[CaseMod] First Attempt

L31mr0d

Built a new rig about a month ago, mainly bought from Komplett. My old machine was pushing 5 years old so I thought it was about time for an upgrade, but didn't want to break the bank. Got the parts for around €1400 in all.

Here is the spec:
BenQ 19" LCD FP91G+ TCO03 Monitor, Black/Silver, DVI, 8ms
NorthQ 4001BX, ATX 400W, 120mm Blue LED Fan, 12-17dBA, 4xSATA, PCI-E, 20/24pin
2 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2GHz Socket 939, 1MB, BOXED w/fan
Asus A8N-SLI, nForce4 SLI, Socket-939 ATX, S-ATA, GbLAN, Firewire,DDR,PCI-Ex16
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 1024MB Dual Pack Kit w/two matched PC3200 DDR DIMMs
BFG NVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB PCI-E
BenQ DVD±RW burner, DW1650, 16x, Dual, Black Oem
Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB Black Floppy Drive Internal
Lexmark X2350 All-In-One, 15/15ppm, 4800*1200, USB
Q-Tec Midi tower ATX L-MD02, Black w/350W AMD/P4

My 6800U hasn't arrived yet as I ordered it from China. In the mean time, my boredom has led me to start modding the cheap ass case I bought with it. It all started because I inadvertantly bought a PSU with a blue LED fan in it. On its own it looked crap and as i wanted some more fans anyway, i went with more blue LED ones... this is where it started to spiral.

I cut a hole in the front 2 drive bays to install a 80mm intake fan


Then placed a 92mm exhaust fan at the back, to aide the 120mm fan in the PSU, making sure the sleeved PSU cables where twist tied out of the way to help circulation.




I then placed a 80mm fan on the side panel above the CPU Block to suck cold air in for the CPU fan. I then placed an 80mm fan under the SATA drives to help cool them.




I plan to eventually drill another hole on top of the case in front of the PSU as this appears to be a hotspot when the machine has been running for a while. For now though i'm concentrating on the look. I didn't like the 2 front LEDs being yellow and green when all the other lights are blue, so I got 2 5mm Blue LEDs and soldered them in.





There, looking all Blue now.






My next step is to add a side panel window, and maybe a new CPU fan and block

TheDoc

looks cool, how do you go about putting that fan on the front?

For example my pc has a large spcae on the front of it, if it is just open spec behind it could I cut it out and install a fan?

And also. When your hooking up a fan like, where does the cable go? I bought a blue led fan for the back of my case, and found the only matching connection for the fan was a little connection on the mobo, so i hooked it up and long behold it worked? But if i was to install more, where should i be looking etc?

Cheers.

L31mr0d

Usually fans come with a Molex adapter so that you can plug them directly into your PSU, my AKASA ones did anyway, and where a big help. Plus there are tutorials out there on how you can make your own. My MoBo has around 6 fan connectors.

I found this tutorial for the front Panel. The hole i cut using a 3" Hole saw and a drill, just drill the hole, line up your fan, drill the 4mm holes for the screws then sand the rough edges, and a get a grill. Mine is so big because I made a few mistakes and needed to cover them up.

TheDoc

yeah my fan came with the plugs shown in the picture, but i didnt see any connections on my psu for themto click into, nor was there any spare leads hanign out of it to connect....

^whitey^

Please tell me your not using the Qtec Power Supply that came with that case. Throw it out immediatly if you are.

Oh and the case looks great.

L31mr0d

No. I'm using a NorthQ 400w one, it's in my specs. It probably will end up not being enough power if I ever move over to SLI, but by then i'll probably want another PSU anyway. The one that came with the case is being used as a spare.

conzy

Looks great, you have great system specs, except that PSU is a bit on the crap side.

Will you post its specs?

The 6800 ultra is one of the most power hungry graphics cards ever, and you need a quality power supply for that system, you should not have skimped on a PSU

^whitey^

L31mr0d wrote:

The one that came with the case is being used as a spare.

Dont even use it as a spare the one I had fried 3 mobo's and a CPU

B00MSTICK

Looks great man, I was actually thinking of doing the same thing with 2 x 60mm fans. Too bad they dont have pretty leds. Nice grill too.

