# New Project: Sunbeam Transformer Modding



## pantherx12 (Sep 15, 2009)

Hey tpu welcome to my new work log, whilst not all parts are here yet the important parts are on there way so I'm starting this now.

Project Aim: Make the Sunbeam Transformer a £56 case work like a £100 Case

Planned mods : 

*Airflow*, by the time I'm done with it this case will have a total of 5 120mm (3x top exhaust 1xfloor input 2x stock )  fans minimum and if I can I'm going to cram 9 in there (Another floor input fan, convert 80mm side panel fans into 120 mm 1xscythe kamabay fan if I have the space)
*Watercooling* Those exhaust top exhaust fans I mentioned earlier, this is where I want a tripple rad.
*
Cable Management* The case is currently terrible for it, I plan on fixing this.

What will be in the case :
Mobo:Asus p5q3. I already have this and it's a pretty good board so why not!
Ram: 4x2gb corsair xms ddr3 133mhz. Cheap, low profile and easily OC to 1600mhz
Processor: Xeon 3220. Bought second hand(well 3rd hand) from Athlonx2 50 pounds less then if I bought it new.
PSU : Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 750w modular PSU. Just outstanding piece of engineering literally can't hear the thing when its turned out, its also nickel coated nice.
Graphics: Ati HD5870 ( when it comes out)

If I'm lucky I'll be able to start case modding on Thursday, if not no updates until the 29th!


Here is some bad pics of what I've got so far.






























Pictures don't do this thing justice, its purty.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 15, 2009)

awesomeness, subscribed.  Thanks


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## SkyKast (Sep 15, 2009)

very nice, I am here for the ride


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## pantherx12 (Sep 15, 2009)

The most difficult thing for this mod will be not getting carried away and doing it all in a day and forgetting to take pictures heh.

Cheers for the subscriptions guys, will try my hardest to get as many pictures as possible.

Tomorrow, pics of the case completely naked  so you can see what I've got to work with.


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## MKmods (Sep 16, 2009)

get rid of the Hdd mount first thing....Subscribed

(I just got one of these cases for one of the kids I mentor)


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## Mark_Hardware (Sep 16, 2009)

I was debating on getting this case when I was looking for a case originally. I still like this case, so I am for sure gonna be a-watchin!


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## pantherx12 (Sep 16, 2009)

MKmods said:


> get rid of the Hdd mount first thing....Subscribed




I'm going to keep it in there for the time being, with 2 120mm side fans, floor fan and a fan in the 5.25 bay I don't think air flow will be a problem.

I do plan on "adjusting" the HDD mounting area though 

Although my adjustment may be cutting out the bit that blocks the fan and keeping the top and bottom 2 HDD mounts, what do you think of that? ( will also allow me to mount huge graphics cards woo! )

I've already started cutting plastic parts of the case pics of that tomorrow once I've made the cuts as tidy as I can possibly get them.

I think the case is great for the price ( I bought mine for 56 pounds cheapest full tower case that wasn't ugly as sin I've seen, 1.00mm steel as well nice and robust!)

Cheers for the subscription the both of you!


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## MKmods (Sep 16, 2009)

honestly removing it, and moving the Hdds above below the DVd (with a 120mm fan to cool the Hdds and supply air to the CPU/mobo above) is my thought.

Than like you said another 120mm fan below supplying air to the GPUs (which can now be any length) is pretty cool also.

I dont believe in side fans (to me they just add turbulence which isant needed).

That said if there isant a good intake in front than side fans are better than nothing.


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## SkyKast (Sep 16, 2009)

I agree with MK about ditching the HDD mount but about the fan, if you have a side fan in the right spot it will also provide a good amount oa air movement around the GPU, but MK is right again is saying turbulence is bad, smooth flowing planned air movement is ideal but just my $.2


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## pantherx12 (Sep 16, 2009)

For me adding a side fan has always lowered the motherboard temperatures by a degree or two.
(Antec 900, and some MSI full tower a friend of mine has)

Will certainly consider the suggestion but I've no 5.25 to 3.5 converters at the moment so there's no point doing it until I do.


