Henderson42
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
Here we have my log of my relatively simple case "mods" for my Z11. First, the specs:
Motherboard: AsRock Z77 Extreme 4
CPU: Intel i5-3570k @ 4.2GHz
Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo
GPU: MSI GTX 970 4G (3.5 + 0.5G)
Storage: 250Gb Crucial BX100 + 2Tb Seagate Barracuda
PSU: Corsair RM750
Case: See Title
So I really like the Z11+ but I was wanting a change. Due to lack of funds I had a look around for ideas. On overclock.net I found the Z11 Club and found some nice colour schemes and things to steal and so I did. I shall update this log as I mod it.
So far I have painted and cut one panel, I shall add photos when I take them!
Watch this space.
So on Thursday (14/05/2015) I painted one panel and cut a hole in it which I was going to mount a fan controller in to. However due to a miscalculation today when I tried to fit the fan controller into said hole, it got push out when I put the panel back on. Oops. So for the time being - as you will see - I've just put some painted cardboard over it until I can think of a smarter way to cover my dreadful mistake. Everything else got done on Friday (15/05/2015).
Finally, some photos. Today I finished off by cutting a hole in the mostly pointless bay to attach a simple fan controller, I think it looks nice, although I need to try and do something about the colour of the LEDs. Also before you have a look at the photos, I am not sure if it is my camera or the lighting but it looks quite orange sometimes, it is however a very bright red.
These are the first panels I did. As you can see I put a simple Z11 stencil on one side - the window side - and a random thing I drew on the fly on the non-windowed side of the case. The hole was where I was originally going to put the fan controller, however due to a miscalculation on my part it ended up not being used for that. It ended up being a stupid pointless hole which I had to cover up.
Next I painted the front panel. Keeping the grill black and everything else red.
I then painted the fins on the top black. These were already black, however they let light pass through them. In future when I add more LEDs I am going to have lights underneath and I want the light to break through the gaps rather than be seen through the plastic.
This is just an image of the panels shortly after painting.
A picture of the finished and peeled front panel. Looks quite nice if I say so myself.
One of the side vents attached back on to the panel.
Front panel back on the case. Starting to come together. I painted the power button so that it was more of a matte finish as I was not happy with the glossy look when the rest was now matte.
Side panel without window attached, hiding all my dreadful cable management
This is a picture of me trying to figure out how I wanted the LEDs to be positioned. Preferably out of sight - exactly the opposite of what can be seen here. You can also see the temporary solution to the hole I'd cut.... a piece of black cardboard. This will be replaced with something in the future, preferably something functional but if not I will just find something nicer to plug the gap.
Another picture of me figuring out LED placement. Almost done, just to add the hole in the bay for fan controller.
Here is the finished fan controller modification. I this took a lot of precise cutting and filing with a dremel so that I could avoid using glue as I'd had a terrible experience with it earlier. This is friction fitted. As can be seen I scuffed the paint a bit which needs a touch up in future.
An image of the final - for now - LED setup. In red of course.
Pretty much done for now. I've got to purchase and fit more LEDs at some point in the near future to improve the lighting in the case. I also need to touch up the paint a bit and as I mentioned change the colour of the LEDs in the fan controller somehow, or buy another one.
So yeah, that was my first mod log of my first ever attempt to mod a case. Give me your thoughts please! Was this a good mod log and do you like the look or how would you improve it? Also I apologise for not having more work-in-progress shots of me actually doing the mods but I am forgetful and I was trying to finish it in one day.
Cheers!
Motherboard: AsRock Z77 Extreme 4
CPU: Intel i5-3570k @ 4.2GHz
Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo
GPU: MSI GTX 970 4G (3.5 + 0.5G)
Storage: 250Gb Crucial BX100 + 2Tb Seagate Barracuda
PSU: Corsair RM750
Case: See Title
So I really like the Z11+ but I was wanting a change. Due to lack of funds I had a look around for ideas. On overclock.net I found the Z11 Club and found some nice colour schemes and things to steal and so I did. I shall update this log as I mod it.
So far I have painted and cut one panel, I shall add photos when I take them!
Watch this space.
So on Thursday (14/05/2015) I painted one panel and cut a hole in it which I was going to mount a fan controller in to. However due to a miscalculation today when I tried to fit the fan controller into said hole, it got push out when I put the panel back on. Oops. So for the time being - as you will see - I've just put some painted cardboard over it until I can think of a smarter way to cover my dreadful mistake. Everything else got done on Friday (15/05/2015).
Finally, some photos. Today I finished off by cutting a hole in the mostly pointless bay to attach a simple fan controller, I think it looks nice, although I need to try and do something about the colour of the LEDs. Also before you have a look at the photos, I am not sure if it is my camera or the lighting but it looks quite orange sometimes, it is however a very bright red.
These are the first panels I did. As you can see I put a simple Z11 stencil on one side - the window side - and a random thing I drew on the fly on the non-windowed side of the case. The hole was where I was originally going to put the fan controller, however due to a miscalculation on my part it ended up not being used for that. It ended up being a stupid pointless hole which I had to cover up.
Next I painted the front panel. Keeping the grill black and everything else red.
I then painted the fins on the top black. These were already black, however they let light pass through them. In future when I add more LEDs I am going to have lights underneath and I want the light to break through the gaps rather than be seen through the plastic.
This is just an image of the panels shortly after painting.
A picture of the finished and peeled front panel. Looks quite nice if I say so myself.
One of the side vents attached back on to the panel.
Front panel back on the case. Starting to come together. I painted the power button so that it was more of a matte finish as I was not happy with the glossy look when the rest was now matte.
Side panel without window attached, hiding all my dreadful cable management
This is a picture of me trying to figure out how I wanted the LEDs to be positioned. Preferably out of sight - exactly the opposite of what can be seen here. You can also see the temporary solution to the hole I'd cut.... a piece of black cardboard. This will be replaced with something in the future, preferably something functional but if not I will just find something nicer to plug the gap.
Another picture of me figuring out LED placement. Almost done, just to add the hole in the bay for fan controller.
Here is the finished fan controller modification. I this took a lot of precise cutting and filing with a dremel so that I could avoid using glue as I'd had a terrible experience with it earlier. This is friction fitted. As can be seen I scuffed the paint a bit which needs a touch up in future.
An image of the final - for now - LED setup. In red of course.
Pretty much done for now. I've got to purchase and fit more LEDs at some point in the near future to improve the lighting in the case. I also need to touch up the paint a bit and as I mentioned change the colour of the LEDs in the fan controller somehow, or buy another one.
So yeah, that was my first mod log of my first ever attempt to mod a case. Give me your thoughts please! Was this a good mod log and do you like the look or how would you improve it? Also I apologise for not having more work-in-progress shots of me actually doing the mods but I am forgetful and I was trying to finish it in one day.
Cheers!
