[repo_man]

**Update post installing Accelero GTX280 cooler and cutting the HDD cage for it to fit HERE**

Welcome to Chlokwork Orange everyone!

This purpose of this build is to create a sleek, minimalistic looking case (from the exterior) with a lot of "bang" on the interior. My foundation will be an Antec 300 because it is both affordable and offers a lot of features I'm looking for. I'm really excited to start this! My last logs were older resurrection builds, this will be my first ever new case build and I'm excited!

Also, this case will house all new hardware for me, Newegg needs to hurry up and ship!

The plan for this Antec is as follows:

• Flat black exterior paint
• Metallic gunmetal interior paint (similar to my Phoenix case color)
• Orange led fans
• Orange CCFLs
• Custom milled 140mm top-grill from iandh
• Flipped PSU
• CCFLs and fans on Rhoebus controller
• Stealth optical drive
• Stealth Rhoebus fan controller
• Side window with black tint acrylic
• Some insane cable management (duh!)
• Flip HDD to hide cables

Update #1 - The case and motherboard arrive!
Well here is it, the starting foundation!

I'm really impressed this thing looks nice out of the box! I'm going to make it look a lot better though

Top 140mm fan

This silver has GOT to go

Mmmm UD3R, I've heard so many great things about this board, I am SO excited to see how it will push my e6750!

First mod of the build!

Replacing the stock paste with AS5.

Great stock contact!

I couldn't wait to tear into this case. I need to build new hardware in it but I have to do cable management and paint first, so let the modding begin!

I've already got the cable holes cut and here I'm making a slot for the header wires.

Cutting the slot for the SATA cable.

Finished with the cable management holes!

I also removed the fan grills from the front and back 120mm's!

 

[repo_man]

Update #2 - New cooler arrives, small motherboard mod, and exterior paint!

I've lost the pics of where I painted the interior, but just imagine that before the following pics are shots of me painting the case with a metallic gray. You can see it below, I just took the case as is from the previous post and sprayed it, nothing fancy. Sorry for the inconvenience,lol. So - moving on!

So, after painting the interior I assembled the hardware and waited for more parts. Finally the new Xiggy I ordered showed up! I had to cut the motherboard tray as well. Underdog gave me a bolt through kit for the Xiggy and I wanted access to the backplate without having to take the board out

New Xiggy!

All the hardware it came with.

Figured I would lap the cooler while I had it out and before I installed it. Put some magic marker on the bottom so I could see what parts were being sanded, then hit it with some 600 grit as I didn't want to start with a low grit (like 320) because of the heatpipes

The whole base itself was concave, as well as each of the heat pipes.

That's what's left of the magic marker. Obviously those are low spots because the sandpaper did not sand the marker off there. This is a quick way to tell when you have your cooler pretty flat. I kept at it with the 600 until it was even, then I finished it up with 800.

Much better!

Beside the AC Freezer I was using, I remember thinking that the AC Freezer was a big cooler

Much bigger heatpipes! Hooray better cooling!

While benching the boards I found out the "Gigabyte" covers really restrict airflow in the NB and chipset coolers, so I took them off! I want the best performance possible on air, so off they went! They were just simply taped on and a little bit of force and a small flathead screwdriver took quick care of them.

Next I taped the motherboard tray behind the cpu socket so I could mark where I needed to cut.

Using a small inkpen cartridge I marked where the 775 mounting holes where on the tape.

I drilled the holes out with my powerdrill so I could etch the lines on the backside, I couldn't get the dremel into the inside of the case. This way I could cut it from the back.

*Tim Allen grunt*

Getting there!

Noice!

And the test mockup went great! Now I can reach the back plate without having to take the board all the way out!

Next on the day's agenda was the exterior paint. When I painted the inside I painted over the exterior (because I didnt' have any flat black at the time). This meant I had to go back and tape up the inside so I could paint the top and back panel on the main case frame. I had never painted the doors because I was just going to wait. After getting the new cooler taken care of and cutting the back hole it was time to cut the side panel for the window and paint the outside. Next post!

 

[repo_man]

Ewwww, stock panel!

Taped all the way up with blue painters tape so I can draw out the window.

