mediaBIN3.0 Weighted Companion Cube Build

Mussels · Jan 5, 2010

now now, no fighting. i can always edit posts so that *i* get first dibs

need moar updates!

Wile E · Jan 5, 2010

Mussels said:
now now, no fighting. i can always edit posts so that *i* get first dibs

need moar updates!

I could always fly to the land down under, and have a nice face to face chat with you too. :laugh:

zAAm · Jan 5, 2010

Okay, I've got a teaser for you guys...

The hearts on the disks are done. They only need to dry and then I'll coat them with clear paint. You might be wondering: "How did you get that strikingly realistic hand painted finish my dear man?". I'll tell you - it's a tried and tested technique used widely by artists for a number of years now. I believe it's called painting the damn thing by hand... :rolleyes:

No it doesn't have perfect lines, no I couldn't find spray paint with the EXACT same shade, yes I had to mix it from scratch and no I don't care because if you look at the hearts in the game they are really weathered and scratched so it's not hard to imagine that they were hand painted in the beginning....

beyond_amusia · Jan 5, 2010

Wow, I'm keeping an eye on this thread - It will be a sexy rig. xD

MRCL · Jan 5, 2010

The hearts look horrible. Imho you can just throw the whole project in the trash. Congratulations, you have ruined it for us, I hope you are happy. Are you happy? ARE YOU? :mad:

No seriously, the shade is perfect, and the drawing superb - you have two skilled hands my man. Too bad if someone would... steal them. :cool:

zAAm · Jan 6, 2010

Haha, you might change your mind if you heard that the cube was complete

I don't know if you would like to see some pictures now though? Since it's all ruined and everything... sigh. :rolleyes:

Bo$$ · Jan 6, 2010

nice painting

zAAm · Jan 6, 2010

Hi guys. It's taken quite some time, but what I have here is the final photos of the case

. It is, as you will notice, missing a power supply which I will be getting on Monday. I'll post the final internal photos when I've installed the pico 90.

So let's start with a normal perspective view just to wet your appetite...

Another angle

Now the front...

... and the back. Can't really tell the difference except from the top heart orientation can you?

Now the top...

... and the bottom. This one you can tell (almost missed it eh?) by the screws bolting into the other half of the case as well as the added highly rigid foam feet

The back of the cube with the heart cover removed

One of the bottom corners removed by removing the M6 bolt going through all the layers.

... and all the corners gone.

Notice the placement of the screws that hold the internal structure. They were placed to be under the corners and there's small holes drilled in the corners just above the screw heads to allow the corner to fit flush with the cube.

The top half of the cube dismantled showing the internal structure.

Close-ups of the internal structure... You will notice the missing pico! :cry:

The internal view of the top half of the cube. It looks pretty messy but all the wires are glued in place and routed as cleanly as possible.

The top corners were screwed in place by three self-tapping screws after drilling holes into the perspex and corners.

The bottom part placed onto the top part again before tightening the bolts. The holes are countersunk.

Another perspective :rolleyes:

The lighting. They were powered by an external power source given that the pico isn't installed yet. The whole cube is covered in LED's. This is viewed from the left...

... and from the right...

... and the back, showing the power supply module feeding power into the cube...

... even the bottom is covered

A close-up of the top. You can see some separation in the light, but it's not that critical.

A shot in the dark. The light is ONLY coming out of the slots on the cube and there's no light leaking into the inside of the cube and coming out of the heart covers.

Now when I turn down the UV, the cube is in red mode

... and the other way around in UV mode. Interestingly, the camera sensor, being more sensitive to the shorter wavelengths, captures a blue light although it looks purple-ish in real life

Finally, I leave you with a comparison between the in-game cube and the final mediaBIN3.0 Weighted Companion Cube!

Soooo, there you have it. Hope you guys are satisfied with the end-result! I know I am

(FIH) The Don · Jan 6, 2010

OMFG that is simply amazing :respect:

MRCL · Jan 6, 2010

Oh. my. fricken. God. That thing is so perfect. Congratulations zAAm for creating such a great enclosure and pleasing my eyes. They are so pleased they want a cigarette :laugh:

Seriously dude I take my hat off to you.