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## MKmods (Sep 17, 2009)

The coolest running case I ever seen is my Crossflow style as there is little space for heat to buildup, basically air enters the case and leaves within 10". The more stuff in airflows way causes turbulance and makes air become warmer (and everything around it as well)

Try to keep airflows path as straight/clean as possible.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

I guess there's no harm in running some tests with and without side fans, it certainly makes sense to keep airflow as simple as possible.

Cheers MK.


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## MKmods (Sep 17, 2009)

I did a lot of testing on my Rosewill mod, It really sucks I lost most of the picts. (basically it had two 120mm front fans, 2 80mm exhausts + a large vent in the top(not a fan just a vent) The PS was passive cooled)
That tower just plain kicked ass.

I was able to cut the temps in half.

I am looking forward to watching this mod progress


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

MKmods said:


> I did a lot of testing on my Rosewill mod, It really sucks I lost most of the picts.
> That tower just plain kicked ass.
> 
> I was able to cut the temps in half.
> ...



I remember that.  The coolest $20 case ever to exist


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

Just done a wee experiment with my Antec 900.

With side fan





With out





Just had a chat with my dad about "fluid dynamics" ( Includes gasses as well apparently)

And all he had to say was that its very complex ha ha

I guess side fans being useful or not depends on what case your using and the components you have in your case and their orientation.

My recommendation, if you case has a place for a side fan try with a fan and without!

I'll be reading my Dad's physics books based on fluid dynamics to help my stream line my case airflow designs woot!


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

for some reason my TT armour, if I use the huge sidefan it brings I get worse temps.  Guess it does depends on lotta things.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

I imagine a huge side fan would interrupt air flow quite a lot.

My side fan airflow basically gets sucked directly into my Artic Freezer 7 pro ( I have it pointing upwards towards to top exhaust fan, so the fan its self is right next to side fan) the reminder gets sucked in by my VGA cooler.  So taking an educated guess my side fan causes less turbulence then it would normally.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> I imagine a huge side fan would interrupt air flow quite a lot.
> 
> My side fan airflow basically gets sucked directly into my Artic Freezer 7 pro ( I have it pointing upwards towards to top exhaust fan, so the fan its self is right next to side fan) the reminder gets sucked in by my VGA cooler.  So taking an educated guess my side fan causes less turbulence then it would normally.



Yeah, I get better temps without it.  BTW, I was reading you were debating to remove your HDD cage.  let me tell you, temps drop alot with it out.  I had it off in my case for a while, temps were improved tremendously, you'd be amazed how much airflow they block


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## SkyKast (Sep 17, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> Yeah, I get better temps without it.  BTW, I was reading you were debating to remove your HDD cage.  *let me tell you, temps drop alot with it out.  I had it off in my case for a while, temps were improved tremendously, you'd be amazed how much airflow they block*



ohh yeah I wasnt even thinking about that when I was making my case lol, but its very true


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

Cheers C.P, I guess I'll de-rivet it then so I can compare with and without, I'll also try the happy medium I was talking about earlier, completely cutting out the centre of the HDD cage and see how that performs as well.

With any luck my goggles and cutting discs will be here tomorrow so I can start with the real modding heh.

Thanks for all the great input guys, feels like I'm working with a team rather then modding by myself!


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## SkyKast (Sep 17, 2009)

dude thats what TPU is for, we share our knowledge


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## MKmods (Sep 17, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Just had a chat with my dad about "fluid dynamics" ( Includes gasses as well apparently)
> 
> And all he had to say was that its very complex ha ha



LOL, that sounds familiar when people ask me in PMs all the time...
(its a typical old farts reply when he dosent want to be bothered)

Honestly its very complex, it needs to have ambient temps, hardware temps (a million different combos/possibilities) metal composition, air speed/flow and 1000 other things...

The absolutely best way to figure it out is with the K.I.S.S formula...

keep it simple stupid
(books/studying gives me a headache)


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Cheers C.P, I guess I'll de-rivet it then so I can compare with and without, I'll also try the happy medium I was talking about earlier, completely cutting out the centre of the HDD cage and see how that performs as well.
> 
> With any luck my goggles and cutting discs will be here tomorrow so I can start with the real modding heh.
> 
> Thanks for all the great input guys, feels like I'm working with a team rather then modding by myself!




no problem dude, thats what we are here for as skykast said 



MKmods said:


> LOL, that sounds familiar when people ask me in PMs all the time...
> (its a typical old farts reply when he dosent want to be bothered)
> 
> Honestly its very complex, it needs to have ambient temps, hardware temps (a million different combos/possibilities) metal composition, air speed/flow and 1000 other things...
> ...



