so its done. this project gave me such a headache. there were so many fails. im making a list.
FAIL:
I accidentally skipped a cut when cutting the slits in the side of the case for the 3x120mm fans and when i tried to do the cut, it had no support so it ended up stretching out the metal strip and now it like sticks out sortof
Thers no way to get the lines straight with a jigsaw
i put the fans too low and the case lid wouldnt fit on cuz the fans were hitting the motherboard
the slits had already been cut so i couldnt move the fans up
i had to dremel out the bottom of every fan housing on the side with the 3x120mm fans so that it wouldnt sit on the motherboard
after getting the lid on with all the fans and such, i turned it on to see how it looked, the blades on 2 of them were hitting the motherboard. FML. i had to dremel down the corners closest to the motherboard on every fan blade.
for some reason i decided to hot glue the window rather than using apoxy or just bolting it on (a friend was iwth me and he convinced me i should just do it thta way)
not only did i use hot glue to mount the window, the glue wasnt hot enough when i tried to use it. i applied it to the inside of the case where i was putting the window, and it wasnt all thew y hot so it dried very fast. i put the window on and it sorta just rested on the hot glue i put there, didnt smash down at all, now the window is stuck to little balls of hot glue and is sitting like half a centimeter off of the top of the case. fml.
i decided to put the motherboard in to see how it would fit or something and found....... the cpu heatsink was too tall. it was hitting the top structual support brace in the middle.
i decided to dremel out part of it because i really wanted that support there so the case wouldnt get any more crappy....and i cut it so the heatsink would fit in perfectly. it did. after i had put everything else in and was plugging everything in, i realized that i hadnt put the HEATSINK FAN on yet. and it was also too tall. FML. take everything out, dremel some more so that it fits.
1st cathode came pre-shattered for me. thanks newegg
the fan grills on newegg (rosewill) are like 6 or 7 bux a piece. there are 2packs of the exact same ones at frys for 4. four for two. not one for 7 plus shipping.
none of the holes on anything line up. thats what you get for using some cheap old case for ur project.
the computer case takes up way too much space. why would anyone want this on their desk. i dont know.
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TOP 3 FAILS OF THIS PROJECT
#3 - i painted the case before i cut anything. looks like garbage now. crappy paint job, it just looks tacky and unprofessional. whatever.
#2 - i had a good one but i forgot what it was. il post it later
AND THE WINNER GOES TO:
#1 - while i was wiring everything, i took out the harddrive tray to do some cable management underneath it. while i set it down on the workbench my main 500gb hard drive, slides off (i had forgotten i hadnt screwed it in yet) and falls about 4 feet onto the concrete garage floor. it still works but something is screwy. as im typing this its making sort of a clicking noise every once in awhile and everything on my computer seems slower.... hmm.
though there were countless fails there were some pretty good wins
wins:
looks cool. got both uv cathodes, green cathode, all 5 of my 120mm fans and 1 80mm fan working, window well placed
great cable management on my part. i wish i had pictures to show you how good of a job i did hah
cool design by my dad on right side of top of case shines on the ceiling cool patterns
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NUMBER 1 EPIC WIN OF PROJECT
SOUND ACTIVATED GREEN CATHODE
its soooo bright. and i have it on th eback you cant see it but the whole wall behind it lights up whenever its on. i listen to trance and the sound module works very well picking up the bass and whatnot it just works soooooo well im very happy with it. i started dancing around when i was testing it out with my speakers haha
conclusion
tacky job. from far away it looks good. from up close, the paint is scraped off in some places somethings are hot glued, the front fan grill only has 2 screws on top cuz the bottom of the front panel is like indented, the reset button doesnt work. all in all, the computer is running slower, i think because of the dropped harddrive, i cant overclock it like i used to because the powersupply is like running at its limit with all these extra lights and stuff, but i think it looks cool. all my friends think it looks cool and im relatively happy with it. im a really bad case modder lol i probably wont do another one
il put up better pics in a little bit. plus maybe a video of some trance and the flashing cold cathode haha
