Digtial HotRods

Project: MNU (Sponsor Update)

Kyle van der Merwe — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:26:32 +0000

Hey!

Well it has been a very long time since I gave any of you any updates! I have been incredibly busy with school work preparing the move to university and also doing lots of background stuff for this mod which has meant there was no point in continuing on with the actually modding of this PC. Why may you ask? Well I would like to say a massive thank you to Fractal Design for sponsoring this mod with their new case, the Fractal Design Define R2. Although it has not arrived yet it will do in the near future!

Thanks Fractal!

But it is not just Fractal I have to thank!

NZXT are also showing their support with some of their all-new sleeved cable extensions.

Updates will be coming as soon as the new case arrives!

Why is all my kit BLACK?

Kyle van der Merwe — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:45:01 +0000

Well, it has been a while! I guess that I owe you all an apology for the lack of updates etc, especially when it comes to Project: MNU which is still underway! But this is not just a post about saying sorry for the lack of updates and that I am going to try and change that in the next few months but it is a post about why we care so much about the colour of the peripheral sitting on our desks! Over the last few weeks I have been looking into getting a new monitor, mostly because I am bored, trying to avoid studying but also the 17” Asus which has served me so well over the last 2 years is due a replacement. I began my search going through quite literally hundreds of monitor reviews across the massive expanse of opinions that is the World Wide Web.
Now that I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I am going to be purchasing the Dell Ultrasharp 2209WA it was time to do some shopping around – as you do. This is when I noticed something about myself, especially when I hit the purchase button… Why am I paying an extra £31.17 for the black version of exactly the same monitor?
I have done it before on the podcast but as I looked around my room all I saw was black appliances and peripherals. BLACK monitor, BLACK keyboard, BLACK mouse, BLACK speakers, BLACK headset, BLACK webcam, BLACK PC case, BLACK joystick… you get the point! What is it with the fact that the all the black plastic makes us feel better about our appliances and equipment? Oh, did I mention my BLACK camera, and BLACK iPhone?
Is it the fact that it makes us feel more professional? Or is it that we are all OCD inside and do not know it? My personal opinion is that I am OCD and that is who I am but somewhere deep down I know it does not make the slightest bit of a difference whether the monitor is black or silver it is the same piece of kit in the end. Having said that I have just spent the extra £31.17 when I know that it could go to food or something but what can you do?

Cardboard Case Competition

Kyle van der Merwe — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:01:58 +0000

The Cardboard Case Competition

The Cardboard case competition is now officially over! With some amazing entries, I must add. I am amazed where the human mind can go if given a few rules and some guidelines, from an arachnid to a standard box and even a psychotic teddy bear…

Here are a few of the entries, which caught my eye.

Project: MNU (Update 5)

Kyle van der Merwe — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:25:48 +0000

Hey all

Well all my exams are done!!!! Therefore, to celebrate I decided to get my hands dirty, and did some modding! I got to work on the bottom panel, the PSU vent and holes for MNPCTech case feed need to be added. As well as getting rid of some extra holes in the base.

The PSU vent cut out and case feet holes enlarged to 1/4″

The feet added, and U-Channelling added.

MNPCTech Case foot

Filled in some of the holes from the former motherboard tray

Cheers,
Kyle

Project: MNU (update 4)

Kyle van der Merwe — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:38:42 +0000

Hey all!
Here I am with one more update and this may be the last (well there may be another on Wednesday…) before I go away to South Africa, and no, I am not going to be looking for the “Prawns” but if I find any I will definitely take some photographs! :P

I have not really been able to do any modding but I have had plenty of time to work on the design, well I should have been studying… So here, it is some teasers of the front panel, side panels and window design :) The front panel has changed slightly, I have found my ThermalChill PA120.3 that I pretty much completely forgot about so am going to watercool this rig! Oh, and I am still trying to work out where to put the MNPCTech grill but I am currently thinking on the top for exhausts.

Project: MNU (Post 3) – Cheers MNPCTECH!

Kyle van der Merwe — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:24:36 +0000

Project: MNU (update 3)

Well, the last we weeks since my last update have been an interesting few, with loads of snow, exams, school productions (I am a stage manager not some performer!) and loads of other things…this project had been left in pieces on my bedroom floor, to my mum’s disgust I may add! Although this weekend I managed to get to work on it again, I grabbed me safety googles and got too it! However, before I started work on that I decided to work on the side panel design.

A few sheets of A4 paper masking tape a ruler and scissors and I am done.

