00PS

At first I'll honestly say I didn't like it, but after spending about a day with a dremel/cutoff wheel, a whole saw, drill, some paint and a rivet tool, she turned out to be awesome. This was my first attempt at doing anything like this, and at first was a little scarey/intimidating as you pretty much watch your self hack up a computer case.

Instead of boring you with the long story, enjoy the pictures:

Started like this:


Then one day I was bored and started taking stuff apart....

To start, I cut the front fan grills (2 of them) due to the turbulence sound/ restrictive airflow.
Before:

After:


Then I began to dismantel the case, by drilling out the rivets. Pictured below is about 75% of the rivet heads drilled out:


After all said rivets removed:


After a light scuff with a soft foam sanding block and wiped down with denatured alcohol:


Went with a Satin black finish that I used on my white Harnen & Karden speakers a while back and still look beautiful to this day. Here is it being pieced back together:

I seriously was so sad once all the rivets were done...they are so fun to "pop"


All back together. (You see a small hole in the upper left hand corner, that was cut out using a 3/4 holesaw for the 8Pin MOBO connector as well as a place to run the exhaust fan wires):
]

Working on the cable management:


What I'm really loving about this case is there are 2 sets of fan filters for the front bezel. I have a golden retreiver puppy that is still sheading from the 90º weather we've had here and I live near an equestrian stable, so the dust is awful.

Shes back!





Some nighties:




I cannot remember the paint type I used, but it was bought from Lowe's. I'll snag a picture of it if I get a chance. For now the case is where I want it, in terms of what I was trying to get out of it. Honestly, I don't really look inside the case to justify it being black, but I figured since it was going under the knife, "hell, lets just paint it!", just so I can say I did.

Thats all for now, thanks for looking.

CattleRustler

very nice dude

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nolonger

Very nice cable management! Only thing I'd do is paint the motherboard IO shield black.

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00PS

Thanks for the comments!

I'm definitely considering that...maybe next time I pull the mobo!

Spritanium

Excellent paint job.

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Juggalo23451

nice check out my mod log in sig. I would dremel a little past the metal mesh for a cleaner look. Just an idea. Also remove the filter material in the 5.25 cover in front of the fans for better airflow

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Water Cooled Case suggestions
Cosmos S w/Classified water cooled(1st) w/ heatkiller and feser 360 rad
NZXT Tempest mod log(360 installed) (Fiance Build)
Heatkiller Club
NZXT Tempest User Community
Xbox 360 mods thread
http://www.overclock.net/xbox/435678...dders-out.html

00PS

I was going to do that, but since the fan blades are black unlike the CoolerMasters LED ones, they do not project the light in the fan. The stock Tempest fans just have the led strips so jagged or not it wouldn't show through. If/When I upgrade them (Its hard to justify $10 for the CMr4's when stockers still work) then I'll definitely cut out the jags. As for the filters, I need them to stay on since my Golden Retreiver puppy is a shedding furball right now and the fact I live right next to an equestrian center just speaks for its self in terms of dust.

Great ideas though!

hyponerve

nice job mate

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GRPace

Great job looks just like mine

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My Guide to Painting the Interior of Your Case
Intel Core i7 920 C0 | 4.0ghz | 1.344v | 39°C Idle | 73°C Load

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radiix 50,000 servers used to host this now it's a ghost town

00PS

Not to get too off topic, but damn I like your i7 temps. I've been trying to see a consistant <40ºC but my norm is about 42. The ambient temp in my room is about ~26-27ºC (78-80ºF). Only running 1.28v and shes a stable 3.7. At full load its about 75ºC. I really wonder if by changing out the front intakes to the CM's if I can achieve a 2-3 degree decrease. My goal is to hit somewhere around 38-39 idles...maybe I'll try to reapply the thermal paste, again.

...inspired, thanks