Project: Shop Dog

[CyberDruid]

Line man came out and checked everything. Then my ISP went down for 8 hours. I HATE CenturyLink/Embarq they are teh suckage.

I decided to sell Shop Dog. I'll be posting up in the FS here when I get some pics with the obligatory hand written dingus in frame.

I doubt anyone really wants a P35 rig...but I'm broke...so there you have it. Should've never bothered doing something for myself...all it does is make me feel guilty and even more broke than usual. Which is why I have once again announced my retirement from PC modding...it's a suck hole that consumes way more time than I care to devote...and I don't even want to get into the economics of trying to run a "Pro Case Mod" business...LMAO.

 

[m4gicfour]

That's too bad CD. The PC should sell, but it would likely be easier to sell as is in local classifieds than a tech site like this. Online anyone can jump to the nearest e-tailer and see what the hardware is worth brand new (which tends to remove the focus from the work you put into it and custom fabbing and put it on raw computing performance). Anybody looking in a local classifieds ad for a computer is generally less knowledgeable about PCs (which isn't an excuse to rape somebody on price, of course, but you're more likely to end up finding somebody just getting into custom PC stuff and wanting a prebuilt, but better than dell-ish; where as online people usually want to part-out). That's my two cents, anyway.

As for the project of a shop PC, check this post by KH0UJ. Just because you're a pro modder doesn't mean you need to make it overly fancy. If you were really intent on the goals you stated before, having a capable reliable shop machine, then a cheapo AMD APU based system in a custom cabinet might be what fits best. What I'd do: Sell shop dog for what it's worth (remembering the custom loop and the effort of modding you put into it). Build the new PC as cheap as possible, and work on putting the cabinet together in an expandable way. (which should be almost free if you've got the scrap materials for it) If at some point you find yourself more comfortable with your purse strings and feel the need to upgrade, the cab's there. If not, you didn't waste a bunch of money on a something silly like an SB-E with WC loop and discrete graphics for an internet machine. The custom cab brings all sorts of ideas to mind. Depending on your shop's construction you could duct vent into an adjacent room which will be dust free, or build a baffle to stop large dust and use a furnace filter or similar as a reliable, replaceable intake vent.


Either way, best of luck to you. Hope you won't stop chartered modding altogether, that'd be a loss for the PC community. Of course in the end it's your life, so what makes you happy is most important.

 

[MT Alex]

Damn-bah. It's always fun to have you around, sorry things aren't working out. Well, at least as a country and economy we maybe leaving the mid 1930's and heading into the early 40's.:shadedshu

 

[CyberDruid]

Proof?

lol

I'm sick of being broke is all. And being a PC modder is something I equate with being totally broke...because from the time I started this gig right up till this day money has been a problem.

I actually get a ton of pleasure from doing PC mods...it's like kinky sex.

I don't think that Shop Dog will sell...no one except me would waste their (tiny bits of) coin on something so antiquated...

I have some really old rigs...much older. 754, 478. And they still work So if it was just about building a web browser I've got that. It was more about bringing that lovely Blitz SE back into action. It's such an amazing board.

Then as usual things spiralled out of control.

Thanks guys. I'll be finishing up a large mod project soon and then I think I'll go back into hibernation.

 

[Ahhzz]

Hate that mate... always enjoyed seeing something you're banging around on...

 

[CyberDruid]

I just received a 400mm Frozen Q reservoir. Now that calls for a custom case built from scratch.

I may stop "Pro" modding, but I seriously doubt I can keep myself from building crazy stuff just to do it. It's more fun when I am not trying to make money of it anyway.

 

[micropage7]

you need to arrange and neat those cables

 

[CyberDruid]

I never bother with that for myself. I look for airflow, the original reason for cable management. You would be surprised how many times excessive beautification of cabling results in a whole new kind of clutter...that whole "individual sleeving" thing just seems a bit ridiculous. I would be happy to do it for a client (and I am actually in the process of doing just that), but I am OLD school about this stuff. If it doesn't make the rig run better I see no reason for concern.

Now the stuff Mark (MKMods) was doing with hard wiring and eliminating visible cables with back side molex relocation...that's genius. No cables are better than pretty cables any day. But I am not heading that direction.

 

[mATrIxLord]

nice rig bro...

 

[pantherx12]

Now the stuff Mark (MKMods) was doing with hard wiring and eliminating visible cables with back side molex relocation...that's genius. No cables are better than pretty cables any day. But I am not heading that direction.

Man I loved that rig, sucks that I broke the motherboard from that build.

 

[CyberDruid]

Little update. Still trying to sell this unsellable rig. Almost had it sold to a local sign shop but they got weird with me and I walked off rig in hand. Wanted to base the sale on getting some ancient plotter SW to work on Vista. I am no SW guru and was not going to base a sale on their obviously limited ability to install some proprietary SW. People are so strange. It's a PC. Install whatever you want on it...

And I am still trying to finish an Epic mod so I can retire in style...going to hand deliver that one to the client in NY. Currently getting parts powder coated and trying to finish up a bunch of sleeving. I hate sleeving. I never do that for clients, but this client has been such a great guy I decided to do it anyway...talk about a learning curve... endless rework to get that "Million Dollar PC" look of perfection.

As you can see I am not a big fan of perfection when it comes to my own cables

But I am getting some decent results on my client cables.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Amazing job bro

 

[de.das.dude]

this thread is confusing me. isnt there any specific build? or a bunch of builds?

 

[CyberDruid]

Shop Dog is one build. I just felt like showing off my cables. I started by testing the components on a crazy tech platform that I later discarded in favor of a nice Lian Li Case I had sitting on a shelf for at least 2 years. Managed to build a waterfall res and mod the case for LC and install everything in less than a day. Days like that make me think I could actually make a living building custom LCed rigs...then days like today where I spend 2 hours to sleeve 6 wires make me look forward to never modding again.