That would be the best for me, I'm lazy


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

No goggles so I've no started cutting up metal yet, how ever I did do what I can today.

I altered to door and the vent from the front panel

















This is for when I put the 120mm fan in the 5.25 bays, now there will be a channel for air to get into the door, a nice simple mod that does the job !


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

So you just Kinda stripped it heh?


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

Not sure what you mean CP.

I'm currently t-shirt ninja'd up with a set of thick sunglasses on.

cutting out fan grills.

I'm glad I bought a pack of 50 cutting discs, 1.00mm steel is hard to cut with a dremel, takes nearly a disc per 120mm fan cut.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Not sure what you mean CP.
> 
> I'm currently t-shirt ninja'd up with a set of thick sunglasses on.
> 
> ...



What exactly did you do to the front panel door and vent?  Hard to see the details on my phone.  I'm at work right now


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

Ah okay simply put I cut some holes!

Albeit neat shaped holes but holes none the less.

on both the door and vent there was plastic that made them flush to the case.

Looked sorta like this

--------------

now its like this ---               ---

As I said, simple but gets the job done, it looks pretty neat as is completely hidden when the door is shut anyway : ]


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Ah okay simply put I cut some holes!
> 
> Albeit neat shaped holes but holes none the less.
> 
> ...



ahh ok I see now.  Very nicely done dude.  You are off to a good start


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## pantherx12 (Sep 17, 2009)

I did actually have 4 spaces between those 3 dashes but for what ever reason it didn't keep them.

----SPACE---- imagine it that way 

Just finished removing the permanent fan grills.

Debating whether I should start cutting out cable management holes today.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 17, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> I did actually have 4 spaces between those 3 dashes but for what ever reason it didn't keep them.
> 
> ----SPACE---- imagine it that way
> 
> ...



He'll yeah, those are the funnest ones .  Maybe I'm just a cable management freak


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

A few pictures of what I've done so far.















Got maybe two more holes to cut in the back tray.

I'm not going to cut out new fan holes until I get a hole saw, it would take a good hour or 2 to a single 120mm hole.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> A few pictures of what I've done so far.
> 
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/mopatop/Image.jpg
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/mopatop/Image1-2.jpg
> ...



Yo I really like how the hole came out for te fan. Good job,  can't wait to see the rest of the progress


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## SkyKast (Sep 18, 2009)

yeah as I said in BBOCM thread, its coming along great, be sure to post pics of the cable managment holes when your done


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

In reply to your question in the B.B.O.C.M forum, the rubber edging is designed for just what I'm using it for 

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2408.html

Cheap and gives a nice finish to everything : ]


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 18, 2009)

I wanna see when done how the cable management will look with the holes you made.  Since you make them according to where you need them, should benefit way more than the onesthat xome already done with certain cases.  Looking forward to it


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## SkyKast (Sep 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> In reply to your question in the B.B.O.C.M forum, the rubber edging is designed for just what I'm using it for
> 
> http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2408.html
> 
> Cheap and gives a nice finish to everything : ]



sweet thanks for the link I need to get some of that

and in response you your post in the BBOCM thread about the 3bay HDD cooler, i would ge with this, hes a trustworthy seller and its cheap!

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=89581


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

Cheers did spot that but its to big, only got space for 5, 5.25 things, and 2 are already taken up ( Getting a fan controller and a dvd drive)

CP, I'm looking forward to seeing how everything turns out too!

Unless I've made a big miscalculation it should look pretty damn tidy!

I should only need 3 more holes.

One for Front panel audio, one for 24pin power and one for 4 pin power.

The audio and 4 pin shouldn't take to long to cut either


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Cheers did spot that but its to big, only got space for 5, 5.25 things, and 2 are already taken up ( Getting a fan controller and a dvd drive)
> 
> CP, I'm looking forward to seeing how everything turns out too!
> 
> ...



