Christine and Ultimedia

[bschott]

People have always asked me, "Brian, What is computer modding?"

PC Modding is tricking out, supping up, and customizing the look and performance of your PC. It is the extention of wanting more than just a common computer. My thoughts are, "Why pay $1000 for a computer that looks ugly. Wouldn't you want people to be awed by it?" If I bought a $1000 stereo system, I would hope it would look fairly nice. Most computers are cookie cutter junk, but with a little work they can become something everyone wants.

Why do it? Well, why do people own Tuners? Why do people restore classic cars? Why would you repaint a room? It is a matter of taste and a human instinct to make some thing you own unique. Something that expresses your personality and creativity. Something you can be proud of having and letting others see.

This computer is the most loved one of all in my collection. I guess you could say that it is my pride and joy.

Being a Steven King fan, I have always loved his book "Christine". Being a car nut, besides a computer nut, I had always wanted to have a computer PC, however "Tanya" (another computer I own) just didn't quite do it for me. Now I was watching the TV one night when I came across the move "Christine"...and it just clicked for me. I didn't even finish watching the movie, I was already engrossed in drawing out a diagram.

To make this a project true to what the 'Christine' theme is, I wanted to find an old, neglected PC that was once state-of-the-art, but now is usually just thrown away for something newer. Something beat-up, but that you could still see the beauty in...

I found an old IBM PC 5513 Chassis (remember the old dual 5 1/4 floppy , no Harddrive, 320K ram, 8086 computers?) laying in the back of a friend's garage among spider webs, faded mellow yellow cans, and some 1986 issues of playboy.


Here is Christine before her restoration..or her ugly duckling stage as it were.


A little metal work, some flashlights, and the grill from a '68 studebaker hawk and we have this...


That's me using a handheld air-driven grinding wheel. I was removing the biege paint IBM used.


Carefully cutting out the hood with a dremal. Notice the pictures of a real 1958 plymouth fury.


56 hours after starting...Christine is born. Here is my swan.


To finish off the mod, I painted an old IBM terminal keyboard (it was a PS2 keyboard believe it or not!) and an old pair of speakers to give it a 'restored' look. I do not use the keyboard (although it functions just fine) or the speakers unless I am at a show.


A night shot showing the working headlights


And the working break lights. That wall in the background is 14 feet away.


..and working hood!


As you can see, the internals were modded to hold an ATX form factor motherboard and PSU. Yes, those keys are used to turn on and off the pc. The ignition switch and keys are authentic originals from one of the cars used in the film "Christine". I bought them from a reputable dealer, with full paperwork and certificates of authenticity.


Here is a top down view into the case. Under the hood if you will. This is an older picture.

Liquid Cooled AMD Athlon +3200XP
3GB (that's right THREE GIGS) of DDR400 'GEIL' RAM
200GB SATA 10,000RPM HDD w/8MB Cache
ATI x700PRO w/256MB RAM
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Motherboard (dual NICs)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 XG
DVD-RW
520Watt PSU
Running two 21 inch monitors
Zippy Wk-711 Slimline keyboard (with built in USB Hub)
Logitech MX518 Gamer's mouse
RatPadz GS Gaming pad
Nostromo N52 Gaming Keypad
Saitek X45 Digital Flight Control System
Logitech 7.1 Surround Sound Home Theater Speakers
Zalman 5.1 Surround Sound Headphones
Logitech Headphone/mic combo
RCA 900Mhz Wireless headphones (when I am not using the Mic)
eDimensional's E-D 3D Glasses

An as a nice tip of the hat, Tech TV featured Christine on Yoshi's Mods!
http://images.gruntville.com/casegallery/albums/album213/tech_tv.wmv

Also Christine has won many case mod contests in various citys of the USA, and been featured in various magazines from around the world.

She is my pride an joy of my case mod collection.


My home setup


Here is a quick picture. For those that were going to say I didn't really own that computer.

[ctjoyce]

ATi Radeon X700 PRO with 512MB RAM I'm sorry got a picture of the box as I cant seem to find this anywhere. The only two ATi cards that I know of with 512MB RAM are the X850 XT PE and the X800 XT.

But hey google could be wrong.

[the_autopilot]

ATi Radeon X700 PRO with 512MB RAM I'm sorry got a picture of the box as I cant seem to find this anywhere. The only two ATi cards that I know of with 512MB RAM are the X850 XT PE and the X800 XT.

But hey google could be wrong.

An 512mb x700, I think thats a typo.

There is no retail x850 xt pe that has 512mb either. There some prototype 512 mb x850 xt pe shown at some lan parties but thats it. The only 512mb from ati is the x850 xl that is for sale. A 512mb versian of the x800 xt was going to be for sale, but was canceled due to lack of interest.

Besides, a x700 with 512mb is useless. The GPU has no need for such space and if a game really used up all that space, the GPU would lag very badly to keep up with processing all that data.

[bschott]

You are right...I was half asleep when posting that and it is 256.  Talking to the girlfriend, posting, and being half asleep isn't a good combo.

Fixed.

[ctjoyce]

Thanks for the clear up AP. Was looking at various news on 512MB cards and saw something on how sapphire was working on a 512MB X850 XTPE. And the X800 XT did get released, however only about 200 were ever purchased.

[congo]

That's an awesome case mod bschott, I'd be proud too, nice documentation as well. I love the "production" pics.

Please stop it though as I'm getting ideas for my old cases now...........

[ctjoyce]

Want some cool ideas? Go to www.kustompcs.co.uk The guys over there arnt doing anything but modding.