L31mr0d

Ok, going to go ahead with a window mod. Although i've never used a Dremel before, i'm going to try something unique.

Here is the original case:



And here is a photoshop image of what i want to cut out. As you can see the present holes cut for the fan, the finger grab, and the bottom air vents are going to make this more difficult then i had thought. Do you's think its feasible?

conzy

Looks good but that will be a pain to cut out with a dremel, buy a packets of heavy duty disks and goggles;)

Please for you're computers sake post the specs of that North Q PSU, it says it on the side of the PSU:)

L31mr0d

or... follow this link, NorthQ 4001BX

Even though i've built a good 10 computers before, the OEM PSUs where never a problem, as we where building budget machines in college to play games like CS and CoD, no really new ones. Only after building this medium/high end computer has the power become an issue. Luckily enough this PSU seems ok, the 12v rail is 18A which should be more than enough, plus it has its own dedicated 75w PCI-E cable for extra stability. Most systems don't use more than 400w, unless your running a behemoth 4xSATA RAID0, 2xDVD RW, 2xSLI 7800GTX, 2GB RAM... all overclocked. Its the ampage on the 12v rails that you should be interested in.

conzy

18 amps on the 12v rail is not enough for a system with a 6800ultra, especially on a cheap PSU, they usually advertise peak amperage. And that Pci-Express cable draws its 75watts from that 12v rail

Most quality PSUs have 2 12v rails at around 20amps each.

I am not slating your System, its great other than the PSU;)

L31mr0d

damn.. ok well how can i tell if my system is struggling with its power requirements? Is their any apps out there for checking the wattage. Will the system just randomly restart. Funny thing is, I ordered the 6800Ultra from China, and i've already sent one back because it crapped up on me when i tried to load FEAR, it ran for 5 minutes then just crashed out, then i kept getting a load of artifacts all over the screen in the BIOS and POST (???) Could the lack of power caused this or was it a dud. When I get the next one, how can I tell if the graphics card is drawing enough power?

conzy

Thats sounds alot like PSU failure, usually if there is not enough power windows will freeze games will artifact and freeze. It could even damage motherboard capacitors:eek:

I am positive that that PSU is not good enough for a 6800ultra a 3700 and 2 HDDs, if you want you can try and run 3dmark and check the rails with a Multimeter ( i will assume you have no electronics knowledge, correct me if im wrong;) ) by putting the positive cable from the PSU to the yellow wire of the molex connector, and the negative cable to any of the 2 black wires in the molex connector.

I bet the voltage will be low (around 11 volts) and fluctuate as you get to more demanding parts of the Demo. A good PSU should be able to keep the 12volt rail at 12volts or very close to 12 volts.

You can expect to pay around 100 euro for a quality PSU, Tagan, Enermax, Seasonic and OCZ all make good PSUs

conzy

www.overclockers.co.uk have an enermax liberty 400watt for 75 euro, but i have a 400watt PSU i hear you say:D

This one has 2 12volt rails at 20amps each, instead of the single 18amp rail in your current PSU.

Great value and future proof (well for the next year or so) for 75 euro;)

L31mr0d

conzymaher wrote:

( i will assume you have no electronics knowledge, correct me if im wrong;) )

lol... i've got a honours degree in electronic and computer engineering

Yeah, I know i can poke around in my system with my multimeter, it would be just handier to have a nice little GUI to click on and give me my PSU stats.

I best get in contact with Komplett about their returns:

What about this one from Komplett, it seems to provide the same amount of power as the one you quoted

P.S: This is probably already a known fact, but STAY AWAY from B&Qs Dremel-a-like "Performance Power Pro" bought one today, and 6 broken bits later and a dodgey and fiddly way of connecting new bits (i.e. cheapo removable collets which break like toothpicks) I ran back into B&Q, grabbed a Dremel, threw the "Performance Pro" and the money difference at the cashier, and kept running hoping they wouldn't find the broken up collet lodged in the drill chamber.

conzy

L31mr0d wrote:

lol... i've got a honours degree in electronic and computer engineering

Woops:o

P.S: This is probably already a known fact, but STAY AWAY from B&Qs Dremel-a-like "Performance Power Pro" bought one today, and 6 broken bits later and a dodgey and fiddly way of connecting new bits (i.e. cheapo removable collets which break like toothpicks) I ran back into B&Q, grabbed a Dremel, threw the "Performance Pro" and the money difference at the cashier, and kept running hoping they wouldn't find the broken up collet lodged in the drill chamber.

