Post your first major case mod.

[Bio-Hazard]

I've been doing all sorts of case mods to improve cooling for what seems like years and years. But I've only started with the exterior thing about 4 years ago when I wanted a window in my new Lian-Li, this is also the time I started with my Bio-Hazard name and theme.
So this is my first real case mod, lets see what you all did for your first project in case modding.

Left side window.

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/4863/dsc00455as8.jpg

Right side window.

http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/8770/dsc00450ca5.jpg

Top Blowhole.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7776/dsc00318kq1.jpg

Second (lower) exhaust fan mount.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2715/dsc00955ww9.jpg

[DragonMaster]

Nice case you got there, sbrehm72255.

As for me, I still never done any big mods, maybe I'll start once I'll get my new Dremel.

[Pat123]

Hmm not quite as schnazzy as urs lol.. but o well. its my first.

[XJnine]

You'll see my first mod when I post the pics from the current case mod contest. Yep, a first timer!

[markkleb]

I have built about a hundred comps but didnt even think to Mod the case till my RedChrome one ( I think it was in May or June).
there was a ModContest at another forum and I thought it would be fun. So I built a pretty good comp. I was so pissed cause I came in Second to a computer that wasent even finished, lol. I learned a valuable lesson in being on a forum that wasent established and run by a nit wit...

Here is the origional comp and wires,
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/100_0867.jpg

The RedChrome had a couple of cool things, first was it was the first time I tried to hide wires. Here is what I did to the CDRW,
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/Cable1.jpg

Here is how I did the back of the mobo,
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/100_1025.jpg

Before I had a chance to spy on Sbrehm and steal some of his ideas here is how I did my first H20,
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/100_1086.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/Side1.jpg

Here is the painted HDDs
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/100_1060.jpg

And finally the front with the KamaBay cooler,
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/Front.jpg

Its funny cause I was thinking when I read reviews about the Arctic Cooling fans it always says you cant mount them on the front of a case, I have used them on the fronts of all my modded comps:lol:

[XJnine]

If that came in second I'd love to see what came in first! Wow, very impressive.

I have a feeling that if I'm up against this kind of talent I may not stand a chance in the Bjorn3D case modding contest. Hrm....

[markkleb]

What I have learned in my vast modding contest experience(4 mos, lol) is whoever is the judge matters most.

for example if Antec is the Judge than make a mod that makes Antec look good.

When I did the UltraBlue for Ultras mod I used a LOT of Ultra products and the comp made Ultra look good. One thing I didnt factor is if its a forum voting for the winner you need to make it appeal to a younger audience (lights and flash is cool)

I had several mos to devote to the RedChrome comp. I am crazy busy remodeling my house and Building the CrossFlow comp (now called Stealth) for the Coolermaster contest this month.

Everyone has a chance here, so learn from the experience so the next one gets better.

PS-I spent about $1200 in Materials and $$$$$ in labor and there wasent even a prize in the Dam mod contest, lol

[DragonMaster]

If that came in second I'd love to see what came in first! Wow, very impressive.
Exactly what I(and probably a lot of other people) think LOL.

[werty316]

Only real major mod I have done is form the mod comp which is almost done so stay tuned on Oct. 23 for pics ;) damn thats a long wait :(

I am quite pleased with the results so far.

[Mirrim]

I've mostly been a "case decorator" up to now. Been building my own pcs for about 8 years now though. This will be my first full blown mod. Don't have any pictures of the prior stuff, they're in various stages of disarray at the moment. Soon enough though. heheh

[PP Mguire]

First big case mod? Hmm i mounted a 120mm fan to the side of my Raidmax Scorpio case which housed my SocketA system. I also had a Vantec Tornado sittin on the HDs.

[GIBSON]

A shame you didn't win that contest Mark. Have any pics of the comp that won?

[markkleb]

I just found it.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/redstack.jpg

Here is the insides, lol
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i263/markkleb/redstak2.jpg

I never knew what that white thing was sticking out the top front was...