I used my square as a straight edge and did the outline, then I used a CD to make the rounded edges.

Drilled out some starter holes so I can slip my jigsaw down onto the panel and got to work!

See how the jigsaw sits right into the drill hole.

Finished! I'm really happy here, those cuts took alot of time but came out well. I was worried having to use my jigsaw (the dremel i was using was a loan from Underdog) but it came out well. Did a little filing on the edges and it looked great!

See!

Taking apart the front bezel for paint.

All done! Ready for some flat black

I used an old rag and some alcohol to clean the surface. The alcohol acts as the cleanign agent to remove any oil or finger prints from the surface before you paint.

I used soem old sales papers and tape to mask off the inside. Didn't want any flat black messing up the pretty metallic,lol.

Getting ready to paint!

First coat going on. I did 3-4 light coats for a nice even finish.

My makeshift painting room on my deck

Nice spring weather is perfect for painting!

Wow! Look at that color! It came out great! I'm really excited, it's looking just like what I had imagined!

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Rustoleum, my paint of choice! I really like this brand, always has good spray coverage and it's cheap and easy to get a Wal-Mart,lol.

 

[repo_man]

Update #3 - Reassembling after paint, stealthing the CD drive and Rhoebus, modding AC Ryan fan

Waited for the paint to dry and got the hardware back in the case. Now it's time for a few other mods. I need to stealth my DVD-RW drive and my Rhoebus.

The mesh just pops onto the covers, I pried this off gently and then snipped the sides and all away from the cover to make a flat plate.

Yea, like that, only with mesh

Cut down and sanded. Now to put the mesh back on!

I cut a little off the side of the mesh so it would fit flush with the side of the cover.

See!

Perfect! Now to just tape it onto the drive and see how it looks.

A few strips of 3M doublesided tape to do the job

Ohhhh, where is the DVD drive?

Oh! There it is! You can also see the great color on the flat black, it came out real even and nice

 

[repo_man]

I really didn't know what I was doing with the Rhoebus and so I ended up doing it about three times over the course of this build. This was the first time,lol.

The Rhoebus tore apart. Just take the front knobs off and the nuts and the board will come out. I painted it flat black originally, but it didn't match the front. But more on that later, for now, this is my fiddling with it,lol.

I figured I could use the same approach as the DVD cover.

Not bad so far...

Not bad at all! Unfortunately, this didn't fit because the Rhoebus is just as large as an optical, and with the mesh curled over the top it was too tight of a fit. I had to trim off the top of the mesh and just have it as a decorative piece held on by the knobs.

Like this, now it fit into the case with no issues.

I still had a clear acrylic panel here. Syrillian was kind enough to give me a piece of tinted black acrylic he had.

Still needs to have some cable management done,lol.

The panel Syrillian sent me! I wanted to have a darker tinted window so that with the lights off in the case the outside would be pretty minimal. This would keep you from seeing inside to the 'flashy' stuff too much. It looks awesome in person!

Now for the AC Ryan Fan I bought. I grabbed one of the blue/orange Blackfire fans because at the time it was one of the only orange, decent quality led fans (I later found the Xigmatec orange ones and replaced it). However, the blue had to go, so I tore the fan apart and painted the housing and kept the blade assembly orange.

It looks really awesome, the colors are bright with the UV led's. I just need to get rid of that blue though!

Take off the back sticker and remove the small C-clips and the fan hub will pull out.

I need to cover up these LED's or they'll be painted over

Better!

Taped up the wires and the center motor assembly, ready for the same flat black that the case received!

Man did it come out awesome! This looks really awesome guys.

Still functional and able to be seen,lol.

Reassembling the motor, that little C-clip was hard to get back in,lol.

Replacing the back sticker

Looks really awesome, now, lights off shots!

Check that out! Nice! Very orange and very nice looking in the case!

With the new darker window in, sorry for the crappy shot, this was the only one I got that day

 

[repo_man]

Update #4 - Brass mounting plates from Nafljhy!

Naffy-baby was selling some brass mounting pieces and what can I say? I just had to have one,lol. I mean, Naffy has already battered my wallet for this whole log,lol. GPU's, ramsinks, this plate, a PSU later on, this should be NAFFY'S log!

