Case Mod - In Progress Modding a Thermaltake Core G3 to fit a 360 rad

I bought a Core G3 case from Thermaltake 2 years ago, because I really liked this atypical shape, with a pretty unusual layout: a reverse motherboard and a vertical GPU mounting.
Bit-tech made a review of this case here:
https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/cases/thermaltake-core-g3-review/2/
- so I will not go further, we all know the defects of this case, the space behind the MB tray is too thin, cable routing is a hell, it's almost impossible to avoid a jungle of cables in front of the hardware




and the worst thing IMHO, is the fact that they designed it to mount a 240 mm rad only, witch is quite understated to properly cool a couple CPU/GPU.
Digging a little on the net, you can find some videos of people who managed to fit a 360mm rad, but with significant modifications of the front, or a new attachment system.
I saw some modded Core G3 with a very nice result tho:




I started to modify my G3 last year, to improve the cable management, but it was planned to cool only the CPU, and keep the 240mm layout

But then, life did not allow me free time to finish this project. I had to move to another location, with all my stuff and gear, luckily it is only about 15kms from my previous house, so I've done it little by little, and it took me months...
Aside of that, I've assembled 8 computers for clients in 2023/24, but with slight modifications, and I really had no time for modding during the past year.
Now I am installed, I have a new workshop, and free time and I recently realized that it was possible to fit a 360mm radiator, and I went back to work last week.
I was not thinking about posting, but if some people want to mod their G3 to fit a 360 rad, it can give tips and ideas that I didn't see on the internet, and could help.
Don't remind me my 3 unfinished work-logs, I am aware and not satisfied, and I am wishing to finish them all this year if I can, but this one is nearer to be completed than other's ...

So, the first shots are from last year, I started by stripping off the case and replace the Motherboard tray by aluminium.

then I drilled a few holes

a bit of primary paint on one side

it fits the case


There is another alu plate for the cable routing that I made last year; but I will come to it later.

Now the pics are more recent, I started to cut out the unwanted parts of the 240mm mountings

Then I made a cardboard pattern

and on the following pic, you can see 4 pens, they are inside the 4 holes made to clip on the front

and it is great to see that 3 120mm fans are fitting between those holes, it shows that the front can be clipped on without any other modifications.
So I cut out a new front plate of 1mm steel, coming from an old case door


and the fan's openings

2 of these fans comes from the original bundle, I struggled to find one with similar blades, only the body is different, so I removed the corners of the 2 other ones and with a bit of paint they look almost similar, and the blades are matching, this is what matters.

The next issue comes from the front attachment system, when it's clipped, those parts exceed by 5 mm so the radiator cannot be screwed on

So, I made a secondary layer in light wood just to match the 5 mms

Now it is fine, I also added 2 handles that comes from a broken drawer

Now the 360 can be mounted, with the same holes as the fans


and the front grill can be clipped on without pushing off the rad

The shiny blades behind the grill was the wanted effect

to be continued...

 

Thanks Andy
The gap between the top and the radiator is now of 2.6 cm

meaning the plate I've done for the first version is unusable

I already started to make a new one

because I really want to add some strength to the PCI riser, I have done it for the first version and it was fine

I'm not sure if I will be able to put a fan, or just a grill to allow air getting out from the top but it would be good for the airflow anyway...
I am also thinking about purchasing a RTX 3000 series, it is usually a short PCB that would be great with a water-block, but I can't afford new expenses actually, so I will have to make it with my RTX 2080 extreme water-force, measuring 29.5 cm, and I can forget my set of 3 Lian-LI BR lite and the RGB stuff, with that GPU, it can only fit the famous slim series from Corsair...

