Case Mod - In Progress Zalman Project

hey guys, i'm new here.
this is my first time at any kind of modding ... i've built PC's before as far as just putting some together goes haha.

anyways, i've already had this going on a couple other forums but now i found this one so i figured why not?

i'll jump right in and catch you guys up.

originally i had this computer in an Antec 900 case .. i was wanting to get into the modding side of things and decided i didnt like the antec for it, the case felt cheap and didnt have much room.... sooo i got a new case..

i'll just list all the hardware and stuff:

Case - Zalman GS1000
O/S - Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Mobo - MSI 7900GX-G65
CPU - AMD Phenom II x4 945 @ 3.525 Ghz
Cooling: Air, Cooler Master Hyper N520 CPU Fan
PSU - Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX
CD-ROM - Liteon Sata 24x
HDD - 1TB WD Caviar Black, Sata, 7200 RPM
Memory - (x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz w/ Heat Spreader
Video Card - ATI Radeon HD 5770, 1GB GDDR5 (no OC) \

decided i will go with a white, black, and blue color scheme since a majority of the LED's and some of the accents on the mobo are blue already.

i'll start from the beginning to where it stands now.

stock case:











n00dz




i got the dremel and cut a basic window in the door ( i know it is rough looking , there will be some u-channel going on there)




the case originally has 6 slots for HDDs, i'm leaving the top 3 slots out and have mounted up a fan to blow cool air in from the front of the case




got the case painted




done with painting (also painted a couple pieces black i forgot to take pics )













there will be a white LED bar in the top of the case hidden behind a lip for some lighting (along with the blue LED's on fans and mobo) , also going to fab up some covers for the lower PSU area.




i put the computer together in order to fit things (mainly to see what wires needed to be extended and stuff), will be extending some fan wires, also oredered 12" extensions for the 24pin and the 4pin 12v , other than that everything seems good.

i will be sleeving everything in blue and black sleeving from mdpc-x


Things that should be arriving in the mail:

XACTO HOT KNIFE

HEAT GUN






bills are raping my bank account so i have to wait a couple paychecks to order all the sleeving

i'll eventually move on from air cooling to a nice WC setup .. but again .. not enough funds at the moment



i know this is not as elaborate as some of the amazing things i have seen on here but it should be a good start for a n00b

 

molding for the window came in today . makes it look much cleaner .... i need to hurry up and order all my sleeving so i can get to work on that .

 

U-channel for windows is so 1990.

Other than that, it looks quite promising.

 

Looks really nice. Black with white highlights is pretty standard, but I'm really liking it the other way round

 

Nice looking case, great looking mod

 

thanks guys! ... any criticism or advice is greatly welcome ...

only plans left right now are pulling the fans apart and painting the blades white, sleeving the psu, fans, etc..,

changing out all the connectors that i can to blue, black heatshrink with blue and black sleeving

making the covers for the PSU area

if i knew a better way to do the window i'd order another door from zalman and re-do it, i kinda rushed it and it shows haha

i wish i had the funds for a nice WC setup .. maybe one day.

 

Good job. I never really liked the case, but stripped to the bare frame it actually looks good. Maybe it's the plastic bezel/parts that turned me off

 

i agree with the u chanel there.... maybe you could grab yourself a metal file and clean the edges up (carefully) and you should be able to straighten up that window hole and it will smoothen it out so you could get that u chanel off. would be worth the 2 hours max!!

other than that it looks very promising.

 

i got to work on it quite a bit today and got alot done. here are some pics. its all together and running right now. it looks pretty badass in the dark. i wont post pics of that though until its completely finished.




















all that is left is install the new fans when they get here, sleeve the 24pin and PCI-E and new fans

also i want to make up a few pieces of aluminum to do this with, i have no idea where to get some aluminum from though and i dont have anything to cut it with, so it may take a little longer on that.

 

got new fans in today . for some reason they left out 2 of the 120mm ones :[ ... oh well i got the 3 that came in installed..


















sexyness

 

thats really sexy i love the all white inside really stands out great job

 

That looks great.

Also, how do you intend to attach the Aluminum to the back of the 5.25 bays?
All I can think of would be screws.

 

thanks guys!

yes, the plan is to cut a thin piece of aluminum to size, then i will drill the necessary holes, i will then thread the holes that are drilled into the case for small screws, i'm not sure if i want to paint the heads of the screws black to give a little contrast or white to match



anyways,

got my other 2 fans woooooooo ...

also, got the 24pin and PCI-E cables sleeved up and good to go



oh and my 5770 got a new playmate





covers on the video cards have been painted to match , it looks nice .. i'll have pics up shortly

 

Again i love the tidyness of the cables and love what you did with the GPU's painting them white really makes the whole project professional

 

thanks!

 

Very very clean and tidy, I like it a lot

 

thank you

 

That looks freaking Bad. Ass.
Great work.

 

Sexy, very tidy and not too much fuss with everything.