Method Behind the Madness

Okay, this mod has been brewing in my head for a while. I just needed the proper case and motivation to do it, and I think now is the time, and this is the case. Some mods I've seen are ?theme? mods that look like a regular computer with a few token "theme" pieces in them. Then there are mods that are 100% fabricated around their theme (like Ghost Rider) which are awesome, but I don't have the time and budget for that. So my goal is to "theme" it, but only in certain areas. This will let me get the impact I'm looking for, without customizing the whole case.

I'm also wanting to use the machine for a media center, for recording music with, and for editing Mod Nation videos with. This means it needs to be quiet, and have a decent audio/video solution. The only games I play run fine on cheap hardware, so it's not getting a huge noisy power-hungry graphics card. (That, plus I can't afford a nice passively cooled one!)

The Actual Case

The case itself poses a few hints. First, it's aluminum, which means I can't hack it to pieces without bracing it. Second, it's sides and top all have windows, which normally I'd love, but really cuts down on the area I can "theme." I may blank out one of the windows so I can have some graphical real estate. Also, the front, to put it bluntly, is hideous and useless. The handle is flimsy, the temp readout is useless, and the two-tone thing just doesn't strike me as pretty. Plus, it has two 5.25" bays, and I only need one. I could use the extra 5.25" bay for the hard drive and use some heatsinks, which would free up the right side of the case where the HD cage is. There's some real possibility there.

It has a nice 120mm fan in the back, but the front is a whole different story. A single 80mm intake? Pfah. That's going to get fixed. The front is getting a full-on rework. This is the one place I feel I can actually custom fab something, as the stock piece just isn't adequate for the job. This means, of course, I'll have to come up with a different handle... and I'll also have to relocate the front USB/firewire/audio/switch panels.

It'll hold a standard ATX PSU, which is nice, except I don't have any nice/quiet ones. I ordered a nice 400W "quiet" unit with a 120mm fan in it.

Planning the Mods

The front panel will need some intakes, but I don't know what kind yet. Probably dual 92mm's or maybe triple 80mm's. I'd prefer the 92's for noise reasons. In any case, they're going to be run very quiet, maybe with a fanbus modded in somewhere (probably the side, along with the USB panel). Two 92mm turbine modded intakes sound right... I've even got the fans sitting around. Some Arctic Cooling silent fans should do the trick. I'm also picking up a 120mm Arctic Cooling fan for the exhaust, cause it's quiet, cheap, and matches the front fans.

The panels will likely get painted black or dark grey, maybe even with bright colored accents. I might make some window accent pieces, but I'm not sure where just yet. It has to fit in with everything else, of course. My possible "what was he thinking?" mod is going to be extending the last PCI slot *outside* the case panels, so that the sound card is actually sitting outside the case. It will be very mechanical looking, and more importantly, still functional. I've got plenty of old PCI cards I can hack up, paint, and attach to the case. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do this, as a flexible PCI extender is around $25... but it would look so cool!

The side windows are held in with cheap plastic pushpins. These will likely get replaced with anodized 4-40 screws from a hobby shop. That'll set me back around $10, but the look will be much improved.

PC Hardware

I'll be using fairly tame hardware for this, for two reasons. One, I'm not filthy rich, and two, I've already got most of it. The motherboard is an MSI socket 754 board, running a K8M800 chipset (with AGP). It cost around $45 new. In the socket is an Athlon 64 3200 2.2Ghz, which set me back around $35. A Zalman 92mm AL/Cu heatsink cost me another $30. Graphics are handled by an ASUS Geforce 6200 128M card, around $45 shipped. Two 512MB sticks of DDR400 for around $50 keep things running, and a Lite-On DVD-R drive cost $30. The power supply is a 400W Rosewill unit I got for $35. I'll also use a 120GB Western Digital drive, because it was the biggest one I had laying around and it's ridiculously quiet. Sound will go through a basic Sound Blaster card (about $30). You could build a comparable all-new computer for around $400 with a case.

None of the individual components cost more than $50, and I set a goal for myself that no specific mod part should cost more than $20. There are always exceptions, of course, but it has to be justifiable. With only a few major mod parts needed, this will keep the total cost to a reasonable level.

Pondering what to do.... Beaker sez "Me me meee mee me!"



Here's the case. Yes, that tiny little grille is the only fan intake.




Here's the naked front. You can't see it, but the plastic front panel almost completely blocks the 80mm fan.



This case needs a complete intake rework. The brace on the right hand side won't fit over my 92mm Zalman CPU fan, so it's going to get chopped. The HD cage on the right side will vanish as well. My hard drive will be under the DVD-ROM with some 5.25" heatsinks on it, so the cage can go bye-bye.

