Case Mod - In Progress λ-Zephyr - New pics and an afterthought...

Sorry about this first part I'm importing a modlog from cpcff.co.uk to get some new input and some more eyes on

This is a casemod of an old advent case I found lying around because I couldn't find anything that suited my needs and looked how I wanted it

Whilst designing my new case I got the good old orange box and fell instantly in love with the way valve have done all the artwork etc for it, so I thought I'd do my case along the lines of that. I'm sure it's been done plenty of times but I haven't got one! So here goes:

This is the most recent concept I've done of it in sketchup. The kit in there is wrong though as I've decided to change to the dark side and go AMD



Large chunks removed from an old advent case “Have at you!”

Front fans:

A rear fan:

Front fascia:

Cable management:

Side panel:

TF2 Symbol

Old HDD windows:

 

Clear acrylic will play a fair amount in this mod here's what I made for my rear fan:

Unfinished piece:


And the mounting device for the front:



This was my original design for a side fan mount, it bugs me when I have to disconnect cables taking the side panel off so this will sit here:



Starting to look like something

 

I decided to enclose the PSU as mine's not modular and I don't want ugly stray cables!



Lambda!!! Here's the first obvious Valve entry!



After the initial cable mgmt holes I decided a gaping hole would work better!



Some sloppy first time sleeving efforts, I have got a lot better (I hope) since then:


Better HDD window design, this one will have a much cleaner look than the old:

 

Wrong side window This will hold my HDDs in place nicely, and absorb vibrations a little, they're standard 7200 WD ones so they should be cool enough.





Better Fan mount! After the blocky one I did originally I decided on a more stylised design




And some stripes to match on the top compartment, cos stuff gotta match!


Mockup 1




Fan controller:
This is gonna control all my fans and switch the inevitable lights on and off. It'll simply switch them between 5v and 12v whilst being unobrusive and generally out of the way:
Switches:

12v rail:

5v rail:

Molex pins on:

Molex connector & colour coded heatshrink:

Fan connectors (wrong pin I know had to change that )

 

Painting!



Love the matt black

Some vynil:






Painted part assembled:



Powered up fans:

 

Re-done sleeving: (Needed it!)


Thanks to anyone who read all that! Hope it was worth it, next up I'm waiting some lovely Xigmatek fans so I can get my PSU back together and get some cable tidying on the go before I get some hardware!

 

I like the three-group sleeving on the 24 pin, I know most people do them individually but I think it looks a b it wrong. Good idea!

 

looks very, very nice.
Also some nice, clean, easy stuff like the 5-12V switches, ...
keep on going!

 

Thanks Pete I'm a fan of the individual sheathing but I think I prefer grouping cables as they woulda looked a little too fussy for the clean(ish)look I'm after.

Thankyou yeah I was looking for a place to stash a controller, and I couldn't fit it anywhere without it looking cluttered

 

I really like the orange vinyl on the back side of that plastic. I think I'm going to do something like that on my next case.

 

That's a good looking mod so far. I can't wait to see more.

 

Very nice mod , loving the orange and white combo .
Awesome to see the white L.e.d fans for a change R.B.G is getting a bit old

 

Thanks was my wife suggested the vynil

Thanks man, can't wait to do more, just need some bits

Thanks! Yeah the design was just orange and black originally, thought the white interior would be a nice change, then I saw the fans

Thanks for the comments all! Much appreciated.

 

Just a quick one, I'm stuck for somewhere to put the buttons, and also wether I need a reset. Do I really need a reset?

I'm not up for vandal-proof buttons, they are cool but they're the obvious choice, which I'm not fond of. I've just ordered some tiny PCB mount ones and I need somewhere to hide them, or something to make a feature of the, potentially, just one button.

Any ideas modders et al?

 

Imo reset buttons are not really needed, in my build i just left it out and not missed it at all

 

Good to know oggie I thought as much. Thanks for the comment man

*Edit* While I'm at it does anyone other than XFX make a 1gb 4870 with a black PCB?

 

THis is looking great! Can't wait to see some more.

 

Thanks Oliver, just waiting on fans and switches now And I'm getting busy in sketchup swapping out the intel system for the AMD one to see how it'll look!

*Edit*

Re-sone the concept with the new kit, doesn't match quite as well as the DFI board but still not far off

 

I've liked the white so far, and a good job on the 2nd round of sleeving.

 

like what i see so far woody, cant wait for more progress