I've never really done a "case build" thread before...and I don't really intend for this to be one per se, but I did want to document some of the aspects of how I setup my rig in an ABS Black Pearl perchance the photos help folks see how some things can be done (and perhaps for them to see how they most definitely don't want to waste their time attempting).
First off if this violates any forum rules please bring it to my attention asap.
I am still in the process of setting up my Black Pearl, but I uploaded photos of what I have done so far.
Let me start by saying this is by far the absolute best case I have owned to date. Huge, spacious, light weight, easy to work in and on. Its simply awesome, regardless of price. The fact that I got it for $130 shipped just makes me feel great about the value.
Let's see...so we've got a
massive PSU bay, a smidgen over 9.5" deep.
The
HDD bay comes with a 120mm fan stock but I removed it and put in a
Thermaltake A2029 which has higher top-end rpms in case I find myself needing to push a lot of air to keep the HDDs cool.
I added a second 120mm HDD bay fan, the screw holes were already pre-drilled in the barrier separating the HDD bay from the PSU bay, just to further increase ventilation.
BTW the barrier separating the HDD and PSU bays is fully removable, its just screwed in, not riveted.
Oh, in doing my homework before buying the case I read a newegg review where some guy went off on the DVD cover plates (there are two which you are supposed to keep in front of your DVDs) as not being easily removed without scratching up the black anodized surface. Fortunately that guy just didn't RTFM because they clearly let you know you have to maneuver the plates a certain way to remove them. Here is
my version of those instructions.
Mobo
power-switch cabling routing.
The wire length for the case speaker is too short if you want to route the speaker wire under your mobo while keeping the speaker itself in the provided mount. I
unmounted mine so I could route the cable behind the mobo. I intend to remove that speaker mount and reattach it where the speaker is currently located (its just taped down for now).
The top of the case sports
two 120mm fan mounts as well as two water ports for you water cooler folks.
Personal choice here, the case comes configured with a fan filter assembly in front of the intake fan leading to the HDD bay...but no fan filter for the fan that is blowing air towards your cpu's HSF. Now if I had to choose I'd rather have dust accumulate on my HDDs (easy to wipe clean) versus accumulating inside the fins of my tuniq HSF. The case is already slotted to seat the fan filter assembly from the HDD bay onto the outside of the case where the cpu case intake fan resides...so I
relocated the filter fan assembly from the HDD bay to the cpu area on the outside of the case.
Flipping the case upside down so I could use gravity as an assistant while anchoring and zip-tying the front-panel USB/1394/Audio cables to the roof of the case, I pulled the
mobo-headers of the cables thru the side of the 5.25" bay (what would be the absolute very top front corner of them) so I could then
route the cables down the top-side seam of the case.
I was annoyed by the default location of the cable anchor ABS selected for holding the front-panel USB/1394/Audio cables so I
removed it with the help of IPA, getting rid of the leftover adhesive residues took an extra pass with the IPA soak.
Cable routing for the
mobo power to PSU was pretty straightforward, just used two anchors and zipties to keep the cables out of the airflow path coming from the HDD bay as best as possible.
That's all I got for now.