Awesome bro, I'm excites, I love cBle management


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

Right, looks like I won't be able to add any new fan holes just yet, my neighbour has no metal hole saws, going to buy one for myself!

And as I'm away next week then the heavy mods are on hiatus for a bit.

How ever I'll sort all the cable management gubbins out and put a system in so you can get a view of that


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Right, looks like I won't be able to add any new fan holes just yet, my neighbour has no metal hole saws, going to buy one for myself!
> 
> And as I'm away next week then the heavy mods are on hiatus for a bit.
> 
> How ever I'll sort all the cable management gubbins out and put a system in so you can get a view of that


Cool man, just keep us posted


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

Right finished cable management holes, if I have time tomorow I'll stick in my parents system in so you can see if all my work was effective.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Right finished cable management holes, if I have time tomorow I'll stick in my parents system in so you can see if all my work was effective.



That'll be kick ass dude, thanks


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## SkyKast (Sep 18, 2009)

yeah man congratz but does that mean we have to wait till tomorrow for a pic update?


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

Erm.. well not necessarily, I suppose I could do it tonight ha ha.

Let me finish my coffee and see what I can do.

Although pics will still be crappy webcam ones, you should get the general idea 

I won't bother putting all the plastic parts back on the case since this is just to show (hopefully) the cable management.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Erm.. well not necessarily, I suppose I could do it tonight ha ha.
> 
> Let me finish my coffee and see what I can do.
> 
> ...



come on, coffee don't take that long to drink, chop chop!


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

Bah really disappointed guys : [






At least now I know what what I need to work on when I resume the project in a weeks time.

Things to note. Front panel audio connector is to short so I wasted 20 minuets making a hole for that : /

I need some way of making the SATA and Molex cables tidier, I've got cable ties but any other suggestions?

Going to cut a hole for the PCI-E power cable, it looks odd how it is.


Also tucked in the 24pin in just now so that already looks a bit better.


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## Soylent Joe (Sep 19, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Things to note. Front panel audio connector is to short so I wasted 20 minuets making a hole for that : /



Have you tried looking for an extension cable for the FP audio?
Maybe like this one


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

I lost my patience ha ha, couldn't be bothered to take out the mother board again so I could remove the cable, just cut it the thing off so I could get it out of the way.

Front panel Audio sounds awful anyway, loads of interference.

At least with my headphones .


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 19, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Bah really disappointed guys : [
> 
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/mopatop/IMAG0031-1.jpg
> 
> ...




dude, its not bad, just needs tweaking


1- the 24 pin is nice, just try to tuck it away a bit more if possible.
2-make hole for PCI-E connector and thats fixed
3-try to sleeve or sheath any plain wire like the front panel audio ones and the rear case fan.  Believe it or not that will make a world of a difference.

last but not least, the SATA Connectors/power cables, try to mod the top cage and route the cables through the backside of the cage and in so you don't see them in the middle.  Look at this pic, see how my sata cables come out of the drive and route out of the way, they are routed out the side of the cage and out the back side    Hope this helps 

Also note my front panel audio is wrapped in wire loom, find it at local auto parts store for dollars bro


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 19, 2009)

u said thats your parents rig?  does your board have the connectors in the same place?  they can vary slightly.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

I'm having the mother board, just bought them a P5B-E plus to replace it.

Cheers for the tips CP, that some amazing work you done with your own case.

When I come back from Newcastle next week and start on this again I want my case looking like that, or better 

Whilst it won't be for a while, where you you put a res and pump in my case?


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 19, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> I'm having the mother board, just bought them a P5B-E plus to replace it.
> 
> Cheers for the tips CP, that some amazing work you done with your own case.
> 
> When I come back from Newcastle next week and start on this again I want my case looking like that, or better



cheers 


Yeah thats many revisions in that case, I must have taken it apart like 4 times before It looked like that, and still needed work. I don't have it in that case anymore though.  Got a tech station on the way


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

Heh, I'm not even going to think about the extra fans I had planned til I sort the cables out first.

