[Jandre]

Im typing this on my itouch so please exscuse spelling aswell as lack of pictures etc.

I have a cm 690 ii......
I have all the tools and pieces to assemble a window mod aswell as an idea of measurements for the sidepanel.
The one thing i am paranoid about though is the inner side of the sidepanel. Can someone with some exprrience with this case as far as window modding goes tell me where the limits are for cutting so i can stoll put the sidepanel on aswell as resting the plexiglass?

Sorry for the yucky post and lack of pictures, later or tommorow i will go more indepth but for now if maybe some people can start posting so i know what to look out for then i can start working ahead of time and show some design ideas and see if they work or not.

Cheers,
Jan

[Jandre]

Alright, I'm back on my computer ).

Here are the pics of my case/sidepanel. The main thing that I am concerned about is if I make a window I will have to cut between the mesh and the bar after the mesh. But I'm wondering if anyone has ever done this or can give some tips on how to do this without making it so hard to rest plexiglass on the inside of the panel. Can I also just cut the bar away? I don't think it's 100% vital to have it when placing the sidepanel on, I still will have the bottom one. Any insight/help/tips are much appreciated!

[eltocliousus]

Did you end up doing this? I've also got a CM 690 II and am interested in making my own, very large window for it, they sell a few but they're all very small windows with optional fans, optional window fans make it ugly.

[jameseboy]

The main problem on the 690 (both I and II) is that the top fan is very close to the limit of where you can cut. If you look at my 690 window you will notice that the cuts i put were neat to the top which in turn gave me a little trouble when it came to attaching the acrylic securly.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=665036

Bar that aslong as you use maybe 3mm thick acrylic or plexi you'll have no problem assuming you leave enough room to attach it securely. You may also need to repaint the side of your case like i did, i believe most Satin Black paint will match the original panels

[Jandre]

Thanks for the reply jameseboy,

I looked through what you did on your 690, and it was reassuring to know that someone else managed to make a window mod given such small working space. I've got 3mm clear plexi and I'm going to start cutting flush with the fan mesh. I like your window design, jameseboy. However, I will be going with a more simple window, throughout the whole sidepanel.

Eltocliousus, I'll post my results later in the week when I've finished my window mod, aswell as for those others who are interested.

Cheers,
Jan

[jameseboy]

thats a good call =] i love my window design, but it was hard work to do seen as at the time I didnt have a dremel and instead used a jigsaw, when cutting the 3mm plexi if your using a dremel (or similar rotary tool) your best bet is to cut it at a higher speed as it should just cut through it like a knife through butter. Also, use some form of adhesive to attach it, i used double sided tape first time which slightly failed.

[Jandre]

Thanks for some small tips onceagain. I will be using a jigsaw for the majority of the cuts and do details with the dremel (cutting closer to the edge, rounded corners) and finish up by filing it down. Thanks for mentioning the idea of using some sort of adhesive. I was skeptical that double sided tape may not be such a good idea as it can make my window go further into the case aswell as not being reliable

Hoping to get around to finishing it up sooner in the week, got tons of work to do for school at the moment

[Jandre]

I plan on posting pictures of the sidepanel throughout the job aswell as when its finally on my case ^^.

Also wondering if i should get some lighting? Nothing too insane, just a few touches of blue or white. Thinking of led strips however I don't have much experience with them or maybe a led fan, but that might not do the job and provide as much flexibility, some ideas here would also be much appreciated

Cheers,
Jan

[jameseboy]

Ive got some cold cathodes in my pc that use the same 3pin connector that fans use.
i also have leds fans
Never used led strips though

The led fans are okay, but generally pricey to get good quality fans with leds whereas the cathods cost around $10 and can be mounted in more positions. Also i have mines attached to a fan controller so i can adjust the brightness on it and also have it connected to a switch so i can turn them on or off.

[Jandre]

Hmmm, I might look into cathodes similair to of which you speak. Havn't got a fan controller, and anyway the look I'm going for is more of just a touch of light to complement the hardware. So 3 pin fan power should be sufficient. Hmm, maybe even a led fan could do the job but I'll get into it later once the window is complete.

