This case was built for the Comic Challenge. It is based off of the band Coheed and Cambria’s graphic novel that includes the Amory Wars, Second Stage Turbine Blade, and Good Apollo. I love the band and I also love the comics.

To start out with, I used a Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 chassis, sponsored by the great guys over at Cooler Master. Cooler Master also sponsored one of their 1000 watt Modular power supplies and Corsair sponsored 2gb of DDR3 memory Another huge help for this project was AC Ryan who graciously donated all of the aluminum for this project. First off, here is the spec list:

Processor: Intel Core2Extreme QX9650
Videocard: Zotac 8800GTS 512
Motherboard: Asus Maximus Extreme
Memory: 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR3
Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Soundcard: Asus Xonar D2
Power Supply: Cooler Master 1000w Modular

I started out by tracing and cutting out the main symbol of the comic

Then I traced and cut out a new top panel out of aluminum to replace the plastic one (note the Italian safety glasses)

Then I got the two main characters ready for engraving by tracing them onto the panels with carbon paper. After that, I used a diamond dremel to engrave the characters and then I highlighted the engraving with black to make it pop out.

And then I cut out red acrylic to go behind the two cut-outs.

Then I got to work on the front panel. I chose to go with two more of their symbols and the words “Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops” which is one of my favorite lines of theirs.

To get the words on there, I masked out the area and then cut the letters out individually and then sprayed them with a couple light coats.

I also repeated this process on the inside of the case.

These are the final case shots:

Tribal Eclipse is a case mod that has many great and unique features. Here are some of the features:

1.Heat Activated Color Changing Paint – This is the most dramatic aspect of the case. The ability for it to change color based on heat. The paint will change color around 75F. The case will change from black to candy apple red.

2.Dual Scissor Doors – Both side panel on Tribal Eclipse can swing up in the open position. This is similar to the way car doors open on exotic sports cars. The window was cut with a tribal pattern to tie with the case theme. This also allows for the interior of the case to be accessed without having to completely removing the side panel.

3.Top Panel Tribal Design – The main tribal design for this case is located on the top panel. This tribal design was used to build and develop all the other tribal accents and features on this case. The top panel was hand cut using a dremel. Once the design was cut and painted, a Red UV Acrylic was added.

4.Front Panel Lift and LCD – The original front panel was cut in half and mounted on friction hinges along with a fully functional LCD Display, which serves as a secondary monitor. When the front panel is down, all the drives are hidden, and revealed when the door is raised.

5.Power Supply Mod – The CoolerMaster 550 Powersupply was modded to follow the case theme. Custom windows were cut from aluminum to match the theme of the case. The side of the powersupply has the Tribal Images, along with the title of the case. The PSU is lit by the 120mm BLUE LED fan, which ties to the lighting scheme for the case.

6.Lighting – Blue LED Lights were used to offset the Red of the case and follow the eclipse theme, since red and blue are on opposite spectrum. The Blue provided a nice glow to the interior of the case. The lighting were provided by only the fans. No CCFL tubes were used in the case at all. A total of 4 Blue LED Fans were used (80mm Intake, 120mm Exhaust, 120mm PowerSupply, and 100mm Heatsink.

Specs:

Processor: Intel 630 (3.2Ghz) @ 4.2Ghz
Motherboard: Abit AW8
Ram: 2GB (2×1GB) Geil DDR2
Video Card: eVGA 7800GT CO
Hard Drive: (2) 74GB Western Digital Raptors Raid 0
PowerSupply: 550watt CooleMaster Real Power
Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5