Case Mod - In Progress Project GT, 16-OCT-13, Kit installed

Hello Bit-tech forumites and fellow modders!

Firstly a little history:
I started this case mod back in 2008 (when I was still in school) and sort of gave up on it in 2010. The main reason for this was I didn’t exactly have an income to fund the project. I had ideas and just couldn’t implement them without the materials which required money (I’m sure there are many others that have been in my position)
Fast forward a few years and I now have a job, despite me only finishing school last year. So now its time to pick up the modding again

Originally I started my project log on a local forum but I have started to feel there just isn’t that much of a modding community there anymore, that and the forum isn’t what it used to be. I’ve been meaning to move my log to this forum but I had been putting it off for ages. Now comes the time, I’m finally doing it. (Yay to me!)
The original log is over <HERE> but I really don’t expect anyone to read through 13 odd pages of my young minded self’s thoughts and posts. So here is a TLDR version:

Like any mod I started off with a main idea. The idea for this mod was to have 2 thick GT stripes running the entire length of the case. That was basically the only insperation I had in the begining, I didnt plan too much and came up with ideas as I went a long.

My first few ideas where a little silly but this is what I started with:


I ended up ditching the idea of flames after someone changed my mind for me.

A couple of weeks after drawing that up I finally got my CM690 and the first thing I did was mock up the GT stripes. At the time I was using a webcam… so these shots are pretty shoddy. They get better I promise



Some work was done on the side panel but thanks to those silly fan mounts on it, I had to fill in the gaps which ended up being messy.


The windows design was part mine, part a fellow forum goers and part the lack of materials. I left that strip across the middle because I only had 2 small pieces of Perspex.

I removed the black plastic mesh crap from the panels, removed the stock switches and filled them. I also sprayed all the panels black and then sprayed my GT stripes on.



And now back to the present-ish time


Added some LEDs to the front panel (will cover this again later as I’ve ripped everything out)




And lastly what it looked like a few days ago
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I’ve been doing a whole whack of work on it this week but since I haven’t been allowed to post here I haven’t worked on any write-ups yet. There will be more to come, Lots more.

Current specs:

Motherboard: Asus M4A785TD-M EVO
CPU: AMD Phenom II x3 720 BE @ 3.0Ghz with 4th core unlocked
RAM:4GB Mushkin silverline kit
GPU: Sapphire HD7790 OC Dual-x
PSU: CoolerMaster Extreme 650W
HDD: Seagate Baracuda 500GB

The specs should be changing slightly over the next few weeks. I will try do an update tommorrow.

 

So as promised, here’s an update:

One of my main gripes with this build has always been noise levels. Okay, the Cooler Master sickleflow fans aren’t the quietest fans out there and I could probably get something better than them. However, the option that I went for is to just remove the built in metal fan grills on the case. According to <this> article removing the honey comb style fan grills increases airflow and reduces noise by a couple percent. I also like the black wire grills a bit more, so it was a no-brainer!

first off everything had to come out of the case since components and tiny metal pieces aren't a good mix.


I couldnt find any masking tape anywhere. The next best thing was to just scratch the design into the paint.(some cutting already done)


Also I couldn’t use my dremel for these cuts, so I used an angle grinder and a jigsaw.

All done!




Leaving out the hours and hours of filing, I now present you with the cleaned up cuts




While I was at it i cut out the two bottom fan grills (one for the psu and the other for the bottom fan) and cleaned them up.
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Cleaning them up to this extent wasn’t really necessary since I’ll be getting a couple of meters of U channel someday. It has been on my list of things to get for this mod since the beginning and I could just not find any in South Africa.

More updates soon soon!

 

This should be the last of the not-so-interesting project log updates for a while.

While thinking about the things I wanted to change on this build, one of the things that came to mind was cable management. This case doesn't have the best cable management but then again that's why we mod, to better commercially made things.

In order for me to make some cable management cut outs the motherboard tray had to come out.



Motherboard in place and the spots that the cables will be running to.









This time around I actually had a roll of masking tape.



And the marked up cut out design. Note the set square for getting the rectangles square.



I also made a quick cut out design on the back of the tray to make it easier to remove that massive CPU cooler that arrived recently (more on that later)



The next stage was cutting it all out. For this I used my angle grinder and jigsaw with a metal blade. I still don't have cut-off wheels for my Dremel

Cut outs made and very messy



A closer look (the first hole was cleaned up before I took the shot)





Now comes the elbow grease and fine metal shavings



After a bit of filing, checking the edges and then more filing the final result


And finally the mother board tray re-pop riveted in place
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In the next update I unbox this


So grab that camping chair, your favourite beverage and a big-ass bowl of popcorn and stay put for the next update

Edit: all images from this post on are hosted on Flickr. So clicking on any of the images will take you to the full res images. Also meant that I could post images at the correct size. WIN-WIN!

 

New Gear!



Pretty isn't it all? I just love getting new toys




Lets break it all down shall we?

First the RAM:


This is the Corsair Low profile Vengeance kit. More specifically the DDR3-1600 8GB kit. I was considering 12/16GB kits but a lot of that would go unused... Maybe in a few years time

Next up - The Fan controller


The fan controller is a Bitfenix Recon. I was considering waiting for the Recon 2 fan controller but I wasn't sure if it would be released before I finished this mod or not.

Box opened up:


And the controller and its extra bits and pieces:


It comes with 2 fan cable extensions as well as 2 extra thermal probes. Also the software isn't included but a link to it is given instead. I use an alternative Open source variant called Phoebetria

A closer look:


A messy nest of cables:



Next up are the Fans.

Cooler Master BladeMaster 120:




Nothing too interesting. Basically this is a PWM fan with a CFM of over 80. The PWM is a little redundant for me since this will be replacing my PSU fan.

It came with screws, power adapters and some rubber pads for the corners.

Cooler Master Excalibur:




Now this fan is cool and equally pricey!

It comes with silicon pins, screws, 4-3 pin adapter, 3 pin to molex adapter, and rubber stick on grommets.

This fan will replace my CPU cooler fan... which is what I'll show next

The CPU Cooler:


This is the cooler I originally wanted for this Mod back in 2009. I am proud to say I have finally got it.

The V8 Un-boxed:


The accessory's:


Here we have the mount brackets for Intel / AMD CPUs, Thermal paste, an allen key for undoing the cooler, screws and nuts, and a PCI plate for the fan controller.

Side shot:


Size comparison to the Memory:

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Hope you enjoyed the short un-boxing of the new gear! I left out 2 things because they aren't all that interesting. I got a black IDE cable and a 140mm fan grill. I might ditch the IDE drive later on though..

Yes the fan controller is white, the black was out of stock (with a 5 week waiting period). well until today that is... :/

Next update ill be installing everything

Comments & Crits are welcome

 

Been a tad too long since my last update

This one will be short

So after getting all the new gear, and having done a few mods to the case (still more to come) I put everything back together. What follows is everything re-installed.

Everything at once:



The cable management:


Some work still needs to be done here. *ahem* bottom right in particular...


Side panel on:


Also going to do some changes to the side panel... but first a new sheet of plexi needs to be acquired!

The ridiculously little amount of space Between the V8 and the side panel:


This scared me... I dont want to scrape the V8 every time i put the panel on. Turns out that a 3mm piece of plexi will fit in the gap... JUST!

The front:


Also needs some work. busy playing with some ideas on how ill get it looking sleek again I may or may not remove that hideous cd drive

The reason this Log isnt going to see many mroe quick updates is simply because most of the stuff i need cant be ordered online anymore... I have to physically buy stuff over 200km away

Hope you guys enjoy