Ok ok, so onto the pics!

This was how the build sat at this point. You can see the 9800GTX (which I bought from nafljhy too....

) I put in to 24/7 fold with. Also, I've put a shroud on the Ziggy as well with my slipstream and added a NB cooler I got from Underdog (thanks bro!). Hardware seemed to change frequently over the course of 4-5 months I've been building this case,lol.

Say bye bye to that nasty stock solution!

My lapped e6750

This was my first application of the IC7 I had purchased. It's really thick so I wasn't sure how much to put on this HDT cooler. Obviously I needed more,lol. Temps were fine though!

Mmmm, brass! Naffy's top plate and back plate against the stock ones and the backplate I was using from Underdog, quite a difference,lol.

Oh wow, isn't that sexy? Whoa!

Thanks Naff!!

So, at this point I put the backplate up to the case and realized even though Naff put a good thick layer of neoprene on it, I wanted a little extra. The Gigabyte had a line of solder pins right at the top edge of the plate and I just didn't trust myself, having never used an actual bolt on plate. So I grabbed an old plastic lid from a plastic bowl and made a small plastic cover that would put me to ease with myself,lol.

Said bowl cover,lol.

Cutting it out.

Just big enough and thick enough I knew the pins would definitely not be an issue.

Bolted onto the motherboard, man, that looks like overkill....

lol. Oh well, this is OCN, overkill is our motto!

I now realized these bolts would be a problem with my fan...

Simple fix, just cut the shroud!

Test fitting it, just perfect!

A bit more IC7 than last time,lol.

I was afraid that this top plate was going to hit the caps around the CPU socket, BUT it narrowly cleared it! Close call but all is well

Rawr!!!

I this point I called it a day and reassembled the rig. Sorry, I didn't get pics of it together,lol. This was a stopping point for the build until the next update. I didn't have much to do until I ordered more stuff and most of the large mods were finished (the window, the cable management, paint, fans, etc).

 

[repo_man]

Update #5 - Fixing what I messed up

So, like I said in the last post, most of the larger mods were finished for this case so I was about 90% finished. I did, however, have some things to fix. While at a LAN in town, I scratched the side panel (

) and I needed to repaint that panel as well as the front bezel, which had gotten scratched over the course of months of daily use as my main sig rig case.

On top of the paint, I needed to fix the Rhoebus. From when I first stealthed it I didn't like it. I had painted it flat black with the flat black mesh over it, this just stood out from the other covers which were the gloss black plastic with the flat black mesh over it. I just didn't like how it slightly contrasted. So, this was my day of fixing what I messed up,lol.

The scratch was at the bottom, I sanded it down with 400 grit then went over it with 600 grit and cleaned it for paint.

Where the offender was!

Also the front bezel on the side was scratched. Sanded it and got it ready was well.

While I was getting ready for paint, I figured I would paint a few more things as well. My wireless card has a nasty little silver PCI cover and I wanted to paint it to match the case like the other slot covers (the GPU PCI plate is dark enough it doesn't look bad)

Also I wanted to paint the optical and truly stealth it in. I saw a few guys in the main log section that had painted their optical drives and they looked really great, so I decided to do mine the same (thanks for the inspiration fellows!)

Sanding the plate for the wireless card once I removed it. I used a fine grit soft sanding pad to scuff this plate and the optical drive. It's equivalent to ~800-1000 grit sandpaper but the foam on it makes it alot easier to sand which, especially on small parts like this

Taping up the optical. Yes. I did use packing tape because I couldn't find my painters tape. And yes. I -was- too lazy to take the stealth cover off.

I also had alot of screws for the case I needed to paint black so they all matched. These included my thumbscrews I originally painted metallic and just thought they would look much better flat black,lol.

Also in this one you can see the cover for the CCFL's. I painted it as well,lol.

First coat of metallic on the PCI wireless card cover. That metallic looks killer in the sunlight doesn't it?

Last coat on the DVD drive. Looks really military to me! Rawr!

A few coats on everything else,lol.

Final coat on the wireless card cover.

