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working with a small cramped mid tower

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augustwest

Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2002
Location
The Darkest Star
if anyone has worked with smaller cases, i would appreciate any tips. i ran into a sony vaio digital studio pc case. im wanting to get a new power supply and mount it in a different position than the factory one. i could use some help

thanks
augustwest
 
augustwest said:
if anyone has worked with smaller cases, i would appreciate any tips. i ran into a sony vaio digital studio pc case. im wanting to get a new power supply and mount it in a different position than the factory one. i could use some help

thanks
augustwest

Sounds like you need a good sized dremel. Your imaganation is what is going to help you the most.
 
trancebear, your right. ive got the cutting wheels ready. im just scared. i aint got a dime in the case, so i could handle a disaster. its just a really cool case and could have some great mod potential.
 
Welcome to the forums.

Just plan your layout well(for airflow, interference with other hardware, etc.), and have a bit of sturdy sheetmetal at hand in case you bugger up. You can then screw or poprivet it into place and start over.
 
my experience has been measure everything up, check, then double check, and then triple check. There's nothing more disheartening than a 3mm gap in a crucial panel :(
Take everything out of the case, you will drop things and metal dust will go everywhere, not good for circuits. Be careful with the front panel, you dont want to scratch it up. Oh and don't try and rush the job; thats when things go wrong...
 
I'm new to this forum and will have many questions forthcoming. Please bear with me. Anyone ever tried upgrading a store bought Dell? I have heard that they have less room than some cases. Any thoughts? I'm looking to upgrade the mobo & CPU from a P2 @ 300MHz to something about 600 MHZ (at least.) Thanks for your input.
 
Welcome to the forums bluenotebacker and augustwest.

Augustwest round cables may improve airflow and help make your case seem a little more spacious. A dremel tool is your best bet. Cases usually don't have enough airflow so adding cutouts for fans will help a lot. What I would do with your PSU is hold it in every different position and see what looks like it will fit your case the best. Most cases have a lot of room in the lower front corner. I was able to squeeze a Dangerden CUBE Radiator for my water setup inside a Micro atx case with room to spare. I had to mod the HD bay a little and cut a huge 120mm hole in the front but it works like a charm. I had just enough room for a pump, all the tubing 2x 120mm fans and waterblock. They system is packed but not cluttered. If your not afraid to mod you can do just about anything.

Here are some pics when I was in the process of building. I have some finished pics somewhere.

b13.jpg


p4.jpg
 
Sony always has some cool cases but there stuff is always really smallin space. Why dont you post a pic and let our imaginations go too.
 
thanks for the help folks. for a while there i didnt think anyone cared. i will post a pic soon. i gotta borrow a digicam. trdsw20: you are right, they have some good looking cases. mine has some really cool blue led lights in the power button. i want to cut out the vaio lettering in the side panel and put in a blue neon. the main prob is the powersupply. im planning on putting in a thermaltake fan in the top panel but im afraid that a 250 watt micro atx psu isnt enough. has anyone ever put an atx psu in a micro atx case? if not what is the biggest micro atx psu that you have seen? im overclocking a p4 1.5 so im figuring with fans and all i need at least 300 watts, right? im new to all this.

bender: are you using a micro atx psu? if so, how many watt.

thanks
 
not many people here use Micro anything...most of us have towering monsters. You will need a P4 ready PSU also not just any old ATX. It has the extra mobo connecter (4 pin i think)

300W is going to be the minimum you should buy.

I had an old cramped case myself and in order to get better airflow I cut a nice rectangular hole in the top with 2 80mm fans blowing in across the CPU and mobo. I also had 2 80mm fans blowing out the front. Dropped temps over 10C for both CPU and mobo. Now I have an Antec and it was worth the money
 
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