[Zoomlolly]

Hi All,
Down here in sunny Empangeni S.A. we have lovely summer temp’s of 30 deg C plus, with humidity it ends up being in the mid/low 40 Deg C!! I built my system last December and since then I have not been happy with the temps it pushes out. I have spent some time reading these forums and watched how some of the guys have made some drastic changes to their cases. Well done, you have made me catch the modding bug. Anyway this will be my first mod and I am sure it is going to show every now then. Any and all criticism/advice is welcome. I am always open any ideas on how to go about this.
First off this mod is going to focus on getting some air into the case. The Gigabyte Aurora is a lovely box and I am very happy with it. It has a few problems though...Air flow being the one of the biggest for me. Most of the reviews I read before buying the case were very positive. My experience has not been negative just not what I expected. I think living down here in the heat will give different results. And I suppose the reviews were from places which are a lot cooler or from air conditioned offices.
The next thing I want to do with this case is some cable management. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of space in the case and this is purely my fault. I have just run the cables to get the machine running. It is now time for me to clean up my mess....I have a few ideas which I am going to try.
The last thing I want to do is give this case a little “blingâ€. It is a big, bold, sophisticated looking, business type case. It just needs a little something.....

Current Situation

As I have mentioned there is a lot of heat. I decided to try and cool the case a bit with a 120mm fan mounted in the drive bays. Don’t laugh to hard this just to see if the extra air flow will help, I mounted the fan with cable ties and removed the drive bay covers. It worked by the way. Ambient temp in the case before the 120mm fan experiment was 53 Deg C, It dropped to 48 Deg C. My sophisticated testing equipment was a household, dolphin showing thermometer which I stuck in the case with the door closed. So it seems it will be a good idea to let more air in.

Auroa case front door open

Fitted 120mm Test Fan

HDD Bay

Thermometer - At 7AM this morning.......

The Strip Down

I removed all hardware from the case, except the mobo. As I said before I want to do some cable management changes, so with the Mobo in place I took a permanent marker and marked out the mobo and the positions of all the cables. I want all the cables to come in from behind the tray.

Marked around mobo

Marking USB cable position

Mobo outlined with plug positions

I then removed the drive bay locks. I found that all I had to do was lift the rear of the lock and slide it back and it will pop out.

Drive bay lock removale - slide back

Lift plastic slider

Slider slips out

The lock themselves were the same. Lift, turn and out she comes...

Lift

Turn

Out

The tensioners on the other side of the drive bay were also real easy to remove. Pull back from the inside of the drive bay and out they pop.

Pull back

Out it comes

The card holder was just a screw to loosen...and it fell out.

Card holder screw

Card holder removed

The front fan just clips out but what is behind it is a big concern. I have no idea how air is suppose to flow though this. The grill and filter will be removed!!

Front fan and filter

Front fan grill with HDD mountings behind

The HDD bay also needs attention. I am going to cut away as much as possible and pop rivet struts across to hold the HDD’s in place. The HDD’s only sit on the top of the large hole things. I can get more air through here....

HDD Bay

No space between HDD Bay and Fan

The system speaker just popped out. The power switch and USB console had screws to be loosened. I cable tied everything together before pulling the cables out. I don’t want any plugs if there are any pulling out and me not knowing where they belong.

The system speaker

USB front Console

Cable tied all front wires together with power switch

Anyway that is it for now. I am going to drill out pop rivets and strip the case down even further. There is still a lot of cutting and changes I want to do.

 

[Wakeo91]

Ive recently seen this case. it looks amazing.

 

[Warfarin88]

Awesome detail in your log Zoomlolly.

I looked pretty hard at this case when I bought my first one. That front intake and hard drive cage was one of the things that steered me away. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with to improve it!

 

[Stalker]

Great stuff Mr. Zoom, subscribed!

 

[markkleb]

Looking forward to your progress your zoominess... Subscribed.

 

[Mozzie]

Very nice Zoom good luck in your mod!!Subscribed!!

