New Project: Sunbeam Transformer Modding

[pantherx12]

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.

 

[Chicken Patty]

awesomeness, subscribed. Thanks

 

[SkyKast]

very nice, I am here for the ride

 

[pantherx12]

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.

 

[MKmods]

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

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

 

[Mark_Hardware]

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!

 

[pantherx12]

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!

 

[MKmods]

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.

 

[SkyKast]

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

 

[pantherx12]

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.

 

[MKmods]

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.

 

[pantherx12]

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.

 

[MKmods]

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

 

[Chicken Patty]

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 am looking forward to watching this mod progress

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

 

[pantherx12]

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!

 

[Chicken Patty]

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.

 

[pantherx12]

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.

 

[Chicken Patty]

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

 

[SkyKast]

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

 

[pantherx12]

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!

 

[SkyKast]

dude thats what TPU is for, we share our knowledge

 

[MKmods]

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)

 

[Chicken Patty]

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

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)

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

 

[pantherx12]

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 !

 

[Chicken Patty]

So you just Kinda stripped it heh?