Case Mod Noir - by marius_mym

[marius_mym]

Hello guys, I'm Marius and I'm from Romania.

I'm a member of this community for almost 2 years, but I didn't have the guts (until now) to post my previous projects. This is my current project, I started this project because I had some hardware components from my previous rig.

I already made an ITX case, and also a full tower case, so this time I decided to base my project on a micro tower case.
The name of the project represents, as you already figured out, the main color of the build.
I wanted a stylish case, but I didn't have enough money for a Lian Li so I bought a Fractal Design Core 1000, and also a mATX motherboard
(I sold my previous motherboard because it was ATX form factor).



After I took the photo above, I "strip" the case to do some measurements.





I already knew that I want to install two 120mm fans in the front panel of the case (maybe for a water block sometime). In order to do that I had to cut the original face of the case chassis, and build a new one.

After I finished the front piece I cut a second piece of aluminum to "extend" the motherboard tray, then I took the pieces, plus some hardware parts and I painted them.
I used a thermo resistant paint because is more resistant that the normal one and also you don't have to apply primer or lacquer. The disadvantage of this paint is that you have to heat the painted piece up to 160-200 C in order to obtain a full dry of the paint.

Because I don't have an oven to dry the parts, I heat the pieces with my heat gun . For ram radiators I used a "normal" paint.
The results are below :





























The next parts that received the "thermo resistant paint treatment" was the rear brackets of the case, the bracket of the GPU and the top cover of the PSU (because I scratched when I removed the stickers).





















When I finished with the painting I took the left panel and cut a hole for a windows. I cut the acrylic piece and I sanded the edges to obtain that "frozen" effect. The windows looks good but I'm not 100% happy with it and I think I'll change the acrylic piece with a dark one (to fit better with the theme of the project).






The next step was the sleeving job, but before anything else I would like to thank to sleeve-modding.com for sponsoring my project.
After I received the package I started to sleeve the front panel connectors, and then the PSU.
I wasn't happy with the long and useless (for me) cables of the PSU so I decided to short some cables, and get rid of other and make my power supply semi-modular.
Because the space inside my VX450 was very tight I was forced to mount the connectors for modular cables outside of the PSU. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results.
























And some garbage :




After I finished the work with the PSU I started to work at the front panel. I didn't like the original metallic mesh of the case so I asked a friend to help me with a piece of black (matt) acrylic in order to replace the metallic mesh.
The shapes were cut with a laser, because I was afraid no to damage the acrylic.












This is the current state of the project, I'll make an update as soon as I manage to do some progress.

Hope you like my little project !

P.S.: My english isn't perfect, but i did my best !

[Hanoken]

your English is fine understandable and clear ha ha ha, I love your black theme that you have going at the moment! can't wait to see what you have in store for this project and good luck !

[jay2]

molex and sata cable? gone?
well, i'll sit here and wait for your next update

[makarov7]

Very cool side panel windows - frosty

Noir = black , it will be a dark build i think

[LukeDaly]

I think a tinted window would look great

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[biojellywobbles]

Wanted to see one of these modded for a while, gives me ideas on what to do with mine!

[jamsand]

Fantastic finish on that paint work!

[[ZiiP] NaloaC]

Great work so far, love the effect on the side window!

[SilveR_172]

looking promising =) Love the Ram photos

[dream1]

Comme une nuit noire. Me like it

[timerhan]

Originally Posted by jamsand

Fantastic finish on that paint work!

+1
Very cool!!!

[marius_mym]

Woow, thanks for the kind words guys, I didn't expect to see so much replies in a such short time.

Originally Posted by Hanoken

your English is fine understandable and clear ha ha ha, I love your black theme that you have going at the moment! can't wait to see what you have in store for this project and good luck !

Thanks !

Originally Posted by jay2

molex and sata cable? gone?
well, i'll sit here and wait for your next update

Well, I had to get rid of those "tentacles", because they were useless. I only need one sata power connector (for HDD), and maybe another one for an SSD, but I'll make my own extensions.

Originally Posted by makarov7

Very cool side panel windows - frosty

Noir = black , it will be a dark build i think

Originally Posted by [ZiiP] NaloaC

Great work so far, love the effect on the side window!

