Modding my Antec P160... lotsa pix ;)

After getting my P160 in the mail a few weeks ago, I was overjoyed – this is a great case, and quite a step up from my old 20 dollar steel behemoth (though I still hold a fondness for the old bugger)… Anyway, the first thing I did when I got the case was to install two 120mm Evercool Aluminum fans, as well as a fan controller to have things cranked up only when I needed it. It wasn’t long before I found out that this “silent” case wasn’t intended for really high CFM fans… the air turbulence noise through the fan grills and vent-hole mesh was extraordinary when I cranked everything up… Not unbearable, to be sure, but not as silent as I’d hoped…

Naturally, this led to me cutting up the P160 to lower the noise, and the results look and perform better than I expected… here’s how I did it:

First, here's a picture of the restrictive frontside grill:


This sucker was causing a lot of turbulence noise, and I don’t even know WHY case companies put grills on frontside fans that are covered up by bezels in the first place… so it definitely had to go!

Next, this is the backside grill… as you can see, it’s a lot less restrictive, and basically caused no turbulence noise with the low RPM stock fan… However, with an Evercool Aluminum back there, the whooshage was definitely present! So it would have to go as well:


Frankly, I found this honeycomb pattern to be quite aesthetically pleasing, and so it was with reluctance that I cut it out, but the end result looks great too, and is much quieter, so I’d recommend it to anyone!

Now for the step-by-step:
First off, I took EVERYTHING out of my case… aluminum dust/flakes do NOT mix well with any computer components, so don’t get lazy here:


Aluminum shards also don’t go well with bedsheets that you sleep on, so take it outside!


... check out that stealthy ninja photgraphy in action ^^ can't even tell i'm there!!

My weapon of choice: a cordless dremel with a fiberglass-reinforced cutting wheel attached to the mandrel.


Now, a bit on technique, before we get started. Dremels (and other rotary tools) are, by their very nature, really fun to use – they’re noisy, they cut through all kinds of stuff, and you can hurt yourself in a variety of ways with them, which adds to the adrenaline induced by the Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzrrrrrrrrrrrrrr they emit while slicing and dicing your stuff… As a result of this inherent fun-ness, it’s easy for even the most easygoing and timid computer geeks to go crazy and do a rushed, sloppy job using a dremel, because of the temptation to grind through things as quickly and loudly as you can, for the sheer thrill of it.

Because of this, I recommend that you
A) try out a dremel on some scrap steel/aluminum sheeting (or an old case) if you haven’t done this yet, to get that initial rush out of your system (and to get a good idea of how to handle a dremel), and
B) TAKE YOUR TIME!!! Practice a little self-restraint and patience, and the end results will show it

When cutting and grinding with a dremel, USE BOTH HANDS. Yes, it may be a small tool compared to a chainsaw, but nobody is going to get the best results controlling their dremel with one hand. If you’re right handed, use your left hand to brace/support the bottom of the dremel (near the battery pack/cord), and your right hand as close to the mandrel as is allowed by the space you’re working in, for the best control.

Go slow! Rushing always equals bad cuts, mars on the surrounding finish, and injuries in the long run. Also, use only as much pressure as is necessary to make a cut… any more gives you a smaller window of opportunity to restart a bad cut.

Alright, now that my technique rant is over, let’s get back to my case cutting )

I started with the front grill, seeing as it looked like an easier job…. Here’s a pic of my first line of cuts. Notice the half-way done cut on the top right corner… As you can see, a very straight, clean cut is entirely possible if you take your time!


This basically continued until the grill fell out of the front wall:

You might think now that that’s all there is to it, but let’s take a closer look at the cut edges:


As you can see, there are some sharp remnants from the grill still on the edges, and the corners are rather pokey as well… next stop is an aluminum oxide grinding wheel (the orange dremel ones... use a low speed) to round off the corners and smooth the edges:

This is an important step not only for the future protection of your digits, but also for consideration of turbulence noise – the rushing air won’t whoosh as much over smoothed edges and rounded corners.

Next comes the backside grill:


At first, I thought I’d be artistic/creative and try to make a repeating pattern out of the honeycomb to lessen turbulence noise and retain some of the cool looks of the original, like so:
Unfortunately, while it looks neat, I found this grill pattern will dice up your fingers faster than knife if you aren’t looking (it’s impossible to fit the grinding wheel in all the nooks and crannies of this pattern), and besides it wasn’t very structurally sound (you could bend in w/ your pinky…)

So I scrapped that idea eventually and just took the whole thing off:

As you can see, I rounded the edges where the grill connected to the rest of the case wall, They’re quite smooth, and I can easily run my fingers across the cut w/o any scratching!

EDIT: I'd like to throw in that if you're handy with a file, that's another great way to clean up cuts like this and round edges, albeit a bit slower than w/ a dremel ^^

So then I put everything back together, and I can give you some real “after” shots:


Here’s a closeup of what it looks like:

FRONTSIDE:

spinning…


BACKSIDE:

here you can see a close-up of the rounding I did on the backside:


With everything back in the case:

After turning everything back on and gaming for awhile, I noticed I was still getting some definitely noticeable whooshage coming from the frontside fan… A quick slap on the forehead later, I remembered n3xu5’s lecture on how stinky the stock black mesh was (check out his P160 fan mod here).

So I just popped off the bezel, and then popped off the grill… easy as pie:


I might note that even without ANY mesh, the P60 looks quite sharp, and so I left it that way (plus it’s real easy to see if I need to clean the filter now!):



**EDIT** I'd like to add that it isn't this opaque if you aren't looking at the grills head on like this... it's definitely a more "solid black" when you're looking down/up at the grills from your desk chair

On a side note, a few people have been asking how my sunbeam rheobus fan controller looks on my P160, so here’s a few glamour shots to give you all an idea (matches great, IMHO):


Well that’s about it! If you’ve got any questions, comments, feel free to post em’ here! I happen to own a digicam (unlike the multitude of others here that borrow one), so if you need additional pics of something let me know and I’ll eventually get around to it .