[jameseboy]

Yeah, one thing at a time is generally best way to go =]

[Jandre]

Wow..
jenmendoza143 that window mod is truly awsome! Love the look you got. Pretty cool idea with putting the corsair cooler in the drive bays. Btw, is that the kingstom ram fan?

Btw, can you tell me what fans you are using? Interested in maybe going led fans throughout, if not I may just go with led strips. Also considering cold cathodes.

I must say pretty awsome looking system!

[jameseboy]

The standard coolermaster fans are actually good too. just get the pure acrylic ones.

And that is a REALLLLY nice panel jenmendoza. I really like it

[Jandre]

I think led strips may be the most cost-effective. Buying a couple led fans could easily get me around 20 euro, more if i buy more than two.

[jameseboy]

the extra fans do also help with cooling, can you post a picture of your pc's internals please so i can see what you have cooling wise as your avatar isnt easy to see.

But yea. www.watercooling.co.uk do them for about £10, probably get them cheaper somewhere local to you

[jameseboy]

Sorry, it was jandre whos internals i wanted to see, but yours is rather sexy too =]
I REALLLLLY need to get round to modding my case internals soon
guess now i have a spare case, i can move my rig into it and do my modding on my cm690. want to cut all the grills out and paint the inside :L

[Jandre]

Please exscuse the late reply aswell as the bad quality of the camera. I took this with my itouch and I didn't think you meant MY internals :/.

Okay. The blue arrows indicate intake fans. The red arrows are exhaust. My whole case is making use of a series of 120mm fans. In the front I have the stock coolermaster fan they provide with the case. Behind it by the other end of the hdd cage I got a coolermaster sickelflow with a really ty set of blue leds! The gpu helps quite a bit by directing a lot of air into the top portion of the case where then it gets exhausted by two BeQuiet fans ( they're quiet, but not that quiet, they spin at like 1500 rpm). On the top left of my case I'm using the rear as an intake due to clearance issues with my heatsink fan. This airflow works great for me though, no problems in terms of dustbuild up. The rear intake is the horrible coolermaster stock fan. It's okay though as I don't want that intake to push a butt load of air as the Scythe fan is already doing a majority of the cooling for cpu and airflow in this portion of the case.

Also thinking of buying some black sleeving for my cables, my psu wires aren't long enough to make a super tidy job.

Woops! Almost forgot to update you all on my sidepanel. I've just finished cutting it out, and it looks great. Did it all with a jigsaw! Filed it down abit and its now on my case! However, I did not add any plexiglas ur U-channel yet as I just couldn't be bothered xD. I'll post pictures of the final product as soon as its 100% complete.

[jameseboy]

Youd be better having the rear as exhaust and flipping the side your heatsink fan is on and using on off the top ones to set the heatsink up in push/pull and use the remaining on on the bottom as an intake as this will help cool your gfx card.

Glad the side panels coming along =]

[Jandre]

I'll get around to that idea once the sidepanel is fully complete. Glad to hear some people are excited. I thought this was a dead thread cause noone replied for a few days! lol!

I tried using the fans in the setup you mentioned but i was installing the cooler before I put in the ram which is why I resorted to this cause I couldn't get my ram in, now I think I'll leave the ram in and place the fan on, never really occured to me. I'll also update on the new airflow setup.

Cheers for the help and all!
Jan

[Jandre]

Here's an update:

I reoriented my fan setup to compliment traditional airflow like you guys suggested. It also allowed me to have a nicer aesthetic within the case.

About the sidepanel, it's 90% done. The panel is currently on my case with the plexiglass. Looks good to me however I plan on adding some U-channel to give it a cleaner look aswell as buy some industrial double sided tape to keep my window attached permanently. Currently using some random tape that I found in my garage.

P.S.

I'm extremely sorry for the delay, been working on alot of essays lately as the schoolyear is coming to an end. I will definately post pics this friday and saturday.