And I didnt know them at the time but Sbrehm and Werty were in the contest too..

[DragonMaster]

A trailer lights plug connector with cap? :lol:

[Enigmachine]

You know what? Modding com-puters looks real easy on the web. :)

I've been trying to mod mine for a week now and... haven't actually modified any parts yet. Hm.

Mostly moved bits around and made some plans... I might actually cut something tonight, who knows?

[Bio-Hazard]

Web mod contests really aren't all that hard even if they say it has to be a working computer............;) I've seen people stick in whateven parts they have laying around (not working) and call it good. As long as eveything lights up, no one knows the differance...............:( The ones at big Lans are the hard one, there they can see every mistake and flaw in your workmanship........and if it work correctly as well................;)

[DragonMaster]

Web mod contests really aren't all that hard even if they say it has to be a working computer...
And when you look closer, you see that a lot of these mods look pretty bad (Plexiglass not cut straight, etc.) poor measurments (supposed parallel screws aren't)

Here I found the RedStak WIP topic
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=99373&page=1&pp=20

Doesn't look too much like WIP, except that strange white thing hanging from the top, and putting blue leds while the whole thing is red. He's hiding cables a bit too much IMO ;) a motherboard alone isn't that interesting, all we end up to see is a LED fan and a normal computer thru the window.

[markkleb]

I dont want to talk smack about the RedStak comp. He built a cool comp "for himself."
Thats what modding is for. Remember after ur done you have to live with it, so make what you really want.

I was pissed at the other forum Admin for picking it.

[DragonMaster]

The inside in yours is sooo much better, the colors too (red looks red), but the plexi work on the RedStak is great. The inside in his case is pretty freaky, no need to do cable managment, just hide the mess! Plus, there's a YELLOW motherboard in there. All colors match outside, but ewww, look inside! Red green and black cards, an ugly cooler, the whole thing's IDE and looks like there's a super low-end AGP card w/o even a fan! It has been built in late 2005, no PCI-Ex or SATA! He tried to hide too much of his mobo, it turns simply ugly. No PSU or drive modding!

I'll start working on my Pentium 3 mods when I'll buy 16-4 shielded cabling and a nice 120mm. Yup, PSU MODS!! After playing a few glide games on it once I bought my Voodoo2 SLI less than a month ago, I found that it was so noisy that I couldn't hear my new computer. The FSP's PSU fan is the major noise maker. Luckily, there's a big grille covering all the bottom of the PSU, new fan, here you come!

I think I'll change the front plate too. (Nothing really possible, the LED lens are ugly, the buttons are ugly, it's shape is ugly)

[GIBSON]

I personally think the redstak is ugly...

[tomato]

No offense to markkleb, but the Redstak looks pretty cool to me ;) Sure, the actual components don't really match up well with the red/black colour scheme, but it's so dark in there and the red plexiglass hides the colour mismatch anyway ;) :P

[DragonMaster]

but it's so dark in there and the red plexiglass hides the colour mismatch anyway :P
Exactly, all you see thru the window is two LED fans and mismatched color hardware, nothing to show off IMO.

[tomato]

but all of it is filtered through RED plexiglass and RED LED's, so everything should look red, regardless of the actual colour of the components.

[DragonMaster]

IMO yellow thru red looks like a kind of brown. He didn't post any pictures of the inside with the cover so we will not know what it's supposed to look like.

[tomato]

Exactly.... you take the best pics that will show off your mod, while trying to hide to potential imperfections ;)
From those pics, it looks just fine to me, and those red LED's combined with the red plexiglass would probably overpower any other colour contained within anyway.

[PP Mguire]

Man Mark they really shoudl have chose your computer instead. That Redstack computer is just junk to me. LOOK AT ALL THE FAN CABLES ZOMG!! That is so ugly, as a judge i would have seen that and said no way man. And to the P-3 man Glide is nice but only on older games that arent real buggy. Also, how can your Voodoo2 SLI be noisy? They have no fans lol, but im glad to see you went with my idea.

