Case Mod - In Progress Project: Green Zone (Silverstone SG05)

So I haven't thought of a project name, I'm sure ill think of something randomly.

Anyway, my Silverstone SG05 arrived today after being shipped to the wrong town... ugghh.
I'm going to be using this case as a LAN rig, so it has to be pretty cool

Here's some pics of the stock case, forgive the poor photo quality, I have a new camera coming in a week or two:






Now let's pop that cover off, it came with 4 screws to hold the cover on the back, that was the first thing to be changed, nice big easy to grip thumbscrews.










What I've planned to do so far is paint the inside black (I'm sorry originality police) and the top cover green, then to break up the green on the cover ill paint the vents black and ill be putting a window into the right side.

Now the hard thing... I want to watercool in this case... and not using a corsair h50 if I can help it.

I'm thinking of getting rid of the optical drive bay and building a bracket to hold the rad up there, I've got to draw it out and see what it'd look like, but I'm sure that's where its going to go.

Hardware ill be using...

DFI P55-T36 mini itx board
Intel I3 540
4gb OCZ DDR3 1600mhz ram (brand may vary, depends what I find when I go to buy it)
ATI HD5670
320gb Western Digital Scorpio Black hdd

Not sure on what watercooling bits yet, have to do some measuring first.

So far, I've only stripped the case down and started sleeving the PSU, my back is playing up so I can't do a heap atm, but I'll do what I can and keep yous up to date.

 

As mentioned I started by sleeving my PSU, I know its not the typical singled sleeved all the way to the unit type job, but I find that tacky and rather useless, my theory is sleeving your psu is cut down on cable clutter to improve airflow and single sleeving every wire just defeats that, so I only singled sleeved small bits of the cables.

As you can see there weren't too many cables to sleeve


A little ways in I needed a break so I stopped at half way through the 20+4pin ATX plug


and then after a break I decided to jump back into it, here is the 20+4pin, P4 and 6pin PCI-E plugs




and the unit fully sleeved, I might change the plugs to black, but I have to order them from performancepcs first







all up took me about 8hrs and 3 movies
I like the results so far, but knowing me... I'll probably change something

As for the psu unit itself, I'll be probably painting that black, cutting out that fan grill and replacing it with either a chrome wire grill or if I can find something cool another grill.

 

My proposed window design, simple and easy, yet seems to suit the case.

Right hand side:


Left hand side:


Hopefully you can make it out.

I'll get to cutting them tomorrow and I'll get to prepping the main chassis tonight so I can prime it tomorrow.

 

main chassis is ready for priming







paints ill be using and a bottle of effort to the left


going to rip apart my old G5 mouse too and give that a paint, see how it goes

 

Nice sleeving. I love black and green case.

 

Looks great mate, but user photobucket!!!! lol hate having to click on every image!

 

haha sorry, imageshack is easier for me and well im a bit lazy when it comes to image uploading

managed to get some cutting done today
heres the holes after cutting and before filing, urgghh filing







dont judge me by my rotary cutting tool ability haha

primed my G5


first coat of primer on the front bezel



first coat of primer on the main chassis after a light sand




hopefully finish off the filing of the cut outs and get the top panel prep'd for priming, also put down a second coat of primer on the other parts

 

heres the main chassis with its second coat of primer



front bezel with its second coat of black


its come up really good i think, another coat to come though

first coat of black on the main chassis
ive got a few areas i missed and will fix tomorrow, could get to them at the angle i was painting, no drama though




after i do the little areas i missed on the main chassis ill have to wait until wednesday or thursday to do another coat, since the instructions on the can recommend recoating within 4hrs or after 36hrs or the paint will wrinkle, so ill go by that, but that gives me time to prep the top panel and prime it

still more to come guys

 

well i decided on a name, i admit its not the greatest, but it should be named, if anyone has any other suggestions, let me know
ive gone with Green Zone, which will do for now

 

ot some more priming and painting done today

heres the top panel primed and ready for its first coat of green




and the second coat of black on the main chassis, this is the first time ive used Plasti-kote paint and i must say im very impressed






to demonstrate how glossy it is


ill get a coat of green on the top panel and a few other bits tomorrow

i have to grab another can of black so i can do the third and final coat
im very happy so far

 

painted the inside of the toppanel black and got the first coat of green on as well, i think the green has come up good, another coat or two and it'll be magic





will do a second coat of green on saturday, have to go to bunnings tomorrow and grab some more black and some painters tape, then i can finish up the front bezel and the main chassis and lave it sit for a week or two before i clear coat it

still plenty to go

 

i did a mock up to see if everything was going to fit properly, and i decided id give you guys a sneak preview of what the case will look like

note, the side window isnt in, nor is the top mesh
this is how it sits atm before i start clear coating, plus the main chassis needs another coat of black so does the front bezel, so it should look even better after that and the clear, cut and polish

 

You must be able to insert image links instead of thumbnails from imageshack m8, have to agree you can't really read a project while having to open the images in another window...

Especially one as slow as imageshack

 

This is with Photobucket, try using that instead!

 

thumbnails give you a preview so if you dont want to look at a certain image, or if one stands out you can click on it without having to load 20 1600x1200 images, ill stick with thumbnails, but thanks

 

You could try resizing the images to a reasonable size first, then upload and post the resized image here.
It will gain more comments

 

I personally don't really look at thumbnails because I don't want to open 30 windows to watch big pictures... but if you want that fewer person care for your mod: there you go

 

I just squint.
Liking the green.

 

well the motherboard and radiator arrived today
now heres my conundrum, i can mount the radiator on the front intake fan, no problems with clearance though id have to use a DCP 2.2 pump as apposed to my intended Laing DDC... now if i was make a mount and put the radiator horizontally where the optical drive would go, id have enough clearance over the graphics card and id be able to use a DDC pump as there would be sufficient space on the motherboard tray near the front fan, but that involves cutting a piece of metal to make a plate
so my question to you guys is what should i do, go the easy way but have to use a DCP pump or build a plate and use a DDC pump

any suggestions would be handy

 

heres just a few pics to carry you guys over until i actually manage to do something worthwhile
really the case is finished, except for a few small bits and the top mesh

atm the mesh is drying and needs another coat of paint and then i can install it, sadly i couldnt get my hands on any Scotch 4010 mounting tape, but i did find the white foam stuff from scotch which holds 2lb, so ill use that to mount the top mesh, i used automotive mounting tape on the side window but you cant see that in these pics, when i get the top mesh mounted ill show you guys the window too

the camera really doesnt do this justice, especially being a phone camera and my unsteady handywork

as you can see i havnt painted the psu yet, but that'll be the next thing

let me ask your opinion, leave the IO shield stock or paint it green?

and here are the pics, ill stop rambling now








shouldnt be long until i get pics up of the top panel