# ULTRA Dragon!



## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

Yes, I have the 'Ultra Dragon'. It's got to be the lamest name for a case ever conceived, or at least in the running. When I bought this case three and a half years ago, I really just wanted a basic case with plenty of room to spare, so I didn't really care about the name. This is a very durable case, but I will never, ever buy Ultra products again. (I bought an Ultra 500-watt modular PSU with this case- enough said ) The thing is made of very thick steel so even though it is a pain to work with, at least it has that going for it. I've already completed what I want done for the time being, so I'll start a mock-project log for the sake of more opinions and ideas. I took a few pictures while I was working, so hopefully that'll do for the time being.

Here's the case with nothing done to it (might be painful to some, I know):







Forget you saw the pathetic wiring job.. it's pretty embarrassing. I also don't have any fans because a few years ago I bought a few blue LED 80mm fans that I thought would work well. Of course I learned my lesson because they were loud as hell and didn't do really anything for airflow. Hopefully you guys can give me some pointers on good quality fans (that aren't ridiculously awesome and expensive like Noctua) I've always hated the plain steel so I've decided to paint the inside flat black. The perforated fan grills have also gotten on my nerves, as well as the purple. Honestly Ultra- purple?! ... Well first things first I tin-snipped out the perforated fan grills. Like I said, the steel is very thick, so the tin-snips took a beating in the process. Since I only had straight tin-snips, it left quite a barb to hack off later.



I ended up using a Dremel to smooth off the edges because that seemed to work best. I used a smaller bit to begin with (I don't know what I was thinking) and after 1 fan slot the bit was gone. So, I used the fiberglass reinforced cutting wheel (Dremel 426) and that worked perfectly. To smooth out anything left I used a grinding stone. Here's a picture before I used the grinding stone because I forgot to take an after picture before I painted.


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## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

After reading a few other threads on painting (mainly mkmod's pointers) I decided that the Duplicolor Acrylic Laquer would do the best job. It took me going to three stores to FINALLY find the paint. Pep Boys and Advanced Auto Parts didn't have it but they DID have Neon Green Gloss!  It finally ended up being Auto Zone that had the paint in stock. Tips for other people thinking about painting their rigs: BUY the sandable primer! I thought the $6.50 a can was too steep for my tastes, so I didn't use it. There were spots on the hard drive cages and case that the Laquer couldn't adhere to by itself, so it took multiple coats to get it covered! If you want to save headache, just go ahead and get it. Mine turned out just fine without it, but that's because the quality of the Duplicolor paint saved me. Another thing about the Duplicolor paint- it is the best spray paint I've ever used, but it has an odor worse than a typical Walmart-brand can of paint. 

Before painting I lightly sanded parts of the case so the paint would adhere better. This took quite a while, but it helped out in the end. I also had to tape dover the holes for the motherboard risers so paint would run smoother and not get in the threads. If you forget this step you might be regretting it later. I was pretty bad at forgetting to take pictures, so here are some pictures of the first and second coats as well as the other parts of the case.


First coat, the flash on my Sony murdered the picture, but at least the case came out nice.


Hard drive bays and the such. I had painted the back panel first just to test the paint.


This was after spraying the second coat.


Here's the second coat already dry (the paint dries to the touch in 5-10 minutes)

A tip on painting hard drive bays- put painters tape BEHIND the holes where you're spraying so it won't drip over to the other side. After my second coat I figured this out, and it makes it look TERRIBLE if you don't do it. I had to use steel wool (000) to buff out the paint sags and then sand them down to fix it... which was pretty time consuming.


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## echo75 (May 15, 2008)

No pics mate


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## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

echo75 said:


> No pics mate



Hmm they're showing up for me, but I attached them and then plugged them in using the URL from TPU's uploader.


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## philbrown23 (May 15, 2008)

yeah the pics are not there


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## AsRock (May 15, 2008)

echo75 said:


> No pics mate



Use you imagination ..

EDIT:


FatForester said:


> Hmm they're showing up for me, but I attached them and then plugged them in using the URL from TPU's uploader.




Remember having that issue too. If i remember right there's a typo some were in the link.


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## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

Yea, I just did a quick CCleaner to get rid of temps and they're gone. I'll try fixing it...

EDIT: Ok, I just used TPU's attachment only, so the images are thumbnail sized for the time being.

EDIT EDIT: I didn't catch that, so I might give it another shot.


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## AsRock (May 15, 2008)

FatForester said:


> Yea, I just did a quick CCleaner to get rid of temps and they're gone. I'll try fixing it...


