JB's First Case Mod

[John2583]

Hi people, don't post here much but wanted to show off my first case mod to some appreciating people. I'm doing a case mod on my computer of 1.5 years. Since I started working at a computer repair shop I have been thinking about working on my own computer much more than I used to. So I had the case open thinking about possibilities while it was running and I decided to touch the spinning CPU fan, well a blade broke off and I had to turn off the computer and put in a new fan which I picked up from the shop I work at from a box of CPU fans(free). (I just can't stop myself from touching moving objects ;-) )This gave me incentive to go ahead and clean up the cables and wires. it had previously looked like this:
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/DSC01940_800x600.JPG

I also moved the hard drives to a lower location where I could put a fan on them, I measured their temp at 45 C (113 F) before so I thought a fan would be a good idea. They are two 80 GB maxtors if anyone is interested. This is what it looks like after the clean up and rearranging:
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04035_800x600.jpg

After I got it all cleaned up and such I was thinking, it would be a shame to close it up with out anyone being able to see the inside like it had been. So I decided I needed a window, and here is the result of some jig saw hackery, I made the straight lines of the outline with a 30 CM (12 inch) ruler and the curves with a frisbee and a plastic cup:
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04041_800x600.jpg

Sanded and ready to paint:
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04044_800x600.jpg
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04047_800x600.jpg

The scrap sheet of acrylic I picked up at Lowes home improvement for $3 USD
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04048_800x600.jpg

Not the prettiest paint job ever done, but the window looks nice. Now I need to add light. This was my first mod ever, and first time painting w/ spray paint like this in a long time... so while it's not professional looking it is decent:
http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04051_800x600.jpg

http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04054_800x600..jpg

I didn't see a way to post images.. so this is what I've done. If there is a way to do it, I'll add image tags later.

 

[yourdeardaniel]

nice job on the mod. maybe UV round cables, and lighting.

 

[MDE]

:thumbsup:
Nice job!

 

[buckmasterson]

Are you missing your case side cover fan yet? Any thoughts about installing it through the acrylic? My OC'ed Barton wouldn't like it without that fan. Nice job though!!!

 

[John2583]

Thanks for the comments. I just installed a cold cathode tube, it's blue. It seems to be emitting some UV light too, because a flourescent green piece of plastic in the case is glowing :-D I'm not going to put the side fan back on. I just moved it down front blowing on the hard drives and added another fan blowing air outside the back.

 

[Corporate Thug]

sweet mod

 

[John2583]

Got a blue cold cathode tube from work today. I think it looks nice. http://152.10.254.214/box/case_mod/dsc04056_1024x768.jpg

 

[gordanfreeman]

pretty nice looking paint job i thought

 

[oldman420]

wow great job i would also add a door fan led type that case could use another fan and it would look cool

 

[ectx]

John - totally off topic. You sent me a pm but I cannot reply since you had it off. - Btw nice work.

8rda+ is one of the serveral nforce2 chipset mbs made by Epox. Older 8rda+ used nforce2 rated at 333mhz (rev 1), more recent ones use ulta 400 (rev 2).

My a7n8x is a rev 1.xx (don't remember which one it is, I loaned it to a friend now) - also using 333mhz nfocre2.

If you have 333mhz of nforce2, your chance of running at 200mhz fsb is about 50/50 (by my estimate)

There is no inherent difference between a mobile xp and a desktop xp (as far as I can tell), so if you can run a desktop xp at 200mhz or greater, you are pretty much assured to run a mobile xp at the same fsb.

a7n8x got pretty stable voltage (and overvolts a little) but the maximium vcore is 1.85v. 8rda+ undervolts a bit (but not too bad) but the maximum is 2v(?).

No matter what I do, neither mb can run reliabily at 198+ fsb. I know this is not the problem of vcore/cpu/memory since I can run, say, 184x12.5=2.3g at 1.7v but cannot run 11.5x12=2300 - no matter what I do. I also have 2 nf7-s', and I can run 207+ fsb on both easily using same parts.

Hope this helps.

 

[blurredvision]

Nice job on your first mod. You wrote that you sanded and then painted, did you use any primer? One my first mod, I followed some great tutorials on case painting (I'll share the links if you've not seen any) on the net, and got a nice paint job.

My steps were as follows:

1. Sanded with 400 grit.
2. Sprayed light coat of Krylon white primer. Let dry for one day.
3. Sanded with 600 grit.
4. Sprayed 2 to 3 coats of Krylon white primer. Let dry for 30 minutes (I got anxious).
5. Sanded with 600 grit.
6. Sprayed heavy first coat with Dupli-Color metallic paint for autos.
7. Let dry for 15 minutes.
8. Sprayed another heavy coat. Let dry for 2 days.

After all that, it looks pretty damn good. See the link in my sig for pics. Let me know if you want those links. Follow even what half of some of these guys do, and you'll have a great looking paint job, guaranteed.