Hi and welcome to my project log. This is the first mod I've ever done so I decided to call it Rev.Zero (at least until I can figure out a better name). The whole thing started when the pump in my gaming rig gave up and started leaking. For a few days I had to refill my system every time I wanted to play which really isn't that much fun, so I ended up moving the parts to another box while waiting for a new pump. But once the case was empty I started to get lots of ideas and decided to do a full mod (which is something I've been thinking about for quite some time). So this is what I started with, a standard Chieftec mid-tower: (Note the disgusting case floor with a mixture of dust and water-wetter tainted water) My plan is to turn the case around BTX-style and make a separate compartment in the bottom of the case for PSU and water cooling. I will also try to keep the cabling as neat as possible. The inside will be painted white and the outside will probably be titanium grey or similar. To give you an idea of how it'll look here's the case turned upside-down with the BIX in the planned position: Ok, enough foreplay, time to start modding the thing... Since I want the end result to be as clean as possible I started to fill all the holes on the back of the case with epoxy-putty. The two 80mm fans will be removed and replaced with one big (120mm). And to cut stuff you need...a dremel. Hmm, maybe I should post a picture of my cat too . So after cutting out the fan guards and sanding down the putty (which took forever btw) the case looks like this: Since I had to cut so much of the case away I decided to use an aluminum sheet as support for the new 120mm fan. I epoxied the thing on using the screws as guides and I must say that epoxy is unbelievably strong...That plate wont come off even if I wanted it to. After cutting the hole things are starting to take shape: I used some more epoxy-putty to fill the remaining places and sanded it all down. I used two small pieces of alu to get it exactly 1mm thick. Once I primed it I realized it wasn't all that smooth and put on a second layer, this time bondo. The reason I didn't use bondo from the beginning is because I've never used it before and wasn't sure if it'd be strong enough. Now in hindsight it might have been better to use it all along, but learning is half the fun, right? So finally after (a lot of) sanding and two layers of primer it looks like this: Not too bad huh? I'm pretty happy with the result and much more confident that I'll pull this off. Next up is the CD cage and the rest of the front. If you want to comment this log (and please do) the discussion thread is here: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=1075621
Project - Rev.Zero This is the discussion thread for Rev.Zero. The full log can be found here. So, tell me what you think of the mod so far. Any and all input is appreciated. .johan
Wow i wanted to do something like that to my old case.. but couldn't cuz i didn't know how, but now i do! looks great i''ll keep checking up on this one.
Wow, lots of comments. Thanks for all the possitive feedback! I'm currently working on the front and will probably have some more pictures for you later tonight.
Excellent! Wow, I can't believe the pic at the beginning and the pic at the end are of the same part! That is one professional-looking job!
Today I did some work on the front of the case. I didn't have time to do all that I wanted (Damn CoD2 demo ) but it's weekend soon and I'll probably have more time then. Since I've turned the case upside down the old drive bay is unusable and I only need two slots anyways. First I thought I'd build one my self but luckily found the right part in an older case I have. So after some cutting the front looks like this: I will probably not spend as much time on the front (except for painting the drive bay) as it wont be visible (I'll be using Akasa sound mats on the front, back and top of the case) The marked area of the aluminum sheet will be in the place of the old drive bay and hold the radiator and fans (push-pull). I plan to make it removable so I'll probably thread the holes and use M4 hex bolts to hold it in place. None of this will be visible in the end as the bottom compartment will be closed of (for noise and looks) but I like to do a good job with it anyways. Parts Since I didn't have time to do all that much today I took some pictures of some of the "goodies" I bought for this project. First, new motherboard, a DFI LanParty UT nf3. I really hate the yellow color but it's a good board for OC so I have to live with it. I'll be using my old s754 clawhammer and AGP 6600GT until I can afford to move up to s939 and PCI-E. New Samsung Spinpoint SATA HD with nexus heatsinks (has rubber blocks for noise reduction). New Enheim 1048 water pump (as the old one broke) and maze4 blocks from the old system. I'll be ordering a new water tank and more Tygon 1/2" next week. Tagan EasyCon PSU to keep the wiring as clean as possible. I hope this gives you a better idea of how the end result will look like and I'm looking forward to hearing you comments in the discussion thread.
If possible, I recommend selling the Z Chipset block up if you can. It's a real bottleneck in terms of flow, a Maze4 chipset will be much better
Im gonna watch this carefully, as i have my own dragon and this looks like it will be helpful, as im about to start the modding on mine.
bondo did shape out nicely. The Nice thing about those cases is that they are so versitile to mod. You can literally do just about anything. Looks great!
Thanks for all the kind words. Makes me want to keep going like a Duracell bunny Leeum, you might be right about the chipset block. I'll do some testing and see how it compares to the CPU block. It seems like the best setup would be with equal restriction in all blocks, right?
Time for an update! To day I went to the hardware store and got me some more moding supplies. I of course managed to forget half of the things I was supposed to get, but I got enough stuff to mod through the weekend. I got: 1 sheet of 2mm aluminum (for radiator mounting and custom fan guard). 1 sheet of 1mm aluminum for other metal parts. A set of 3.3mm and 3.5mm drill bits as I broke the ones I had. I didn't find a 3.2mm one for rivets so I guess I'll have to manage with 3.3mm. I also got some 5 red and 5 white leds so I can do some lighting tests in the case. While these wasn't on my shopping list I couldn't resist buying them. Black rivets, they'll be perfect for my color scheme. I also dug up some UV reactive plexi I had lying around. Not sure exactly what I'll be using it for, but I got a ton of ideas so it'll probably turn out alright. I also have a big 12mm sheet but I'm not sure if I can find a use for it. Maybe something for holding the WC hoses or tank, I dunno. Any ideas? Btw, the plexi is impossible to get a good picture of, always out of focus. In real life the edges are much brighter too. Anyways, I put the case back together today so I could get a better overview and also to get measurements for the middle wall. This also gave me a chance to test the new rivets and I must say that they look much better than the generic ones. I started working on the middle wall but since my method of bending metal is quite, well extremely loud, I have to wait until tomorrow so I can do it outside. This is how far I got: After this piece there will be a 45 degree bend and then another horizontal piece. (Something like this: –––\___). All this will then be smoothed out with bondo and painted white. The sides will be covered with either mesh or aluminum sheet, effectively stealthing the WC setup. Until next time,
