[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?