Welcome to my site. I am Big Al and my hobby is case modding. I've been doing this since I built my first computer back in 2000. Previous to that I owned several "normal" computers, starting with an Osborne Executive in 1983, and then a few Pentium computers by Packard Bell and Compaq. Case modding, if you've never tried it, is a blast. The basic steps aren't all that difficult, but when you take case modding to the next level it will become a big deal. I'm somewhere in-between those levels, and what I have on display below depicts my handiwork, from my most popular "Semper Fidelis" project to the original "Globe of Retribution" machine.
To help out my friends and to support the community, I have done reviews on products and services offered to consumers, mostly via the Internet.
You can find most of my reviews at FastLaneHW and Velocity Reviews.
If you need to contact me, please send an e-mail to:
Custom Motorcycles 2008 (exe) Custom Motorcycles 2008 (zip)
MountainFest 2008 (exe) MountainFest 2008 (zip)
Ride of the Patriots 2008 (exe) Ride of the Patriots 2008 (zip)
MountainFest 2007 (exe) MountainFest 2007 (zip)
Ride of the Patriots - Rolling Thunder 2006 (exe)
Ride of the Patriots - Rolling Thunder 2006 (zipped)
U.S. Botanic Gardens "Orchids in an Art Deco Garden (exe)"
U. S. Botanic Gardens "Orchids in an Art Deco Garden (zipped)"
Philadelphia Flower Show (exe)
Philadelphia Flower Show (zipped)
Infinity Customs Think Computers Fast Lane Hardware Velocity Reviews Pro-Clockers The Mod Nation
Now we did have one minor problem. We tripped a circuit breaker on one of the circuits supplying juice to the machines in the basement. The circuit can only handle 15 Amps but only half of the machines down there were on that circuit. We turned off a few lights and powered the machines back on with minimal downtime. Overall it's hard to say who came out on top, but if you look at the picture of Sharaz, he's showing a 7-kill streak in Call-of-Duty-4 - that's pretty good. Of course, he's on our newest machine, an AMD Phenom II Quad Core with an Radeon 4870 graphics card.
* AMD Quad-Core Gaming Machine has found it's theme. This machine is called "chopper" because I mounted a picture of my chopper (including a few Hooter Girls for good measure) on the backside of the motherboard. I started this project in early March 2009 and ordered the remaining big parts (motherboard, video card, etc.) on 14 March. I built this machine for powerful gaming but for now I started with just one video card, the Radeon 4870 with 1GB of memory on the card. The system is capable of cross-fire support, so I can add a second card later. It has the mother of all heatsinks, the Zalman 9900 - which is even bigger than the Zalman 9700. I have a 1 TB WD black edition hard drive. I have 2 optical DVD burners. I have a CoolerMaster case. There is 4 GB of DDR2 RAM so Windows Vista 64-bit edition has plenty to play with and of course I'm running the top of the line AMD 940 Quad-Core Phenom II black edition. Overclocking is expected, naturally, but not until later when I feel I need more power. This machine is running most excellently right now at stock settings. Below are a few pictures of the assembly. Oh, the new monitor is a 25" LCD - is that big enough for gaming?
Last Build: AVP Requiem Gaming Machine
* AVP Requiem is a movie-theme case that's based on the 2007 release of the Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem movie. This project was a 2007 holiday build that was mostly finished before the start of 2008 - the hardware was complete but the painting took a bit longer - as in 3-4 months longer! Check out some pictures below, and for more details, follow this Mod Nation forum link where I have my work log.
Old News: Gaming Power Upgrade for OsbornAgain
* OsbornAgain received a videocard infusion, gaining an eVGA Geforce 8800 GT Super Clock card after I extracted the older BFG 7800 GT Over Clock card. The new card fit easily into the PCI-e slot and now there is plenty of clearance between the VGA cooler and the nearby optical drive. Check out the pictures below.
* Scan-a-Tron has been included in CPU Magazine's Mad Reader Mod article in the October 2007 issue. Also, PC Magazine's on-line ExtremeTech Build It / Case Mod department has a custom review of Scan-a-Tron.
AMD Athon 64 X2 3800+, eVGA 8800 GT Super Clock and 2 GB of tasty DDR2 RAM
This project is almost complete; it's up and running with a mid-level videocard (MSI 8600 GTS OC). The case mods were built for a great Marine and good friend of our family - Lt. Col Greg Davis. The modded case was presented to him on his 50th birthday (late April 2007), and now we are awaiting final funding for either one or two videocards - perhaps one or two nVidia Geforce 8800 GTs. Money is tight, just like it is with the government due to the war effort. Stay tuned for updates this holiday season as Greg wants to have the machine completed before the year is over.
If you click on the link found in the title for this project, you will be taken to The Mod Nation forums, which is a very well respected forum site for computer modders like myself. You will be in the link for this project worklog, and there are plenty of additional pictures there to look at.
Scan-a-Tron is fabricated from an HP ScanJet 6100C Scanner, an HP Pavilion ze4145 Laptop, and a custom Laser-Etched Window Made by Hyperkore Computers.
Scan-a-Tron has been included in CPU Magazine's Mad Reader Mod article in the October 2007 issue. You can also see Scan-a-Tron on ExtremeTech here!
Download the build history of Scan-a-Tron here.
AMD Athon FX62 (2.8Gz dual-core), dual eVGA 7900 GT's in SLI on an Asus Crosshair motherboard
Upgrading bottom motherboard in "Printer-to-Computer-Deja-Vu" machine.
Vista Beta 2 Upgrade for the Printer-to-Computer
Color scheme change and some new parts for the Globe of Retribution
Laser-etched window in Sun X-Terminal keyboard
Antec VCool Device Product Review
Hyperkore Laser-Etched Window Review
Cooler Master AeroGate 1 Review
HyperKore HK-Xtreme Gaming System Review
OsbornAgain was developed from the original Osborne Executive CPM computer (circa 1983).
Velocity Reviews Forum link: here.
Big Al himself gets interviewed on 01-26-06 by Extreme Tech! Here's the link.
Download Extreme Tech's interview, without pictures here.
Sun X-Terminal Mod
Maximum PC Magazine Forum link: here.
Download the build history of the Sun X-Terminal Mod here.
Printer-to-Computer
Winner of Maximum PC "Rig of the Month" (ROTM) in February 2005 issue!
Download the build history of the printer-to-computer here.
Printer-to-Computer-Deja-Vu
Winner of PC Extreme magazine "Mod of the Month" in issue 26!
Winner of Bawl's Hot Mod "Out of the Box" contest in February 2005!
Download the build history of the printer-to-computer-deja-vu here.
Thanks for stopping by!