I've been wanting to get into modding for quite some time now, and recently I've started looking for a case to beat the crap out of, but can't really find one that looks like it would be good to mod. I mean I know there are many many many out there, but being a noob and all I can't really tell :-). Sooooo, what I ask of you kind folks is opinions on what some good cases are to mod. (price doesn't really matter THAT much) Thanks to anyone that decides to help.

It would be much easier to help you figure this out if you told us what you are planning to mod on the case. Windows? Bondo on the front bezel? New paint job? After you have figured out a plan it will be much easier.

Haven't exactly pinpointed what the theme will be, but I plan on doing lots of work on it.

edit: and yeah, will do all of what you said and I'm sure more.

If you don't have any ideas, Stop......

Use a case you have and experiment first or use a cheap plain one....get the feel for modding. Practice with the dremel or other tools to get the feel of hacking up a case. Then plan out your project. Once you know what you can do you can ask specific questions like, "I need a case with a big side panel to cut into, or a front bezel I want to put a skull on."

Oh, I have ideas, it's just easier to see things unfold when you have the canvas infront of you, you know what I'm saying? Which is why I want to find a case first so I can map out what I want to do. And if I don't feel like I'm quite capable of some of the stuff I have planned, I will grab this old crappy compaq case I have in the basement and practice on.

Okay, well then if you want to do lots of stuff to it then how about a price range or form factor? Mid-Tower? Full Tower?

Mainly looking for a full tower (without a stupid door on the front bezel, those are just annoying), price range anywhere up to I dunno, $150 or so.

One of the main things I am looking to do will be etching a picture onto the side window, which is why i would want a full tower for the big panel (plus lots of interior working space), what the picture will be I won't know until I decide upon a theme (I have a few different ideas I've been thinking about).

120mm front/rear fan locations WOULD be nice, but not really entirely needed as I will be doing top blowholes and one or two on the side panel.

Here is a link to xoxide. They have a huge selection of cases, although most of them are premods, but you might find a few that are moddable.

Yeah I've looked there it seems the ones that aren't premods are lian-li cases, which even if you wanted to mod one its anodized aluminum so to paint it you have to do like twice as much work (atleast it looks that way by reading the painting guide on this site)

A few days ago I had set my mind on modding a TT Swing case, but then I didn't really want to have another mid-tower case.

Edit: I've seen this case (http://svcompucycle.stores.yahoo.net/cs901bk.html) linked many times, and it looks amazing for the price and can do lots of work to it, but there aren't many pictures to see exactly how it looks.

For $20 what have you got to lose?

Well the shipping for me is more than the actual price haha.

I did some google searching and on a forum post a guy warns about the depth of the case, he actually had to pull out the mobo a few inches to have enough room near the top of the motherboard. Maybe it's just his setup but i dunno. http://img306.imageshack.us/my.php?i...scn00073kp.jpg is the pic he provided

also what kind of tool and skills do you have?

Quote: Originally Posted by LiveWire89 Yeah I've looked there it seems the ones that aren't premods are lian-li cases, which even if you wanted to mod one its anodized aluminum so to paint it you have to do like twice as much work (atleast it looks that way by reading the painting guide on this site) A few days ago I had set my mind on modding a TT Swing case, but then I didn't really want to have another mid-tower case. Edit: I've seen this case (http://svcompucycle.stores.yahoo.net/cs901bk.html) linked many times, and it looks amazing for the price and can do lots of work to it, but there aren't many pictures to see exactly how it looks.

I have 1 of those cases and it is very nice for the $.
There are no front usb/audio ports but for $20 its nice.
And plenty large enough for WC too.

Quote: Originally Posted by LiveWire89 Well the shipping for me is more than the actual price haha. I did some google searching and on a forum post a guy warns about the depth of the case, he actually had to pull out the mobo a few inches to have enough room near the top of the motherboard. Maybe it's just his setup but i dunno. http://img306.imageshack.us/my.php?i...scn00073kp.jpg is the pic he provided

If I had to guess I would say he had to move the mobo out because of two reasons. First off he is using a motherboard that places the CPU on the right side of the ram as opposed to putting the CPU in the top left corner. On top of that he is using a Zally CNPS9000 heatsink (or whatever that thing is called) which is simply enormous. It seems his optical drive cables were running in to his heatsink or something along those lines. Even if you have that same motherboard, a normal heatsink should allow your motherboard to fit with ease. I am going to purchase this case soon as well, I can't wait.

AH yes I knew something looked wierd about that mobo design... alright i just put in an order for one, it's a shame the shipping is going to cost so much though. I think it's nice that it doesn't have any front ports, those just annoy me especially with the extra cables inside the case ^_^.

@mkmods - i have access to pretty much any tool i would need (well except those fancy hole punch things that cost like $500...), as for skill, this will be my first full case mod, so i don't expect myself to be able to do anything amazing.

$17

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...g&cm_ite=total

Hmm. I actually like that bezel.. That 60/80/92 or 80/92/120 fan mount on the back?

$35 incl kb/mouse hehe

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-0656A&cat=CAS

man you must know what you want to do excatlly :d

good luck

well what i would suggest is not look at the price

or what it could be modded into but rather the structure of the case


like a house foundation that supports the house if it is sub par youll have a ****ty house

look for some features like a removeable mobo tray if you are in and out of your case alot

where the drive bays are located to minize your wiring that shows

how is the power supply orientated some like the armor case should be rotated because the pcie 12v power is kinda short on my power supply

weight of case are you moving it around

material steel is study but will eat up dremel discs rather quickly and is heavy

aluminum is easy to work with and light but if hacked up to much will weaken your case

plastic is nice but extra care is need and lack of fudge factor when compared to steel your mistakes show easier

air flow across harddrives and componets

once you decide on the features your looking for in a case anything can be modded just takes time

what i might suggest is to seach out a computer recycle place and look for some older server cases they are cheap and easy to mod and will function well

and if you f... em up oh well they are cheap

rather than trying to mod a tai chi case for the first time and screw up the side panel lmao like my buddy did now it looks ghetto wont even let me take a picture of it that is how bad it looks threatend to kick my ass if i ever did and he could

sometimes also computer stores that build computers have have free cases as well or check their dumpsters when people upgrade may time their old computer get tossed out whoel towers

perfect for experimenting when you want to steal a cd/rw drive experiment on the crappy one that was in the dumpster

anyways if you want more info just post and the guys and gals here will guide you


http://www.pcgamma.com/showthread.php?t=7471 nice big case

another nice big case


http://www.xoxide.com/chenming901.html

http://www.directron.com/yy0221bk.html

and prbally the next case or similar im going to buy

http://www.istarusa.com/divipcdiv/s-10000.htm