 

[Zoomlolly]

Thanks for the encouragement guys,
Yesterday was a no go for me, I lent my drill to somone and it has not found its way home...lol

.
Anyway I will post new pics up tomorrow and hopefully with my MS Paint skills be able to show you what I am planning.
I have drilled out the pop rivets and got all the loose parts. I am going to start cutting and grinding a little later or mybe tomorrow.
I have America's Army practice a little later so I have to see what time I have left.
Lets hope I can keep it inside the lines...lol

 

[The Fury]

Cant wait

Subscribed.

I am very interested in getting this case shortly. What are your views on it?

 

[TheJack]

Thank you for explaining how to take out the tooless HDD bay slides. Now i have a clue on how to fix mine.

 

[Xombie]

Very nice job so far.

I have the same case and I'm looking forward to see how your mods go.

A few recommendations for airflow: YOU MUST USE THE SIDE PANEL VENT! Don't use the plastic side panel, even if you like to look inside your case. You can still look inside your case quite well if you use the vent and light it up with some cold cathodes from the inside like I did. Using the vent is critical since without it, the only way to get air into the case would be through the "blocked up" front intake fan.

That brings me to my second point, the front fan is absolutely hopeless in drawing air into the case since it has so many "obstacles" in front of it. Make sure you keep the filter removed and, also, the fan works significantly better when pushed to the right hand side. Then you can actually feel it in the HD cage (which has only holes on the Right hand side, which I guess why it blows better).

Another tip, it's mostly common knowledge, but get rid of the Toolkit as it blocks system airflow.

I wouldn't consider myself a case modder at all, but I added a 120mm fan to the HD cage - I guess that could be called a "case mod" lol... - here's a a couple pics if you'd like to see how I mounted it, etc:

Subscribed btw.

 

[Zoomlolly]

Hi, Thanks once again
First thing....
I am very interested in getting this case shortly. What are your views on it?[/QUOTE]

I really like the case. It is big, well made, full of space. My only problems have been high ambient temps inside the case. This is why the mod.

The front fan grill is getting the boot. The filter on the front fan is also finding itself homeless.
The tool box was removed the day I built my rig. There is no space to fit more than 1 HDD drive with the tool box in place. I am running 3 X HDD's.

The HDD bay is getting cut as well. I have thought about putting a fan in the same position on the back side of the HDD. Thanks for the pics - Now I know what it will look like

. I will have to see if it can fit 1 there once I have hacked the HDD bay apart.
I must say that most HDD bays are also blocked up with limited/no air flow. I hope once I finish mine will be a freeflow HDD bay...lol.

I do use the see through side panel. I prefer it. I am adding aditional fans, I am sure that this will help.
I will post a few "plans" to show what I have in mind with the HDD bay. The cutting begins tonight.

I will post pics when I get home from work today.

Have a great day and thanks for all the comments.

 

[Xombie]

To whet your appetite on the side vent... My CPU idle temps dropped from 38° to 28° with the removal of the plastic side panel and replacement with the vent one.

Using the vent is like having the side of your case open for maximum airflow... I still highly recommend it; it solved all my airflow problems. Try it out!

 

[Zoomlolly]

Hey,
Your case looks good with all the light and grill

. How is the noise from your CPU cooler, GFX card and fans.
With the plastic cover the case is very quiet even with my GFX card fan turned up to 80%. 100% and I can pretty much hear it but not enough to worry me. Mine also sits next to me on the desk.

Anyway my case is stripped. I will update when I get home.

 

[Zoomlolly]

Hi Guys,
Since my drilling machine has gone A.W.O.L. I borrowed a bud’s (Thanks Henk) Dremmel. I can fit the drill in there. I also suppose this will also give me more control while drilling. I have used a 3mm drill bit to remove the pop rivets. I lined up the hole and let loose. The Dremmel spins pretty fast, so I had to stop/start to get the drill bit cutting properly. If it goes to fast, it does not drill well and you loose control.
I don’t want to scratch any of the black painted parts as these are not going to be repainted. I realy like the original paint job. My original plan was to have all the other parts powder coated, but now I have decided to do the paint job myself. The reason for the change of heart is, I think I would be missing out on some of the satisfaction of doing the job myself. If I could have powder coated the parts myself I would have been all for it. Well thats enough rambling for now down to work......
First up I took a few extra photo’s of the box. I focused on the position and type of rivet used. This will help me put the case back together later.

