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Must mod muh case! Need help
bobsbarricades
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
OK, so here's my case
Getting a new PSU that now has those 120mm fans up top so I'm gonna need to cut a whole for that. Any ideas on how to measure where the whole should be cut if I don't have the PSU yet?
I'm also wanting to add a Kuhler water cooling unit and was thinking it would be great to go ahead and put another 120mm fan in front of the PSU and then hang the Kuhler radiator with a 2nd fan from it. yea? good idea bad idea?
Also, I have an 80m on my side window that I want to turn into a 120mm. I obviously am limited in how much I can dremel off of the center whole and was curious on thoughts about having to move the 120 to the outside of the side panel instead of housed within the case. I don't know yet but I get the feeling that my GPU is going to force my hand on this.
On the GPU part of things - you see the 2x2 grid for 80mm fans on the front? I am going to turn that into a 120 as well and dremel out the space needed. I also want to remove that entire 3 1/2 inch bay part. It's all machined in so I will have to dremel off all of the metal bits but question: what's the best way to do that? dremel off the top "head part" or the bottom nipple type part?
I found this to convert my 3 1/2 drive to fit beneath my optical. So that's one problem solved!
I'd also like to use my spray paint black primer on the entire inside of the case + front panel. Does this cause any electrical problems that I should know about?
So do any of these things sound errant? does previous experience tell you that I should watch out for "x?" advice or thumbs up would be greatly appreciated.
Getting a new PSU that now has those 120mm fans up top so I'm gonna need to cut a whole for that. Any ideas on how to measure where the whole should be cut if I don't have the PSU yet?
I'm also wanting to add a Kuhler water cooling unit and was thinking it would be great to go ahead and put another 120mm fan in front of the PSU and then hang the Kuhler radiator with a 2nd fan from it. yea? good idea bad idea?
Also, I have an 80m on my side window that I want to turn into a 120mm. I obviously am limited in how much I can dremel off of the center whole and was curious on thoughts about having to move the 120 to the outside of the side panel instead of housed within the case. I don't know yet but I get the feeling that my GPU is going to force my hand on this.
On the GPU part of things - you see the 2x2 grid for 80mm fans on the front? I am going to turn that into a 120 as well and dremel out the space needed. I also want to remove that entire 3 1/2 inch bay part. It's all machined in so I will have to dremel off all of the metal bits but question: what's the best way to do that? dremel off the top "head part" or the bottom nipple type part?
I found this to convert my 3 1/2 drive to fit beneath my optical. So that's one problem solved!
I'd also like to use my spray paint black primer on the entire inside of the case + front panel. Does this cause any electrical problems that I should know about?
So do any of these things sound errant? does previous experience tell you that I should watch out for "x?" advice or thumbs up would be greatly appreciated.
bobsbarricades on
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Some of your links are a bit weird and they just link back to this thread, I dunno what you were trying to make them do?
I'm a bit unsure as to what you mean with your kuhler setup. What I'm taking from it is that you want to cut out the top panel in front of the PSU and install radiator mounts. You then want to set up a push-pull cooling system on the radiator with a second aftermarket fan and it will vent out of the top of the case. Is that correct? If so then I don't really see any problem with it except that i would suggest that you also install some rubber grommets or some kind of rubber/foam pads to reduce the noise of the radiator buzzing on the enclosure itself.
Your link to the 3.5" bay converter isn't working, but I'm assuming that's just the standard 3.5" to 5.25" converter?
When you say the 3.5" cage is machined in, do you mean that it's riveted in? You mention heads and nipples, which sound like rivets to me. You want to drill through the head of the rivet to get it out. Go and google, "how to remove a rivet" and watch a how-to video as they'll explain it better than I can here.
I would also suggest you cool your heels on cutting in the exhaust vent for the PSU until the unit actually arrives, as it will be easier to measure out that way. Moral of the story is don't rush into cutting bits out until you've planned it out completely. There's no mulligans once you start making cuts.
While you're waiting for your parts to arrive, I would be painting the case. There will be no issues with paint degrading parts once it has dried but I would very strongly recommend against trying to paint the case with any parts installed in it. It's probably worthwhile popping off the front I/O panel and taking the attached cabling out too, as long as it's not going to be a pain in the arse. If it's goin to be hard to get that stuff out, just tape over the connectors and try and keep them out of the way when you're spraying
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
yes, you've got the Kuhler idea spot on. For the time being I'm going to just cut a hole to put a 120 there, but then when I get the Kuhler I'll just screw the back of the radiator onto it (essentially sandwiching the radiator in between the 2 120mm fans. I should have the space, but If it gets tight I can probably work out a solution to put it on top of the two 80mm exhaust fans underneath the PSU.
Which does bring up another question. I'm a good bit higher than I was expecting to pay for my rig ATM, hence the Kuhler coming later. I DON'T have a place cut out in the back so when I get the Kuhler I'm going to have to remove the mobo to properly install it. I can almost hear you saying "wait untill you mobo comes before cutting the backplate. I guess I should wait then to make all but my side panel/front panel cuts.
thanks for the rivets by the way! it's embarrassing how much time it took me to find a decent how-to -.0 That'll be a lot easier than what I was thinking!
I will start painting tomorrow and post up some pics when it's all dry. I may just go ahead and paint the entire insides black after I get done takin out those rivets.
Also - Take a look at these two shots. Front w/o facade (will be solid black after painting). Front panel w/ black facade plate.
