Case Mod Project: Rogue (NZXT Rogue SFF) It lives! Aug 13, '08

[craigbru]

February 10, 2008

Since I had the Matrix Orbital display arrive, I thought I'd jump to a little work on the front panel. The LCD will be situated on the lower center of the front face. The Dakota Digital gauges will flank it on the left and the right, with the widescreen LCD sitting above it.

Here I've marked out where the display will sit.



After the rough cut.



After the final filing.



The display will be recessed behind the panel. Although the door won't need to be used on a regular basis, it will be able to swing free and clear.

[craigbru]

February 11, 2008

Another quick update here...

I decided to get a little work done on the top of the case. Due to the dual radiators, and the ATX motherboard, there simply isn't room to mount fans directly to the radiators themselves. This meant I had to take a different approach to airflow. The best option I had was to mount fans on the top of the case. By doing this, fresh, cool air will be drawn in to the sides of the case and through the radiators, then pulled out through the top. Since the rest of the case will be sealed, the only place the air can be drawn in, will be through the radiators. I may lose a little efficiency compared to having the fans directly on the radiators, but I doubt it will be that much. Not to mention the fact that I'll have six fans, for a pair of 240.2 radiators. Also, the Sanyo Denki fans are airflow monsters. They range anywhere from a soft breeze, to Hoover, all at surprisingly quiet noise levels.

Here you can get the basic idea for the top of the case. There will be a panel angled to the left and the right. This will be made using the original cover, in addition to some strategically bent 1mm aluminum. The whole assembly will be easily removed in one piece, just as the original version. I'm checking in to some sort of contact type of connection that will remove the need to unplug the fan wires when the top is removed.





Only 4 of the 6 fans are sitting on here right now. I have to cut a little metal to make 6 fit, but I'll have that done shortly.



With the above pictures, you should get an idea of where the fan grills come in to play. I'm not completely sold on using fans that are 38mm thick, however. I was hoping for something with a bit lower profile. Even though the Sanyo's are a stellar fan, should I ever want to swap fans at a later date, it should be pretty simple to do so.

More to come...

[craigbru]

February 14, 2008

I thought I'd get a quick update posted. I've got a little more work done on the face.

After the hole cut for the Matrix Orbital LCD, I thought I'd go ahead and get the holes cut for the Dakota Digital gauges. I used a hole saw for the initial cut, which you can see here.



It didn't cut as cleanly as I had hoped, but a little dremel work and filing is getting it in pretty good shape. I've still got a ways to go though. Circular holes suck so much more than rectangles.



I'll continue work on the face of course, but in the meantime, I thought I'd show you some of my new parts arrivals.



This box right here contains the long awaited 10.2" LCD.











I also had my second digital gauge and sending units arrive. While the other measures water temp, this new one will measure the ambient air temp in the case.





I have a few more parts arriving tomorrow. I'll post pics of what arrives, and I think you'll find it much 'cooler' than most of my other parts...

[craigbru]

February 15, 2008

Parts, parts, parts! That's what this update is all about. I can't wait to cram all these goodies in the case. So, where should we start?

How about with this monster of a power supply. It's a Meanwell SE-600. I'ts capable of putting out a solid 600 watts, at 24 volts. I must say, it's a little larger than I had hoped. No matter, it only makes the challenge of fitting it in the case, all that much more fun!





Okay, so why do I need a power supply that massive? TEC baby! Not just your everyday TEC either, I've got 437 watts of cooling potential here. It's hard to believe that this little square is capable of cooling to subzero temps.



How am I going to pull of that much heat? Enter the Wintsch Labs Arctic Web CPU cooler. I'm not sure exactly how much this thing weighs, but I can tell you that it is beyond solid...





Here are the necessary foam gaskets, because this thing is guaranteed to cause condensation without them.



So, we've got the TEC and power supply covered. Here's something a little extra. It's a Swiftech relay for the PSU. No extra switches needed, just turn on the computer, and the relay does the rest.

[craigbru]

February 15, 2008

A little more here...

This is one of my favorite parts... Can you say pico-itx?











Here's the centerpiece. It's so freaking small! It's completely fascinating to hold in your hand...



As cool as that is, I still need some way to power it. Here's where the DC-DC power converter comes in to play.



Also, since the Via system will operate independently of the Rogue, I decided to make it wireless capable. Via makes a kit that is pretty small as well.





More to come!

[craigbru]

February 22, 2008

I went and did it... Yes, I killed another Dremel. My own impatience got the best of me. One of the motor brushes actually melted in to it's plastic casing. It did feel a little warm... I guess I'm off to the hardware store to pick up another one tomorrow. Toasted Dremel or not, work must go on.

I might as well start with the hole for the 10.2" LCD. Here I've got a paper template measured out and centered on the front of the case.



The hole all taped out and ready for cutting.



Here the rough cuts are finished. Due to the dead Dremel, I had to finish with a jigsaw. While it works, it's definitely not my preferred method.



All filed and finished.





See this? It's a simple PVC pipe coupling.



So, what is it for? Well, follow along here... I've got a piece of card stock.



Cut in to a strip.



The paper is coiled and sitting inside the hole.



Everything marked.



The paper template was cut out and transfered to the PVC coupling. After the coupling was cut to match the template, I was left with the following.





