# putting my rig inside a 5 cd interchanger, this should be fun...



## ste2425 (Jan 1, 2009)

Well i got fed up with my huge tower looming over my room so decided to see if i can make a good job of modding something up, (for people who remember i tried it on my tower and faild miserably)

But before i even start ive come accross a few problems, 
My graphics card and other expansion cards (USB, TV tuner) stick up higher then the roof of the case,
My PSU wont fit inside

But some solutions, 
Some wire mesh, and Some LEGO or meccano pieces, (the childrens building toy)

I began With guting out the thing to see what space i have to play with and was a bit gutted i did coz these things are very hard to come accross  

pics will follow soon, oh and see if you can gues what im gonna do to fix the problem of my graphics card not fitting using LEGO


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 1, 2009)

heres some pics checkin stuff fits, the kwl thing is the power buttons, eject button etc can all be hooked and and used


----------



## lemonadesoda (Jan 1, 2009)

LOL, have fun! More pictures needed. Remember to drill holes where you can to mount devices and screw then down properly. I dont like the sound of LEGO. LOL!!!


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 1, 2009)

more pics added,  aye ive done that lol my cooler slightly bends the mobo so the first thing i did was screw it down didnt wanna risk it getting damaged, but i had to put some foam under it to stop it contacting the base as the standofs didnt raise it enough, just cut a square out under the cpu coz itl get very hot, in the new pick you can see how high my gpu comes up compared to the case


----------



## lemonadesoda (Jan 1, 2009)

Ste... when you make these funky case conversions... YOU GOTTA USE LV.  You need an ITX or smaller platform OR you need a LV CPU, like a mobile chipset and Socket-P (s478/9).

It's not a good idea to use regular CPU and regular GPU or you will suffer from heat. Any "extra cutouts" spoil the whole purpose of stealth conversions.

If you dont have a LV rig, then consider UNDERCLOCKING the CPU and setting volts as low as you can.

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects.asp


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 2, 2009)

I understand what your saying but then if i go your way with buying a new rig the best game i can run is age of empires, (which is great by the way) i understand the heat problem and have thought my way around that, and well the stealth thing thats personall to the user. Personally i dont really care if people look at the finished product and go 'wait a minuet that really isnt a CD player' What im trying to get out of this is the personal enjoyment i get from building random crap and actualy get a practical case that isn't in the way, protects my rig and looks slightly cool. For me what this will end up looking like, and the proccess of building,  tickes all those boxes. 

well speach over for anyone interested in this project ive ordered the Meccano pieces and my very first Dremel Tool Set!!! I feel proffessional  pics wil follow of the work when it all arrives


----------



## lemonadesoda (Jan 2, 2009)

1./ You need a hole *punch*. Punch a dent BEFORE trying to drill with the Dremel, or your drill bit will skid over everywhere and your hole location will be inaccurate.

2./ If you are screwing things down and spending the time doing so, then you should try to make the whole case a passive cooler. Design a HUGE cooler for the CPU and attach it to the CPU ... AND... the case if you can. Use shims to match the distance between the cooler and the case and bolt it all together.

You can find all kinds of interesting "parts" for designing coolers out of old broken air conditioners, or at the local DIY.


----------



## MKmods (Jan 2, 2009)

LEGOs FTW!!!!
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w100/OC3D/100_0731.jpg


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 2, 2009)

> LEGOs FTW!!!!



where do you think my inspiration came from 



> 1./ You need a hole punch. Punch a dent BEFORE trying to drill with the Dremel, or your drill bit will skid over everywhere and your hole location will be inaccurate.
> 
> 2./ If you are screwing things down and spending the time doing so, then you should try to make the whole case a passive cooler. Design a HUGE cooler for the CPU and attach it to the CPU ... AND... the case if you can. Use shims to match the distance between the cooler and the case and bolt it all together.
> 
> You can find all kinds of interesting "parts" for designing coolers out of old broken air conditioners, or at the local DIY.



thanks for the advice man ive never used a dremel tool before cheers i wanna get this finished when im using onboard video i realise just how good ma hd2600 xt is haha


----------



## MKmods (Jan 3, 2009)

When you get a chance can you post a pict of the front of the CD changer.


