SmasherBasher

9/24/2008. Title changed to reflect the direction the mod has taken
All Permalinks are here in post #4 for easier following.


Hello again! So my other project got scrapped or at least put on an indefinite hold to make time/funds for this one.
This should be a very basic project.
Here's the victim.


A brand new, untouched Thermaltake Lanbox Lite.
Let's open her up.











Just look at all those thumbscrews. Makes life super easy for installing/changing hardware.

The plan
First things first. This thing is getting a nice flat black paintjob inside.Just look at that last pic at how the inside clashes with the outside
Next, I am possibly going to cut out the holes in the side panel and slap a window in there. This may or may not happen.
Next, I would like to get some better airflow in there, so that will be addressed after everything is installed and under load so I can determine what needs the most air. Haven't made any progress yet, so I guess that's it for today, but I wanted to share my thoughts.

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SmasherBasher

Now that the painting is done, time to transplant my rig.
Here's what's going into it.
Gigabyte MA74GM-S2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon x2 4200+
2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers (Later this week. Installing my 533 mhz RAM for now)
EVGA 9600GT
Thermaltake 500W PSU.
So, let's start with the empty motherboard tray. I think that's a good place to start.


Here's the new box of goodness.







Only 1 PS/2 port. Good thing I have USB connectors.

Flash off


It fits!
That's it for now. Getting ready to power down the rig and take it out to the shop to perform the surgery. More later.
MASSIVE UPDATE 9-15-08 9:00PM PST
MUCH PROGRESS. The system is up and running (has been most of the day, but we went to the pool to unwind.) When I first assembled it and fired it up, it immediately booted into windows even though there is the new board there. Kinda nifty. I am right now installing windows again to ensure it's cleanly done.
ONTO THE PICS

THE DONOR


Side by side.

Coming undone.


Old thermal paste


CPU's new home

All cleaned up



Nice 'n comfy in its new home

Bye bye old, bad overclocking board. Might have a use for you in a month or 2.

Stock fan bracket reinstalled

All wrapped up and put away.

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SmasherBasher

MOAR!!!!
Spaghetti. Yum.

Mostly empty chassis


Bye bye case.


Some nice Zalman Thermal grease


What youi didn't see in these next few pics is the 20 minutes that it took 2 people getting the CPU cooler installed. What a PITA

Just barely enough room....but enough. how am I ever going to get those Tracers in there without taking that beast off?

Plenty of clearance on top for the power supply.

Exhaust fans installed.

Power supply in its cage.

Optical in its cage.

Intake fan installed


HDD installed



Coming together


Putting PSU in

And video card

Hooking everything up




Did someone mention spaghetti? Got to do something about that.




I LOL'd

ITS ALIVE!!!!

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SmasherBasher

1.) Stripped
2.) Painting begins
3.) More paint
4.) Moar paint.
5.) Guess what, more paint.
6.) Paint 1.0 is done. Not for long though.
7.) Unsleeving yellow PSU cables from previous mod, adding memory and cable management.
8.) Wonder what these are for.
9.) The real modding begins.
10. Cutting into it Part one.
11.) Cutting into it Part Deux.
12.) Quick shots of it all cut apart.
13.) Ultra-super-hi-res shot of the sides cut out.
14.) Paint v2.0 begins.
15.) Paint v2.0 continues
16.) Toying with clearcoat against manufacturer's recommendation.
17.) All is well.
18.) Revealing the finished chassis and mockup of the mesh sides.
19.) Another crazy idea.
20.) And Another.
21.) Just couldn't leave well enough alone
22.) Paint v2.1 Commences.
23.) Paint v2.1 Continues.
24.) Clearcoat time!!
25.)Trim and mesh.
26.) Assembled and complete.
27.) Final update. Project officially finished.

SmasherBasher

Maybe moar......

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SmasherBasher

On second thought, what about a different color for the inside?

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Slider46

I thought your board wouldn't fit in this chassis?? Is this a different one?

You should do a carbon fiber gray color inside (not the actual pattern that would suck to have to do )

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SmasherBasher

youre right. my board wont fit in it. so im going to order a new one along with moar goodies for it (Memory, Video card, maybe a psu if i can afford it.)

youre talking about the CF pattern Bill owen did out of shelf lining material?I don't know how nice that would look on the inside.

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Slider46

Cool beans

No not the actual pattern, but similar to the gray color he used, like a dark platinum gray. Although if you could manage the actual pattern that'd probably look amazing with some white CCFL

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GH0

I think the box was already a victim to terrible packaging and shipping.
Looks like the shipper beat up on the top of the box. Heh

On topic, I am interested to see how this goes, I never really got the feel for cube style boxes. Always Towers.

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Diligite Iustitiam Qui Iudicatis Terra | Love righteousness, ye that are judges of the earth! "We're not God. Not only are our powers limited, we sometimes are driven to become the devil himself." "Gather at the Archeron, prisoners of Charon."
"While the mother holds her child, watches them die, Hands to the sky crying, "Why, oh why?" Cause I need to watch things die...from a distance, Vicariously I live while the whole world dies, You all need it too, don't lie."
Please, help me out!