"The Cube"

A 10-inch Transparent Acrylic Cube Computer:
Prototype for a "Crystal PC" Computer Case Design Inspired by"Orac"

"The Cube"

Orac was the name of the artificial intelligence computer in the British Sci-Fi series Blakes 7.

This computer was developed as a prototype for a case design project and as a possible element of a video sculpture.

The computer consists of a 10-inch clear acrylic cube, with an 6-inch clear acrylic cube on the inside acting as the “cage”. The cage hold the power supply, hard drive, CD/DVD player, and a Matrix Orbital fluorescent display. It used an Intel motherboard with a 1.2 Gigahertz Intel Pentium processor. (The motherboard can be swapped out for any Flex-ATX design, or a Micro-ATX that is less than 9.6 inches wide). It has 3 usable PCI slots.

Not only is the design of this object- d’art beautifully intriguing in its icy glowing crystalline futuristic technological appearance, but it is also painstakingly engineered to be functional. Two (LED-lit) fans suck air through four sets of ventilation holes, carefully designed to help cool the power supply, memory, CPU, hard drive and DVD player.

The computer was also engineered to be quiet. For example, the CPU fan is a radial design from Quiet PC of Canada. The Hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda IV, the quietest drive available in the industry.

The Pioneer DVD drive is slot-loading, and sits behind a polished slot in the front of the case. The green access LED light on the DVD drive was replaced with a tiny bright white LED.

The blue LED-lit cube on the lower left is the power light. The teal colored LED-lit cube on the right is the hard drive light, which flashes with access activity.

In the most recent incarnation of this machine/sculpture, the power supply in the center cage was replaced with a fanless power supply from TK Power and put up at the top of the case, where the hard drive floated. The hard drive was moved down below the DVD drive. Vent holes were added in front of the new power supply along the top front of the case. This was done in order to provide better cooling for the DVD drive, and so that the hottest component—the power supply—is at the top of the enclosure (since hot air rises).

The Matrix Orbital fluorescent display can be made to read out whatever one programs or enters into a software program, or read out things like CPU temperature, fan speed, the time, web addresses, etc. Lots of geek appeal!

The top of the case is hinged, alllowing easy access to the interior.

The Future: My next project will involve using a ITX form-factor motherboard, which will allow a much more compact design. This unit will then be used as the digital video driver for the "Flow" sculpture.