Case Mod "The Purple Dragon Project" | April 29th 2007 | COMPLETED! Pics and details on Page 2

[azazel.]

Before I start my endless blabble and picture posting, do note that this mod is already finished - it has been for quite a while now. Though, I have a new casemod in the making, and figured it would be a good idea to post my old (and first) one here, to give you an idea of what to expect. I have more than plenty of pictures from the process, and will be serving you these in a suitably paced manor, to make it feel like a "real" work log.

Anyhoot, onwards.

This is my first ever casemod. It has been a few years in production, being modded in two stints. The first version wasn't quite as I wanted it, so I expanded and developed the concept, with my main goal being the "Casemod of the Year 2005" contest on Tweakup.dk. Sadly, I missed the deadline, but I ended up with something I was quite proud of.

Let's start at the beginning, stint one. Do note that a few of the ideas on the following pages were scrapped in the end product, I'll notify you when I commence the second stint, the one that built up to what it is today. First up is:

The Case





The cellphone in the first picture might indicate how old these pictures really are, hehe. It's an Ericsson, from the time before they merged with Sony. I don't even remember what it's called. An A26...something.

Now, when I picked this, it was mainly for the flashy color. At this time I wasn't planning anything specific, just wanted a new case to replace the crappy, cheap, plastic littered, 0.7 cm zink built heap of a case I was currently in possession of. A sturdy Chieftec case seemed like a good replacement.

The Modding

It would be months before I laid hands on the case. What set me off was a mod I saw on Metku. Someone had squeezed four 80mm fans into the front of his (smaller) Antec case. The innards are pretty much identical to that of my Chieftec, so I gave it a whirl. Before I show you how that turned out, here's a few pictures of what I did to the case before that:


Installed a CoolerMaster Musketeer and a small Papst 40mm fan.


The goodies for my PSU mod. A purple acrylic cover, black cable sleeving from Vantec, a very silent CoolInk 80mm fan, a Y-cable and some fan screws, and a fan grill I ended up never using.






I drilled all the venting holes myself. Think there was about 90 in total. Took ages.



I think that's enough info and pictures for one post. I'll post more, mainly of the 4x80mm fan mod in a minute.

All comments are welcome.

[azazel.]

All masked up and ready for some hacksaw action.





The last picture you can see how I cut out the part in the front where the four 80mm fans will be mounted. Sadly I don't have any pics of the mounting plate being cut, or the fans being mounted to it, but here's a few pics of it being painted, and after it was mounted to the case:





The next step was to mount a fan controller, in this case a a simple panel with switches and LEDs, from NoiseIsolator.





And then there's another gap in my stash of pictures. I'll be removing the front grill of the case, and installing a window in the door, the aftermath pics will follow in the next post.

[azazel.]

Before I show you the front window, some assembly pics:


CoolerMaster CoolDrive 3, two Revoltec 60cm 3-pin extension cables, two blue cathodes and a Thermaltake TrueLight RAM cooler with blue animated light.


And here all the above products have been installed. I also sleeved various cables.


Here you can see the front with the removed grill and new window, which still has the protective film on it.




I cut some small, round pieces of acryllic, painted them black, and mounted them to the center of the fans.

And yes, I know the fans are a bit off center, but the motherboard tray made it impossible to move them any further to the right.


Flick the switch and push the button to power on the PC. Found it in a car accessories shop.


Fitted some black mesh over the fans.

And that's how the case stood for a few months. End of the first stint. Now the more creative modding can commence. I'll update in a little while.

Tata.

[azazel.]

Originally Posted by sirkillalot617

very nice just wondering whats it got to do with dragons.

Thanks mate.

The case is called the Chieftec Dragon. And it's purple. There's your connection. :P

[azazel.]

The Modding - Stint Two

This is where I decide to enhance the case a bit up to the contest I mentioned earlier. It was also time for an upgrade.

Parts!



CPU: AMD A64 3200+ (2200 MHz) (Socket 754)
Motherboard: Soltek SL-K8AN-RL
PSU: NorthQ 4001-BL 400W (17 dBa)
CPU Cooler: ThermalTake Pipe 101
Fan: ThermalTake Silver UV, 92mm UFO Fan

Also in the picture is four black thumbscrews and a Hauppauge TV-tuner card.


The heat pipe cooler in all its glory, with the UFO fan mounted. I admit, the fan isn't that pretty, but that changed.


Only decent motherboard I could find that fit the theme.


And here's the cooler and CPU installed.

More parts!

Goodies arrived from www.caseking.de:


Stuffed box!

Let's lay out and name the various parts.

• 1x 120mm Aerocool Turbine 1000
• 6x 80mm Aerocool Silver Blade II
• 1x AC Ryan Alumino Fan Filter 120mm, black
• 6x AC Ryan Alumino Fan Filter 80mm, black
• 1x Lian Li LCD Thermometer & Fan Controller TR-3
• 1x AC Ryan MORF PSU Modding Kit, black
• 1x Sharkoon Roundcable U133, 45cm
• 1x *Floppy cable, round. black
• 1x Sunbeam LED Screws, 4-pack, blue
• 4x Sharkoon Rubber Bolts, 4-pack
• 4x ThermalTake Ducting Mod

In the next post you'll get to see how some of these items were used.

