A computer in a Philips CD930 case. First, welcome y'all, here I'll be showing you the progress on my casemod new casemod, as my first one is currently, eventhough unfinished, in use already Some of you might have seen this picture before: Now, what did I do yet, to get that cute little MSI barebone inside the Philips CD930 case... This is what it looked like before I started, standing on top of my partly-finished-first-casemod-now-main-computer And that's my CD930 case this morning After a while, I had this all taken apart... still amazed about the pile of screws I got out of a computer that small Oh yes, also found this beauty inside my barebone And a very strange-sized powersupply. This is a very unique one actually, because it allows me to give the soundcard-part and the controls-part of my motherboard, and one IDE device power while the rest of the PC is turned off. MSI used this feature to make my barebone play CD's and radio, while the actual computer is off. (another handy feature is that you don't have to remember to take CD's out of your device before shutting down, as you can open the drive without starting the PC ) So, my next struggle will be to fit the motherboard into the case, as I already fitted in the optical drive: That's where the drive sits Which one meh, also gotta try to fit my PSU somewhere Anyways, the motherboard is so close to the top of te case, that I will have to cut a hole in the top, to fit through a fan, or actually, use as a vent hole, as my cooler will be so high, It'll need some room to suck it's air from, from above that is Probably, the PSU will require a similar hole, which will be a bit more difficult. This case will be placed under my amplifier (also visible on some pictures above) so the visuals won't be a problem, but the feet of my amplifier shouldn't cover the vent for my PSU Also need to extend some cabling, as my PSU has cables cut to size for the original case Anyways, any ideas of how to improve this, or just compliments are always welcome
looks cool i would put the mobo ports like touching one side of the case and the psu on the other side so the psu doesnt block ur ports
one very annoying thing is that the PSU is just a couple of millimeters too high to be put in the case on it's side... so it'll have to lay on his back... One problem with that way of placing it, is that the AC inlet is on the top... and so is the outtake fan... So I will have to make two holes in the top of the case, one for my processor to breathe and another for my PSU
Whoa, what motherboard is that, and where can I get one? I've never seen a mATX based board with the ram in that orientation. It's perfect for a project I'm working on. Nice idea for the mod, I'm looking into doing something similar with an old console CD Player case.
That's a motherboard from MSI, the one inside their MEGA PC 180, which I bought 2 years ago... That Athlon 2800+ was 149 euro's two years ago Don't think that motherboard is being sold seperately... guess not. This is the barebone: link thingy
Check my signature my hardware will be my old main rig, which I bought 2 years ago Most likely I'll ditch the vidcard, and use its onboard stuff, but when I can get an AGP (flexible) riser I will put it in And it looks like I'll be using the CPU cooler I got with the barebone anyways... It's the cooler that is the least high
NOPE The DVD drive has to be placed the way it is now, and the socket is just an inch too far from the side to fit next to the drive
FINALLY another update... I finally managed to get the layout quite right... Not completely satisfied, but I can live with it... That's the layout I ended up with... For your info, this is how it'll work: Number one is the main intake fan... The intake will be ducted forward or (if possible) upward to keep the front-panel unchanged (so, most likely I'll be working on this a couple of hours more to get the intake on top This fan will blow a part of it's cool air towards the processor cooler (3) a part of it towards the chipset, and will generate some flow under the motherboard, where a harddisk will be located. The fan marked by the number two is the main outtake fan, taking care of proper flow around north- and southbridge and around the RAM. The processor cooler (marked by the nubmer 3... don't ask my why I even marked it ) will accept air from the front side, sucking it in with it's 60mm fan, and the warm air will blow almost directly out of the case, through te back of the case. The heatsink is just a little to high to fit under the hood, so it'll be sticking out a bit... which is fine, it won't be visible anyways The fan in the PSU (again, marked (number 4) for an unknown reason) will ofcourse blow warm air (made warm in the PSU ofcourse) out through the top of the case. The power socket will most defenately be relocated... I hope ARGH, starting to realize how nice it would be to have this case watercooled... enaugh space for a 2x80mm radiator, the motherboard would be able to be put upside down, because it wouldn't take a massive heatsink anymore to cool it... darn, I wish I just had money to realize that ...