Although having said that, just feeding through all the cables etc took an age, I might look into doing a modular plug and play system not all to different from MK's

At the very least just have some sort of adapter, for example one that plugged into the 24 pin and over hung the motherboard with the the pins now facing my tray holes so I can plug in things from that back side of the mobo tray saving me feeding it all through everywhere.


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 19, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Heh, I'm not even going to think about the extra fans I had planned til I sort the cables out first.
> 
> Although having said that, just feeding through all the cables etc took an age, I might look into doing a modular plug and play system not all to different from MK's
> 
> At the very least just have some sort of adapter, for example one that plugged into the 24 pin and over hung the motherboard with the the pins now facing my tray holes so I can plug in things from that back side of the mobo tray saving me feeding it all through everywhere.



you got a link to what you mean about the 24 pin?


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

No as, as far as I know it doesn't exist I'd have to make it.

Will get on MS paint and draw a crude diagram.

It is incredibly hard to draw with a trackball mouse


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 19, 2009)

ok, I get what you mean.  That'll make it easier to route it with having so much of it show.


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## Cuzza (Sep 19, 2009)

Dude! use shift to snap-to straight lines in paint,

And it has a text function too you know....


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

Heh cheers man, I was pretty exhausted by the point I did the picture, I actually knew how to do text XD


Anyone know if you get these with 3 pin control ?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=875041&source=froogle


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## pantherx12 (Sep 29, 2009)

Bump!

Project is back on, need to tidy my work space ( could take all day tomorrow) But then after that expect more stuff!

Got a whole huge bunch of kit to go for my rig so I'll grab some pictures of that tomorrow for sure.


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## SkyKast (Sep 29, 2009)

sweet! cant wait!


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 29, 2009)

woot woot


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## pantherx12 (Oct 1, 2009)

Small update.

Fun times to be had soon


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## RejZoR (Oct 1, 2009)

Designers who "invented" transparent side panels where HDD racks are visible through should be castrated. It's so freakin ugly. But they're still making them. Lol. I don't get it.
Btw, nice build otherwise


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## pantherx12 (Oct 1, 2009)

For people with fancy HDDs maybe? heh

I'm not giong to in this build but you could always haev some etching or some like on the side of the DVD drives etc.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 1, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Small update.
> 
> Fun times to be had soon
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/mopatop/IMAG0042.jpg



 very nice!


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## pantherx12 (Oct 1, 2009)

Bought the holesaw especially for this build ha ha, borrowing a drill ( and hole saw bit) from a neighbour some time during the week.

I'm actually still tidying my room ( it was seriously a mess) so still no new cuts or anything like that.

but I have got all of my components now so the rest shouldn't take to long! 

I have a fan controller ( 4 fan) which comes with temperature sensors, I'm pretty certain I won't be able to cable manage the wires so thinking of disconnecting the sensors, unless anyone has some suggestions?

( Sensors are for CPU, VGA,HDD,and SYS)

Hell I'm even thinking of getting a simpler fan controller rather then this touch screen thing.

Anyone want to buy it ? hah


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## RejZoR (Oct 1, 2009)

Thermal controlled fans are difficult to manage. My ASUS Rampage II Gene has ports for thermal sensors, but you have to place them right and motherboard has to offer proper ranges for low/high speed operation. In my case, the lowest temperature threshold was too low so i couldn't use them for anything useful


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## pantherx12 (Oct 1, 2009)

Oh there not thermal controlled at all, in fact they're completely manual, the sensors are separate XD

I'm thinking I won't bother with the sensors, who agrees?


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## pantherx12 (Oct 5, 2009)

Bump

I've not been able to do any work since someone in the house was working night shifts, how ever they were not today so managed some more cable management holes






Cuts need tidied up and then covered with rubber but I'm pretty confident that's all I need on the cable management front.

Fan holes coming soon, waiting on a drill.

This edge needs a lot more tidying





There is actually very little space behind the motherboard tray, there is maybe 2 or 3 mm of space for wires D:

Have to squish them all flat.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 5, 2009)

nice to see you have cut some more holes, how do you think it'll look now?  you should try to put a rig in there and wire it up to see.


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

Ugggn effort man 

lol

Might give it a go during the day though.

I'm still not sure about SATA cables etc.