[azazel.]

I should mention that at this time I've also purchased a few sheets of 3mm thick black tinted acrylic, and a handful of M4 hex bolts.


Cut a hole for the new top window.




Top window cut. The big hole is for the 120mm Aerocool fan.


Still need to pretty up the holes, hehe.


Test fitted the top window with a few of the buttons.

Now, I wasn't quite satisfied with the clear 80mm fans I used in the first go, so I replaced them with the AeroCool Silver Line II fans you saw above, and mounted them with the rubber "bolts".




Snug fit. It was hell to get the last fan on.






Test fitted to the case. You can also see a bit of the paint I'll be using in the background - flat black.


Mounted one of the ThermalTake ducts to see how it would look.

More later.

[azazel.]

Originally Posted by exitus

they say that purple is the colour of unsatisfied women
you're not a woman, are you?

Who are "they"?

But no, I'm very much male. Let's hope that unsatisfied women will feel drawn to the case and its owner, eh? :P

@jegerjon: Ah, cool. Glad you like it.

[azazel.]

So, now for more cutting, sanding and painting.




Flat black, yummy. Got a few more coats after this. In this picture you can also see the hole I cut for the two rear fans, which will be the same AeroCool ones used in the front.


The upper and lower part of the front window and the mounting plate for the rear fans got a shot of paint, too.



In the top window I mounted a key switch and a Bulgin vandal button. It's a simple setup that requires you to turn the key before you're able to boot up the PC, using either the Bulgin button, or the one behind the front door, that's what I'm soldering in the picture above.

Now I could start assembling the case again.




The ducts are supposed to direct some of the airflow towards the southbridge on the motherboard, but they're mostly just there for looks.

After this I have very few assembly or work pictures, as I had a deadline. In the next post you'll see the finished product, so I'm saving that for tomorrow.

-Az

[azazel.]

Originally Posted by The_Beast

I don't really like the purple paint(I like black), but it's still a pretty good mod

I'm a big fan of black, too. That's why pretty much all the items and details I've added to the case are indeed black. I was afraid that repainting the whole case black, would have the said black details drown out and become less noticeable. Then there's the whole fact of the color not being used very often, and I found that to be a quality of its own. Maybe you'll like it better when you see it all assembled and lit up.

Thanks for the comments peeps.

[azazel.]

As mentioned I was on a very tight deadline, so tight that I ended up missing it, so this will be the last batch of pictures.

We'll start off slow with a few early assembly pictures, and then some of the finished case.


The 120mm AeroCool fan in the top window. And yes, that's wires coming out of the fan screws, more on that in a bit.


Here you can see the top window, complete with the LED fan screws, key switch and the Bulgin Vandal button. Mounted the PSU using the black thumb screws.

And now...

The finished, fully assembled case.




I decided to go for a big side window, to match the top window. The edges have been painted black about 4 cm in on the backside.


Here you have better view of the front "window". It's actually just the little 'hole' in the middle of the door that's an actual window. As you saw earlier, these pieces of acrylic were painted black on the back side, and I then mounted a piece of tinted acrylic behind the hole, so that you can see the VU-meter.






Don't ask me why I didn't paint the PSU mounting plate black - I couldn't answer you.


Shineh! You can also see a bit of my 1:18 model car collection in the reflection there, hehe.


A close-up of the top window. The blowhole and edges were sanded with 400 grit wet sanding paper, turned out nicely I'd say.


You can see the little Lian Li fan controller through the window. It's mounted diagonally, using brackets made of the same black, tinted plexiglas.


Both the original hard drive cages were removed. Here you can also see the modded ThermalTake UFO fan. I cut out the middle of the chrome grill, but kept the chrome edge, and painted the fan itself metallic blue.






Secureteh! These security screws can only be unscrewed using the key from this little bundle of keys. In the bundle is also the key needed to boot up the PC, and to lock/unlock the front door.




Here demonstrating that you need the key to turn the mofo on.






All lit up. Subtle light, the way I like it. I reckon some big fat cathodes or other flashy lights would ruin it a bit.


I inserted a little piece of the tinted acrylic in the unused 3,5" bay.


The ducts catch the light from the fans nicely, hard to see because of the flash, though.


That's better.





And, that's about it. Completed.

If you have any sorts of questions, comments, criticism, don't hesitate to bring them to my attention. Hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time,
Azazel

[azazel.]

Thanks for the comments.

Some of the pictures seem a bit dodgy. Probably just ImageShack playing up. Will look into it.

[azazel.]

Originally Posted by itsjustacompaq

are those LED bolts on top, or are they just normal acorn nuts?

LED bolts, yeah. They're not exactly acorn nuts, though. Here's a pic:



And yeah, the buttons in the top window aren't the prettiest, I agree.

[azazel.]

Originally Posted by BioSniper

It almost reminds me of macro black ya know.

I was inspired a bit by Marcro Black, yeah. Hard not to be, hehe.

Thanks for the kind words