Ideally I'd like to just leave the front panel on, even though it doesn't have ANY proper front ventilation or all of the plates that would be used to cover up 3 1/2 + 5 inch bays. So here I'm open to creative ideas on leaving the panel off entirely? (and having the HDD cooler and Liteon bad stick out about an inch) or put the front panel on and drill lots of little holes to help out the ventilation on the bottom.
I was thinking, leave the panel off, and take the power/reset/LED HDD lights out and tape them on the front panel somewhere out of the way. Maybe incoporate some kind of electrical/gafters tape "theme" to the case. I have some white primer too that I might be able to spray some stencil's on ala those HAF cases. Either that or stick 'em in this guy ^o^
PS - already got all the cabling out except the system speaker. Might be able to get it out post 3 1/2 inch bay removal but if not I can just tape over it while painting.
In terms of modding in a new front intake fan, I like your idea of putting in a 120mm. It'll be much quieter than quad 80s.
Something else that would be great is an intake fan on the base of the case. You'll probably need to mod the feet of the case, to give it a bit more space to suck in air, but it'd be worth it IMO.
Sounds exciting anyway mate, nice work!
Oh and have a look at this sticky from overclock.net for some good pointers and inspiration. Those guys make some great case mods
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
ran out of paint and on my LAST usage, THE PAPER STUCK TO THE FRONT PANEL!!! unreal... so I definitely think I'm gonna include some kind of white splatter theme.
I think I should have enough space for the PSU+Top cent 120mm fans but won't know for sure until I get the PSU in. Main conscern is how close it'll end up being to the optical/HDD wires (which I'm probably going to have cover the bottom 3 slots, not the top 3 (of 4)
you can really see the gross interaction of matte and gloss black ^o^ Definitely not going for winning awards with this guy and not buying any more paint. That black stuff was crap even for my miniatures painting -.-
the front where you can see the paper stuck to the it...really sucks. might use my miniatures paint to cover those up ^o^ We'll see how the white splatter turns out.
curious on anyones idea about this. If I cut out the exact fan space, I'll then be left with 4 untethered black spaces that would be maybe united by the fan. I'm thinking I'll just remove them all together and have one big window and avoid the problem all together.
only part I'm pleased with is how the 3 1/2 inch bays came out. score!
I would consider removing those black struts on the side panel entirely, as they're not fixed to the plexi with glue or screws (apart from the ones of the border and the fan mount) right?
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
and I don't know if I will do more paint. It could probably use 2 more coats of a quality spray paint and one as a glossy finish but...15-30 bucks on paint... this isn't really something I'm doing to look real cool. I wasn't going to paint it at all originally; I just had to do something to make more space and create better cooling. If I didn't already have that can of sub-par primer I wouldn't've (or the splash/graffiti white stuff I'm thinking about). We'll see how it plays out.
on the back of the fan is a sticker, peel that off and than you'll see the spindle for the fan. on that is a little plastic washer that you pry out. than just pull the fan out. when you re-assemble add a drop of machine oil onto the spindle before putting the sticker back as the messing around you do to paint it will probably rub what oil is there off.
spot on good mate! On the sticker being the 'back' of the fan - how can I use this to judge which way the air is being directed?
[edit] - just a small update. Yesterday I cut the window free and got the 120 holes cut on the side panel as well as the holes cut in the front. Gonna paint the fans today (though I'm realizing that the fan in my PSU will probably be black...maybe I'll leave the top fan black) and cut out the back 80's and front (I decided to put 2x120's on the front vents; though...they are a bit off center ^o^)
PSU won't get here 'till Wednesday so maybe I will go ahead and get another can of black paint. Or I'll see what can be a part of my new theme idea... ARMY MINIATURES!
Kind of sucks; it was raining all day today but in between I got almost all the cutting done (minus the top areas that I have to wait before I can even measure). I also got a the fans painted and they look SWEET! Wish I had some white shrink wrap..maybe I'll just paint the wiring too ^o^ pics when worth it!
how do they do that measurement? I assume it's straight when you get it and you wrap it around your cables so do they measure it pre or post curl? Is that what the diameter measurement is for?
Thanks!
Battle.net
Didn't cut the top hole for the extra 120 but I definitely have space for it. Gonna fart around with cables for a bit and take pics.
Question: (gonna ask in the pc parts thread too) - The front panel connections to the motherboard don't fit.... they (2 for USB [which doesn't make sense]) and the 1 for audio all have one slot filled in and it's definitely where the motherboard wants to put it's metal mating-stick
is this safe? shock/short possible?
I like the way it looks. kind of raunchy - the evercool front panel is ALREADY not latching completely in the upper right corner... but it pumps out air. I like it's filter too
I'm pleased with how I pulled off the cable management - though it would've been much easier if it were modular. c'est la vie. It gets GREAT airflow that's for sure.
Haven't put in the top 120 as I don't know if I need it, but was curious if it might be better to have the side 120 shoot air OUT instead of IN. I mean the PSU 120 doesn't' really pump much of anything and I've only got the two rear 80's OUTbound. The GPU is fanless and I'm sure appreciates the extra inward air. maybe I'll play around with it.
also - if I'd have known this was how they would describe sata 3.0 it would've been INSTA-buy
doubt your going to have any temp problems at all. if you want to be really sure though you could get one of these: http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=51229&vpn=KM03-BK&manufacture=Scythe
best fan controller i've owned so far, looks great, very smooth and fine control for the fan speeds, and it does 1A total + 12w/channel so it can handle just about any fan out there. Getting temp monitoring on your ram and various ambient case areas is great. Plus turning down most fans even 10-20% doesn't hurt their cfm too much while greatly reducing noise.
I do like that fan controller, but I've got me some spare pots and a faceplate to mod if I decide to go that road ^o^