Soylent Joe · Jan 6, 2010

/head explosion

Wow, that's awesome. You should make a case mod gallery for it.

zAAm · Jan 6, 2010

Thanks guys... Mmm, maybe I should post a pic or so in the case mod gallery and see what happens

Fourstaff · Jan 6, 2010

zAAm · Jan 6, 2010

Just for fun, a size comparison alongside a DVD 50pack spindle (only thing of standard comparable size I could find as I quickly looked around)

Wile E · Jan 7, 2010

So, how much do you want for it?

zAAm · Jan 7, 2010

Unfortunately I'm not gonna sell it

After the amount of work I've put into it, I don't think you'll be able to afford it! :laugh:

Th0rn0 · Jan 7, 2010

Wow... Just amazing!

Mussels · Jan 7, 2010

that's awesome dude.

Make sure to take lots of pics, and throw it up in the gallery

Bo$$ · Jan 7, 2010

OMG this is awsome, give us a link from the gallery, and we shall all vote 10/10

zAAm · Jan 7, 2010

Bo$$ said:
OMG this is awsome, give us a link from the gallery, and we shall all vote 10/10

Haha, I'm just interested if people will like my work. I don't really mind though, cause I will be the one using it

The gallery link: http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/2435.html

dr emulator (madmax) · Feb 13, 2010

you sir get a

from the doc
are you planning on doing something else in the future?

zAAm · Feb 13, 2010

Thanks!

At the moment I don't have any inspiration yet on another mod, but will see as we go along... I think my next project will be computer unrelated as I'll be defretting and modifying a bass guitar I'm looking at

I still need to post some pictures of the cube in action - it's already doing its duties with the RAID0 HDD array replaced with a single Samsung EcoGreen 1TB drive. Will add another one later maybe, but I need to look into some better airflow for the hard drives as they're getting quite hot - 50C for the current drive. :eek:

zAAm · Jun 14, 2011

So the Atom 330 was pretty much useless in the end. I just upgraded it with the following:

- Intel DH67CF LGA1155 Media Series motherboard
- Intel i5 2400S 2.5GHz Low-voltage CPU
- 8GB Corsair DDR3-1333
- 1TB Samsung F2 EcoGreen (for the moment it's not used as a NAS so capacity isn't top priority)
- PicoPSU 120W w/ 110W Adapter

It runs MUCH better (I'd say about 5 times as fast) and I can use it for testing my software projects!

Airflow is a bit of an issue as the i5 gets to around 70 degrees with the stock cooler in the confined space when stress testing, but normal use won't see anywhere near that.

Now it serves as a pretty decent media server and can still be used in the CPU and RAM intensive testing of my software programs...

So now the Companion Cube can be considered a companion once again!

yogurt_21 · Jun 14, 2011

sweet now must show the companion cube running portal 2. lol

Bo$$ · Jun 15, 2011

yeah, you should make a new one based on one of the new cubes, thanks for the update, any screens of the internals??

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

Processor	Intel i7-8700k @ stock
Motherboard	MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro iirc
Memory	16GB Corsair DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GTX 1070 FE
Storage	Samsung 960 Evo 500G NVMe
Display(s)	34" ASUS ROG PG348Q + 28" ASUS TUF Gaming VG289
Case	NZXT
Power Supply	Corsair 850W
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	CoolerMaster Storm XT Stealth
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2

System Name	Cozad (Asus G60JX)
Processor	Core i5 M 430
Memory	8 GB DDR3 1066
Video Card(s)	nVidia GeForce 360M
Storage	500GB
Display(s)	16 inch LED LCD
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1

System Name	Fractality 1.0
Processor	Intel Core i7-860 @ 3.6GHz
Motherboard	EVGA P55 SLI
Cooling	Prolimatech Megahalems and four Fractal Design 120mm fans, sleeved
Memory	16GB Kingston Hyper RAM
Video Card(s)	PNY GeForce 580 XLR8
Storage	64GB and 180GB SSDs / 1TB and 2TB HDDs
Display(s)	24" Acer V243W
Case	Fractal Design Define R2, sleeved all I/O cables
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX750W modular, sadly only stock sleeving
Software	Win 7 64bit

mediaBIN3.0 Weighted Companion Cube Build

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

Wile E

Power User

zAAm

beyond_amusia

New Member

MRCL

zAAm

Bo$$

Lab Extraordinaire

zAAm

(FIH) The Don

MRCL

Soylent Joe

zAAm

Fourstaff

Moderator

zAAm

Wile E

Power User

zAAm

Th0rn0

New Member

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

Bo$$

Lab Extraordinaire

zAAm

dr emulator (madmax)