I can fit 92mm fans in the front, so that's probably what I'll use. The front is two-piece, however, it'll take quite a bit of work to make it look pretty, and the front panel ports will have to go as well. (I never use those anyway)

More pics of the pathetic insides...

Spaghetti. This must all go away.


See the blocked fan? Pathetic.


No breathing room behind the front panel, either...


Maybe twin 92mm turbines?

All right! Package at my door. I opened it up, and look! Computer parts!

Now, most people would dive in with the dremel and paint, but I always like to do a mock-up before I build the thing, just to see how everything will fit together. And especially with this smallish case, I wanted to double-check!

What we've got so far:


And this little beauty will allow me to use the Cisco wireless card I have lying around gathering dust... and it's only $15 (the PCI card, not the Cisco card!)


Here we are with the motherboard installed. I really wanted to check the clearance of my Zalman HSF, and it looks like I was worried for nothing...






You can see the beautiful (and quiet) Arctic Cooling 120mm fan in the back here.



Yeah, with the PSU in there, it's starting to get kinda full. You can't really see because of my sucky camera, but the PSU is actually a black metalflake color... very pretty.



And finally...

YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED!


Funny thing is, I turned all the fans up, and the CPU fan down, and the loudest thing by far is the HD spindle motor. I'm using it to post these pics right now! Of course, I'm going to use the newer WD drive, which should cut down on noise even more.

Coming up this week, I pick up more hardware and paint, and start the front panel process!

Stay tuned!

Today, my custom graphics came in. I looked through several places that sell "Laptop Skins" and I loved many of the designs, but I had to pick one that went with a theme that I could use. After looking through literally hundreds of designs, I settled on one from decalgirl.com for around $25 shipped (much cheaper than custom painting.)

To give you an idea, here's the decal, a large shiny-coated sticker, laying on top of the case. The skin measures 15" by 12"!!




It's tough to describe how nice these look... but it's faster and cheaper than painting, and if I'm going to make the deadline, I need all the help I can get!

Once I got looking at this, I felt that chopping two 92mm holes in the front of the case would weaken it quite a bit, plus one fan wouldn't be able to use all 4 mounting holes. So I decided to fab a quick-n-dirty reinforcement plate that will stiffen the front, and also give more metal for the fans to mount to.

First, mock it up with paper.



It's going to go behind the aluminum, like this:



Transferring it to an old side panel:





And 20 minutes later with a nibbler:

Once I nibbled out the holes for the front fans, it was time to chop up the case, and figure out how to mount everything. I won't bore you with a 10-minute video of me nibbling sheetmetal. But here's how it came out!

Drill holes for some 6-32 mounting screws, to hold the plate in when the fans are out:


Then use a nail punch to flare the hole's edge:


And then tap the hole with a 6-32 tap, so I can use standard case screws to hold it together.


Now that it's in place, I can mount the fans!


You can't see it here, but the inside of the case is smeared with blood... and my hand mysteriously procured a slice with a perfect 92mm radius....


Now you can see, once this is painted, it will both look better, and be much stronger than the swiss-cheese aluminum.

Next up: holesaws and plastic!

Okay, I had to sneak in some modding time... since I can't afford nice 92mm ducts for the front turbine intakes, I kinda had to improvise.

Plastic cups?? Why not?


Looks like a perfect fit!


Is that a.... tiara??!?


Marking the depth to cut them at:


The tiara accents this piece perfectly...


OH NOES!!! TEH NIBBLAR!!!!


(and some sparkly sequin shoes...)

Quick and dirty:

Started painting the panels and chassis. I'll try to finish the paint and start the fiberglass tonight.





I'm still painting the chassis, but I went ahead and dremeled/nibbled out the rear 120mm fan hole.



It was kinds stubborn, the hex "mesh" that was there made the edges tough to get smooth. I had to dremel the grille out and go back with the nibbler to get it close to round.

And, for the money shot!!!!



Bondoglass FTW! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it still stinks, and you still have to take a breather now and then. And it's really gummy! Makes it kinda hard to get it into small holes, but I managed. I've got tons of it left for future projects.

Still need to pop a hole in the front for the Bulgin power switch, but I couldn't find the switch!

I spent a few hours yesterday and today filing the bondoglass to be close to where I want it. I hit it with a quick coat of primer to get an idea of what it'll look like, and you can see there's still plenty of pinholes and pits to fill.



Even so, you can get a pretty good idea of what it'll look like when finished. The Bulgin switch and LED's will go on the right side, and what you see will be painted Cherry Red like the rest of the outside panels. Where the blue tape is will remain glossy black.

The frame got another coat of black, and I'm almost ready to put the sticker-skin on the top panel.

