Case Renovation...

[50]

Hello, I want to make my comp look a lot cooler and quieter. I have this case. I have one crappy tri led fan and a blue cold cathode. Other than that, it's pretty much all stock. I want to tint the case window so that it looks like theres no window when the comp is off. Does anyone know of any guides that show how to do this? Next I want to rip everything out and paint the interior of the case black. Are there any guides that show how to do this? Or should I try to find someone to do it for me? Next I'm planning on buying these things from SVC...
UV sensitive IDE Cables
UV sensitive power supply mod
UV Sensitive Fans (4)
Dual UV Cold Cathodes
UV Green Paint (will this look tacky being green. Does this stuff ever stop being UV sensitive?)

I assume with all this stuff it will get very messy. I'm not sure if I should try to sleeve all my wires. Is it worth all the time and is there a serious chance I might make a huge mistake and mess everything up?
Also I'm planning on buying a new DVD drive and DVD burner. I'm planning on getting the 120s (slot loading pioneer). Is it hard to paint the bezel on these?
If you have any other ideas or suggestions please tell me. Thanks

I also forgot about how to make my comp quieter. I was thinking about putting a heatsink on my radeon 9700 pro (could I apply UV paint on this or would it really mess it up?). Also I think putting a new heatsink/fan on my processor would bring down the noise. Is it possible to switch the fans on retail Intel HSF's (because I really would just prefer to put a quieter fan on it). The last major noise issue seems to be coming from loud vibrations of the Hard Drive. Would putting grommets or any of those accesories I see online stop the noise? One other thing, does anyone know where to get some cool looking case badges? I can't seem to find any cool looking ones. Thanks again!

 

[0roo0roo]

for quiet you should get a fan speed controller to slow the 4 fans when not dead summer heat etc. not sure how good it is to put a slower fan on a stock heatsink,i guess you can try and if temps are satisfactory, then ok. i have two of those cases, i cut out the metal fan grills on both the front and back fans. the metal just blocks air/creates noise. and in the front it just blocks light and creates a dust trap. if your brave, control the psu fan speeds within reason too..some psu's are loud. thats what i do.

 

[50]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
for quiet you should get a fan speed controller to slow the 4 fans when not dead summer heat etc. not sure how good it is to put a slower fan on a stock heatsink,i guess you can try and if temps are satisfactory, then ok. i have two of those cases, i cut out the metal fan grills on both the front and back fans. the metal just blocks air/creates noise. and in the front it just blocks light and creates a dust trap. if your brave, control the psu fan speeds within reason too..some psu's are loud. thats what i do.

I think I'll leave the back grills in, just because I think it will look terrible if I cut them open. BTW what did you use to cut the grills off? What do you reccomend for a fan controller(preferably from SVC)? Thanks

 

[0roo0roo]

oh, the sunbeam controller might work. its kinda ugly to me but its been recomended. it uses normal resistors or whatever so it dissapates the extra energy as heat. i use vantecs since they use pwm, basically rapid on off...but at really low speed you can sorta see the fans flicker a little. this is a non issue if you've got uv led fans, since those are indirectly lit. one of my cases has reg leds, other uv. pmw creates less heat/uses less energy. if you push your ear up to it u can hear a slight buzz, but i don't hear it from any reasonable distance. plus, the unit looks better. there are many other new units you can find out there now... i'm not familiar with them. they all basically work on those two techs so huge differences.

as for the grills, i used a dremil. and it cuts pretty quick since its aluminum. one can also use tin snips or whatever those metal cutter things are called. nibblers? as for the rear grill, it doesn't look bad really, it just looks pretty normal with the grill gone, more light goes out the back. but if you move the case a lot and feel your rear fans need protection, just cut the front ones. its the front one that is truely redundant and a dirt trap. the bezel is held on by 6 clips.


pic showing case after i sliced off grills.... now the fans are quite obvious

fanspeed controllre overkill on plain case

i had extra but u don't really need 2. each knob can handle a few fans. i have the front two on one knob, rear 2 on another, side on 3rd, and psu fans on others.

xpider case

horrible picture of dust buildup between plastic and metal fan grill....
space is hard to clean, and once dust builds, the already restricted area becomes an ever better dust filter....

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

I just made a thread with pictures of a case that a friend and I recently renovated. Might be of assistance to you Text

 

[0roo0roo]

good job with the mod but why did he put grills on the inside too? those only cause more noise?

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

so when we handle stuff inside the case we won't risk hitting the blades? I thought this was common practice.

 

[0roo0roo]

nope, because cables inside cases don't move. and if they do, they should be tied down with zipties or something like that. and working inside a working pc is not so good. you risk damaging something, from shock/static/accidental unplugging etc. only time you see anything protecting a fan on the inside is when you have ultra fast rpm fans involved, because they are plainly dangerous to fingers or cables. otherwise the grills on the outside are there just to protect the fans themselves.

 

[cubanx]

I've pretty much done all the things you listed except for the UV power supply MOD since it would be pointless on my modded UV Sonata since you can't see the PSU. I used that same Green UV paint on my Zalman Heatsinks (9800PRO and Fanless NorthBridge) no problem. I got all the UV stuff from SVC.

I'd recommend UV sleeving to make things looks clean once your done but adds a little project time but looks very nice when done correctly.

Directron sells alot of case badges from cool to tacky