Now it is time for the jigsaw to come out! inorder for me to have two 140mm fans on the front panel, I needed to cut out most of the current front panel so hey why not it all? I do not use optical drives anyway.

Front panel

Bill Owen from MNPCTECH sent me one of his Billet Aluminum 240 Radiator & Fan Grills which are available at his store here a few months ago. Thanks MNPCTECH! I am considering using it for the front panel intakes on the case although I am still trying to work out if it is the correct look or not…

Billet Aluminum 240 Radiator & Fan Grill

Billet Aluminum 240 Radiator & Fan Grill on the front panel

Now with a new back panel, I may as well make a new back panel as well :) So I took my trusty jigsaw and volia!

Back panel

I then put the case back together again well… ish it is just being held together with friction at the moment!

Project: MNU (Post 2)

Kyle van der Merwe — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:23:57 +0000

Update 2

After a very eventful New Year… Happy New Year to you all! I started dismatling the case. It had a whole bunch of support beams drive cages, removable motherboard tray which was for AT motherboards as well as a few other bits and pieces. They were all riveted so I got busy with the power drill and a 3mm drill bit. After a few minutes I managed to make the drill bit all but disappear :p.

After getting rid of all the junk here are the remaining pieces of the case that I will need for the build.

The last thing I managed to do today is mark out what I wanted to do for the top and bottom panels. An exhaust vent at the bottom for the PSU and a 120mm fan at the top as an exhaust as well.

I have been working on the designs for the back and front panels but am still undecided, there is going to be a custom front panel for sure as for the back but I still need to work out some details.

Catch you later!

Project: MNU (Post 1)

Kyle van der Merwe — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:47:48 +0000

After a yearlong hiatus, I am back to modding! That is right you did just read that… I have had a number of issues with modding this year: time, money, health, school, etc, etc. Now that most of that has been cleared out of the way I can finally get back to modding. This project I have been planning for close to 4 months while doing other things for The Mod Brothers and Case Mod Blog. I have finally ironed out the concept of what I want this case to look like and it is going to be based on the awesome movie “District 9″. Bill Owen has been creating a District 9 mod as well which I am sure you are all familiar. However, I am going to be taking a slightly different side to the story. My mod is going to be a MNU General Purpose Security Vehicle. When speaking to Bill he sent me over this picture that he had found while researching for his project.

Original Artists (WETA)

The MNU used this General Purpose Security Vehicle in the movie, and so I am going to be incorporating bits and pieces from the design of the double cab into a case.

A few sketches…

And finally we get to the case. It is, well to be honest I have no clue! Branded as a MECER PREMIUM-X it is an old AT case as far as I can make out but that is all about to change.

As you can see, it is in fact missing a side panel. So while going through all my scraps of aluminium from my last Project: Deadline I found this and it was MADE for this case! Look at that it fits perfectly!

Well not quite perfectly but pretty much I just need to trim the top a bit. I marked it up with some masking tape and drew the line in. Just remember to measure, measure, and measure again! Will get it cut tomorrow before the New Year PARTAAY!

The Mod Brothers Cardboard Case Contest

Kyle van der Merwe — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:37:34 +0000

That is right! A card board case… We have been debating about having a contest for a while however, the time never came to do one. But then the members almost started one themselves so we though, hey… they have done most of the work why do we not repay them with some awesome prizes (which are still to be announced by the way). So if you head over to The Mod Brothers you can enter the competition. All you need is some cardboard, a bit of tape and glue and an imagination! Build the most wacky case you can think of or just make your version of a classic tower as long as it is cardboard we do not care!

So get modding people!

Where have you been?!?

Kyle van der Merwe — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:07:44 +0000

First off I would like to apologise for my lack of posts (not that I post a lot anyway)… but there have been a few problems. First of all I have not even been able to get to my own site, although everyone else is able to! How weird is that? Anyway with it being Christmas eve and all I am glad to be able to get back online and bore you all with my all my post :) Anyway it is about time that I start watching the rubbishy Christmas TV, eh?

Oh, and on another note, the 6th episode of the podcast has also been posted and the Holiday Special will be out next week as well!

Guest list: Craig Brugger, John Hanlon, Bill Owen

After this episode got lost to oblivion (or so we thought) it was resurrected! Kyle starts the episode and speaks to John Hanlon, Craig Brugger and Bill Owen about modding in general and to John who has been around since dot! We then go onto talking about gift ideas for the podcast (although it is a bit late now sorry!).

You can download it here or subscribe in iTunes here.