I *had* my dream MDD for years, a dual 1.42 transplanted into a 166MHz bus FW400 case, GeForce Ti 4600 128MB video, serial card, video encoder, lots of fast drives. It was always too hot and I worried about it constantly, and it finally died, years after I expected it to. Fortunately, MDDs are much cheaper now than when I cobbled mine together, and I still have lots of parts.
First thing to deal with is that I absolutely need to recase. For a stock MDD the case is great, easy to work on... But my VGA cooler meant that I needed to hack my optical drive cage, and when stuffed with big peripheral cards and hard drives, the air flow is not adequate anymore. I have an extra interior steel case for MDD, and I am shopping around for a very large case to build in. I guess I'd need to go with either extended BTX, or an ATX which I can retool. So basically I need to graft the back of an MDD case onto something off-the-shelf. The MDD board has a funky shape and will need custom standoffs, also a support structure for full-size AGP and PCI cards.
Second thing is that having extra room, and knowing that 1. MDD supplies are not known for reliability 2. I installed a lot of stuff in mine - that I am going to refit an ATX supply for mine, at least 500 Watts. Electrically this is no big deal, and I can make extra regulators for full compatability with studio display or whatever.
Thirdly, it is going to be liquid cooled. Another reason for a bigger case. I have never gone the liquid route before, but if any box I have had cried out for one, it is MDD. No more cooking my lunch in it, nor listening to my windtunnel mac. This should mean that I can run a full 1.42 dual without it killing itself.
Anybody out there succeed in re-casing an MDD? I have searched the net and not seen much info out there. I love the original case but I need a high-reliability, quiet studio machine for audio and video work which can last me forever. I will always use OS 9 in my studio because of my investment in old hardware and software. Much of it I cannot afford to upgrade, and some of the stuff was never ported to X nor Intel. My Korg Oasys PCI and Synthkit setup is worth it alone. Another cool thing about recasing is that I can tool dedicated ports into the chassis which I didn't have room to do before. Instead of flimsy cable dongles and adaptors these things are going to be built into the case: ADB adaptor, 1/4' audio jacks, 1in-1 out basic MIDI for portable use.
Practical work so far has been measuring my MDD door and back panel. I am tentatively looking towards a big Thermaltake LCS case and supply. I built a computer for my wife a while back with their stuff and the quality seemed adequate. I ordered a Spirica liquid cooling adaptor and am looking for a compatable VGA block. Basically, once I retool a case, the rest of the project is downhill.
First thing to deal with is that I absolutely need to recase. For a stock MDD the case is great, easy to work on... But my VGA cooler meant that I needed to hack my optical drive cage, and when stuffed with big peripheral cards and hard drives, the air flow is not adequate anymore. I have an extra interior steel case for MDD, and I am shopping around for a very large case to build in. I guess I'd need to go with either extended BTX, or an ATX which I can retool. So basically I need to graft the back of an MDD case onto something off-the-shelf. The MDD board has a funky shape and will need custom standoffs, also a support structure for full-size AGP and PCI cards.
Second thing is that having extra room, and knowing that 1. MDD supplies are not known for reliability 2. I installed a lot of stuff in mine - that I am going to refit an ATX supply for mine, at least 500 Watts. Electrically this is no big deal, and I can make extra regulators for full compatability with studio display or whatever.
Thirdly, it is going to be liquid cooled. Another reason for a bigger case. I have never gone the liquid route before, but if any box I have had cried out for one, it is MDD. No more cooking my lunch in it, nor listening to my windtunnel mac. This should mean that I can run a full 1.42 dual without it killing itself.
Anybody out there succeed in re-casing an MDD? I have searched the net and not seen much info out there. I love the original case but I need a high-reliability, quiet studio machine for audio and video work which can last me forever. I will always use OS 9 in my studio because of my investment in old hardware and software. Much of it I cannot afford to upgrade, and some of the stuff was never ported to X nor Intel. My Korg Oasys PCI and Synthkit setup is worth it alone. Another cool thing about recasing is that I can tool dedicated ports into the chassis which I didn't have room to do before. Instead of flimsy cable dongles and adaptors these things are going to be built into the case: ADB adaptor, 1/4' audio jacks, 1in-1 out basic MIDI for portable use.
Practical work so far has been measuring my MDD door and back panel. I am tentatively looking towards a big Thermaltake LCS case and supply. I built a computer for my wife a while back with their stuff and the quality seemed adequate. I ordered a Spirica liquid cooling adaptor and am looking for a compatable VGA block. Basically, once I retool a case, the rest of the project is downhill.
