Friday, April 17, 2009

Power coating the PC-P80R



I decided to go for the Lian-LI PC-P80 case. Well this is not really a decision since I been wanting this case since I found out about a couple months ago. I do not like brand names on my PC so I will be replacing the red side panels for Lian-Li black side panels. I love the internal anodized red but my theme is set and I need to make the whole internal black. I think some (maybe many people) will think I am a bit crazy to paint over such a already cool red coating. Well, I want to be unique! I love black internal but love the red exterior so I doing this I get the best of both worlds. :D
I just ordered the rig and special powder coating services. The service may take up to 2 weeks and another 2 weeks (or three) for shipping. I have to wait until the middle of May to start setting everything up. The services includes powder painting the back and HDD case but I ask them to not do this. I want this part of my RED theme. I believe the RED HDD case in the black rack will look awesome! :D

Friday, April 10, 2009

My new Card

 
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My fist PC Part - EVGA GTX 295 RED Edition!

I do not believe it myself! I already have my first PC part on my buying list. I found it at ARC-PC in Akihabara. The PC part is EVGA GTX 295 RED Edition! A totally kick-ass card that has 2 GPUs (internal SLI) in one card.

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MODEL: EVGA GTX 295 RED Edition
Budget Note: 67,980 yen
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This was one of the parts I was asking PC-Performance (in the US) to get. I could not have the RED Edition in Japan. But is suddenly pop-up yesterday at ARC-PC website. I could not believe it. My heart started beating real fast because there was ONLY one that was for sell. I just had to get it. As soon as I saw it, I put it in the "MY CART". However, I just realized I did not register yet with PC-ARC. Shit! Shit! Shit! I had to go back to the main page of their site and registered and the process took about 10 mintutes. I also had to wait for the confirmation email. Anyway, when I got back, I tried to put this guy in "my cart" and it told me "OUT-OF-STOCK". I felt so-upset.....some asshole got it before me! :< After about an hour, I went back to the site and just to check "my cart" for the hell of it. I could not believe my eyes! The sucker was in "my cart". I am not sure how that happened! To make the story short, I got it! LOL!!!!!!

Budget and Order Dates

A little talk about the budget. I usually put aside a budget of about 300,000 yen to 400,000 yen per year regarding PC and high-tech related items. Last year was hardly a PC upgrade year. I used most of the budget in buying HP Home Server, iphone Touch, Playstation3 and Wireless setup. But this year I am setting aside about 700,000 to 800,000 yen to a top of the line kick-ass PC. Because of this, once this project is done, I will sit low for about 3 years without any upgrades....well expect the VGA cards. This is the only part I usually try to keep current every year.

Half of my project, I will need to order in the US via PC-Performance site. I have to use PayPal services so it will have to be payed with the next visa card statement. As much as possible, I am trying to buy my high-end HW PC parts locally (in Japan). This way I can use my summer Bonus for payment but mostly I can get local support from the shop if I get a DOA or issues with the HW. If I buy them abroad, I have to add extra shipping costs and a risk factor of failed parts. If I get a failed part this way, I have to spend more shipping cost to send it back, etc. and etc. It is not the FUN part of the project. But I have to except this risk. You may ask, why not just get a different maker or similar part in Japan. I have a specific theme and need the exact colors to meet it. More on that later.

Anyway, the order date for the custom rig is April 16th.

Pre-Planning Phase

Actually the Pre-Planning phase has been going on for the last 3 to 4 weeks. The name of my rig, "REDSUN" was just decided a few days ago. However, the original "BLACK" and "RED" theme was decided like 3 weeks ago and it never changed it during the pre-design stages. What has changed the last few weeks was the rig model itself and what mods I will do with the rig. I am now 90 percent done with the pre-design stage. I should be ready for the order on the 16th of April, 2009. A few more days to go until then.

My First entry

This is the starting point. I decided (and got the budget) to create my ultimate PC for 2009. I am very excited about this project! This is probably my 4th or 5th rig I have created. However, this time is very different than the others. First of all, I am creating this worklog blog to document my setup. I can share my project to the world and I can review my own process as well. Anyway, I am documenting my setup this time around. The second thing is, I am making a theme and title for the rig. As you may have already guessed, my rig name is called "REDSUN". I called it to match my theme color of "BLACK" and "RED". It will have a oriental feeling to it (I hope).

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