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elm669
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2003
- Messages
- 2,454
After getting a good 1.5 years service out of my conroe / 7600gs system and with wotlk making the hardware show its age and lagging a bit I decided to upgrade. Frys had a Core 2 quad 8200 with a G31mobo and 4gb ram combo deal which I grabbed.
When I built Aurora V1 I had little free time and lots of money so I rigged/modified whatever I could to make it work and get it running asap.. This time I decided to take my time and do this build right. . Aurora V1 was a Core 2 Duo E6400 with a blue orb hsf riding atop with 2gb ram and a 7600gs all housed in a raidmax Ares case.
Front:
The side panel which I reused the window in my new case:
Pic of inside the case:
Ghetto modding at its finest:
After looking at many many cases not only at frys but also online etailers I wasn't satisfied so the diy bug hit... I was after a simple yet classy case with a bit of a clean business look. Turns out I had the case I was looking for all along in the corner of my attic covered with dust, coke.. you name it...
Behold the beige box of terror:
She was a screamer... 266mhz cacheless celeron with 32mb ram and a 4mb agp card riding on a 440lx mobo with a whopping 2gb hdd
After looking at it closer I realized it was a well made case with some strength and worthy of building.. it'll hold my fat 200lb ass up while standing on it
Of course seeing how it had a full top cover a window wouldnt work well so I had to do something about it...
First I cleaned and prepped the case and decided on this paint:
It turned out better than I thought it would...
Spraying the front panel:
Front Panel finished:
After going to radio shack I decided on what lights I would upgrade it too:
Stamp of when it was made 12-24-1998 with big letters CM stamped in
Painting it:
Finished front panel and case paint
slick
What I ended up doing was cutting one side off of the case to make a side panel to allow for a window mod.
setting up the window from my old raidmax case to reuse:
Templates are fun:
Let the hacking begin =D
Drilled out the mounting holes:
Little by little the window becomes a reality:
Almost there:
Not bad for a first casemod
Test Fitting the window:
Prepping then onto paint:
After some thought I decided I wanted a blow hole in the top of the case...
Assembling the side panel:
First test fit of the case and side panel together:
Painting the Top cover of the case:
Cutted hole in the top of the case for fan:
First full assembly of the case, testing ccfls and fans:
Testing the blowhole fan:
Mounting bracket for front 120mm fan:
Beginning assembly:
Finished at last!
The Case didnt have any feet so I went to radio shack and bought some pads:
And so you have it.. from a boring beige box to something with a bit of eye candy:
Before:
After:
You know you have a serious case when... It weights around 50lbs fully built..High quality Steel ftw
Total Build time: 4 days 6 hours
Money spent: 70$