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 5, 2009)

update guys, got the hole for the graphics card and fan cut, the hole at the end for the card is just the right size and keeps it from wobbleing if that makes sense, errrrm made the holes for the mobo and screwed that in. Started work on the front of the case, hooked up the headphones socket. And thats about it. 

I still need to put some rubber stuff round the edges of the hole for the fan and put a grill on that, and still need to make a wire mesh cage to go round the graphics card to protect it, errrm and i still need to hook up the eject button and power button on the front on the case, Id like to get the screen working but i doubt i have the knowlege to do that, i might just buy a proper screen and replace it. 





my work so far





and the frontsorry about the quality of the photos am stuck with a mobile


----------



## lemonadesoda (Jan 5, 2009)

eek 

stick with the day job. LOL


----------



## vega22 (Jan 5, 2009)

ste you just made my day 

i have been thinking about doing somthing like this with 1 of mine but having my ifx14 sicking out the top like the air filter on an old hotrod


----------



## MKmods (Jan 5, 2009)

this will help with the height issue
http://www.ameri-rack.com/ARC1-127m.html

They make 1U versions as well (lower profile, but limits the cooler). There is also a reverse one to flip the card the other way and cable versions (but the cable ones are more$)


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 5, 2009)

> like the air filter on an old hotrod


thank you finally some1 thinking its a good idea thats exactly the thing i was thinking of haha
i may may make a perspects box to go over it instead, but id need a new heatsink with a fan as the current one is passive hmmmm



> eek  stick with the day job. LOL


im the drummer for my band so that should explain exactly why this seemd like a good idea


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 6, 2009)

right updates, errrrm put some rubber trim around the fan hole and added a grill, some meccano parts came through and im making a cage to go round the card that will have a wire mesh thing over it and will paint it black, finished off the rest of the buttons on the front that will be used.

what i got left is tidie the gpu hole in the case, sand it down, finish the grill and paint it, and put a cover on the front of the dvd drive bay then its done!


----------



## Cuzza (Jan 6, 2009)

fun fun! keep those pics coming man i love this crazy stuff


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 6, 2009)

cheers mate the only real problem i can think of is hooking up the eject switch im looking at it now and the eject switch on the case has two prongs where its soldered into the board whilst the switch on my dvd drive has four any sugestions guys i was hopeing to just take the switch on the dvd drive of and solder two cable to the one on the actual case but now im a bit thrown off cheers?


----------



## suraswami (Jan 6, 2009)

he he you really followed my idea.  Welcome.

Hey follow MK's advice on the riser card thing and your problem will be solved, or you have to get the low profile one.


----------



## suraswami (Jan 6, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> update guys, got the hole for the graphics card and fan cut, the hole at the end for the card is just the right size and keeps it from wobbleing if that makes sense, errrrm made the holes for the mobo and screwed that in. Started work on the front of the case, hooked up the headphones socket. And thats about it.
> 
> I still need to put some rubber stuff round the edges of the hole for the fan and put a grill on that, and still need to make a wire mesh cage to go round the graphics card to protect it, errrm and i still need to hook up the eject button and power button on the front on the case, Id like to get the screen working but i doubt i have the knowlege to do that, i might just buy a proper screen and replace it.
> 
> ...



man that vc and cpu fan hole is just 

You really need to travel light on this


----------



## r9 (Jan 6, 2009)

That gigabyte card is like a shark


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks guys well i might but the problem is on that side i got ma hdd and dvd drive, they are attached on top of eachother, if i use the riser card the gpu may interfeer with the hdd and dvd drive. But ill look into it for sizes coz it would obviously be the better option, the other  problem is if i do that ive got a ruddy great bit hole in the roof and the second thing is i like that hot-rod idea
marsey said, and suraswami your own case is what gave me the insperation to do this so thanks goes to you man


----------



## suraswami (Jan 7, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> Thanks guys well i might but the problem is on that side i got ma hdd and dvd drive, they are attached on top of eachother, if i use the riser card the gpu may interfeer with the hdd and dvd drive. But ill look into it for sizes coz it would obviously be the better option, the other  problem is if i do that ive got a ruddy great bit hole in the roof and the second thing is i like that hot-rod idea
> marsey said, and suraswami your own case is what gave me the insperation to do this so thanks goes to you man



Why don't you remove the optical and use it as an external one?  Opticals are not absolute must in a PC, you can still get around that.