 

Some last pics for today, these are from last year, the original project started with this idea to make something to hide the cables as much as possible, so I started by taping on the wires behind that plate, letting only the connector parts coming out on the front side, and I only thought at first to tape them and be able to close the original door of the case

but then I thought about making a second plate to hold them tight and I cut this out of cardboard

and used it as a pattern to cut the aluminium plate




So mounted on the case

and with all parts it was like that

There are some minor flaws due to a lack of accuracy but it was ok, thing is, the drain that was planned on the bottom right corner is now a problem, the 360 rad is in front, so it is unuseful and i will have to hide it, or totally redo this plate...I am still wavering

 

Awesome. This should be in the project logs. NO ONE is in the project logs. We can't complain if the thread is too short for a p-log.

 

Thank you very much , I am flatted but well, as usual, I don't find my skills good enough to post my logs in the same section as yours or the others incredibly skilled modders who still work hard to keep modding and Bit-tech forums alive and to it's highest level,
...but considering it is a project log, and that this section is maintained alive only by a handful of people, and the fact that you mentioned it, I can agree, except that I wonder how it could be moved now that it is in Modding section...

 

Welcome back Kim
Amazing work with mobo-tray and the rear plate

 

Thank you very much mate

 

Nice built

 

Thank you very much, and welcome to Bit-Tech

 

Well, I simply make a little groove with a Dremel on the folding line, and then I use my vice, with additional metal profiles fixed on the sheet with clamps to be sure it won't bend badly. I'll take pictures of the next sheet I will bend.

Thank you very much Andy, ...well, I reckon I am a bit shy myself to post between the greatest modders I admire, but well, if you and Cheap are thinking the same, and if you have the power to move the thread to PL, I will be honored of course.

 

Done big thanks to you and Andrew...
So...not that much of a progress, I work a lot those days (at my job I mean ) but I started to make the new PSU shroud the other day, always same method, a white paper sheet pasted on the aluminum to draw the bending lines

I found that one of the cooling plates for nvme SSDs that comes from the MB will do a perfectly designed part on the PSU side...
I only use a hand saw for cuts

The bending is from last week, I'll show how I bend with my vice soon...
This is where I am actually, but there are some forthcoming days-off soon so new updates soon

There is a very ugly black paint on the MB tray but it is temporary, it was only the end of a spray can I used for something else, I stupidly finished it there but I regret it I will sand it and there will be mat black paint when everything will be ready for paintings...
A last thing for today, as I am now in the Project logs, I must mention the specs, the components are from 2020 already, but it can handle all my games, and quick format conversion.
Proc - Ryzen 9-5900x
MB - Gigabyte X570S Aorus pro AX
Ram - 32 Go of DDR4 Corsair Dominator Platinum 2400mhz
GPU - Gigabyte RTX 2080 extreme water-force 12 Go
PSU - CoolerMaster V850 SFX gold
SSD1 - Gigabyte Aorus 7000s 1To PCI gen4
SSD2 - Samsung 980 pro 4To PCI gen 4
SSD3 - Gigabyte Aorus RGB 500Go PCI gen4
CPU block - TechN for Ryzen
Pump - EKW X-top DDC 3.2
Fans - Corsair slim series
Thanks to all those supporting

 

Despite my measurements, and the slim fans, the GPU is too long...

It's the matter of a few tenths of a millimeter, but it is not good, it is slightly pushing the body of the fan when the GPU is in place...

So I am going to modify the case again in a way to win 1 or 2 millimeters for the GPU clearance.
I will show how soon, but today, I've done something that I wanted to do for a while, I removed the ugly design of the RTX and cleaned it, it's almost done, it took me 4 hours to remove the glue, I will also make something else to replace it and hide the dirty parts

 

So, let's do other modifications, first cut a big opening to pass the GPU through the case

There is enough space for the GPU now

I have to make a new plate with a mounting to hold the PCI slot so I made a mock up with paper

cut a plate of alu

first cuts

 

made this, I am not satisfied of it but for now it will help me to go ahead

and this is the way...

 

I got into something may be too tricky for my skills but well, if I screw it, I will make another plate, but I wanted to try

 

Expect a really stiff neck/shoulder soon.