[gvblake22]

This was my 1st mod project and it turned into a whole computer case/cooling overhaul but I am very satisfied with the result. I went in as a n00b and came out of the project as only slightly less than a n00b .
This project includes:
-Side window with chrome trim
-UV lighting with UV cables and sleeved wires
-regular and UV LED fans
-Front intake fan
-custom fan controller/rheostat for front and rear fans
-custom RAMsinks on video card (made from a stock AMD heatsink)
-custom black AMD sticker on front of case

This was the original case but in a black and silver color that they don't make anymore.

PICS below!

[gvblake22]

All criticism (good or bad) is welcome along with any suggestions or ideas for additional future mods! And I'll put more/better pics up upon request.

[-Superman]

for somereason on pic11 , i dont like the front light.

i like the wiremanagement, it looks twisted and **** all cool looking.

what was the original case looking like ?

[Drec]

nice that looks slick as hell and you gotta love the AMD sticker on the front.!

[Yuriman]

Looks good to me, except the paint. Did you paint it? I suggest you sand it down and do it again. Primer I find optional for most cases(pun intended). With my XPC I just sanded, put on a color coat and then a gloss coat. All purdy now.

[DarkDraco]

i like the colors. good job

[radium]

Nice, it's way better than I could ever do for my first mod.

(This comp in my sig has yet to come, then I'll make it say uncle!)

[gvblake22]

Thanks for the input. I didn't paint the case actually, those are the colors that it originally came in. The paint on the window side is kinda messed up from moving it around on the work bench a bunch, and it looks AWFUL in pic 21... There is a link in my fist post to the original case. They picture a beige and a blue one but I bought mine last year and they had the black and silver one that I got (still looks the same though).

And about the front light, it was a pretty shabby job, I didn't really know how I was gonna do it and I just tried something really quick to see how it would work and I just left it so there is some cracks and stuff that don't look quite right.

[El-Scotto]

uber that is nice looking, good job!!!

[Cetamega]

I don't like it that much, but I like the clean, sophisticated look. Lots of metal, no wires, one central cooler scheme. Like a silver, or blue, not a UV pruple or orange. I always loved Scandio's Coolermaster case. It was perfect.

But if this is the case I think you started with, you did a very good job transforming it into something better. If you like it is the only thing that matters.

[Cyrix_2k]

The UV wires look AWESOME!!! Don't really like the paint on the case though, but that's no biggy. I also would've done something different for the front of the case.

[daniel_dynasty]

all i can say is WOW for a first tymer and a pro. the heat sinks are just cut in half and are HUGE!!!!!!!! isnt that a lot of weight on ur card?

[termin@tor]

wow, you made something fugly look aweseme. Good job!

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by daniel_dynasty

all i can say is WOW for a first tymer and a pro. the heat sinks are just cut in half and are HUGE!!!!!!!! isnt that a lot of weight on ur card?

Haha, the heatsinks are not really that heavy, they're just cheap aluminum, the VGA Silencer weighs MUCH more than those heatsinks on the other side. They probably are bigger than they need to be but I decided I didn't want to cut them for like the 6th time and they make a mid range card look kinda bad-ass [laf]; seems to be ok so far...

And thanks for the compliments! I really spent a lot of time on it trying to make it look good; and yeah, the one thing that is not up to par is infact the paint job but its what I could do with my limited time/money/painting skill. It's not as noticeable in normal light so I'm not too worried for now. Guess ya can't be perfect your first time around!

-->So what should I try next?

[mould_jesus]

i'm likin that AMD sticker. how 'bout something on how you mounted those custom VGA sinks? i'm trying to upgrade my video chip and ram sinks, and i have unlimited pentium 1, 2, and 3 heatsinks and fans at my disposal. i can easily cut and mod them to fit, but i need a way to mount them. nice looking case. the lights are the best part. and i like the way you have the fans mounted. the paint job is a bit cheap looking so it takes away from the appearance with the lights on, but who wants to use a box like that in a fully lighted room? i don't! i would turn off all the lights so i can see that badass mod job if i had that case.

hahaha. nice job.

[shard]

that front of the Case is smiling at me! hehe, on the front get rid of the fan grill and get something a little more symetrical, that is what is bothering me, it just doesnt fit. and make it not chrome.
oh and light up the smily face front

[Narcissus]

The "smiley face" front is a seperate piece of plastic that doesn't go all the way through the silver stuff - only a couple of points that are then glued on the inside.
Oh, and the front (can't really see from the pix) does this really wierd inward curve a little below the smiley, then pushes out again on the sides, but not on the bottom in the middle ... ... I'm an English major, and I cannot describe the contours with words, put it that way.

I have the same case, can you tell?

The smiley region is nearly impossible to dremmel with any real control - not only does it warp and curve, but the plastic is cheap and changes thicknesses for no discernable reason.

Without slicing open the front somehow, there is no intake on the front of the case. Oh, there is a spot for an 80mm fan behind the smiley, but no place for it to pull air from.

GVBLAKE22: nicely done job. If your comp. is in a safe place (and you don't mind the way this will look), take off the top, remove that V-shaped grille thing, and replace it with 1/4-inch wire mesh from your hardware store - nearly-instant blowhole. You cannot put a fan there, however, without sacrificing your top 5&1/4-inch slot.

That all said: mine's so blasted ugly that, even if I had a camera, I still wouldn't post pics. Seriously.

Oh, and thanks for starting this post. I bought my case from some discount store, and have had it for 9 months now, with no idea who made the case, as there are no manufacturer marks/serial numbers on it anywhere.