[DragonMaster]

the voodoo2 isn't noisy, I found that the whole computer was noisy when I restarted using it when I got that Voodoo2 SLI.

[markkleb]

Hey guys, we really dragged Sbrehms thread WAY off its topic. Lets get back to "your first major case mod"

[Llanerion]

Not nearly so extensive a mod, but I thought I'd show what I've done anyway =P In retrospect I wish I'd never added the window, the interior is far too much of a tangled mess to want to show off

[markkleb]

Nice work! It adds a lot to the case.

Also, if you didnt add the window what reason would you have to clean up the inside.

Very HI-Tech looking...:grin:

[Kougar]

Actually that mod of yours Llanerion isn't to bad! Has a certain back-to-the-future look to it.... ;) As far as cable messes go... there is a reason why I've never shown pics of the inside of my rigs!

[DragonMaster]

Pretty nice mods actually, I like your way of watercooling.

[GIBSON]

Very nice mod Llanerion! The window is pretty cool I'd say! One question though, those two "things" at the top, are they rads or reservoirs?

[Llanerion]

They're a pair of heat exchangers ( linkity link (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=310&products_id=4131&zenid=ce8ea7438bd9548e0f810ca8fa09acdd) ). When I decided to expand on my cooling loop, I figured the worst place to be offloading heat would be inside the case, so I came up with a little plan to locate them both externally and mount them in a rack to keep things steady.

[Enigmachine]

They look like very '50's Republic Pictures laser guns or something, nice work!

Wish I had some sort of talent - I've tried many things, I'm on my third prototype for the contest, but nothing works. Good thing I haven't actually cut anything yet. :)

But I guess practice makes perfect-er...

[GIBSON]

They're a pair of heat exchangers ( linkity link (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=310&products_id=4131&zenid=ce8ea7438bd9548e0f810ca8fa09acdd) ). When I decided to expand on my cooling loop, I figured the worst place to be offloading heat would be inside the case, so I came up with a little plan to locate them both externally and mount them in a rack to keep things steady.
sort of passive rads then. Looks nice. Do they cool very well, I mean, did you notice a different after installing?

[Llanerion]

Could'nt really compare; I added them in at the same time as I added a block for the graphics card to the loop. Can feel the heat of the coolant welling off of them, but I doubt they offer the same league of efficiency of a regular radiator, though I did mount them just back a little of the top mounted fan in my case to try and benefit from that.

[Pat123]

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9708/case1lu6.jpg



http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8872/picture4gr5.jpg

[Bio-Hazard]

sort of passive rads then. Looks nice. Do they cool very well, I mean, did you notice a different after installing?
They help a little depending on the air flow around them, the one I worked with were still proto-types, not nearly as pretty looking. I'm not sure if I would spend the cash on them myself, but if you have limited space for standard types of radiators, these will help. My only real complaint with them is that they are made out of aluminum and not copper.

[markkleb]

Nice lookin mod Pat:grin:

[PP Mguire]

Should i post the picture of my old 5600ultra? All i did was put a 90mm fan on the Zalman HS.

[darkorb]

ya go for it!

[PP Mguire]

Alright here it is. Nothing special but funny.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/pp_mguire/P1010005.jpg

[darkorb]

my mod is done! ill take some pictures tomorow prolly, dad has the camera

[markkleb]

How do you figure Funny? I think it looks pretty sweet!:grin:

[PP Mguire]

Yea i wish i had that setup still. I fried that 5600ultra sadly because i was being dumb and broke a 5700 Personal Cinema edition doing the same thing to it. That Zalman cooler allowed me to OC almost 125mhz clean on the core and a weasly 50mhz on the mem. Thats alot considering 5600ultras SUCK. I put the fan on it and i couldnt feel any heat on the heatpipes at all. ITs funny becuase i considerd that a mod back then. Which was really last december haha.