I was mocking up the parts to fabricate some HD mounts, and discovered that with the fans mounted backwards, the HD and heatsinks no longer fit where I wanted them to go!! grrrrrr....

So I will have to use the stock HD cage. That's okay, it's less work to slap some paint on it, but I was hoping for something more... elegant.

Anyway, while I was digging through my stash of junk, I found some nice 80mm biohazard fan grilles I picked up at directron.com for... and I'm not kidding.... $0.25 each. These are laser cut stainless steel. There was enough meat around them to nibble notches for a 92mm fan, so after nearly breaking nibbler #2 on the stainless, I have two new 92mm grilles.

FRIDAY, FEB. 29!!

Final assembly and final sand/paint for the front will happen TONIGHT. I'll be posting up pics as I complete it throughout the night!

First up: Putting the base hardware in. You can see I've got a cable management nightmare ahead. They should've called this PSU model "The Medusa."







Time: 7:00 P.M. Taking a break to cook/eat dinner.


11:00 P.M.

Sanding is done, I've put primer on the panel and will put a few more coats before I hit it with color.

12:20 P.M.

I'm on Mountain Dew #2. I finished assembling the computer, and the primer is dry. Next is the front panel paint. Here's what I got so far:










1:40 A.M.

Putting the last coats on the front panel!! It's almost done!!

The computer has been fired up and tested. As soon as the paint dries, it's a wrap!!




While I'm waiting for the paint to dry, I'll throw in a few tidbits for your viewing pleasure. Some of the tricks I used on this build aren't readily apparent.

You can see a large red cable going from the motherboard to the front... that's the rubber sleeve from an old rounded IDE cable. I pushed the switch and LED wires through it.

I also had to nibble some of the top panel, in the very back. Because of how I mounted the rear 120mm fan, it wouldn't go on unless I removed metal. You can also see (if you can tell from my crappy camera pics) that the rear fan wire is run through the back panel.

I had to nibble the bottom off of one of the biohazard grilles. The fan was mounted slightly lower than the other, and the grille was just too tall to fit the fan holes... chop chop! You can't see it at all.

I'm sure there's something else I missed... just can't think of it yet. It's almost 2 in the morning... I can barely remember my name at this point.

Okay... 6:00 A.M.

4 hours of sleep FTW!!!

The front paint is still slightly tacky, but I'll put it on and snap a pic for you guys anyway. Cause I'm sleep-deprived.

I'm finishing putting the switches/LED's in. I'll post a pic when I'm done, then eat breakfast and go back to bed.

(((EDIT)))
I just ruined the paint on the front panel, trying to rush it. Because of that, I had to go back and hit it with another coat of red, which means I won't be able to put it together until later today. Good night.

SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 10:00 A.M.

DONE!!!!!

You've outdone yourself this time Jeff
The top panel decal looks awesome and matches the paint scheme perfectly, yet giving a contrast at the same time!
For a tight deadline you've done an awsome job bro.
p.s. Is this your first attempt at blowholes??
Anyways they look wicked and on par with Bill's blowholes!

Exellent job Jeff

*Edit*

Looks like you're going to get good airflow there actually!
One 92 pushing air past the gpu then exhausted via the psu.
And the other pushing past the cpu and being exhausted via the rear 120 ( looks like a 120 to me??! )

Great job on that it looks spectacular!

Quote: Originally Posted by MRMOBEUS You've outdone yourself this time Jeff The top panel decal looks awesome and matches the paint scheme perfectly, yet giving a contrast at the same time! For a tight deadline you've done an awsome job bro. p.s. Is this your first attempt at blowholes?? Anyways they look wicked and on par with Bill's blowholes! Exellent job Jeff *Edit* Looks like you're going to get good airflow there actually! One 92 pushing air past the gpu then exhausted via the psu. And the other pushing past the cpu and being exhausted via the rear 120 ( looks like a 120 to me??! )

Thanks, man. My inspiration for this case was some of the Isotope cases from scan.co.uk

Yes, it's my first attempt at using fiberglass for blowholes. If I'd had more time, I could have made it look better... but it works. I'll also probably not use acrylic (enamel) paint again, as it takes too long to set, and I need to be able to lay on another coat when I can sneak in time and not have to wait for the drying window. I did the O-scope shell with laquers, and I had none of those problems with it. We'll see.

Yes, the rear is a 120mm, and it's still amazingly quiet for how much air it pushes. Even with all the fans at full power, it's still the quietest PC in my house. Even with all the fans turned off and just using the PSU fan, it stays around 34C degrees. I would up having to reverse the airflow, because the Arctic Cooling fans wouldn't fit behind the bezel blowing inward. So the rear is now an intake, and the front 92's blow outward. I had to butcher the rear of the case to make it work (and the front, too for that matter). But it works.

Awsome job!!!!!!!!