20, 2008)

You definately gotta use UV lights...


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## Error 404 (Apr 20, 2008)

Hmm, would I need an auxillary power unit to run the lights? Or should I get an 850 watt PSU instead, just in case.


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## beyond_amusia (Apr 21, 2008)

I'd just get a good and powerful PSU... It'ld be easier to plug the lights into it rather than adding extra stuff into the case...


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## beyond_amusia (Apr 21, 2008)

ooh, just a thought, but maybe some UV reative lighting bolts on the side window....  That's look cool.


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## Error 404 (Apr 21, 2008)

I will probably go for an 850 watt unit then, and how much does a UV strip cost? My friend wanted his PC to look cool, but he also set a fairly low budget for making it happen. Thanks to his stupid graphics tablet, he's put me about $50 over budget, and I havn't even factored in the fans yet!


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## commandercup (Apr 21, 2008)

if you don't care about too much performance, you can get LED fans on sale for less then 10 dollars... I've seen as low as $3 on PPCS!

for the explosion... don't put a picture! just cut out a "cloud" (mushroom cloud?) from the side panel and then back it with acrylic which can then be lit up to create a cool effect.

those meteor LED's can make it flash


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## kyle2020 (Apr 24, 2008)

Either black and purple or black and green . . . damn that will look sweet. I demand pictures once its complete / throughout the build!


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## MKmods (Apr 25, 2008)

I would try for a 120mm in front and 2 80mm for exhaust. (make the top one just a vent, no fan)
Under the DVD I would run 2 80mm fans (70mm min) as 60s (quiet ones practically blow no air)


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## kylew (Apr 25, 2008)

I vote for black and purple! Also, you might want to consider making your own lights, personally, I've chosen not to use cathodes any more, when I saw a picture of what happens when a cathode goes bad. I've started making my own light strips out of LEDs, and I've got a test one done, runs off the 12v, and was extremely cheap to make, I think it'd work out at about 50p for the light I made. It's made using stripboard, with 6 blue LEDs soldered to it in a parallel circuit. I've put a resistor between the 12v and the LEDs of course, otherwise they burnt out. I'll post some pictures of it tomorrow as it's quite late now, and my camera has no battery left , though it's extremely bright, and I'm quite happy with it for a first attempt.


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## Error 404 (Apr 25, 2008)

Cool: Are there purple LEDs, or do I need some purple acrylic to put them behind?
Have you wired them in parralel or serial?


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## kylew (Apr 25, 2008)

Error 404 said:


> Cool: Are there purple LEDs, or do I need some purple acrylic to put them behind?
> Have you wired them in parralel or serial?



They're in parallel .


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## philbrown23 (Apr 25, 2008)

I would cut that front fan port and make it fit a 120mm fan otherwise there's really no point in putting a fan there it will be just as hot with no fan if you put an 80mm there.


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