derek2esilent

Hello overclockers, I recently fried the PCI slots on my motherboard by gaming over my wifi adapter, so i have spare time to amp up my case. Ive got a CM690 that has now been modded to the max. Im going to do a "how to/project build log." My how to is going to be "how to turn your hard drive cage so that airflow is not completely blocked." Its a pretty easy mod that only takes a few hours. Ive also planned other mods such as painting and fan flow mods.

Ok, since this is kinda going to be a how to im going to number the steps, so i guess lets get this going...
BEFORE PICS OF HDD CAGE: How is air supposed to get through this??






HOW TO TURN YOUR HARD DRIVE CAGE:
1) obviously gut your 690 so that there is nothing left. This includes taking off the top and front plastic/ grill thingy covers.
2) Take out the rubber pads on the bottom of the case shown here: You can use a small flat head screwdriver, and they just pop out:


As you can see, the pads have sticky stuff on the bottom, so we can put them back in later:

3) Take out the 4 screws holding the plastic thing on that the rubber pads just came out of. We have the take the plastic "foot" off the front so we can get to the rivets that hold the hard drive cage in:


After you have taken the screws out, the plastic thing just comes right off and unveils the rivets:


4)Drill out the six rivets on the bottom.


here i am drilling them out:


After these six rivets have been drilled out (i used a 7/64 in drill bit) the bottom of the hard drive cage will be loose.

5)Now comes the hard part. The six rivets that are inside the cd drive cage:


In this pic you can see 2 of the six rivets that hold the top of the hdd cage in place. I had to use a nail set and a hammer to get the rivets out:


More action with the nail set and hammer:


6)Some of the rivets were impossible to get to with the nail set and hammer (the ones located farthest from the front of the case) so i used some pliers. I dont know what they are ??called?? but they are in the pic. I basically just cut off the bottom of the rivet and they popped right out:


7)now that all the rivets are out, the hdd cage side will be loose, and you can slide them out: ( yes i know that piece of metal is bent, but we'll fix it later....


8)This is what your case should look like from the front after you have taken out the hdd cage: Much better huh???



9)Now we have to put in back together: Sorry i dont have any better pics, but you basically slide the hdd cage sides back in so that airflow is unobstructed:


MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM IN THE RIGHT WAY OR YOUR HDD WONT GO IN PROPERLY:


Must look like this: Make sure you leave room for your front fan!


IF YOU DONT HAVE IT MOUNTED LIKE THIS, THEN YOUR HDD WILL NOT GO IN THE RIGHT WAY ON THE BLACK PLASTIC HD TRAY THAT COMES WITH THE CASE!! ( the reason i put so much emphasis on this is because i messed up like 3 times because the tray wouldn't fit properly...)

Black plastic tray:




Once i had the sides of the cage in properly, and the tray fit in them properly, i drilled holes through the bottom of the case, into the sides of the hdd cage. (The holes are where the three screws are)


The holes went through the bottom, into the hdd cage:


Sorry but i dont have pics of the drilling action =( It turned out that the drill bit i was using was the PERFECT size! I was able to use the round headed screws that came with the case to secure the hd cage!


Now that you have the holes drilled into the bottom, and the hdd cage sides lined up, its time for the top holes. this is the tricky part.

In this pic, you see the places where i drilled the holes in the cd cage. I drilled the holes into the top part of the sides of the hdd cage (the red part at the top extends to where i drilled)


I was able to drill the holes because i took out the sides of the hdd cage and drilled them without drilling holes in the cd cage. I used pre-drilled holes in the cd cage because a drill was impossible to get into that little space.

After i got the holes drilled and the sides of the hdd cage lined up again, i used more of these screws that came with the case: (sorry for a bad pic)


Getting the screws in is difficult do to the small amount of space, but you can get it done with a little force and patience:


And thats how you turn your HDD cage!

Tools Used:


1. Cordless Drill
2. Nail Set
3. Flathead and Phillips sscrewdriver
4. Oil (To lubricate hole drilling)
5. "Dikes" lol
6. Hammer
7. Sharpie
8. Pliers
9. Ruler
10. Plastic HDD thing

Total Cost: 0$ (cause i had the tools) =)

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^^ so much fail, all in one place.

8800GTS 512 OC Round UP!

derek2esilent

Now the next part: Painting the case!

First i taped up the side panel. I taped all the parts that slide against the case when i open or close it:


Then i taped the back side of the case, again taping all the parts that would rub against the side panel when it opens or closes:


Blah blah more taping until i was finished:


Here is the side panel after a couple of coats: Looks good eh?


Heres the back and rest of case after a couple coats too:




And after all the tape is removed:


And ive gotten some of my stuff back in:


Will have another update later with results in temp differences, and with my g92 installed to see the clearance with the hdd cage. Hope you enjoy!!

__________________
^^ so much fail, all in one place.

8800GTS 512 OC Round UP!

derek2esilent

reserved again

__________________
^^ so much fail, all in one place.

8800GTS 512 OC Round UP!

derek2esilent

another reserved

__________________
^^ so much fail, all in one place.

8800GTS 512 OC Round UP!

iandroo888

seems interesting.. almost thought u were gonna annihilate the case instead of mod it form ur title.

will keep an eye on this!

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Triplesec

Gonna keep an eye on this also!

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exileschild

haha, I think he is going to black everything out. At least thats what I think of when I see 'murdered out'.

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Sonic

I just want to see this part.

derek2esilent

updated with pics!

__________________
^^ so much fail, all in one place.

8800GTS 512 OC Round UP!

Delphi44

awesome job btw those pliers appear to be what is called Dikes (i know =P)

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