Orac³ Part 1

Image courtesy ClearComputerCase

This is what I started with - a C³ Acrylic case. After the first stage was completed this is what I have ended up with:



The top of the case so far - bits light up when powered up and you can see two Power Supply mods plus the top-plate with two reservoirs for the water cooling system.



The reservoirs and top-plate plus power running into a power junction box and the main part of the PSU, with support bracket, external fan cables and a second power junction box.



The two reservoirs and the front power junction box with glowing divider.

Want to know what's inside all that shiny chrome and stainless steel, and what it actually does? I'll start from the beginning...


The Plan

I had noticed that in a lot of clear acrylic case mods I have seen there is minimal modding of the internals in so far as their appearance goes - they seem to rely on the fact that they are a clear case. However, the novelty factor of a clear case seems to have worn off a little, as they become more common. While most of these can still look excellent, I decided with this project that I wanted to go a step further (more like a Leap) and, mod the case and all of the internal components heavily. Hopefully, the entire system will look as retro-futuristic as possible and boldly go where no acrylic case has gone before - cue the Star Trek music!

The plan is to take a clear acrylic case and turn it into something sleek and stylish, but with enough of the retro feel and internal complexity of the Blakes 7 Orac (eg. coloured perspex sections, lights, etc). I began planning about two months out by drawing up a list of how I would like the system to look - this is not a list of the mods that will be in the case, but general themes I will be following throughout:

• Clear Acrylic C³ case.
  
• A top performing system with performance to match its looks. - A quiet, quiet, and quiet system! (Did I mention quiet?).
  
• Panels of neon Green transparent perspex on case and inside case to give a sense of depth and colour accent the components.
  
• Rounded corners throughout (to soften the lines of all that technology).
  
• A slight 'industrial' feel.
  
• Lots of effort put into the details of the case and internals.
  
• All internal components chrome or stainless steel or stealthed.
  
• Polished stainless steel fasteners throughout.
  
• Lots of LEDs (and the ability to control them) - not tacky and garish though, mostly white LEDs with a few green.
  
• Water-cooling with no brass or plastic fittings etc - all chrome including the radiator, with a twin-reservoir system and neon green coolant to match the case panels!
  
• Edge lighting/embedded LEDs Plus lots, lots more that will become clear in future articles.

The cabling is also a main feature of this mod, but in a way that you may or may not have seen before...