[PHILIP1193]

yea very tidy mate and i have to agree they are HUGH!!!! heat sink (or is that an understatement) o well nice job mate lots of colour although that top grill need cutting out and have a mesh put over it for better air flow

Phil

[gvblake22]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Originally Posted by mould_jesus

i'm likin that AMD sticker. how 'bout something on how you mounted those custom VGA sinks? i'm trying to upgrade my video chip and ram sinks, and i have unlimited pentium 1, 2, and 3 heatsinks and fans at my disposal. i can easily cut and mod them to fit, but i need a way to mount them. nice looking case. the lights are the best part. and i like the way you have the fans mounted. the paint job is a bit cheap looking so it takes away from the appearance with the lights on, but who wants to use a box like that in a fully lighted room? i don't! i would turn off all the lights so i can see that badass mod job if i had that case.

hahaha. nice job.

Yeah, I didn't paint it actaully, thats how it came stock

I used Arctic Alumina thermal adhesive to bond the "HUGH!!!" heatsinks to the RAM chips on the video card. Pretty easy actaully if you just follow the instructions, but when they say to use it in a well ventillated area, they're NOT joking! I got such a headache after using that stuff!! SERIOUSLY, be careful (unless you don't like your brain cells).

Originally Posted by Narcissus

GVBLAKE22: nicely done job. If your comp. is in a safe place (and you don't mind the way this will look), take off the top, remove that V-shaped grille thing, and replace it with 1/4-inch wire mesh from your hardware store - nearly-instant blowhole. You cannot put a fan there, however, without sacrificing your top 5&1/4-inch slot.

That all said: mine's so blasted ugly that, even if I had a camera, I still wouldn't post pics. Seriously.

Oh, and thanks for starting this post. I bought my case from some discount store, and have had it for 9 months now, with no idea who made the case, as there are no manufacturer marks/serial numbers on it anywhere.

Narcissus,
I tried to get the top "V-grill" thing out and put mesh in there like you said but I can't seem to figure out how to get the panels apart from eachother. I can't get the front apart or seperated from the top panel, which I can't seem to seperate from the back.
Can you give me some tips on how I can get this sucka apart?!

[Narcissus]

Heh, it is a PITA, isn't it?

Umm... to be honest, I'm not certain at the moment...

Gimme an hour or so to take it apart and write down how I did it (it's the machine I'm using right now, so that's why the delay).
Posties later.
~N

[honhon]

i like the way your whole project lights up, looks great!

[Narcissus]

Okay, here we go. Bit longer than an hour, sorry; I just moved, and couldn't find a freaking screwdriver.

1. Take both sides off.

2. Remove the two screws located at the top of the case, just behind the front panel, one on each side, just above the tabs that hold the front on.

3. I had to remove my 5.25" drives, as their faceplates were trapping the front - you might, might not have to. Might need to remove the floppy drive as well.

4. Tilt the entire case back 90° (so the power supply is touching the ground) and pop the tabs that hold the front cover on, starting with the two close to the bottom of the case. Pull the case front down and forward (this is why you had to tip it), rotating around the point where the face and top join. You should be able to do this without forcing it. Your case front is now free. Rotate the box back to its standard operating position.

5. Remove the screws holding the top on - 2 large ones on the back of the case, one smaller on the side where your window sits, three small on the mobo backplate side. Then, there are two small ones under the overhanging bit on the front, which were covered by the front - remove these, also.

6. There are two screws located on the underside of the case top - remove them. The bottom half of the two top pieces (the metal one, not the plastic) can now slide forward against the top half (the plastic one), and then be seperated. The holes that the slider-tabs sit in might also have your motherboard-to-casefront wires running through them, so don't rush it and sever them.

7. You might need to remove the screws holding the v-shaped vent plate in place before sliding the top two pieces free, I don't recall. If you didn't need to, they need to come off now.

Be careful with your case when it has the top removed. As you've likely noticed, it isn't made of the best grade of steel, and the top is the only thing that holds the front and back halves together, at the top - no PSU guiderails here.

All yours.
~N.

[stratcatprowlin]

I like the drive bay front intake Idea.Must be great for case tempsI will one day get around to doing that on mine.

[Ziggey]

I like it. Great job for a 1st mod.
Is that a molex connector hanging out the back in that first pic?

[rhino56]

WOW!! that looks cool

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Ziggey

Is that a molex connector hanging out the back in that first pic?

Haha, yeah, it is. My Antec PSU has a 4-pin molex connection on the back of it (where the on/off switch is) so thats where I plugged in one of my little UV CC lights so it wouldn't clutter the inside of the already tight case


And to you Narcissus, WOW!!! Those are some impressive steps to gettin' this thing apart. I'll print 'em out and arm myself with a screw driver and A LOT of time and see what I can accomplish! THANKS

[magick_man]

the only thing i see is in pic 28 everything looks really dusty. maybe it is just me
but besides that (oh yeah and the whole amd thing )it is looking pretty sweet

[BroncoBob]

Sweet job! I really like the unique window design.

[someoneElse]

Sorry to go a bit off topic, but would you happen to know the manufacturer of that case? It looks very similar to the 'free after rebates' case currently making the rounds from Soyo, with cheesy but usable matching keyboard, mouse, and speakers all emblazoned with the soyo logo.

If that information appears in this thread and I missed it, feel free the smack me...


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=S450-4010 for those that want to know.

The rebates seem to be going in and out in a cycling pattern, so keep an eye out and they'll be back up. Also the case is slightly different, and is actually This case.

[Sentential]

Looks great. I like the RAM sinks on the 9800 alot. Kinda reminds me of mine