Antec P183 Case Revival [Build Log]
Hey everyone, i thought i would share my case mod progress, i have been work on for about a months time, my goal is to transform my Antec P183 case into the into the case Antec should have made + plus i'll add some of my own touches to it along the way.
The case is a 4 year old Antec P183 v3 which i have used the past 4 years, but i have grown tired of its ugly grey'ish internal paint job and the lack of a side window. So when i recently upgraded my pc i thought about getting a new case, but i liked the look/design of the Antec P18x series cases, so i thought i would overhaul the case i have and i do it the way i would want it, which is black with white highlights abit like Fractal's cases.
My inspiration to do this mod came from watching this modded Antec P182 case
My hardware:
Intel I5 4670K I7 4790K with a Corsair H100I GTX, Asus ROG Maximus VII Ranger Z97, Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming, HyperX Fury 2x 8 GB 1866 mhz, Samsung 840 Evo 256 GB SSD, Intel 180 GB SSD, WD 1TB Black, Antec TruePower new 650w EVGA SuperNova 750 G2, Dell U2515H 25" 2560x1440, and a bunch of Noctua NF (S12 FLX, P12 and F12) fans.
This is what my current pc solution looks like for the foreseeable future while i work on/off on my modding project
The mod it self:
Mods done before i decided to make a build log for it:
I have cut a hole in the top of the case, to allow for a 240mm AIO cooler to be installed. And removed the stock fan grills covering the the fan intake and exit, and cut the mid level harddrive cage to allow for the very long GTX 970 G1 it is about 30 cm long to be installed, that more or less the stuff i have done already.
Here i have stripped the case down to bare metal And prepared it for paint by sanding it down.
Later i had the idea to cut away the mid level floor to improve airflow through the case, so i chose to go with a Phobya Hex 280mm radiator fan grill to put instead of the current floor.
With that done it is time to work on the Corsair H100I GTX's radiator mount, i chose to raise the it up by cutting out two 1,2 cm plates of MDF (but made 3 in case i wanted to do push/pul) to get the radiator clear of the motherboard, as the Antec P183 was made before the trend of AIO watercoolers, meaning it has zero support for a 240mm radiator, so i had to make that myself.
Then it was time to paint, because it was cold 6*c outside i preheated my spray can by putting it into a bucket with hot water in, then i gave it a coat of primer waited 2 hours, and then two coats of matt black with 1 hours in between. Painted the PCI-E slot covers and the harddrive cages at the same time.
Radiator test fit - It fits nicely
While the paint was drying i made a window in the sidepanel, using some smoked acrylic glass, i will be painting the silver mounting screws black at some point.
Also painted the mid level fan grill black 'n white to suit my build.
I finally got the MDF top toppanel radiator mount glued together, now it needs to dry and then i can sand to down so it will looks good, and i will have to figure out how to mount it to the case.
This is all for now, i'll update the thread once i make some more progress, but it could be a while as school exams are coming up soon...
Hey everyone, i thought i would share my case mod progress, i have been work on for about a months time, my goal is to transform my Antec P183 case into the into the case Antec should have made + plus i'll add some of my own touches to it along the way.
The case is a 4 year old Antec P183 v3 which i have used the past 4 years, but i have grown tired of its ugly grey'ish internal paint job and the lack of a side window. So when i recently upgraded my pc i thought about getting a new case, but i liked the look/design of the Antec P18x series cases, so i thought i would overhaul the case i have and i do it the way i would want it, which is black with white highlights abit like Fractal's cases.
My inspiration to do this mod came from watching this modded Antec P182 case
My hardware:
Intel I5 4670K I7 4790K with a Corsair H100I GTX, Asus ROG Maximus VII Ranger Z97, Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming, HyperX Fury 2x 8 GB 1866 mhz, Samsung 840 Evo 256 GB SSD, Intel 180 GB SSD, WD 1TB Black, Antec TruePower new 650w EVGA SuperNova 750 G2, Dell U2515H 25" 2560x1440, and a bunch of Noctua NF (S12 FLX, P12 and F12) fans.
This is what my current pc solution looks like for the foreseeable future while i work on/off on my modding project
The mod it self:
Mods done before i decided to make a build log for it:
I have cut a hole in the top of the case, to allow for a 240mm AIO cooler to be installed. And removed the stock fan grills covering the the fan intake and exit, and cut the mid level harddrive cage to allow for the very long GTX 970 G1 it is about 30 cm long to be installed, that more or less the stuff i have done already.
Here i have stripped the case down to bare metal And prepared it for paint by sanding it down.
Later i had the idea to cut away the mid level floor to improve airflow through the case, so i chose to go with a Phobya Hex 280mm radiator fan grill to put instead of the current floor.
With that done it is time to work on the Corsair H100I GTX's radiator mount, i chose to raise the it up by cutting out two 1,2 cm plates of MDF (but made 3 in case i wanted to do push/pul) to get the radiator clear of the motherboard, as the Antec P183 was made before the trend of AIO watercoolers, meaning it has zero support for a 240mm radiator, so i had to make that myself.
Then it was time to paint, because it was cold 6*c outside i preheated my spray can by putting it into a bucket with hot water in, then i gave it a coat of primer waited 2 hours, and then two coats of matt black with 1 hours in between. Painted the PCI-E slot covers and the harddrive cages at the same time.
Radiator test fit - It fits nicely
While the paint was drying i made a window in the sidepanel, using some smoked acrylic glass, i will be painting the silver mounting screws black at some point.
Also painted the mid level fan grill black 'n white to suit my build.
I finally got the MDF top toppanel radiator mount glued together, now it needs to dry and then i can sand to down so it will looks good, and i will have to figure out how to mount it to the case.
This is all for now, i'll update the thread once i make some more progress, but it could be a while as school exams are coming up soon...