schw32m

Fall is here and the weather has turned bad. So to give me something to do and because I have been somewhat inspired by the "Frankenstein" threads, I decided to see if I can breath a bit of new life into older but sturdy case. This thing has been sitting in my shop for a few years. I liked the basic design back when I got it and it has gone through several changes in internals over the years.

But like anything else, I finally got to the point where I couldn't stand the color anymore (beige) and with the cooling requirements of newer equipment it eventually got retired. Since it was fairly well built I couldn't just regale it to the scrapheap like so many other cheap cases that have gone through my shop.

So without too much further rambling, I present "The Project"







The top was partially removed at this point, but as you can see it is a bit rough looking and of course the 'beige' is pretty dingy. I hadn't really thought of a color set for it as yet, although black is always an option (can never go wrong with black).

Suggestions are open at this point.

rharding91

Whatever you do just remove the floppy drive slot, looks terrible.

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OS: Windows XP

Bodaggit23

Aside from using Bondo, that would be impossible.

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CPU: i7 920 Batch#3841A525 (@3.43Ghz) Board: EVGA E758-A1 Memory: Dominator 3x2GB DDR3 1600 Hard Drive: 300GB VelociRaptor GPU: EVGA GTX260 SC Core 216
Optical: Sony Optiarc 22x DVD/CD Burner PSU: Corsair TX850W CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 Primary OS: Windows Vista x64 SP2 Case: Coolermaster HAF 932

linkin93

Hehe just plug it up with plaster or something. lol

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Bodaggit23

Exactly. That would be easier than trying to remove a "void" from the front of the computer.

__________________
Team Stats @ ExtremeOverclocking.com

Team Stats FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

CPU: i7 920 Batch#3841A525 (@3.43Ghz) Board: EVGA E758-A1 Memory: Dominator 3x2GB DDR3 1600 Hard Drive: 300GB VelociRaptor GPU: EVGA GTX260 SC Core 216
Optical: Sony Optiarc 22x DVD/CD Burner PSU: Corsair TX850W CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 Primary OS: Windows Vista x64 SP2 Case: Coolermaster HAF 932

schw32m

The front is molded curved plastic so removal is going to be pretty much impossible to make it look right. Can't even machine it into something else without molding a new piece for it. So even though it is outdated, I have plenty of operational faceless FD drives to at least fill the slot properly.

EDIT: After consideration I might be able to close the floppy hole. Will have to do a little experiment with a leftover bay cover... just might be able to form something to cover that area.

schw32m

Now I have it broken down into its component parts. One reason to save it is all the edges inside are rolled.. Not a sharp edge in there. The frame itself looks to be 20 or 22 gauge and is riveted together.





After years of use, no matter how clean the environment is the inside of these things get dirty:

schw32m

After dis-assembly of the entire unit, I ran the all the parts through the dishwasher (ahem, don't let your wife, mom or SO catch you doing this unless you live in a house like mine where running strange metal parts from equestrian gear in the dishwasher is the norm).

First thing to address is the restrictive airflow coming in from the front.

I understand that the louvers in the lower ports were to be both decorative, and to keep out rocks and low flying birds. But the design really sucked for airflow.




So I set out to solve the first problem, open up the lower ports. Getting out the Dremel and exacto knife, making sure I had paid up the blue cross this month, I commenced to work.

The result here.

The rough cut:


The final results:



Haven't decided whether to leave the ports open as shown or to fit some black aluminum screen over the holes as yet. With the cut outs done as shown there is now a 3/4 inch clearance from the back edges of the ports to the steel on the front of the case.

Bodaggit23

Nicely done.

I would suggest a top mount vent/fan mount as well.

__________________
Team Stats @ ExtremeOverclocking.com

Team Stats FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

CPU: i7 920 Batch#3841A525 (@3.43Ghz) Board: EVGA E758-A1 Memory: Dominator 3x2GB DDR3 1600 Hard Drive: 300GB VelociRaptor GPU: EVGA GTX260 SC Core 216
Optical: Sony Optiarc 22x DVD/CD Burner PSU: Corsair TX850W CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 Primary OS: Windows Vista x64 SP2 Case: Coolermaster HAF 932

schw32m

Noted.. will come to that when I get to the portion where I work on getting the air out of the case. One of the things I'm considering is allowing the PSU to take some of the duties of exhaust. A lot of the older style PSU while they may have done fine for keeping themselves cool were not all that great in moving a whole lot of supplemental air out of the case.

So with that in consideration and the fact that I wasn't planning on running a turbocharged system in it (I have a couple of dual core boards sitting around the shop needing homes). I figured on letting the PSU handle some of the yeoman duties with exhaust.

This is what I was thinking for power:

Corsair CMP 450VX
or
Rosewill RG530

Both are +80 certified and should be more than enough for what I'm planning on doing with this thing. Both use 120mm fans and will move quite a bit of air in and of themselves while being rather quiet.