Thinking of moving the fan in my lian-li HDD bay so I can reverse mount the HDDs anyway.

Either that or I'm going to have to cut the bay up to bits, which I'd prefer not to do.


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## Thrackan (Oct 8, 2009)

Subscribed


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

Thanks man!


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 8, 2009)

Hmmm what do you mean cut it to bits.   What exActly are you planning on doing?


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

Oh don't worry 

Lets just say I've worked out a pretty crafty way of sorting out SATA cables


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 8, 2009)

So why are your plans then ?


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

Well it will involve drilling through the area designed to hold floppy drives, the HDD rack will be just above this, but due to its current configuration the HDDs face outward leading to an ugly cable mess as seen in the last shot with a rig inside.

So I plan on deriveting one section of the HDD rack, so I can move the fan forward, this will mean I have an extra inch of room to play with, meaning reverse mount HDDs and completely hidden wires.

The other wires I have to worry about ( Fan controller cables) will take some special planning, but the wires are small mostly so i can feed them through current holes etc.

When I'm finished the rig I'll keep my DVD drive in a draw and only use it when I need it, so I don't have to bother hiding the cables from that ha ha


I apologise if I don't make much sense, or things are not clear.

Terrible Writing skills.


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## mlee49 (Oct 8, 2009)

Subscribed for sure. This is my current case, but not for long.  And a note one side fans, they actually serve well for the gpu area and ram so I think they well placed. Besides those suckers blow somethin fierce!

Only mod I did to mine was to cut some 1/2 hole in the back for my loop and cut out the front air grill to help the front 120..


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 8, 2009)

Actually I get what you are saying.  I think that is a good idea )


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

I'm going to be running my side fan tests before I cut the side panel, to see if there is a difference with my rig inside with the fans on and off, so I don't waste time putting fans in for the sake of fans .

If I do get better temps with sidefans, what to people think about having one large 120mm fan over the ram area/ input fan for the CPU cooler ( as there will be actually not that much air flow in this area)

And keeping the other fan 80mm, or just having a passive air inlet in that area , as the GPUs have nothing in front of them currently the air from the front 120mm fan gets to them real easy.



I tell you what guys, the case is tank like, I had a quick crack at the case Xazax sent me with his rig, my discs cut through it like nothing compared to this thing.

Great case to have if you have kids I think! they'd have real trouble damaging it at all.


Oh, CP, tomorrow I WILL put a rig inside to see how things are coming along : ]


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## mlee49 (Oct 8, 2009)

The front panel audio is rediculus I've spent many hours trying to figure out what to do with it.  For a minute I thought about putting it in the 3.5 bay and modding the black bezel.

Totally looked pased the 3 other pages I missed and I must say nice friggin job!!  You've done a great job already.


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

It is pretty bad, luckily I have sensitive ears and can't stand the interference I can hear on most front panel audio so I don't bother with it.


Cheers for the big compliment, its only going to look better! I'm hoping for completely hidden cables by the time I've done.

The top 3 fans are going to look sweet as well, especially when I invest in a triple rad + the rest and go water cooling.


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## mlee49 (Oct 8, 2009)

what? your putting in a triple rad in there?  i cant wait to see that.


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## pantherx12 (Oct 8, 2009)

Oh yes !

Not sure when I can afford to do it, but it has the space and it can be completely in the case aswell ( just about)


When the time comes for W/C I'll post in this thread and in the WTB section, if you guys spot anything let me know eh


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## SkyKast (Oct 9, 2009)

thats sweet!!! that thing will be an icecube


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## mlee49 (Oct 9, 2009)

What about using a 120.1 and a 120.2 rads in parallel instead of a single 120.3? That is the only way I see it fitting.  

I take that back, let me look at you work again...


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## Thrackan (Oct 9, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Oh yes !
> 
> Not sure when I can afford to do it, but it has the space and it can be completely in the case aswell ( just about)
> 
> ...



I've got a Feser 240 laying around doing nothing


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## pantherx12 (Oct 9, 2009)

The rad is going to be mounted in the cieling of the case,plenty of space.

Thraken I might check that out, but I'm actually thinking of selling a fair amount of my computer stuff.

Although I still want to finish this case mod... PM me a price dude!