Now for the other side... More to come!

[craigbru]

February 22, 2008

I know I've posted little bits of information here and there, but many people are still wondering how this is all going to be pulled together. If you were to look at the parts list, you would wonder how I can find the space for all of these parts. Well, I've got a few pictures here that give you some idea of the direction I'm headed. You should also see that there is more room in here than you think, as long as you use the space wisely.

One look at the front panel of the case, and it's pretty easy to see that traditional DVD drives simply aren't going to work. That's were slot load laptop drives come in to play. I've used these drives on L.O.S.I.A.S., and I absolutely love them. It was an easy decision to drop some in the Rogue. So, where are they going?

Take a look at this pic. The drives will sit on the floor of the case. The motherboard tray actually sits slightly above them. When finished, there will be a panel covering them as well.





Literally, one of the biggest additions to this case, is the Meanwell power supply. This thing is rather large, and finding room for it was a little tricky, to say the least. I did find the perfect spot for it though, and it fits there like a glove. Even though only one radiator is shown in place, you can see how it sits in the case. Airflow blockage shouldn't be a concern.

[craigbru]

February 25, 2008

Well, I've finally decided on a platform and chipset. As much as I wanted to go with ATI cards this time around, I just couldn't do it. They may have few decent cards out right now, but NVIDIA always seems to be one step ahead. I would have loved an X38 or X48 chipset, but then SLI wouldn't have been an option. So, that leaves me with the new 780i chipset. Granted it may be only marginally better than the 680i's, but I didn't want to pay the price premium for DDR3 on the upcoming 790i's.

So, what board did I get? I decided on the MSI P7N Diamond. There isn't a whole lot of information available out here on this board right now, but I like the fact that it uses a non-reference design.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...amond&class=mb



The MSI board paired with the 9800 GX2's or GTX's, sounds like a killer combination to me! I'll post a few more pics of the board once I receive it later this week.

February 28, 2008

Time for another update! I'm still working on the face of the case. I'm really liking the way it's turning out, but it's definitely time consuming.

In order to continue on the face, I needed to get the DVD drive placement finalized. Here I've got the area I need to remove marked off.



With the hole made, I checked for fit using on of my DVD drives.



Now that I know the DVD drive position is finalized, I can work on getting the slots made in the front cover.



I've finished the rough cut here.



Here are the slots all filed and finished with the exception of a little touch up sanding.





Now I've got a few smaller things that I've been working on. I've got the old power button holes filled. A little JB Weld took care of it...



I also have the pocket almost made the second temperature gauge.





More coming shortly!

[500mph]

I must say, this is an amazing mod. I love how much is going into this SFF case. I can wait to see what the cooling is like.

[Oreon_237]

awesome. This computer must have alot of beastly cooling potential. can i ask where you got the tec from.

[craigbru]

Thanks guys!

I got the TEC directly from Arctic Spider. Actually, the water block, peltier, and power supply were all purchased there.

[x06jsp]

thats some pretty amazing kit going in there.

josh

[jokkos]

I love it. I must say that the Rogue case intrigued me right from the time I saw it in the 'new products' section of one of my favorite pc-webshops. And I love what you're doing to it. Kudos on the front panel, I can envisage what it'll look like when finished and it'll be great!

[papeniglio]

Wonderful work! I'm impressed by the top-level components you've chosen

I suppose you never mind the cost of the stuff you buy!!!!

[ModimusPrime]

This Mod is coming along great. I only saw this case online a few weeks back and thought it had the potential for a first class mod and you've proved me right! keep it up and good luck with the rest of the mod.

[craigbru]

I really appreciate the positive comments!

Modding is truly a passion of mine. I've got so many cool ideas bouncing around in my head. I always find myself wishing for more equipment, time, and money, but don't we all? I'm very happy with what I can accomplish though, and remind myself everyday of all the reasons I crawl out of bed and go to work in the morning.

The parts that I choose, I do so after a whole lot of research. I try to buy top quality components, but I hate spending a premium if it doesn't return substantial benefits. For example, I can't justify the expense of DDR3 yet...

My goal is to have a kick-ass case that I can enjoy for years. Of course, that's what I was thinking a year ago when I was working on my L.O.S.I.A.S. project. So, I've got a little addiction, what can I say?

[brinkz0r]

Wow that's a nice way to start a log Can't wait to see more of it. I actually bought a NZXT myself last week, never thought I would buy one of that brand

[craigbru]

Yeah, some NZXT cases are either 'love it' or 'hate it'. You can't blame them for trying to come up with unique designs. Since Johnny Hou contacted me about working with this case, I've come to know quite a bit about him. This is one really driven guy. He is really trying to to design cases that have visual impact. He's a gamer and enthusiast, and really wants to give the community something they will love. There's no bias in me, when I say I really love this case. I tend to look at it's modding potential though. Stock is never good enough for me...

[gvblake22]

Two computers in a small form factor case?! You're crazy man! I love it!
Some great creativity here, I can't wait to see some more progress

[phinix]

Welcome in this forum Craig Like I mentioned on our Sudhian forum - this is another amazing project. I don't even want to know how much money have you already spent on these parts, but it is work of art so far. Keep working, it is so great to make our fantasies come true, isn't it?