I'm glad you like my side window guys ! I've been waiting for a long time to use that "effect" and this project offered me the perfect opportunity, because the window is pretty small and I can change it very quickly without wasting too much acrylic (in case that I don't like the way that looks).

Originally Posted by LukeDaly

I think a tinted window would look great

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

I agree with you! The tough part is to find a tinted acrylic window in Romania, but i'll do my best.

Originally Posted by biojellywobbles

Wanted to see one of these modded for a while, gives me ideas on what to do with mine!

Well, I hope that my project will give you some ideas ! I can't say that this case offers unlimited possibilities, but there are couple of things that you can change .

Originally Posted by jamsand

Fantastic finish on that paint work!

Thank you, sir ! I did my best, but the paint helped me a lot. The entire process (from the first layer of paint until full dry) took about 2 hours

Originally Posted by SilveR_172

looking promising =) Love the Ram photos

Originally Posted by timerhan

+1
Very cool!!!

Thanks ! I love them too !

Originally Posted by dream1

Comme une nuit noire. Me like it

Glad you like !
P.S.:My french is even worse than my english, i had to use translate google to understand !

[Parge]

So far, so awesome!

[KidMod-Southpaw]

Agreed! Not too keen on the window style though, takes away from the minimalism of the build.

You're awesome with spraypaint though! Look like you've powdercoated everything!

[marius_mym]

Originally Posted by Parge

So far, so awesome!

Thank you Parge!

Originally Posted by KidMod-Southpaw

Agreed! Not too keen on the window style though, takes away from the minimalism of the build.

You're awesome with spraypaint though! Look like you've powdercoated everything!

Totally agree with you! Even if the window looks fine, it doesn't fit 100% in project. I'm going to change it as soon as I find a tinted acrylic sheet.
I'm glad you like my spraypaint !

On the other hand today I made some kind of "splitter" to power on a stripe of LEDs and also a fan controller.
I choose to power on the fan controller with a 2 pin connector because in this way i can reduce the number of cables (I'm going to use 26 awg wire and only one sleeving wire for both cables of the fan controller).

[marius_mym]

Last time I show you the splitter that I'm going to use to power the fan controller and a LED stripe. In the previous weekend I made a cable to connect that splitter to the power supply.












After I finish the cable I made a backplate for the GPU . I know, is pretty simple, but I like that "clean" look.











Ohh, I almost forgot, today I receive a small package form my sponsor sleeve-modding.com.

I'll use a part of these items to build the fan controller.
The other part (the rubber grommets and the switch) I took it "just in case" .







P.S.: I'm still searching for that tinted acrylic !

[KidMod-Southpaw]

More great stuff!

By the way, what I meant about the windows was that the smudged style border doesn't work. The actual clear plastic is fine and probably better.

[k.3nny]

that window! Mind = Blown!

[marius_mym]

Originally Posted by KidMod-Southpaw

More great stuff!

By the way, what I meant about the windows was that the smudged style border doesn't work. The actual clear plastic is fine and probably better.

Glad you like my little update !
Regarding window panel... meh, it would be to easy to mount a clear acrylic !

Originally Posted by k.3nny

that window! Mind = Blown!

Glad you like it mate !
It looks good indeed and also is easy to obtain (you only need a 300-400 grit sandpaper, a piece of acrylic and.... some imagination ) but unfortunately it doesn't fit perfectly into the project.

[marius_mym]

Hello guys !
I know is been a while since my last update, but i didn't have anything "cool" to show.
As I said before i wanted to made a different type of fan controller for this project, so i asked a friend to help me (i'm not very good with the solder gun) and this is what we manage to do :




The "fan controller" has 3 positions : 12V=>off=>7V.

After I mounted the fan controller, I also mounted the cpu cooler and i manage to do some photos .
Unfortunately i still need an SSD , but the good thing is that the lack of the SSD didn't affect the "design" of the interior, because the SSD will be placed under the GPU card, and as you can see the Sata power cable for the SSD is already in place.
So... enjoy the photos ! Hope you like !





















After i did the photos i realized that i don't like that "code" from the fan of the cpu cooler, so i rotated the fan by 90 degrees , and I made some "indoor photos", because outside is veeeery cold .



















Hope you like it guys !