Unfortunately I have lot to write, and as my computer is in pieces at the moment, I want to get this done fast. So it’s going to be mostly pictures.

First up! Prepped up the case. It looks a hell of a lot better now, that no-one can deny. Look earlier in the log to see what a mess these panels were.

So I cut out the mesh, and started to stick it in with that horrible chemical metal. It was a mess. I even broke one of my clamps trying to get it all together before the crap dries. You can see how little of the mesh is actually attached at this point.

So I’m trying to get the side panel seamlessly joined to the case too. That didn’t work out in my favour much either. Look at the state of the mess.

Then… woman to the rescue! My girlfriend Kimberley suggested that instead of trying to apply it with chopsticks, I apply it with this little device. Some sort of cooking squeegee. All I need to do is mix the crap, get it into the corner of a plastic bag, cut a hole, and squeeze. So simple, so elegant, so cheap… so mod-tastic (now an official word)!¹

Using that, I cleaned up the front panel a bit.

And finished off the side panel.

Here’s a close up of the quality of the finish that something so simple can give.

And finally, one side done without, and one side done with:

Some parts of the computer I’ve started to spray paint. I must admit that the clear coats keep making a mess of my paint job! I’m not sure about them anymore. I’m probably going to have to sand it down and re-finish it if I want a good finishing coat of paint. It looks great in the photos, but there’s a lot of imperfections up close. You’ll see them when I can be bothered taking better pictures.²

Anyway, that’s all for this ‘little’ update. Watch this space, I hope to get the hardware installed, up and running by Friday, and maybe get this mod finished (apart from the electronics) by sometime next Monday-ish.

I’ve ordered in a small 80GB Seagate Barracuda SATA300 drive to put my OS and programs on, and that way, I can keep my other drive for files. I’ve also ordered in another 1GB pair of Corsair RAM, giving me a total of 4*512MB sticks of DDR3200 memory. I can’t wait to overclock the processor and get some serious gaming done!

I’ve also heard that you can play WOW in dual screen, which I’ll give a try soon too.

Well, that’s all for now. Catch you later, and wish me luck.