Built 2002 / contruction time: 200h
Why it became a V8:
The V8 was no "rapid fire" idea! It was an idea like whiskey: A small young idea, which growed and becomes better and better...
The decision, to make such a difficult project was not easy. But dreams become true...
But: I built it for me, not for glory and not for any mastership!
The announcement of the DCMM came later, when the V8 was in process...
Lookin' for ideas:
Long time ago.... I had an idea: I wanted to create a V8-Case. But all the time, I didn’t found a solution, how to make it in an easy way. I always thought ‘bout slices of wood and metal, which would be screwed together. But that way would be ineffective. It was not the kick, I needed. Then I built the beast, not bad, but also not what I really want.
Now it was time to build a new case and I had to decide between different kinds of cases:
First idea: tower on a stick:
Tower on a stick. That would be a standing copper tube (dia.1“), which would be filled with Frigen, the liquid, which is in every refrigerator. At the top of the tube, there would be a big cooler and in the mid, there would be soldered a plate, on which the motherboard with the CPU is screwed. That means, that the tube would hold the complete motherboard and at the same time cool the CPU. (Heat-pipe). But this construction wouldn’t look good.
So, I forgot it!
Second idea: a cube
A Cube. Good idea, but there is no kind of cube, which wasn’t built before. I forgot it, too.
Third idea: a real engine
A motorcycle-engine. First idea was to build a PC in a real engine. But it would be have too much weight, so that I would need the motorcycle around it!
Forth idea: a V8!
A V8. My idea with a V8-engine, didn’t leave my mind all the time, but more than one time, I decided, that it’s impossible. One day, I had a good talk with Shame, a good “Counter-Striker”. Talking ‘bout this and that, suddenly like a flash, I had the right idea: “Why should I build a new V8-case?
A V8 is an engine, made of two 4-cylinder engines. So, take two mini towers and make a V!
That’s it’!“
First Pictures!
Diese Zeichnung stellt die Idee, den Plan und den Eindruck dar. Mehr wurde nie gezeichnet!
What was built
front
On the front there's a copper-radiator, which is powered with a 120mm Papst fan (behind it). The flywheel (just for show) is from my old '59 DKW-Munga (the old German army jeep). It’s made of Alu and is powered by a little gearbox.
The 3 gauges are original Smith gauges from my (broken) 69 LOTUS Europe:
The left and the mid ones are showing the 12 V of the PSU, the right one shows the temperature of the passive cooled CPU
...and a lot of other knobs, like fan (high/low), start left, start right, sound and keylock.
left
A mini tower with PSU
It contains the normal equipment like motherboard, cards and PSU.
MSI KT4 ULTRA-BSR
AMD XP-Thoroughbred 2200
512MB DDR-RAM PC333, CL2,5, Samsung
Geforce 4 (ASUS V8420) with 128MB
NIC
TV-card
1 x 20 GB Maxtor
1 x 60 GB Western Digital
1 x 30 GB Seagate
1 x DVD / CDRW
1 x LS120
Enermax 435 (no PFC). PSU has 28 ultrabright red LEDS inside.
LEDmeter behind the small smoke glas stripe in the left front bezel.
CPU, GPU and chipset are watercooled
right
A chopped mini tower, which is mounted on the left side with an angle of 90°.
The space inside is enough for a second HEC-PSU and the whole 5 1/4" bay. The blowhole of this PSU is modified, that it looks like the Enermax blowhole.
In the right side is a second motherboard as 'accelerator engine'. The CPU, GPU and Chipset are cooled passive. This acceleration-engine is only for data storage and backup-system, so that I can gaming (with the main 'engine') and transferring data (with the 'acceleration engine') at the same time on a LAN-party.
Shuttle Spacewalker HOT591P (Baby-AT with ATX-features). Build in back to back with the other mobo, but turned 180°
AMD K6-2/450 (removed heatspreader)
256MB SD-RAM PC133
RIVA TNT 16MB
CMD UDMA100 IDE Controller
NIC
ESS-soundcard with build in amplifier (SPK-out/Line-out/Line-in/MIC)
1 x 40 GB Maxtor
1 x Phillips 8fach-CDRW
1 x Noname 44x CDROM
HEC 300W (no PFC) PSU. Has also 28 ultrabright red LEDS inside.
A second LEDmeter behind the small smoke glas stripe in the right front bezel.
The CPU has an own build air tunnel system for higher effecience of the passive cooler.
In front of the mobo, under the 5 1/4"-bay, there's build in a 5 port-network switch (10/100).
All connectors from the mobo are redirected to the rear side.
top
8 air intakes (only for show) with red LEDs inside
1 own build reservoir (cheap stainless steel with self welded nozzles.
bottom
It’s the „basement„ of the construction and has enough space inside for the waterpump and other stuff. :
At the bottom there's the waterpump, a small digital voice recorder, an IC-amplifier and a speakers. This plays the start sound of a V8-engine.(Thx to my TV, which brake exactly at that time, I needed speakers.
The bottom is made of old cooling plates. Left and right side, there are the exhausts. For that, I used two silencers of a chopper (motorbike).
Over that, there's a Converter 12/24Volts, some ceramic resistors for tuning the Smith gauges and a ratsnest of cable, wires ande tubes.
