Most people know the Cooler Master RC-690 is a versatile and good looking mid-tower case. Having owned one for over a year now, I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the market for a mid-tower chassis. The basic RC-690 is decent looking case, it’s sleek, functional, and fairly rugged if I do say so myself.
The door is a bit bland on the basic model, having only two hexagon grills to accommodate the 120mm fans. A side panel with a window can be purchased for about $25.
I’m personally a big fan of green and when I purchased this case I had no intention of modding it. A little further searching and I came upon the nVidia edition 690, the NV-690. This model features a windowed door panel that is tinted green along with green trim and LED’s. It also sports the nVidia logo in addition to the Cooler Master logo on the front panel. A little bit more expensive than the basic 690 but well worth it in my opinion.
Although I never intended to mod the case, over time it acquired quite a few scratches among other things and just didn’t catch my eye like it used to. I was just going to buy a new case but couldn’t really find one that was priced right that I liked. So I went back to my trusty NV-690 and decided it was time for a change.
Now being a big fan of green, I wanted to add as much of it to the case as possible without it being too overwhelming. I also wanted to increase the airflow throughout the case and get rid of the annoying noise created by the honeycomb grills. I cut out all the grills with a dremel and removed all of the fan filters. Now obviously this increases the amount of dust I get in the case but I clean it almost every week so it’s not a big deal for me. Then I tore down the case as much as possible, removing all of the buttons that hold the window in, the tool-less PCI bracket holders, the tool-less optical drive locks and the hard drive caddies.
Once I had the case torn down, I separated the parts I wanted painted black from the ones to be painted green. I then cleaned, scuffed, and re-cleaned all the pieces. Now where I work there is a body shop so I have access to professional automotive paint, tools and a paint booth. Next I had to choose a green. Being that I had automotive paints on hand I decided to pick a car color. I settled on a 2004 Lamborghini color called Verde Aries 2CT. The car code is LAM.*0063 and the PPG code is *0063 for those that are interested. Here’s a photo of a 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago in Verde Aries:
Once the color was chosen it was time for paint. Since I’m not the best at painting, I had my buddy who works in the body shop actually apply the paint. Big thanks goes out to Adam Gallardo for all his time and the work he helped me put into this project. Adam applies a coat of primer, then the color, then clear coats it. The clear coat gives the entire computer a high gloss and protects it against scuffs and scratches. The result is highly reflective, especially the black parts.
I also had custom cables made for my power supply to match the rest of the theme. The cables were made by a member of Overclockers Forums named thideras.
Well enough with the background info and onto the results and what everybody wants to see, the pictures! I give you the Green Monster:
Interior before:
Interior after:
Interior loaded:
Where did all those wires go?:
Rear before:
Rear after:
Side panel before:
Side panel after:
After a recommendation and some thought, I decided to purchase another windowed side panel. This time with a clear window as opposed to tinted green.
The result:
Back side panel before:
Back side panel after:
(Though I have no fan here, I wanted to add a touch of color to field of black by adding the green fan grill.)
At first I wasn’t going to paint anything else but after a while, staring at the flat black slightly scuffed plastic and off color green, I decided to paint the front and top panels to match the rest of the case. I also removed the nVidia and Cooler Master badges from the front panel.
Front stock:
Front after original paint:
Front final:
Top stock:
Top after original paint:
Top final:
At this point my OCD kicked in and decided that my peripherals should match the computer. I have Microsoft Xbox 360 controller and a Logitech MX5000 keyboard and mouse. Well close to 60 screws later, I was able to get all three apart enough where I wouldn’t need to mask anything and could just paint what I needed painted.
Xbox 360 controller before:
Xbox 360 controller after:
Mouse before:
Mouse after:
Keyboard before:
Keyboard after:
Final shot of everything:
A few night shots (all LED’s are the same color, though they look to be different shades):
Door:
(The color of the fan’s LEDs most closely represents the actual color of the LEDs)
Top:
Front:
All in all I am very happy with the results of this project. The case and components are stunning! Cleaning everything is much easier and I can tell I won’t be wearing through this paint anytime soon. I’m certain it has added durability to the entire project, especially the keyboard, mouse, and controller. There is, of course, a down side to the paint job. Just like automobiles, the painted areas are extremely susceptible to fingerprints. The black 360 controller tends to collect a lot of fingerprints when it is used. Due to the high gloss of the paint finger prints are very easily removed though. The only other issue that I can point out is it is easier to create and spot hairline scratches in the paint. Given the results, these couple of problems are small and well worth it. I hope you enjoyed looking through this. More pictures and comments can be found here. Please feel free to comment or ask questions here or on the forum.
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