Compaq case mod

thats a perfect case to start with. I have tons of ideas what i would do if it were mine I love starting from scratch on something, In my younger days I built and raced ice drag raceing skidoos , And I built them from scratch, but now with my pain condition Iam scaled back to modding my computers lol

 

well lets hear some ideas

 

Ill put some ideas together and next time iam on I will post some for you. Ive been sitting too long and need to take a break

 

ok np.

 

First dremel out the back and front fan grills, it your not to skilled with the dremel you can just cut along the edges instead of making a circle. To give it a complete look you can wire grills (see my pics for exp.)


mine:



Here is how my circle turned out on another case


Next I would cut the lower drive bays out so a 120mm fan can be mounted in for the front intake fan. Maybe cut a fan hole for top exhaust? and depending on what mobo your using (mATX or ATX) cut a small hole on the bottom to hide the front panel/ usb wires, also I slot for the 24pin power cable. Aluminum is pretty flexible and you'd be amazed what can sqeeze behind things.


Or you can also mount a fan on the bottom for intake directly to the graphics card (see my pics for exp).

 

here's my progress so far, if you look close at the second pic you'll see wherei will be cutting for the 120mm fan

 

man i love that orange and black theme and i will be using an ATX mobo

 

This is a good start!

but I am concerned about that first pic is that the top rear? if it is, then the psu will be blocking it and if it's the front, the cd drive will be in the way.

 

so i should put it in the middle?

 

Yes! this is why- when you finish tucking your psu cables away you will this open area you can place a fan to get rid of all that extra heat that rises to the top. Plus you'll have a sweet led/uv flow off the top.

 

i think imma do a yellow and black theme unless you have a better theme.

 

That sounds interesting I will be different considering everyone has done red, greed, blue, uv/ purple. You can always mod yellow leds into your fans or cathodes! That's what I did, orange wasn't a popular color for computers so a made my own orange cathodes and orange led fans. (this was before those Xig fans come out)



A.C. Ryan fans come stock with UV leds-

 

can you explain to me how you did the cathodes and fans i would love to know how to do it.

 

Any other ideas i kinda wanna have it all planed out for when my demel gets here i can get straight to work?

 

To prepare yourself make sure the sections your cutting out create weakness in the structure of the case. Considering it's an aluminum case certain cuts can cause it bend create vibration. Make sure you have a pair of safety goggles or wear glasses of some kind because shrapnel will hit your eyes.

I do have a few concerns with your cuts, but I'm working right and I get off at 2pm. I will talk about then, you don't have to wait for me though...just start with the fan grills and top fan cut.

 

ok will do

 

I see your In very good hands. Keep it simple and take your time, you only get to cut once. I like the black/yellow combo idea.

 

ok first question, when cutting the drive bay to fit the 120mm fan is it possible to cut below (black line) the rivets (circled red)? I am afraid if you cut above those 2 rivets it will leave your hdd bay with no lower support and be really flimsy.

 

yeah i can do that it will just be very close to the bottom but i doubt it would be a problem.

 

Well as long as you have room to fit the fan AND room to drill the holes for it.

Next:

Is it possible to get a pic of whats back there and a pic of the case with the back panel off? I would like to see that side too.

 

ok here's the pic

 

How many HDD's do you plan on running in this case? Maybe just nix the HDD cage all together and use only the 5.25 bays??

 

ummm this could yield a problem because it's all the way to the bottom. Like sniper bob said, How many hdd's are you going to have? if one, then I say cut all the way up to here (see pic) instead. Once again not passed the rivet. This way you will have a more options on where to place the fan or 2 if there is room