At this point I let the paint dry and then started to reassemble everything.

The PCI card, MUCH better!

The DVD untaped, I even kept the stock sticker visible!

The thumbscrews being flat black really make a nicer accent than matching on the metallic I think. And that wireless card, man, that is so much better!

The new black optical drive! I like this alot better. I wasn't sure how much difference the paint would make but I must say, it's drastic. The flat black really looks great!

I'm sorry I didn't get any shots of my quick fix for the Rhoebus. Really, all I did was cut a cover down to the plastic like how I did for the optical drive and then put that over the front with the mesh. This way it actually has the same plastic and mesh as the other covers. In this pic you can see the thin plastic cover in front of the Rhoebus and then the mesh on it. It really helped make it fit in.

So, this was the end of the day for my fixes. Got it all back together and waited on my next piece of the puzzle with shows up in the next post!

 

[repo_man]

Update #6 - New PSU, flipping it, and Syr's NB donation

So I had originally planned to make a black acrylic housing for my Antec Earthwatts I was using (which I bought from Naffy btw....

) and THEN Naffy decided to sell some more folding stuff

I'm upgrading to a GTX260 for the folding comp and wanted a bigger PSU for it. Naffy generously cut me a deal on one of his TX750's so that scrapped the Antec idea.

At the same time Syrillian had sent me, yet again, some scraps he had for me to use for the acrylic as well as a fan he was not using for the ThermalTake Spirit cooler I have on my NB. Underdog didn't have the fan when he gave me the cooler and I wanted one. I didn't have a use for the acrylic now that I got Naf's PSU, but the NB cooler did find a home. Syrillian, thank you again my friend for helping me in this build.

Rawr!!

WOW, a velvet bag?! You gotta be kidding me,lol. Corsair is the bomb!

Naffys, as usual, excellent packaging!

Against my Antec, the sleeving is awesome!

At this point I noticed a problem.....the TX is longer than the Antec. This means that -

The TX750 covers where my cable management hole was.

I hadn't thought about this before. No biggie, I'll just have to cut the hole out some.

I went ahead at this point and traced a CD on the bottom of the case for a 120mm hole for the PSU to breath through. I know that fan on the 750 is a 140mm but I wanted the hole in the bottom to be centered and easy to stencil, thus the CD,lol.

ready to cut!

My nekkid case

I couldn't lose time folding (I'm in the OCN GPU compeition!) while I was modding!

Looking nice, now that PSU can breathe happily! I just used my jigsaw to zip out the cut, nothing really serious

Also used my jigsaw to cut the hole outward some. Now maybe the wires will fit,lol.

This is the cover for the fan on the TT Spirit NB cooler. It's originally copper, but I wanted to paint it metallic to accent the inside color on the motherboard. A few light coats and it was ready to go!

Man, doesn't that look awesome!

Very happy with how this came out!

Now I got the PSU in. The hole is a little off with how the PSU is offset in the A300, but it's functional and not that off. I'm happy with it!

Mm, sexy thumbscrew goodness!

And the best part, the wires fit now!

This was the last set of pictures I had until the final post. I got the board and all in haphazardly until I could do a final rebuild, which is where the last update comes up at. Everything was getting finished up, had been painted, and I just needed to get the new fans in I ordered and rebuild it all. So that bring me to my last post in this log....

 

[repo_man]

Update #7 - Final assembly and finishing touches

So my final touches are here. A long journey finally coming to an end! I bought some of the Xigmatec orange fans after seeing them in a few other builds (like Diesel Freaks A300 log!) and they finally arrived. Also in the mail was the 140mm Stealth grill from iandh. I had been in PM with iandh over a few months to get one of these and see if he could mill me one. Well, come to find out he was doing a new batch of 140mm grills and offered to donate this one to the build for free. So thank you iandh for your kindness, I appreciate it. He's a great guy, without him, Naffy, Syr and others, I couldn't have done this!

The new fans! They look much oranger than the AC Ryan, which is good. I really liked it, but it just was not the hue I was looking for in my mind

Side by side with the AC Ryan and the stock 140mm tri-cool

Mmm, that looks AWESOME!

But now this grill has to go, to make room for -

This!!

