Ok then here starts my very first worklog. Planning started for this case about three months back.so i thought i would start by showing you some of the inspirations behind my mod after seeing this server case Yeong yang YY - 0221B and a mod called Genesis Mod based upon this case which i cant find at the moment and this mod on the lianli Hellgate LianLi by Fozzy gratz to fozzy on a very nice mod! i saw the possible advantages of a modular system. Bearing in mind that im an overclocker and want top performance from my Case. whilst at the same time keeping everything as tidy as i could. I headed over to www.overclockers.co.uk and going on good past experience of Akasa i bought these below at the cheap price of £25 each and very good value they are to!! i would reccomend these to anyone wanting a cheap sturdy case Akasa Zen Review Please Note: im writing in Blue so that you can discern between my posts and comments
Ok then first thing to do is strip the cases of everything (front bezel, side panels, one mobo tray) then i needed to invert the rear of the case in an upside down ATX fashion (often mistaken for BTX) im doing this as an attempt to have direct air flow over the CPU whether it works or not is a different matter. however i always have my pc to my left so i figured that a windows on the right meant i should be able to see into it from where i sit and the only way to acheive this is to invert the motherboard so in the end both form and function wins out so after punching out wha seemed like 100 rivets i had a dissassembled case then a few drills and adding a couple of rivets back in left me with one upside down ATX case (now referred to as ATXU)
Next Step is to twist around the Hdd Cage on the Secondary Case. In the style of the Lian Li. i must also reverse the backplate so that when the PSu is inserted it will be lower down and thus reduce the vibrations caused it will then leave the upper portion availible for modding into a radiator enclosure and then finally to remove the motherboard tray. I guess you can begin to see where im going with this case now!
Ok then here are a few snapshots of where im up to Firstly the Left hand case has been turned ATXU in order to support the Psu at the bottom of the case. and you'll notice that the Hdd cage has been turned around as i intend on housing the Hard drives in there as opposed to in the Primary case the next photo shows a potential problem with turning this around as you can see the frame will block out the fans air coming through hopefully this will not be too much of a problem. this photo shows the current state of my Primary (RHS) case with Bondo on the roof as you can see its not very even right now however its on its first fine coat so ill wait until it dries then i will sand and then apply a new coat for a total two more coats or at least until it is flat (its a pain in the arse to work with tho) here are the two side by side Oh and ive also cut out the right Hand side Window but its drying out at the moment so no photos as of yet and here is the pic of one of my radiators (prize if you can guess what its out of) things left to do (im kinda struggling with point 9 so input would be appreciated) 1.) finish bondo work 2.) Cut left hand window 3.) install First and second radiator 4.) cut middle panel and Mobo tray to allow wires fed through 5.) compartmentalise using acrylic sheets 6.) sort out wiring for lighting/power/reset/Fans etc 7.) join cases 8.) Painting 9.) come up with idea for front!!!!!! 10.) buy and install hardware!! with regards to the front im currently thinking of installing the original fronts with some Defyant style fans on it any ideas
Looking good,there are not much case mods with two cases together. I'd like to see some work with mirrored plexi or just plexi front. Good luck with this one!
You're right, its not bad for £25. Hope you can do something nice though, do you have any ideas down? Also, please use standard font size, and preferably not red for all your text.
ok fixed the formatting here are the original basic plans there are also a load of sketches that ill put up later
yeah its an intercooler from a motocross bike taken from ebay for a fiver plus 2.50 shipping bargain you wouldnt believe how well it fits
alright then its been a few weeks since my last update due to my Gpu crapping out on me meaning ive had to undergo some pretty heavy reinstalling of everything luckily i keep alot of backups B) the culprit i now have a nice little x1950 pro onboard that will last me 5 months till i fill out this case anyway on with the update With the last update i left you with a very bumpy surface on the primary case and side however this has now been smoothed and primed and also a window cut. any colour variation you can see is just because i used 2 different types of bondo. one very grainy for initial application and the second a lot smoother for finishing. its un beleivably smooth now you just cant make out that well in the photos. then put together look pretty sweet
next up i left you with the intercooler (actually from a motocross bike) i bought it off ebay for £5 and £2.5 shipping bargain anyway it fits very well it just needs a lick of Black Paint and it will look good as new. you will probably realise at this point that i intend on running 2 radiators in the system cant wait to get my fingers wet (LOL!!!) I Ordered some electronic components from Farnell Electronics link in the UK Supplier's Thread and im very happy The top left LEDS are red 10 total then 5 each of both White and Blue and beleive me when i tell you they are very very bright. if you dont beleive me i set up a test rig using my Test PSU i set mine up using the 5V line and a 82 ohm resistor Calcs are (for those that need them) V=IxR LED needs 3.4V and 0.02A therefore 5-3.4 = 1.6V dropped accross resistor 1.6 = 0.02 x R R=80 ohms or use this link here if your still not happy LINK!! any way the results are outstanding the effect is created by pointing the LED through a smoked cylindrical acrylic rod that i will be using as support beams when i finish of the mod. it really is outstanding to see.you can best make out the effect in the top left photo
just a last photo to see the case in its entirety as to where im up to now now then things still to do 1.) finish bondo work ( left hand side and front ) 2.) Cut left hand window ( small window on left so you can see HDDs 3.) install First and second radiator ( clean up first radiator and fix into place) 4.) cut middle panel and Mobo tray to allow wires fed through 5.) compartmentalise using acrylic sheets (in the process of some experiments atm) 6.) sort out wiring for lighting/power/reset/Fans etc ( switches are bloody expensive!!!) 7.) join cases 8.) Painting ( another coat of Primer then Metalic Black ) 9.) come up with idea for front!!!!!! ( have a few ideas now but input would be appreciated) 10.) buy and install hardware!! ( the really exciting bit Est. may '07)
X1600? the pic is of my crapped out 6800GT that has been causing me no end of trouble these last few weeks thanks for the compliments tho