Type of rivet??? Aren’t they all the same??
No they aren’t. They are all the same size BUT some have flat heads. The flat heads are in places where the front cover comes into contact with the case. I only have normal rivets. I will have to gind or file the head down once I have reassembled the case. I don’t even know if you get flat head rivets??

The Dremmel with some encouragement

Checking drill size 3mm should do it

Outside on my toolbox waiting to be stripped

Drilled off the roof first

All roofless....lol

Found these rubber strips under the top â€" removed and put in a safe place!

Front cover next comes off next.....

Front fan grill comes off with front cover

Looking a little strange.....Airflow won't be a problem now!

Drive bay comes off quickly

Got to remember that bracket goes to the rear cover

Mobo tray can not be removed without taking out the HDD bay. The feet are hidding some rivets....

Got to get to the feet clips under the HDD bay

Feet came off quicker than I thought

Removed all left over pop rivets from the drilled holes with some pliers

All the parts line up not too many to paint. Sad looking though, what the hell am I doing

Mmmm, i can make these light up with a few LED's.....

Well I must say that was a lot of fun. I have made sure that there are no pieces of pop rivet left on any of the parts. I am quite lucky in that there are only 7 parts that need to painted. I am going to start on the cutting and modding of the parts. First up will be the front fan grill. It doesn’t look like it will give me too many problems and if I make a small oops at least nobody will see it. Well here goes with the front grill mod……

The original front grill....

Took a marker and marked around the grill

Getting ready to cut with disc....

HACKED!! All cut out...I can maybe use that grill somewhere else...packed away for anouther day

I still got a ways to go to get to the maker line....

I cut lines and made smaller sections. Bit by bit slowly.....

Almost done...

Finished, I am going to grind and file the rest. That way it should come out almost perfect....

BIGGEST TIP OF THE DAY....Don't leave the encouragment to near the cutting, grinding and filling...Aluminium don't taste nice and sticks to your teeth......lol

Well that is so far. I am going to have to file the front fan mounting and make all neat...Did you notice......it is no longer a grill but a mounting!!

I will also be turning my attention to the HDD bay in the next few days. The mobo tray also needs to be looked at, but the jobs on it will not take too much time.

Thanks for all the imput so far

See you soon

 

[Xombie]

Wow really nice work with the dremel.

Kinda weird to see my case in pieces lol!

Keep it up!

Btw I didn't hear much of a difference between the plastic and vent side panels. My gfx card's fan never really ramps up over 40% and my CPU cooler, which I have set at 100%, is relatively loud anyway and could be heard just as well with the plastic sidepanel attached.

 

[Mozzie]

Nicely done Zoom, can wait till next episode!!

 

[KipH]

I am liking it so for. Most details I have seen in a disassemble

I agree that it is so odd to see my case apart like that. I have the original model of the 3D Arora.

I will definitely check my front fan grill now, also I have added 2 other front input fans. 1 is a cd tray replacement and the other is a cd tray HD bay with cooler and fan.

 

[Zoomlolly]

Thanks for all the kind words,
Like I said I will be working on the HDD bay next.
Well tomorrow is the begining of the weekend, I will be at it and post as I go along. I am hoping to start with the paint job by Saterday afternoon...That means tray, HDD and Drive bay cut and ready for the paint job. I have to do all the cutting before I paint. Nothing set in stone but that is the plan.

Thanks for watching this space.....c ya soon

Cheers

 

[Mozzie]

Zoom you are shoker no update yet....

GET TO WORK!!!!!!!

lol cant waitfor more picks

 

[vermillon]

Looking good zoom

cant wait to see the final product