This thing looks SWEET! This is the final touch I was waiting to put on this already nice looking case!

Side by side with a 120mm wire grill

I cut out the old grill and got the new one in place.

WOW! Talk about a drastic reformation, I am in love

At this point while tearing the PC down to do a final, clean, build I saw the HDD. I got it used with the top sticker off and some bad paint on it. I figured I would paint it metallic and semi-stealth the HDD in with the case frame, why not!

Man, that metallic is still sexy in the sunlight!

Zip tied the NB cooler wire.

OCZ Reaper 1066's, 4GB

Getting it all into the case!

The HDD getting flipped. You can get the wires so they don't hit the fans in the front, you just have to fiddle with them for a bit. That color looks fantastic on the HDD I think

Here you can see where I put the converter box for the CCFL's. The wire runs into the bottom 5.25" bay and into the Rhoebus. One CCFL is at the bottom, you can see it's wire snaking up the left side of the HDD cage here as well.

Another shot of the sexy HDD

Starting to sort the wiring and zip tying alot of the wires together.

Blurry shot of the wires going in.

Getting there!

Now getting the Ziggy's and the Slipstream on the CPU cooler wired together. I left these on molex adapters so I can easily remove the case fans and/or the motherboard easily without getting into the main wiring bundle too much.

A little Matrix action on the zip ties. This sequence keeps that bundle of wires flat, so one man can put on the side panel without calling for help! LOL

The other runs of molex and SATA power zip tied together and ready to go!

 

[repo_man]

Final Pics!

 

[repo_man]

I just want to thank Underdog, Syrillian, Naffy, and iandh for all the help during this log.

And of course all of you guys for looking! I hope you enjoy it

 

[Diesel Phreak]

Yay I have been waiting to see this for a while and you know it! lol, and it was worth the wait it's awesome I realy love the top 140mm grill, and the orange CC's look awesome too.

 

[clbkdaz]

Repo...You always churn out great work. I love the way this one looks. Classy as all heck. Great Great Job.

 

[Gunlock]

Wow....for the first time in my life....i can actually say....i like the look of an Antec 300. Thank you for that

.

Very smooth work. Love the stealth drive and rheo.

 

[cbrazeau1115]

Looks wonderful, wish I owned it actually. The one thing that doesnt sit 100% with me though is the top grill. It is amazing, but I would turn it 90*, but thats just personal opinion. Keep up the great work!

 

[SmasherBasher]

Smasher like

 

[repo_man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesel Phreak Yay I have been waiting to see this for a while and you know it! lol, and it was worth the wait it's awesome I realy love the top 140mm grill, and the orange CC's look awesome too.

Lol, I've been wanting you to see this for awhile! You're A300 log really inspired me man, thanks for the words Diesel!

Quote:

Originally Posted by clbkdaz Repo...You always churn out great work. I love the way this one looks. Classy as all heck. Great Great Job.

Thanks you clbkdaz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunlock Wow....for the first time in my life....i can actually say....i like the look of an Antec 300. Thank you for that . Very smooth work. Love the stealth drive and rheo.

You're welcome!

And thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbrazeau1115 Looks wonderful, wish I owned it actually. The one thing that doesnt sit 100% with me though is the top grill. It is amazing, but I would turn it 90*, but thats just personal opinion. Keep up the great work!

Lol, sorry, I put it like that b/c it satisfies my own OCD

If I turned it 90degrees it would just really mess up the flow from front to back to me. I'm glad you like it though (minus my grill

)

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmasherBasher Smasher like

That's all you gotta say homie?!

 

[amder]

Oh my gosh....That is one nice looking PC! Im liking the Antec 300 more and more every time I see someone mod it. Excellent Job!

 

[omaryunus]

 

[cbrazeau1115]

Quote:

Originally Posted by repo_man Lol, sorry, I put it like that b/c it satisfies my own OCD If I turned it 90degrees it would just really mess up the flow from front to back to me. I'm glad you like it though (minus my grill )

Lol, dont be sorry, I got what you mean, my OCD would be freaking out on me to make it match the front drives that go horizontal. Either way, its your case and is still a work of lovely art.