PS: I’d like to give a big hats off to n3xu5, whose P160 fan mod thread got me motivated to do this in the first place… Thanks also to Hookem, whose debate with me over the best 120mm fan led to me acquiring two of these hurricane wind inducing evercools!

Happy modding!

~Chixofnix

**EDIT: you can see these, and many more pics of this process and my current setup on my website: here ... feel free to leave a comment on the frontpage if you've got a minute

Great Mod!!! Thanks for putting up that Sunbeam Picture. Also did your noise level drop alot after doing the mod to the front and the back? Im thinking about doing the front mod and was just wondering if the noise level dropped considerably. Thanks. Great looking case you got there and the sunbeam is pretty nice too.

Nice job on the case hacking. Looks good with the fan controller and your own personal little touches - I'm like you... I could buy the most expensive case there was and it's still not good enough till you hack on it just a *tad* It's your own little touch...

Great work man

I have been following your posts - as we have the same case, fans, and interests in mind.

I will be doing the same as you - plus adding a top blowhole, and a side blowhole - soon as I can borrow a few tools. I already have the fans ready to go....adding another evercool up top, and a clear Antec 120 on the side.

On a side note, I just added OCZ ramsinks to my 9800 Pro, and it dropped my vid card temps a bit - and allowed me to up my card OC. I use AS5 epoxy - loving it.

Keep up the modding on the P160 - I need ideas and inspiration - and ill also post my mods soon as I aquire the tools and a camera.

brisk said:

Great Mod!!! Thanks for putting up that Sunbeam Picture. Also did your noise level drop alot after doing the mod to the front and the back? Im thinking about doing the front mod and was just wondering if the noise level dropped considerably. Thanks. Great looking case you got there and the sunbeam is pretty nice too.

Click to expand...

I can't believe i forgot this !! Thanks for pointing that out:

YES! this mod knocked my noise levels down TREMENDOUSLY...

In particular, I think taking the frontside mesh and grill did more to relieve turbulance noise than the back, but that's probably because the front sits closer to my face than the back (my compy sits on a desk right beside my monitor). Still, taking out the back grill took a significant bite out of the turbulance as well, so I'd recommend both... if you don't have any kittens/critters in the house poking at the backside of your case.

Thanks for all the postive commentary! If you've got any other questions or comments, feel free to throw em' at me!

i got this antec case too, mine got the acrylic window though. nice mod man.

Job on that front fan grill looks great, as does the rest of it

Lookin really good. I need to do the same thing to meh Super-Lanboy

Man, aluminium fans looks sweet. Damn, should've gotten one of those

I'm running 3 case fans (80mm) now and my case temps are so close to ambient, I don't think I'll be getting more. But I'll definently to that front mod and maybe the back (and replace it with a fanguard).

By the way, did you cover that back fan with anything? Could be potentially dangerous, if you have somebody (like your mother or wife, or some woman) trying to move it while cleaning.

Mosh said:

Man, aluminium fans looks sweet. Damn, should've gotten one of those

I'm running 3 case fans (80mm) now and my case temps are so close to ambient, I don't think I'll be getting more. But I'll definently to that front mod and maybe the back (and replace it with a fanguard).

By the way, did you cover that back fan with anything? Could be potentially dangerous, if you have somebody (like your mother or wife, or some woman) trying to move it while cleaning.

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yeah these evercool aluminums seem like they were MADE for this case, eh?

I could very easily mount a 120mm fan guard in the future if i needed to. If i did i'd get the silvery chromed wire type.... cheap but little restriction / mucho rounded edges... but since I've warned my girlfriend, I think it'll be alright for the moment - no small pets or curious kids running around this house ...

even then, it's mounted as an exhaust, so i figure misguided fingertips will just be knocked out, since the sharp edge of the fan blades is on the intake side (though I can attest that it DOES sting...)! Overall, I'd say it's not too dangerous, however. in fact, when the fan is off this happens to give me a good handle for hauling this case around, which'll be nice at this rig's first LAN(whenever that may be...)!

oh noes a cordless dremel!
the horror!

"You just pimped your ride!"


Heh

Seriously though very sweet mod man, it looks very slick.

For the future though, stealth thoes CD drives.

"You just uber-pimped your ride!'

-=Ambush=- said:

"You just pimped your ride!"


Heh

Seriously though very sweet mod man, it looks very slick.

For the future though, stealth thoes CD drives.

"You just uber-pimped your ride!'

Click to expand...

thanks! but, eh, they ARE stealthed... aren't they? here's another pic:

DRxAndy said:

oh noes a cordless dremel!
the horror!

Click to expand...

hehe... it's not so bad once you've got a spare battery to charge while you drain the other... though i might recommend a corded one to anybody considering buying a dremel - if the hassle would bother you a lot... and to be honest it does bother me a lot at times

Chixofnix said:

thanks! but, eh, they ARE stealthed... aren't they? here's another pic:

Click to expand...

Well its not really stealthed in the terms of a modders lexicon. It more like when you can tell there are drives there at all. See this artical to see what I mean.

hehe... it's not so bad once you've got a spare battery to charge while you drain the other... though i might recommend a corded one to anybody considering buying a dremel - if the hassle would bother you a lot...

Click to expand...

Yeah but you can't get 30,000RPMs with a cordless.....


Mmmm....power!