Project Kilgore

[AKIMbO]

Starting my first serious, total case mod. The victim is an Antec 300. The exterior is getting painted white while the interior is most likely going to be either color shifting green or some type of metallic blue. All the wires will be getting individually sleeved in a yet to be decided color. I'm also going to be putting two 140mm fans in the top for exhaust. The power button will be replaced with a LED vandal switch. The CCFLs will also be controlled by a separate LED vandal switch. The side panel is getting a humongous acrylic window mod.

Let the modding begin...

I got to work cutting out the extra 140mm fan hole. Printed out a 2x140mm radiator template, taped off the top of the case, and traced the outline with a sharpie.

http://i27.tinypic.com/10wqgd2.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/20ztm5k.jpg

After I cut out the second 140mm fan hole I noticed a problem. The 5.25" cages don't leave enough room between the top of the case and themselves to permit a 140mm fan to squeeze in.
http://i32.tinypic.com/n718k4.jpg

I'm going to have to cut out the top 5.25" bay, but no biggie...I only need 2 5.25" bays anyways. To access the 5.25" drive bays I need to de-rivet the case but, I'm absent a drill to do so since my drill decided to end it's life in a fiery death last night.

Since I'm absent a drill I decided to get to work stealthing the DVD drive.

http://i25.tinypic.com/10sah01.jpg

First thing I had to do was cut off the side tabs of the 5.25" bezel.

http://i27.tinypic.com/2hn045s.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/23wwdj5.jpg

Alright, I found my real camera...no more cruddy quality cellphone camera pictures anymore!

After some quality time with my dremel the bezel is looking pretty flat. You can see where I got a little too close to the backside of the bezel with the cut-off wheel but that part of the bezel will be attached to the DVD drive tray so no one will see it anyways.

http://i27.tinypic.com/vosmxz.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/33ti1bl.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/2vce3ki.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/2z3wf0y.jpg

When I go to the hardware store later today I will pick up some metal files as well as a drill and get to filing down the bezel to give it a more uniform line.

Thanks for looking...more updates in the near future!

[AKIMbO]

Picked up a few goodies from Home Depot. Some metal files, grinding heads for the dremel, some rivets, and a new drill.
http://i31.tinypic.com/wu4cue.jpg

I de-riveted the top of the case using the new drill.
http://i27.tinypic.com/2nsoqau.jpg

And this is the next part of the project. De-riveting the 5.25" bays and cutting off the top 5.25" bay completely in order to make room for the extra 140mm exhaust fan.
http://i30.tinypic.com/n2d0zt.jpg

[AKIMbO]

I'm getting a custom made 2x140mm rad grill for the top of this case. The person who is making the rad grill emailed me the template he will be using so I printed it out and put it on the case to see what it will look like. I have to say that I think it's going to make this case look awesome. Look at how big those 140mm fan holes look on this mid-tower!

http://i28.tinypic.com/2zp8909.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/1tsw41.jpg

I will most likely be painting this rad grill matte black along with the 5.25" bay covers.

Thanks for looking...more updates to come in the near future!

[AKIMbO]

The guy who is custom cutting the rad grill just sent me this cellphone pic! The rad grill is all cut-out and ready for shipping. He works fast...literally had this thing cut-out and ready for shipping within 24 hours of finalizing the design. I can't wait to recieve it, paint it, and screw it into the case.
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/3353/20100712082930.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/i/20100712082930.jpg/)

[Floyd]

Nice and simple. My only grip is that the cutouts are large and your putting it on the top of your case. If you drop something on the top its going to trash your fan.

[AKIMbO]

Nice and simple. My only grip is that the cutouts are large and your putting it on the top of your case. If you drop something on the top its going to trash your fan.

True...but I think it will be cool being able to look straight down into the PC unencumbered by any modder's mesh or honeycomb. Plus, the PC will be under a desk so hopefully nothing will fall through the top of the case. *crosses fingers*

[AKIMbO]

Recieved the custom cut rad grill about an hour ago. Here's what she looked like right as I pulled her out of the package.
http://i32.tinypic.com/ve17py.jpg

I immediately threw it on top of the case to see how it looked.
http://i31.tinypic.com/1z6tnxj.jpg

The metal still had some burrs on it so I pulled out my trusty metal file and got down to it. This is the outcome.
http://i30.tinypic.com/29ojv5l.jpg

I'm very happy with how the rad grill came out. After some filing all the burrs were gone and the lines are extremely straight. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be painting this rad grill matte black (but that's always up for debate).

Thanks for looking...more updates to come in the near future!

[Overclocking101]

is it going to be the hardware in your sig??

[AKIMbO]

is it going to be the hardware in your sig??

Negative...my GF's hardware is going in this new case (Q6600, 750i FTW, blah blah blah old shit). If I can scrape up enough funds I will w/c it, but as it looks now (having just graduated & no job) the w/c will probably not happen anytime soon.

[OC Maximus]

If I only had to guts to chop up my case ;)

[Floyd]

Q6600, 750i FTW, blah blah blah old shit
For "old shit" it still holds its own. I love my Q6600's im hoping to get 2 years or so out of them!

[AKIMbO]

For "old shit" it still holds its own. I love my Q6600's im hoping to get 2 years or so out of them!

