First Time Mod > CM690 II

Hello to those of you @Overclock.net or just other people that may read this. As a newbie to modding and a newcomer or OCN any commentary or feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Very quick background: I am a 25 year old guy living in South Africa. Late last year I built my first pc from scratch as I never really had the money for a proper pc before this. A number of the parts were bought second hand, but when I put it together and it worked first time I was happy and proud My previous computer was simply not powerful enough and this turned me in the direction of the LGA1366 platform. As for the case, I got a Coolermaster 690 II. I liked all of the features and quality that the case offered and at reasonable price. Eventually I decided to put it under the knife so to say and do a little bit of modding.

Trying to list all of the places and build-logs that inspired me would be crazy, but I have looked at more than a few logs on overclock.net and xtremesystems. The work @ MurderMod and MDPC must be mentioned as what is shown there is amazing. Though my modding goals aren't nearly as ambitious.


Disclaimer:

* Cellphone pictures combined with the fact that I know next to nothing about photography. So excuse the poor pictures, I have been interested in getting a better camera for a while, but for now all the photos are going to be a bit bleh ... I have gotten a new camera and I have been attempting to take better photos, but there will still occasionally be cell phone pics.


Anyway, here we go:

Parts:

CASE > Coolermaster 690 II Plus
CPU > i7 920 D0
MOBO > Asus Rampage II Gene Asus Rampage III Formula
RAM > Corsair XMS3 6GB
GFX > Gigabyte 560Ti OC
PSU > Corsair HX650
OS > Team XG1 120GB SSD
HDD > 2x WD20EARS, 2x 7200.11 1TB, 1x 7200.12 1TB
HSF > Corsair H50 or Coolermaster Hyper 212+ or Noctua NH-D14 depending on what I want to use as I have both at my disposal

Update to parts:
* Sold my H50
* Sold my Gene II and replaced it with a Formula III


Plans:

* Cut out rear 120mm fan grill
* Fit 3x 120mm fans in the front of the case
* Fit 3x 120mm fans in the top of the case
* Replace the mesh on the front and top panels
* Replace the front I/O panel and buttons
* Side panel window
* Custom fan controller
* Possibly watercool the CPU
* MDPC sleeving
* Will see what else pops into my head ....


Possible Table of Contents or List of Updates:
>HERE
Edited by dhjj - 10/26/11 at 7:14am

Current Status:




Edited by dhjj - 12/30/11 at 2:26am

I doubt that the case that I am working on needs any introduction. There is an enourmous thread about the Coolermaster 690 range on OCN, but I'll throw in a picture that I liberated from the internet:



What my build looked like a long time ago:


A slight update with a H50 in it:


Moving on to when I stripped the case, the front:




The top:


Lastly, the back:


In order to achieve my goals of fitting three fans in the roof as well as three fans in the front sizable pieces of the case had to be removed. One of the pictures that I took of the cut in the top:


Butchered front of the case:


Also, I cut the grill out of the back of the case with a pair of pliers:


Which I later made a little neater, like this:

Thank you That was one thing that annoyed me about the bottom of the front of the case, where the fans can be mounted. There is quite a lot of space, but because of the way that the fans are mounted slightly forward of the main body of the case there isn't space for 2x 120 mm fans. It took some work but I got it to fit. At the moment I am also curious about how I am going to handle the mesh but it is something that I am going to do, somehow.

More pics coming soon of what I have been up to

Thanks, I haven't fitted a fan in the back yet to see what it looks like but I think it should be good

Onwards!

Getting three fans mounted in the top started with a idea that I drew onto a piece of metal:


My initial cut, with some holes drilled:


Placing the plate on the roof of the case gave me an indication of the material that had to be removed:


I mounted some fans that I had laying around, the fan holes weren't as accurate as I would have liked but it worked:


Checking where I needed to drill into the case as well as where more material needed to be removed to get the fans to actually fit:


Success, it was in the case:


Unfortunately I did not take as many photos of what I did for the front of the case, but here is one where I have already mounted 2 fans:


More to come later

I used a dremel to trim off the excess material, followed by using a metal file and then some sand paper. After all of that I touched it up a little with some spray paint ( I'll be posting more on this later ). I suppose that it would have worked to simply use a file to remove all of the material, but I cannot comment on that as I didn't do that.

As for the rubber grommet I found a local shop that deals in all sorts of rubber products like mats and rubber feet. I'll post a picture later of what the grommet looks like, but I am certain you will be able to source something. Where I got it isn't really going to help you as I got it in a local store here in South Africa