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## echo75 (May 15, 2008)

yep pics working now


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## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

Well here's the bare case in all its flat black glory:




Here's the rig in different angles with everything in it. If anything this is an advertisement for Dupli-color paint. I'm VERY impressed with the quality: 


In the middle bay you can see the hard drive paint drip I was talking about earlier. That bay didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, so sometime later I'll work on it again. 




I thought about painting the motherboard plate, but decided to leave it be in case if I sell the motherboard later.


Here it is fully assembled. My flash messed with the picture, so imagine it much darker . So any tips on where to take it from here? The case is big but is pretty limited as far as wire management goes. Behind the motherboard there's virtually no space to tuck away extra cables so I had to make do with shoving them in the top two 5.25" drive bays. I know this is a pretty boring "mod", but at least it's a start!


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## echo75 (May 15, 2008)

hey mate that Ultra case is exactly same as the Raidmax Scorpio 668 . its currently on clearance sale here in Denmark for just the equvalent of 25 us dollars and i am probably going to pic one up for modding fun.

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/cases/raidmax_scorpio_668/

fine mod if i may say so , gives me inspiration to pick it up since its cheap at the moment.


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## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

echo75 said:


> hey mate that Ultra case is exactly same as the Raidmax Scorpio 668 . its currently on clearance sale here in Denmark for just the equvalent of 25 us dollars and i am probably going to pic one up for modding fun.
> 
> http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/cases/raidmax_scorpio_668/
> 
> fine mod if i may say so , gives me inspiration to pick it up since its cheap at the moment.



$25?!  I'm a bit ashamed to say I bought this for $100 bucks! Ultra is made by Cheiftec, so I guess Raidmax is in on it too? I say go for it, especially if you're going to goof off with it. It's pretty hard to screw up this thing


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## Silverel (May 15, 2008)

Ideas!

-Get that I/O panel painted to match everything. It kinda sticks out a lil bit. 
-You could probably fit that IDE cable behind the mobo tray, cut a slot for it at the bottom of the case. 
-Use a 120x25mm fan on the front, you might be able to fit it inside the front bezel depending on how much clutter is there. Much quieter than 80mm fans, even at higher speeds.
-Contrast! Black on black is by no means _bad_, but a solid color scheme will make it stand out. Some flat/semi-gloss copper colored paint in the right spots would be rather unique.

Not bad at all for a cheapo case. I know the same issue you have about wiring behind mobo trays with low clearance. More often than not, power cables will not fit, but front panel connectors, SATA and IDE cables can handle those tight spaces.


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## FatForester (May 15, 2008)

Silverel said:


> Ideas!
> 
> -Get that I/O panel painted to match everything. It kinda sticks out a lil bit.
> -You could probably fit that IDE cable behind the mobo tray, cut a slot for it at the bottom of the case.
> ...



Thanks for the input Silverel! I'm diggin' those ideas. Sadly I don't have a longer IDE cable, so I have to make due for the time being. I could slap ASUS in the face for putting an IDE port at the BOTTOM of a mobo.  I could spend 5-10 bucks on a longer rounded IDE cable, but I think I might use that money for a SATA DVD-RW since they're about 30 bucks anyways. I'm REALLY liking the color scheme idea, because the flat black could definitely use something to accompany it. A semi-gloss copper would look awesome with the Zalmans! I thought about getting a slim 80mm to slip in the front, but a 120x25mm would definitely work better. I'll have to see what clearances I have to putting one in there. As far as the cable management goes, I'm not entirely sure where a good spot would be for slipping in the wires. I thought about getting a 1" circular bit and forming a hole behind the mobo and drive bays, but that's still just a thought. I was gonna wait a bit before I started my next project with this thing, but Silverel, you just convinced me otherwise.


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## MKmods (May 18, 2008)

Nicely done, I like the chrome I/o plate (goes with the GPU and sound card)

I would chrome the trim piece around the PS mount as well.

The IDE can run under the mobo between it and the mobo tray (easier than cutting a hole)
(small world, I have 3 of those cases I am working with right now)


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## AsRock (May 18, 2008)

FatForester said:


> $25?!  I'm a bit ashamed to say I bought this for $100 bucks! Ultra is made by Cheiftec, so I guess Raidmax is in on it too? I say go for it, especially if you're going to goof off with it. It's pretty hard to screw up this thing



It is a Cheiftec case others use the case and rebadge it.  I have one here and there VERY modable.  Only issue i had was with the depth of the case.

Nice spray job there .


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## intel igent (May 20, 2008)

lookin good!

this is the same as my antec plusview, VERY moddable cases so hack away!

lots of room behind MOBO tray as well for wires

i swapped out the 80mm fans for 120's frt+rr

i have some pix of mine posted in the gallery (old school) tryin' to get some more up


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