When I'm done if my parents prefer this case to their Antec 900 then I shall be keeping it,if not it be sold.

Need money more then I do super fun customised kit!


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## Mark_Hardware (Oct 9, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> I apologise if I don't make much sense, or things are not clear.



makes sense to me! I had to take, erm, special steps to hide wires on my hard drives, as well


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## mlee49 (Oct 9, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/mopatop/IMAG0031-1.jpg



Holy crap I wish mine looked like that.  Removing the HDD's rack really opens up the possibilities for WC.  I say keep going up and knock out the Floppy rack as well.

Also IF you decide to leave the space open where the HDD rack used to sit I say put in a air tunnel!  Those are so slick!  Or a simple semi-circle(top half only) to help flow some air right onto the GPU's.


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## pantherx12 (Oct 9, 2009)

Cheers dude, just putting a rig in to test my new holes, couldn't find my dremel discs today so I didn't get round to sorting the Sata cables, but will post a pic of hidden PCI-E cable and such like.


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## MT Alex (Oct 9, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Oh don't worry
> 
> Lets just say I've worked out a pretty crafty way of sorting out SATA cables



Found this a couple of months ago, didn't know if you have seen it, but it may be helpful.  Same thing you are going to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jCgB4Gq9MY


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## pantherx12 (Oct 11, 2009)

Cheers man.

The rig actually looks better in real life, but unless i'm in scorching daylight my camera requires the flash to be on







I need to buy long Sata cables before I can finish heh.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 11, 2009)

I'm noticing that the problem is that your drives stick out too much and then it's impossible to hide the cables.  Weren't you going to turn the cage around or something?


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## [Ion] (Oct 11, 2009)

Looking good so far, subbed


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## pantherx12 (Oct 11, 2009)

No move the HDDs themselves around, but I can't because the SATA cables I have are barely long enough for stock positions! Hence no DVD drive.

Might pick up some long black cables.

So until I get longer cables ( will wait until I've sold some stuff, check out my FS thread) there is no point doing anything else.

Haitus again : [

Also, next time I take the rig out, I might paint the inside black.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 11, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> No move the HDDs themselves around, but I can't because the SATA cables I have are barely long enough for stock positions! Hence no DVD drive.
> 
> Might pick up some long black cables.
> 
> ...



Black interiors are awesome 

well once the drives are turned around it should look a lot better.


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## pantherx12 (Oct 11, 2009)

Yeah I'm feeling the black, not going to go for the same look most people do though, I'm going to hand paint with a brush 

I also plan on using cooler master 120mm led fans for everything






I like the effect they give, although that photo is crap.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 11, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Yeah I'm feeling the black, not going to go for the same look most people do though, I'm going to hand paint with a brush
> 
> I also plan on using cooler master 120mm led fans for everything
> 
> ...



they look nice and the hand brushing, that'll be something to see


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## pantherx12 (Oct 21, 2009)

Bump! 120mm fan holes coming soon!

Also I plan on getting an antec 20cm fan and modding the front so I can have that as front intake,thoughts?

That or use an 18cm if its better then the antec.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 21, 2009)

Looking forward to the fan holes


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## pantherx12 (Oct 21, 2009)

Cool man 

Do you know any good 18cm fans or 20cm fans?


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 21, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Cool man
> 
> Do you know any good 18cm fans or 20cm fans?



not really.  Check this store out, they seem to have a few available.  I know you are not in US, but maybe you can pick out one you like and see if you can find a vendor that has one close to you 

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g36/Fans.html?gclid=CPH8koyUz50CFRwhnAodAy3Psg


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## pantherx12 (Oct 21, 2009)

cool they deliver to the uk


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 21, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> cool they deliver to the uk



awesome, keep us posted bro.


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## pantherx12 (Oct 24, 2009)

My holesaw arbour came today 

I might do some test cuts later, will post pics later!

(Going cut hole in spare side panel)



Only thing stopping me is I've misplaced my drill


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## El_Mayo (Oct 29, 2009)

pantherx12 is gay! 
i'm still jealous of all this crap you're able to buy though


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## MilkyWay (Nov 1, 2009)

just checked out the case

got any finished pics? i think it looks good inside now, i like how you used little rubber parts on the cable management holes


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## pantherx12 (Nov 1, 2009)

It's not finished yet, not got a drill to use the hole saw, need to wait for my nieghbour to be around to borrow his.