zAAm

zAAm

yogurt_21

Bo$$

Lab Extraordinaire

System Name	Desktop \| Server
Processor	Intel i7 2700k @ 4.6GHZ \| AMD 5350 @ 2500MHZ
Motherboard	Asus P7Z77-V Pro \| Asus AM1I-A
Cooling	Corsair H60v2 \| Stock Air
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB CL8 1600MHZ \| Corsair Vengence 2x4GB CL9 1600MHZ
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1060 6GB \| PNY GTX 750Ti
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB + 4TB WD Red \| 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Display(s)	Samsung S27D390H + Asus VE276Q \| Headless
Case	Fractal Design R5 \| CM Elite 110
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1 w/Otone Stilo 5.1 and Creative Fatal1ty headset
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850 G2\| Corsair CX430M
Mouse	Razer Imperator 2012
Keyboard	Corsair K90
Software	Windows 7 SP1 X64 \| Ubuntu 16.04LTS

System Name	Ivy Biatch
Processor	i5 3570K
Motherboard	ASSRockzz z77TOTHEEXTREME!!!!
Cooling	bleh
Memory	2x4gb crucial 1866
Video Card(s)	HD7770, yes it does BF3
Storage	120gb Vertex
Display(s)	226BW
Case	whats that, oh my table
Audio Device(s)	stock onboard thing
Power Supply	HX850W
Software	7

System Name	Haz0
Processor	i7-2700K
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
Cooling	Chicken Stock
Memory	16GB G.Skill Ripshits X 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 5850
Storage	Kingston 128GB SSD + WD Black 640GB + 2x 1.5TB
Display(s)	24" Acer G245HQ + 19" Lenovo L194
Case	Antec NSK-4482 Orangified
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi XtremeGamer
Power Supply	Corsair TX750W
Software	Windows 7: Electric Boogaloo

System Name	Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor	3570K // 10400F
Motherboard	ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling	Stock // Stock
Memory	2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage	Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s)	LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply	Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w

System Name	tehHulk
Processor	Phenom II x4 955 @ 4ghz
Motherboard	Asus M4A79
Cooling	Heatkiller v3, MP220 Rad
Memory	8 gig DDR2 PC6400 Crucial Ballistix
Video Card(s)	X2 ATI HD5770 1Gig
Storage	500 gig main, X2 300 gig and 250 gig media, 120 gig external (pron)
Display(s)	x3 19" widescreen @ 1440x900 Each And a 17" widescreen @ 1280x800
Case	NZXT Tempest
Audio Device(s)	On board
Power Supply	OCZ Stealth 600w
Software	Windows 7 RC1 64bit
Benchmark Scores	15000 3DMark06

System Name	not very good (wants throwing out window most of time)
Processor	xp3000@ 2.17ghz pile of sh** /i7 920 DO on air for now
Motherboard	msi kt6 delta oap /gigabyte x58 ud7 (rev1.0)
Cooling	1 green akasa 8cm(rear) 1 multicoloured akasa(hd) 1 12 cm (intake) 1 9cm with circuit from old psu
Memory	1.25 gb kingston hyperx @333mhz/ 3gb corsair dominator xmp 1600mhz
Video Card(s)	(agp) hd3850 not bad not really suitable for mobo n processor/ gb hd5870
Storage	wd 320gb + samsung 320 gig + wd 1tb 6gb/s
Display(s)	compaq mv720
Case	thermaltake XaserIII skull / coolermaster cm 690II
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	corsair hx 650 w which solved many problems (blew up) /850w corsair
Software	xp pro sp3/ ? win 7 ultimate (32 bit)
Benchmark Scores	6543 3d mark05 ye ye not good but look at the processor /uknown as still not benched

System Name	Thought I'd be done with this by now
Processor	i7 11700k 8/16
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Pro Wifi
Cooling	Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4, 9x aigo AR12
Memory	32GB GSkill TridentZ Neo DDR4-4000 CL18-22-22-42
Video Card(s)	MSI Ventus 2x Geforce RTX 3070
Storage	1TB MX300 M.2 OS + Games, + cloud mostly
Display(s)	Samsung 40" 4k (TV)
Case	Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic EVO Black
Audio Device(s)	onboard HD -> Yamaha 5.1
Power Supply	EVGA 850 GQ
Mouse	Logitech wireless
Keyboard	same
VR HMD	nah
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	no one cares anymore lols