LOL, i got a El cheapo "challenge" dremel tool from Argos, its alright but the accesories were crap, but once i bought some proper dremel discs it was great

Oh and software voltage monotoring is calculated guessing and should never be trusted, you should know this, Engineer:D LOL

Anyway the specs of that Akasa PSU look good, good voltage regulation, its quiet, 2 12v rails, 75% effiency, Its not as good as the Enermax but its probably the next best thing for the price.

Custom PC gave it a good review, but they give Intel CPUs good reviews LOL

It actually look good for the price, but get a second, third and fourth opinion because i dont know what Akasa PSUs are like

L31mr0d

*sigh* dust off the ol multimeter then and get probing I guess. I can't really test anything until I get my 6800 Ultra though.

I'm in correspondance with Komplett at the moment to exchange this PSU, but I can't see them taking it back and giving me a full refund since there isn't anything "wrong" with it, buying a weak PSU is my fault. (Damn impulse buying, last time I built a computer, all you had to check was that the PSU was ATX and not AT.. things have changed)

For now, gonna get some practice in with my Dremel. The only good thing about "Performance Pro" is that B&Q are selling a parts set which is compatible with most small rotary tools (i.e. my Dremel), for €10 and 400pcs, mostly cutting blades, with some extra engraving and polishing bits. Which is dirt cheap considering ONE dremel bit is €5???

conzy

I paid 10 euro for the argos warranty thing so if i break it i get a new one free:D

In woodies in Kilkenny 5 reinforced disks are 15 euro:eek:

Oh and buy goggles, i got hit in the face with a piece of dremel shrapnel and i learned my lesson:p

L31mr0d

Got the lame looking goggles already.

I'm really at a loss looking for a decent/cheap PSU. Do you know of any sites in america that ship PSUs to Ireland? They seem alot cheaper over there compared to online shops here.

Considering this one from Komplett by Cooler Master, but i'd like to get it at the USA price $129.

conzy

Why not get the enermax liberty from OcUk its only 70 plus 20 for postage, thats even cheaper than $129

Tiger direct deliver to Ireland but you have to wire them the money and delivery is around $100 which is crap. and they are not as cheap as Newegg

And there are rumours of Newegg buying a large Computer store in the UK, we may have cheap prices soon

L31mr0d

true... i even looked on ebay.ie and with the extra cost for shipping it works out just as expensive, even more so. I'll wait until Komplett gets back to me about returning the PSU. If they can refund my credit card, i'll go ahead and get the one from OCuk. Although the shipping on OCuk, at around €48, is pretty steep, considering Komplett is only €10.

conzy

48?????????

its only 20 euro for shipping, but its shipped via Parcelforce 48, is that where you saw the 48?

Anyway, Hopefully komplett will give you money back if not, sell it in the FS section, you should get close to RRP for it;)

B00MSTICK

Your both wrong, its £22 sterling which is €32. Its kinda expensive when your just buying one item.

L31mr0d

ok well i'll let you know what i decide when I hear back from Komplett, i like the 2x20A 12+ rails on the enermax, and most reviews i've read have said its pretty stable, plus the modular design with the cables is exactly what i need for my small case.

Anyway, i started this is as a worklog. I've decided to not go ahead with the tribal cutout, as i don't have a lot of spare aluminium to mess around with and it doesn't open up enough of the side of my case for viewing, so i've decided to go with this. Going to put in a basic window, with a blue LED fan, then etch the DBZ character underneath to make it appear like the power ball in his hand is the fan. As i've got lots of 2mm perspex lying around i'll get some practice in and i'll show the results once i've got it finished.

L31mr0d

Ok so I went ahead with this design, it was my first ever etching on perspex, and the first time i'd ever used a dremel. So the results aren't the best.