Also new motherboard and dual gpu set up at themoment so more cable management holes


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## pantherx12 (Nov 16, 2009)

BUMP!

Done quite a lot to the case recently, pics as soon as I find my camera or my new one from aCid comes 

Also bought a whole bunch of stuff.

Things that are already done or are a certainty.

1. 22cm front intake : My graphics cards will be bathed in 150cfm of cool air, even in quad fire.
Getting done this week if all goes well.

2. 2 x120 mm sidepanel fans: Strategically placed to allow large heatsinks, had to get rid of the fancy side panel design to do this as the metal exploded all over the place ( and into my foot) as I was cutting it.
DONE

3. 120mm casefloor hole, probably won't use this but a point for a 120.1 rad, fucked this one up and its off centre.
DONE

4. Tripple rad in the damn ceiling! Just because I can, its a tight fit due to top mounted PSU, I imagine only 2 fans will be fitted if I keep it internal, if I have the rad external and the fans on the inside I can fit all 3.
Getting done within the month if all goes well

5. Air flow, finished with this everything that restricted airflow is gone.
DONE

6. Cable management, done, ordered more triming aswell to make it look purty.
DONE

7. PAINT IT BLACK! Now I have a big huge side panel with no black twirly bits I'm going to have to do this, because the HDD racks look shite.
Getting done after the front intake mod.

I think that covers it.

I've buggered up on two things with this though, cracked the side panel when I was filing the new fan holes : [





Is there anything you guys would like to see me attempt with this mod?

I've got the time


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## MKmods (Nov 16, 2009)

Carbon Fiber case! (JK)

I will be curious to see how you stuff a triple rad in the top.


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## pantherx12 (Nov 16, 2009)

MKmods said:


> Carbon Fiber case! (JK)



When I have much more money perhaps 

I'm pretty certain I can fit the rad in,I've measured up and have the space, it is extremely tight though.

Once its in it will be fine and dandy, I imagine I'm going to end up with cut wrists whilst installing it though, PSU support rails are going to be a pain to work around.


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## pantherx12 (Dec 13, 2009)

Bump!

Just finishing up 

Got everything painted now.

Current hold ups.

Lack of angle grinder ( get it tomorrow) 

Tried painting a HDD cage by hand then decided to finish it with spray, the paints reacted exothermically, heat bubbles all over!

Will clean it with white spirt then-repaint and I'm sorted


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## MKmods (Dec 13, 2009)

Looking forward to the picts.


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## pantherx12 (Dec 13, 2009)

MKmods said:


> Looking forward to the picts.




Oh yeah, I'll need to get a camera then


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## MKmods (Dec 13, 2009)

lol, that helps. Check out the FS thread.. I have bought my last 2 cameras there.....


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## pantherx12 (Dec 28, 2009)

Borrowed my mums Camera, still not finished as I done no modding over christmas ( to my own things anyway)

How ever here's a little pic to keep everyone going whilst I take pictures of all the parts that are going in


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## pantherx12 (Jan 1, 2010)

AND!

Finally putting things in






Will do rest of the photos tomorow evening as I'm shattered!



May notice its a bit messy but there was already holes so I can't tidy what's already gone : ]

Asides from the holes other messy-ness is as this is going to be hidden behind a faceplate so does not matter to me.



22cm Free hand dremel circle ftw!


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 1, 2010)

Good job dude   Liket he way it came out.


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## pantherx12 (Jan 1, 2010)

Cheers man!

Can't wait to share the finished thing with you, not happy with the side panel needs replacing ( cheap plexi broke as I sanded the new fan holes D: ) But that will have to wait til I have money.

Just ignore how the side panel looks


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## pantherx12 (Jan 2, 2010)

Its done!

Needs a few finishing touches, I'll post picsd as soon as I can work out why I can't upload pictures anywhere : ]



I still need to put in the lights, and a rear fan.




Now, one quite important thing, I need a power switch! and reset switch , the ones that came with the case broke : [

Anyone got anyspare?


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