My first computer was a 486/66, my second a P4 HP. Both of those were stock, and worked fairly well. However, my newest computer was built about 2 years ago, and over those two years I've made a couple of adjustments. It started with a standard Antec Solo case, because I liked the look and it wasn't too expensive. And I found out afterwords that it is very solid, fairly heavy, and has almost no airflow With the addition of two front 92mm case fans the temps only dropped about 5 degrees, much less than I needed, since my normal operating temps were about what I wanted for full load (45 case, 60 GPU). Also, I wanted a front LCD screen but knew that with the current setup that would add even more heat that wouldn't get out. So, at the end of last school year (around April 2008) I bought a 250mm fan off CrazyPC and used my handy Dremel to chop out a hole in the side of my case, and WHAMMO massive airflow was created. It blows directly down onto the motherboard, and it has so much positive pressure I removed the front fans and all PCI slot covers to let out the air. Then, I had enough airflow that I felt okay installing the front LCD screen. I basically cut out the exact size of three bays and used a router to cut out the back inside in order to set the screen in. I used some scrap aluminum and the case from a dead CD drive (cut down) with quick-install rails to mount the screen in the case. The power comes from the PSU and the video is run from the S-video output through an S-video to RCA adapter, then through the case. I don't suspect that this case will see many more mods, except perhaps adding LED's to the side 250 fan, since I don't plan to use it after college (only about 1.5 years off). Anyway, pics will be up soon. Any criticism would be great (but please, keep it nice since this is my first modded case).
About that! Yeah, she's a French singer, her name is Alizee Jacotey. Strangely enough she's from Ajaccio, same place as Napoleon Also, the video that is playing on the little screen is Everyday Normal Guy 2, by Jon Lajoie. Also, the acrylic LCD front is no longer clear and all crappy looking (I was considering adding LED's but the color just wasn't even enough), I have since painted it black to match the drive bay area.
looks pretty good as is except for the front of the case i think you should try to cover up the epoxy you used to hold the lcd in place. but thats just my opinion
I'm pretty sure I did what you said, in a way. Those are older pictures, here's a new one. I assume this is what you meant By the way, what you assume to be epoxy is actually just the rabbeted back edge of the acrylic. I painted the back assembly silver so as to not allow the light that bleeds around the lcd through, so that's why it looks like epoxy.