And, how much inches is left between the front edge of the bottom of the case to the front edge of the board?  See if you can fit the HDD there.  What is the height of the case from bottom to top?  Is it 3.7"?  You can put in a regular desktop drive vertically if you don't care about front airflow like I did.

Use the raiser card for the VC and other PCI slots if you are going to use.  For the PSU use a single back side fan PSU like I did and put the PSU in the place of the optical facing towards the left of the case ie the fan should face outside.  You can get a dual fan type PSU too like the TT one one to pull and one to push but don't get a bottom up design PSU.


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 7, 2009)

i really dnt like the idea of a external dvd drive,  but it would solve my graphic card problem and the hdd wont fit sideways in the gap between my mobo and the front but it might fit lengthays if that makes sense like flat against the bottom, hmmm i shall look into re-doiong the layout i see a fair number of hmmmm 'flaws' in the design (could have done with kowing about riser cards when i started hahaha )


----------



## suraswami (Jan 13, 2009)

how is it going?


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 13, 2009)

sorry guys for no updates at the moment well ive thought about the riser card but my graphics card is passive cooled im lucky that my cpu runs at 30c and 35-40 underload but my graphics card will be way too hot in there as there is practically no air flow so im sticking too making a cage to protect it and leaving it sticking out the top. Ive made the cage for the card out of meccano pieces just need to get some mesh to put over the frame if that makes sense then spray it black. Ive got all the buttons that can be used ie power eject standby light and volume control on the front working I may even put some side vents on the side next to my mobo to make better airflow for the cpu


----------



## kyle2020 (Jan 13, 2009)

This is a true ghetto mod! I respect you for having the balls to do this haha


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 13, 2009)

haha well i see why ur all freaking out but i dnt see why you are as well if that makes sense, i mean yea your vga card stickin out the top of the case may put people off but its fully scure and screwed into place with a sturdy cage around it nothings going to be shorting or anything its all earthd lol but thanks guys for your interest and help


----------



## ste2425 (Jan 19, 2009)

right gues what ive got! A HD 4850!!!!!!!! my 2600 was one hell of a work horse but i wantd an upgrade thats why i avent donemuch work on the case so ive cut the hole at the top bigger to fit it but i need to order some more of that rubber seal stuff to go round the hole errm ill need to modify the cage also to fit the new card. Ive been thinking if i get rid of my desktop dvd drive and use a lappy one instead ill be able to fit my psu in the case also but do they connect the same as a desktop one? ill want one with a sata connection, is it the same as desktop sata or will i need an adapter and what about power?
cheers guys


----------



## ste2425 (Feb 7, 2009)

well guys i had a bit of a break from this, lack of time and funds but last few days i got on the road and did some major reworks and all the major cutting work is done its just painting now, i completally re-aranged stuff and it all fits inside my case even ma psu, i turnd ma cd drive sideways and made a stealth slot on the side, the hole in the front for the cd has the cover attached but it pivots down and allows acces for fans, my hdd is under ma dvd drive and now it allows for ma psu to fit in completally too, all it need to do is screw in ma spu them paint the case a new coat of black and im done!!!!! pics soon to follow


----------



## kyle2020 (Feb 7, 2009)

cant wait for pictures


----------



## ste2425 (Feb 7, 2009)

verry basic layout, the sizes arn't right in comparison if you understand me, the dvd drive is a bit too wide thats why the psu is sticking out a tad in the pic but its only by bout half an inch in life, errrm my mobo is bigger then the pic suggests and in the gap with the fans ill be taking my keyboard wireless adapter and making it internal







key
green mobo
dark grey psu
light grey dvd drive
hdd drive is under dvd drive
black front fascica


----------



## ste2425 (Feb 9, 2009)

the hole for the original cd will house three small fans and have a flap from the original cd drive that will go up when not in use and down when in use for extra airflow


----------

