# * Post Your Case Mods *



## Ramodkk

Title says it all. Post a pic of any modifications you've done to your case or your computer in general.

I'll start with my dad's comp:

Original Thermaltake Matrix side panel:





Drawing the shape of the side window:





Cutting of the window:





Window after "U Channel":





Finished Panel:





Project Done


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## myPCrocks

Neat, now focus on Good cable management and you will be good to go.


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## Kornowski

I can't find any picture of the old Front Vent Mod I did on an old case


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## Vizy

Rad...I want to cut out a side panel on my case. Its very sturdy and stuff, its a CM690. How would i cut the windows? What tools and stuff? Thnx alot dude!


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## myPCrocks

Use a Dremel with one of the quick detach cut off wheels. When I fabbed my ammocan I went thru about 8 of them, the material was rather thick.


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## voyagerfan99

The only thing I've done is conceal my drives.











I also changed the stock fan on my heatsink to a blue LED.


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## Ramodkk

Nice guys! 



Vizy93 said:


> Rad...I want to cut out a side panel on my case. Its very sturdy and stuff, its a CM690. How would i cut the windows? What tools and stuff? Thnx alot dude!



Well to make the cut of the shape you want, first I used one of those cordell hand drills and drilled a whole. Then I used a jigsaw from that starting hole to cut the whole shape. Then use "U-Channel" or "Door Edge Molding" which is the black stuff that goes around the jagged edge of the panel to make it look better and protect you from cuts and the acrylic. The window itself is a sheet of cast acrylic or "plexi".


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## aSc1@3

hey voyagerfan99, do u have to maually eject the drives if they are concealed? Like go to My Computer, right-click, Eject? Also, to conceal them, don't you just move the drive back a bit on the inside and secure a filler panel to the front of the drive tray?


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## voyagerfan99

aSc1@3 said:


> hey voyagerfan99, do u have to maually eject the drives if they are concealed? Like go to My Computer, right-click, Eject? Also, to conceal them, don't you just move the drive back a bit on the inside and secure a filler panel to the front of the drive tray?



To eject, I use a program called "CD-Tray-Pal" that runs on low priority in the system tray. I then assign a macro (Ctrl + [drive letter]) and it ejects and closes. Although, when I'm in Linux or anything else, I have to pry the bottom edge up and press the button with a pencil. I think I'm going to put a small bit of material in the corner so I can just press the corner and it'll eject.

To conceal them, I removed the front face plate (only on the bottom one though - couldn't get the LG faceplate off). I then took the bay cover that came with the case and filed the clips off the side so it was flat. I didn't have any two sided tape, so I just used some adhesive weather stripping. Using Super Glue, I glued the stripping to the bay cover. I then pressed the sticky side of the stripping onto the drive tray. That allows me to take it off and not leave any residue on the drive itself.


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## Ramodkk

Thanks for the info man, I want to do that with my drive one day


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## SIMP

ramodkk, nice job on the window!  Looks very professional. 

BTW, what kind of temps are you getting at 2.7 Ghz?  Also, what program are you monitoring those temps with?  Thanks!


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## cohen

i like one where the CD drives come out with the fronts... that is really cool... i'm going to buy a better box eventually but i like my current one.....

It's boring but i like it.


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## ThatGuy16

mounting and grill for my raditator











Switches











And i had this a while back


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## Ramodkk

SIMP said:


> ramodkk, nice job on the window!  Looks very professional.
> 
> BTW, what kind of temps are you getting at 2.7 Ghz?  Also, what program are you monitoring those temps with?  Thanks!



Thanks man! 

At 2.7GHz, with the AC Freezer 7 Pro, I'm idling at ~27C using "CoreTemp"


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## cohen

i like the side panel screen!

Touch Screen?


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## ThatGuy16

Thanks, nah... not touch screen


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## Ramodkk

^ That looks sweet man, as always. And I just noticed that you installed the buttons and lights on the fan contro bay on the original cover that comes with the case right?? If so, it looks really professional man!


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## voyagerfan99

That NZXT is sexy!

How can you NOT have a touch screen there?
I'm obsessed with touch screen. Thats why I have a (jailbroken) iPod Touch!


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## ThatGuy16

ramodkk said:


> ^ That looks sweet man, as always. And I just noticed that you installed the buttons and lights on the fan contro bay on the original cover that comes with the case right?? If so, it looks really professional man!



Thanks!

Yeah, I'll probably do the same thing to the new case i have now. I just measured and drilled the hole for the switches. But if you intend to wire up various fans/components. You better know what your doing 



> That NZXT is sexy!
> 
> How can you NOT have a touch screen there?
> I'm obsessed with touch screen. Thats why I have a (jailbroken) iPod Touch!



Because i found that screen covered in dust, and it was a free experiment


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## Ramodkk

And where did you get the green lights / switches from?


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## ThatGuy16

ramodkk said:


> And where did you get the green lights / switches from?



All from Radio Shack, rocker switches, and i decided on those LED's because they come with the housing, 12v resistor, and are already wired.


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## Ramodkk

Thanks for the info man.


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## SIMP

ramodkk, that's sweet.  I am idle at 25-27 now but I'm only at 2.4 Ghz.  I may speed it up a bit and see what I can get out of the stock cooler again.  

What load temps do you consider safe for the E2160?  Thank you.


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## lucky7

whyd u swap ur apollo? 
Not that ur new case doesnt look sick but ur apollo was insane.


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## ThatGuy16

lucky7 said:


> whyd u swap ur apollo?
> Not that ur new case doesnt look sick but ur apollo was insane.