First off I drilled the hole for the fan, and the screw holes.




Then got down to some etching (note: An Apache Pizza box doubles great as a cheap work surface)


Did an outline of the image first with my dremel






Ok so it didn't really come out how i'd initially planned, its hard enough to get an evenly etched surface on the plexiglass. Going to try out a few other designs. If none of them work, I guess i'll stick with this one.

L31mr0d

Ok so got the first draft of the window finished. Cutout a few other squares of perspex to practice somemore etching as i'm not that satisfied with the way this one turned out. It will do for now.

Started early (1pm) and got cutting out the window.


Drilled the holes for the screws, considered using silicone, but this way if i ever get bored of the image or the postion of the fan i can just make another window and screw it in.


Went through quiet a few disks. Probably because they where the cheap B&Q name brand stuff.


Finally got it put together


Voila. Lights on.


... and, lights off.




My case needs more lighting, but i'm not really into CCFL's. Is there any way of using LEDs to evenly spread light through the perspex?

Endurance Man

Wow man, good job .

conzy

Looks good;)

If you put tracing paper in front of the Leds it would spread the light, and make them less harsh looking.

Did you decide on a PSU yet? Did the 6800ultra arrive:)

L31mr0d

heck no it didn't arrive yet. I only sent off the dud to China just over a week ago, should get the replacement in another week or so.

Yeah the PSU, Komplett won't take the old one back. So I have to figure out a way of flogging it. I have another system I want to sell which has a pretty loud PSU, so I might just change that out and put this one in it.

I've been offered one from Thermaltake here on the boards. What do you think? It only has 1x12v rail, so I gather its only ATX, not ATX 2.0. Plus no PCIx connector? What do you think?

Stonehead

And there are rumours of Newegg buying a large Computer store in the UK, we may have cheap prices soon

Yeah, I hope they do it soon.

Excellent job on the etching of the bay window. Looks really good.

How much did all the stuff for that cost, including the dremel, bits, pieces of perspex etc? Im very new to case modding and such, but since the case I ordered doesnt have a bay window I might be interested in doing something with it.

conzy

DONT BUY A THERMALTAKE PSU:eek:

Anyway, they are no better than cheap ones, they are just crap with thermaltake stickers on them.

L31mr0d

thanks... see now how do you know that.. googling that PSU, I only find good reviews... although they are 2 years old :rolleyes:

Should really of saved the moola, and not bought the dremel, and went ahead with a better PSU. I might just charge it and deal with it later. I notice you have a system pretty similar to mine yet you have the 500w enermax, Is the extra 100w the only difference with the 400w one?

conzy

Yes the 400watt and 500watt models are almost identical except the 500watt model has 2 22Amp rails for a combined output of 32amps

The 400watt model (i think) has 2 20 amp rails for a combined output of 30 amps.

They are identical other than that, and the 400watt model is loads and probably the equivelant output of a cheap 800watt model;)

They are also one of the most efficient PSUs at 80% effiency, so it will save you money in the long run by lowering ESB bills:D

L31mr0d

Ok well i'll probably going to go ahead with an Enermax then. Going to shop around and see if I can get one for cheaper shipping.

Anyway, like I said I wasn't that happy with the original etch. Turns out I was using the wrong bit for the dremel, and it was eating up the perspex, and not giving a smooth finish. Anyway, this one turned out a little better.





Kinda went a little overboard and tried to install some LEDs along the side of the perspex... waste of a good 4 hours soldering and fixing as they are not bright enough at all to properly light the perspex. Not giving up though, gonna pick up some ultra brights from Maplin, and replace them. *sigh* live and learn.



Put a 220 Ohm resistor in series with the LEDs.


What do you know... that Q-Tec PSU came in usefull after all. Testing out the LEDs before installing them. Just making sure the resistor wasn't heating up to much.


Cut some notchs into the perspex with one of the diamond bit pieces from B&Q, so that the LEDs would seat better.


Used some insulation tape to avoid any shorts with the case.


Testing out LEDs... now looking good.


