Well I decided to Mod my old case ( my old Gamer) to replace the mid-size case my Workstation resides in. When I started this Mod I was going to just move all my old parts over to the new case when it was completed. But I decided to completely re-vamp the system when Intel announced the i7 920 was to be short lived. So my New Workstation will be sporting a i7 920, EVGA X58 LE, 6GB of OCZ DDR3 1600 Platinum, GTX 280, Seagate 250GB HD, Blu-ray Drive, DVD Burner, Corsair 750w PS and some shiny Heatsinks.

I started by dis-assembling the Stacker 810







Next, I worked on the Top Panel pieces. I cut an exhaust hole for a 120mm fan to replace the stock 80mm fan. And for some reason the top had some serious scratches in it. I sanded them down and applied some spot putty to the blemishes. Then I sanded it down smooth again and primed it, more sanding, more priming, again and again. They are now a smooth primer gray just waiting for paint



My next step was the side panel with the factory acrylic window. I removed the window and fitted in a piece of Honeycomb Mesh.



The window is thicker than the mesh so I bent some flat panel nuts to hold the mesh in place.



With the side panel primered I can look for blemishes that might affect the paint finish. I like the looks of the honeycomb mesh instead of the acrylic window.



The side panel was brand new, never used, so it's in good shape. But with primer applied you can see the heads of the recessed window retention nuts.



It wasn't noticeable as a plain alumimun panel but it will be visible painted so I'm going to smooth them out. Using my dremel I grind the area down to produce a slight indentation.



I probably should of used fiberstrand body filler, but it's such a small area I just used a dab of body putty.



I let it dry for about 30 minutes and sanded it down with 600 grit sandpaper.



I primed the panel and sanded it down with 800 grit paper and then I primed and sanded again. It must be magic because I just don't see the blemishes anymore.



And the panel is ready for some paint

How much damage is left on the top panel by removing that rounded lump at the front? That's always the one thing I disliked about the Stacker 810.

No damage, actually I'm still using it.

I ordered this stuff when I was just going to use the hardware I had. Heatsinks for the NB, SB and the Mosfets. But with the new mobo I won't be able to use the Mosfet heatsinks.



Here are some pictures of my Interior paint job.





















And I leaned the unpainted side panel up against it to see what the window was going to look like



I've gotten a few more parts painted and the Top Panel is back in place

I meant, more, "does it leave a gaping gap in the top panel?" I relocated the top USB from my Ark SR-8100 and had to do a lot of patching... I figure "the less stuff on the top of the case, the easier it is to pile junk on top"

Here are a few close-ups of the top panel paint job using spray cans





The GTX 280 is being cooled with a SilenX IXG-80HA2 and I used a couple of 100x100x12mm fans which makes it bigger than the stock cooler. Here's a few more pictures.





Because of how big the video card is I've had to bend the heatsink on the southbridge. It's really not noticable unless your laying on the Floor now that all of this is actually installed.

The video card is holding one side of the mobo up higher so some of the pictures look a little lopsided.









In this next picture we can see I've mounted the Power Panel, Optical Drives and the Hard Drive. I'll only be using 3 of the Drive Bay Covers which will go down to and cover the Hard Drive. And I'll be using the Honeycomb Mesh to cover the rest of the area and the fans will be mounted to the Mesh.



Here we have the 3 Drive Bay Covers which I got painted before it rained.



And I painted the USB and Power/Reset/Activity Cables black with a Permanent Marker.



Here is the Seagate Barracuda 250 GB Drive, I've mounted it to the chassis with a set of Nexus DoubleTwin Hard Drive Vibration Absorbers ( Nexus DoubleTwin Hard Drive Vibration Absorber Products Model: NX-DT-HDD [NX-DT-HDD] : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come ) which I painted black and I've attached a Scythe "KAZE-JYU" Silent Slim 100X12mm Fan to it with the drive mounting hardware included with the fan ( Scythe "KAZE-JYU" Slim100mm Silent 100mm Fan (fits 92mm fan holes) - Med Speed - Sleeved Products Model: SY1012SL12M [SY1012SL12M] : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come ). These are the same fans I used on the Video Card Cooler.



I'll be hand painting all the visible screw heads and the visible parts of the Optical Drives in this next Picture.



Here we can see the back of the PC. I think I'll paint the I/O Shield.



When we zoom in we can see I've drilled out the fan mounting holes and installed some noise reducing Gromments.



And there hard to see but I've used Black Anodized Thumbscrews to mount the Power Supply. I've got enough for the Side Panels but I'm a few short for all the Card Slots, I need to order 5 more.



And the last 2 pictures of the day are of the Top Panel, of which I've attached all the parts to and I've mounted the Top Exhaust Fan.

I took the heatsink (True 120) off my old system and lapped it for this system (I did have to order a LGA1366 hold-down kit).











Assembly has started. Thou I still have a few parts on order and a few things to finish on the case.





Well it's almost finished. I still have to finish the front intake but I'm waiting on the fans to arrive. I'm also waiting on a few more Black Thumbscrews.









I installed Windows XP 64-bit as my version of AutoCad has a compatibility issue with Vista. I thought about using Windows 7 but this in my Workstation and I don't want to take any chances.

I ran a couple of Benchmarks at 4Ghz

ORB - Compare

Well I think I have it finished, or at least for now. I took a bunch of pictures, some came out better than others. I guess will start with the Front Views.











And we'll move on to the Windowed side with some interior close-ups.















And we'll move on to the back.







And a couple of the far-side.





And we'll end it with a few pictures of it running in a dark room.







I've got it running at 4.2Ghz now so I'll post some new benchmarks tomorrow

That came out really slick and stealthy Slay !

Nice job

Quote: Originally Posted by MDCRL That came out really slick and stealthy Slay ! Nice job

Thanks, I actually impressed myself I usually just take the lazy way

That looks bloomin' Awesome Dan!!

I usually don't like all black cases but you'rs is one of the few that I think is done right.
The black adds a nice subtle background for all the bling inside!
The blue lights add just enough illumination to make it pop without being overwhelming.

Very nice Job bro, Kudoz on their way...


Paul

Damnit I really need to get back into the game soon...

Thanks Paul