Who ever said size doesn't matter... well.. it does


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## taylormsj

voyagerfan99 said:


> I also changed the stock fan on my heatsink to a blue LED.



Turn the fan around so its blowing air over the heatsink, i think youll be pleased with the difference


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## reddevil6

taylormsj said:


> Turn the fan around so its blowing air over the heatsink, i think youll be pleased with the difference



i just notised that he will deffently see a temp increase if he flips that CPU fan the other way so the air is blowing onto his heatsink


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## Kornowski

reddevil6 said:


> i just notised that he will deffently see a temp increase if he flips that CPU fan the other way so the air is blowing onto his heatsink



You mean decrease, right!


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## voyagerfan99

It's already blowing down guys! 

I idle at about 39-43. Not sure on a heavy load though.


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## diduknowthat

Well I did the punch out grill mod to my old case:


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## taylormsj

voyagerfan99 said:


> It's already blowing down guys!
> 
> I idle at about 39-43. Not sure on a heavy load though.



Not according to that picture


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## Ramodkk

It's blowing up.


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## voyagerfan99

ramodkk said:


> It's blowing up.



Nope. Just checked it. The sticker is facing up, yes, but the fan is blowing into the heatsink.

Here's the full size pic.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5931/1003160jb0.jpg


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## taylormsj

Dude, your wrong, its not blowing onto the heat sink fins like it should, its blowing air away form the heat sink, making it less effective


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## Ramodkk

Hey voyager, did you take out the fan to see where the air is flowing? Cause if you just put your finger on top of it to see if you felt air, you can still feel an air current on the side of the fan where it is puuling the air from.

I think that ^ was just more confusing!


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## voyagerfan99

ramodkk said:


> Hey voyager, did you take out the fan to see where the air is flowing? Cause if you just put your finger on top of it to see if you felt air, you can still feel an air current on the side of the fan where it is puuling the air from.
> 
> I think that ^ was just more confusing!



I just want to get this straight. You say I should have the fan upside down and have air blow THROUGH and DOWN INTO the heatsink? If thats correct, I did that when I swapped the fan. I originally was going to just have it blow up like a normal fan, but my dad told me to turn it around.


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## Ramodkk

Yeah, that's correct.


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## Timo

If I am correct even the stock intel cooler blows into the heatsink instead of sucking air out?


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## taylormsj

Turn it round = better temperatures most likely


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## diduknowthat

Timo said:


> If I am correct even the stock intel cooler blows into the heatsink instead of sucking air out?



Yeah, the intel stock cooler blows into the heatsink. I don't think there's any heatsinks out there that blows away from the cooler.


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## taylormsj

Ill start off with my earliest mods, 
















One cathode switch, one 120mm fan, one zalman fan mate and one blue led controlled by the cathode switch






Old lapped opteron






Front fan mod






An analougue hard drive meter (moves up and down according to HDD activity)






Top mounted rad and first window cut






First water loop






Second window






UV Led's i wired up









Various holes







Custom fan controller






Old loop

Current project































Quite a lot of mods, sorry for anyone who is still on 56 K


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## aSc1@3

taylormsj, be carefull NOT to put the computer with bottom fans on carpet if they are intake, my current case for some reason has the front intake fan sucking in air from a little hole on the bottom of the case, and after that spot carpet became dust-free, my video card looked like a dustball, and 2 minutes later it caught on fire.


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## lovely?

aSc1@3 said:


> both the stock intel coolers i've seen suck air through heatsink, but i think air onto heatsink does make more sense, i'll try it.



lol theres never been a heatsink that sucks air through, they all blow onto the heatsink, simple aerodynamics shows that.


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## cohen

aSc1@3 said:
			
		

> 2 minutes later it caught on fire.



HOLY S***.... What was the damage on the inside????


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## Ramodkk

Taylor, excellent mods as always  For the UV lights, would you recommend LED's or cold cathodes?



cohen said:


> HOLY S***.... What was the damage on the inside????



burnt!


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## reddevil6

lovely? said:


> lol theres never been a heatsink that sucks air through, they all blow onto the heatsink, simple aerodynamics shows that.


i dont know if i can could this but on my on AMD 700MHz had a big heat sink on it but the fan was a short elbow bend with a fan sucking air an that sat about an inch above the heatsink an you could feel the air coming through the fins on the heat sink.


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## The_Other_One

I had a really nice looking Gateway desktop case I modded a long time ago.  I painted it red (leaving some parts gray), added a fan to the top, one on the front (hidden) and removed and filled the old "Gateway 2000" logo.  That was quite a while ago, though, and I've not done anything too major since...

I do have my NAS I recently removed the fan and replaced with a much larger, more quiet fan.  Perhaps I could clean up the cut then paint the case   I recently noticed some scratches in the plastic, so painting it wouldn't be that bad of an idea


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## taylormsj

ramodkk said:


> Taylor, excellent mods as always  For the UV lights, would you recommend LED's or cold cathodes?
> 
> 
> 
> burnt!



Led's look much nicer, but they are a pain to wire up, even more of a pain to attach them in a good position, cathodes would be much easier for the lazy user


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## cohen

ramodkk said:


> burnt!



A lot of $$$$ involved to repair / replace stuff???


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## Ramodkk

taylormsj said:


> Led's look much nicer, but they are a pain to wire up, even more of a pain to attach them in a good position, cathodes would be much easier for the lazy user



Thanks cause I already own 2 x UV cathodes, and I think they look good and was wondering if it was worth it to get LED's instead...


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## Ramodkk

This is what we (as in my dad and I) are working on right now:


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