Ok so the etch is highlighted more, but not near enough as i'd like. I could take the easy option and get a CCFL, but i'm not going to let this beat me.

g5hn710m4xpdwy

nice etches! did u usethe head that was kinda like sand paper but shaped like a small cone, or the metal one the was like a ball ontop with litle cuts in it? and where did you get the perspax?

L31mr0d

For the first etch i used the sanding cone... its not good at all, well not for me anyway. Its faster to clear large areas of perspex away, but it leaves an uneven finish, if your design has big areas, it would be good, because you could just mask off the etch and sand it to get an even finish.

I used the diamond ball bit for this and it worked a lot better, the big one for larger areas and the small one for around the face and any detailed work. Took about an hour in total to etch it.

Got the perspex from B&Q, they sell 2mm and 4mm sheets. The 2mm sheet which is around 4x6ft was around €17. Its a good enough size to get some practice with. I ended up using all of it, usually by running a drill bit too fast and cracking it.

implosive

That looks like a good job , Might give it a go!!!, and its realitively free if youve got the parts lying around,

Mmmmmmmmm .............

g5hn710m4xpdwy

lol, b&q here i come ;-) thants for that

L31mr0d

Ok so i cut my losses and went ahead with the 400w enermax you where talking about. I didn't get it from OCuk, went and got it off ebay from germany, pretty cheap I have to say, worked out a good €30 cheaper then OCuk including shipping and the exchange.

Here's the link:
Enermax Liberty 400w

conzy

Nice find;)

Keep us up to date

L31mr0d

Ok so these should be the final touchs for now on the case. Going to concentrate more on the HW side of it now. I probably wouldn't of gone ahead with any mods on it where it not for my graphics card for it being over a month late (good ol reliable Ebay)

I soldered a new string of 12v Super bright red leds together as the previous ones used for lighting the etch just wheren't bright enough. The new ones turned out well.



Here is what the case looks like under the desk, why did i go through the trouble of doing a window and etch if its going to be under my desk you say? Boredom. lol, i don't even go to gamecon or bring my computer out to LANs much.



The last change I made to it was to put one of maplins fan control bays in the front. I was going to rig my own up and buy a rheostat the cables and all the rest of the gear, but it only worked out a few euros dearer to buy this one. Plus it has a LCD temp display, and some voltage presets. You don't realise how much noise those fans are making when you turn them down. My SATA drives are almost silent and so is my PSU. Now the fans only whisper when the computers idle.

conzy

Very nice;)

I like the way the LEDs only light the etch, Do you have your Enermax liberty yet?

JakTheHat

Yeah. The etch stands out well. Nice effect.

g5hn710m4xpdwy

no i really want to do my etch! and i have the plans made out and i will light it up like yours ;-) expect on my xbox;)

L31mr0d

Sorry to rebump. All the pictures from this log got deleted off the host site I had them on, the compsoc forums for my college that has since dissapeared since my graduation.

So I thought just for composure i'd repost the pictures of this log.

L31mr0d

dazftw

your a lefty :eek:

Do you write with your left or right hand?

I right with my left but im a righty?

L31mr0d

DeafVision wrote:

your a lefty :eek:

Do you write with your left or right hand?

I right with my left but im a righty?

erm... yeah i'm a lefty. You are more than likely mixed-handed. A lot of people think they are either right or left handed, usually defined by which hand they write with when in fact they are mixed which means you can use both hands for different tasks but tend to favour one hand over the other. I'm a true lefty in that simple things like a gear stick being on the right, a computer mouse being on the right, right handed scissors...etc, I can't do. I could lose my right arm in an accident tomorrow and it wouldn't bother me.

Its irritating though being a gamer and trying to find mice suited for lefties. Logitech only have one in production and its, tbh, crap. Its basically an MCE mouse that isn't suited for gaming at all. I'm still waiting for them to release a decent wired laser mouse specifically for left handed people.

KamiKazi

L31mr0d wrote:

Its irritating though being a gamer and trying to find mice suited for lefties. Logitech only have one in production and its, tbh, crap. Its basically an MCE mouse that isn't suited for gaming at all. I'm still waiting for them to release a decent wired laser mouse specifically for left handed people.

the razor diamondback and copperhead i know are suited to left or right handed people, great mice too