[Project]: Pioneerisloud's HTPC Mod (MY VERY FIRST MOD!!!) - COMPLETE! - Overclock.net

pioneerisloud · 02-21-08

Thank you to those who were patient with me when I first posted this.

Ok...how many people in here have messed with an HTPC case? Well, mine may not be the best one out there....so I'm going to attempt a few "simple" mods to get my feet wet. I've been viewing all the projects around here and decided I gotta try this! Anyways, here's a link to the case that I'm working on. If you can guess what it is EXACTLY that I'm going to do...you win a surprise (nothing will be shipped, lol)!

Now onto what you are all waiting for! The mod!

Here's a few pictures of before the mod. Please disregard the dusty case...I will be dusting before completion. I'm not going to disclose what exactly I'm going to do yet as I've got my little contest going. If you guess...you win a surprise (I'm sure most of you can guess the surprise anyway, lol).

Here's the bare case with DVD ROM installed.

Here's the case topless (its also missing a support bracket because I was too lazy to reinstall it for pics):

The front behind the pretty plastic (can you guess what goes behind the SOLID FREAKIN METAL?):

Well if you can't guess what goes behind that solid piece of metal....how about now?:

And finally....give you guys 2 guesses what these are for:

I'm sure its obvious what I'm planning on doing....but its worth a try to have a little contest anyway. Anyways...once I get back later tonite after completing the mod...I'll be handing out my little surprises to those that guess correctly (limit one surprise per customer).

pioneerisloud · 02-21-08

Well unfortunately I forgot my SD card at home for my camera, so I was unable to take any pictures of the actual cutting

. However...I do have the pictures as I was re-assembling it! Here we go!

Here's where I hid an 80mm fan. This is where its SUPPOSED to have intake at.

Notice anything odd about that intake? There's really no room for air to get in! Thats ok...that fan is just there for a little bit extra intake.

HERE'S the main intake fan! I modded this out earlier this evening (lost the pics though

). What I did was I taped the two drive covers together, and used a hole saw into some wood to cut the initial round hole. Then just sanded it out to the right size. I used an ash tray as the template for the right size. It covered the size of the fan perfectly!

What are those two funky looking things hanging out next to the fan? Those are some custom made (by yours truly) fan controllers! They knock the fans down to around 6v or so and all the way up to 12v.

Here's a somewhat modded 90mm fan that I decided would make a PERFECT exhaust fan! It covers them PCI brackets almost perfectly. Again...hooked up to the fan controller. I'm using the bottom fan controller as intake, the top as exhaust.

Just making sure my LAN and GPU fit in there with the fan, lol.

It's an almost perfect fit! Maybe at a later time I'll cut those brackets out so the exhaust has nothing in the way. That'll be a different mod though.

Here I've reassembled the computer. Please....from here on down, take note of the cable management! Its really hard to do in these small cases...but it is a MUST!

Here's the computer fully finished but topless

.

Well what do you guys think so far? After pictures will be up in a minute.

pioneerisloud · 02-21-08

Well as you may have guessed...this mod is now complete! I know its not much, but its a nice sized step for me as I've never modded a case before. Here's how it looks all finalized and hooked up to my TV

.

Just a quick test run before powering it on. Making sure the fan controllers work, and they do!

POST. Everything's looking good so far!

Loading Windows Vista X32!

And fully booted!!! MY FIRST MOD WAS A SUCCESS!!!!

Thank you for checking out my very first mod!

For those that are wondering...here's the specs of this computer (at the time of the mod):

AthlonXP 2400+ @ 2.1GHz
MSI Socket A Motherboard (don't know model off the top of my head)
1.25GB DDR (various sticks, 2x512, 1x256), running at 140MHz 2,2,2,6,2T
BFG Tech 7800GS OC AGP card
Seagate Barracuda 40GB IDE Harddrive
Lite On DVD ROM drive
2x80mm front intake fans
1x90mm rear exhaust fan
Thermaltake Volcano 11 CPU cooler
Unknown brand 520w Modular PSU
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit using Media Center for playback

Current specs of the rig as it stands (at the date of this edit):
AMD Athlon X2 3800+ Manchester @ 2.25GHz, 1.25v (0.1v undervolt) (2.0GHz stock)
Jetway 939GT SLI motherboard
1.0GB Generic DDR400 @ 2.5,3,3,7,2T with 187MHz (200MHz, 3,4,4,8,2T stock)
Foxconn 7600GT PCIe @ stock
Seagate Barracude 40GB IDE Hard drive
Lite On DVD-ROM
2x80mm front intake fans (the modded one now has a silver grill)
1x90mm exhaust fan
Stock AMD Opteron Heatpipe cooler with Cool N' Quiet enabled
Unknown Brand 520w Modular PSU (I can look, but its difficult to remove this rig from its location)
Windows XP Profession 32bit using Meedio 1.42 for playback
Vista didn't have proper drivers for the motherboard ANYWHERE

.

More specs can be found under this rig in my systems. Mainly the things I forgot such as Mobo model # and PSU brand name. Thank you for checking out my first mod!

forcifer · 02-21-08

are those 2 things fan controllers?

looks good so far

wire · 02-21-08

Yea, it looks like it's some sort of fan controller because of the 3 pin connector. However, I could easily be wrong.

pioneerisloud · 02-22-08

Well you guys are correct. My little contest is over. Uploading to photobucket as we speak. Those two knobs are potentiometers that I wired myself a LONG time ago to be fan controllers. I'm too cheap to buy an actual fan controller...so I figured out how to make one myself. + rep to the two guys that responded! That was the surprise...you guys guessed part of my mod. Close enough....on to the pics!