And the part of the back that I painted (MS Paint ) will be perforated aluminium (MeshX) to enhance airflow. The original in- and output ports are still usable. The Digital and Analog output will defenately stay where they are, and hopefully I'll be able to use the Philips ESI bus to communicate with my Philips A/V Reciever (one of those holes will host the ESI bus socket, and the other will host an RCA socket for video). Where the "IR SENSOR" switch once was, will be a VGA or DVI output, and a LAN port.
the real bare bones of the barebone are currently just lying around... Not sure what I will be doing with those parts. Maybe if someone is interested I'll just sell them... Another option I'm thinking about is ripping out the bottom of the structure to have a nice motherboard tray
imo cut out the whole backplate, cover the hole with mesh and make a new plate for the ports from aluminium, paint it black and put it behind the mesh. will be much cleaner look. but thats just my idea
I don't think that'll make it any nicer And I do want to try this first, to preserve the original outlets. The top of this baby will be ripped to pieces pretty much already, so the rest of the case should remain as original as possible
yay, pictures back up (might go down for one more day next week, but who cares) SOON (like... tomorrow or something) I'll have some pictures to show you so prepare yourselves just kidding, got back to modding this thing again, took the power supply out of it's case, planted it on the floor of the computercase, and am now thinking of a way to cover it. Also fixed the problem with the cpu cooler, pics will follow tomorrow... or the day after tomorrow... next steps: I have some paper templates for the airflow shrouds, which I'll be working out in 3mm plexi someday soon. These are templates for around the CPU block, and for around the PSU
so we ended somewhere with this, right? First I fastened the motherboard with threaded rod (what's that called?) and some nuts PLEASE don't mind the mess, I was just anxious to see my old barebone working again Emptied the case once again, and drilled some holes for the hard drive. Same situation. The hard drive is actually half a centimeter off the floor, because of the bumps on this So I started to find a solution for the processor cooling. I had a lanparty the weekend before this shot, and I noticed how cool the processor was, even during games. So for the final use of this computer, bad-ass cooling wouldn't be useful. I started making templates, and the result is visible in the picture above. And suddenly, it looked like this Some diffrent angles: The power supply!!! Finally had the courage to take it apart This will be covered with a shroud and will have a fan blowing on top of it The top view. Gives a nice image of what the top cover will look like. All the fans will suck air in from above. The big heatsink on the processor will have it's own hole, to dissipate hot (warm ) air more easily, and the backplate will have some pieces of mesh on it, to get some warm air out. The totals: 3 x 8cm fan, 1 for the PSU, 1 for the CPU and chipset, and one for airflow beside the optical drive, under the motherboard and around the HDD (all the same place ) AND one 50mm fan, which came of the old CPU heatsink, which will give the air some extra thrust near the CPU I think all the fans will be running on 5 or 7 volts, because the parts inside this case aren't that hot at all. Next on the TODO list: I've got those templates for the shrouds around the CPU and around the PSU, which I'll be using to make 3mm clear plexi shrouds (maybe, these will be painted... most likely NOT
just a little look into the future (somewhere near the end of this mod) In the end I'll put a Creative X-Fi or something similar inside this case, using a flexible PCI riser. 'or something similar' only needs to fit the specification: "Can do ASIO" Some people can already guess why I'll be modding this jackplug into an inlet for my GUITAR This guitar will be connected to the soundcard (that's why needs to be able to do ASIO, because the on-board audio processor isn't powerful enaugh), so that I can play guitar on my stereo. Any comments on this post aren't necessary, comments on my previous post are more then welcome will be back soon