This Q6600 sucks donkey dick though. It won't clock past 3.2GHZ no matter how many volts you pump through it. It used to be under water so temps weren't the limiting factor in the OC...it was definitely voltages.

[Floyd]

This Q6600 sucks donkey dick though. It won't clock past 3.2GHZ no matter how many volts you pump through it. It used to be under water so temps weren't the limiting factor in the OC...it was definitely voltages.

It really depends on the board. I could get 3.6 out of mine on my old 680i before it croaked but now I cant get past 3.2 with my current 790i board.
Even then its still a heck of a contender in my eyes atleast for gaming and general work. Not sure how much id benifit from an i7 right now other than crunching.

[AKIMbO]

It really depends on the board. I could get 3.6 out of mine on my old 680i before it croaked but now I cant get past 3.2 with my current 790i board.
Even then its still a heck of a contender in my eyes atleast for gaming and general work. Not sure how much id benifit from an i7 right now other than crunching.

At what volts? I'm curious cause it wouldn't go past 3.2 on 2 separate 780i's and a 750i FTW. I actually killed one of those 780i's via volt mod cause I thought maybe vdroop &/or NB voltages were limiting the OC.

[Floyd]

At what volts? I'm curious cause it wouldn't go past 3.2 on 2 separate 780i's and a 750i FTW. I actually killed one of those 780i's via volt mod cause I thought maybe vdroop &/or NB voltages were limiting the OC.

Well ive had a 680i, 750i FTW and now the 790i.
The best for OCing IMO was the 680i. I needed about 1.55v to get 3.6 stable but then I was worried more about NB temps. The 750i FTW was the absolute WORST to OC my Q6600 on. I couldnt even get 3.2 stable. The 790i is rock solid but for whatever reason I cant get much over 3.2 without it being unstable. Ive tried up to 1.55 like before. It loads windows and all but as soon as you run any test it blue screens. Also my 790i NB temps are insane. At 3.2 IDLE im at 61c as it is.

[AKIMbO]

Since my garage is no longer 100F, I've decided to continue this project. Today I cut out some rough cable management holes which I will clean up and file down later.
http://i54.tinypic.com/2cxdnhc.jpg

I also traced the outline of the window I am going to cut into the left side panel. The black lines is where the acrylic sheet will lay (e.g. the dimensions of the acrylic window) and the red outline is where I will cut the steel side panel. I used a shot glass to trace the curves for the cut-out and a roll of 4010 tape for the acrylic window's curves.
http://i52.tinypic.com/210f3h5.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/153o1mg.jpg

This window is going to be fairly large. I'm going to attempt to cut this whole side panel with nothing but a dremel and then file down the imperfections in the cutting. Here's hoping I don't fuck this up.

[Oli4v]

Well ive had a 680i, 750i FTW and now the 790i.
The best for OCing IMO was the 680i. I needed about 1.55v to get 3.6 stable but then I was worried more about NB temps. The 750i FTW was the absolute WORST to OC my Q6600 on. I couldnt even get 3.2 stable. The 790i is rock solid but for whatever reason I cant get much over 3.2 without it being unstable. Ive tried up to 1.55 like before. It loads windows and all but as soon as you run any test it blue screens. Also my 790i NB temps are insane. At 3.2 IDLE im at 61c as it is.

nvidia chipsets weren't the best ones to OC 775 cpu's on, tough the 680i was pretty good, I've once oc-ed a Q6600 from a friend of mine, got to 4Ghz in 2 hours, and the cpu would be able to handle 3.8-3.9Ghz stable on a P35 chipset :)

[Floyd]

Makes me want a P35 board :(
This chip in here now was 3.8 stable on my old 680i but I cant get any higher than 3.2 on the current 790i board.

[AKIMbO]

Here's the side panel after some dremel love. The cuts didn't come out straight enough to bolt the window to the outside of the panel so I'm going to have to go the u-channel molding route to hide these quasi-straight cuts.
http://i51.tinypic.com/dxxzk2.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/xbeo1z.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2zh1iyf.jpg

[AKIMbO]

Today I de-riveted the 5.25" bay drives from the rest of the chasis so I could cut the top 5.25" bay away from the rest of the 5.25" cage. This was necessary in order to make clearance for the second 140mm exhaust fan that will partially hang over the 5.25" cage.
http://i56.tinypic.com/t045g6.jpg

After the 5.25" cage was freed from the chasis I proceeded to cut the top bay off of it.
Here the cage is all marked up for cutting.
http://i55.tinypic.com/2hpufza.jpg

Here's the 5.25" cage after cutting.
http://i52.tinypic.com/2a5c1n5.jpg

This is where I messed up. I accidentally cut the 5.25" cage too short (by an inch or two). Now you can see the ghetto cut through the side window.
http://i51.tinypic.com/2uyn8mo.jpg

So I fabricated this little metal plate from the remnants of the left side panel.
http://i52.tinypic.com/rt2j9l.jpg

I plan to rivet it to the side of the 5.25 cage as seen below in an attempt to cover up my mistake. Hopefully it will look alright. In the picture below the metal plate tilted to the left a tad. When I rivet it into place it will be vertically uniform with the 5.25" cage.
http://i53.tinypic.com/spdauc.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/hwzqlh.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/358v1wm.jpg


If anyone has a suggestion as how to go about covering up this mistake of mine I'm all ears. I'm pretty pissed at myself for not realizing how short I cut the 5.25" cage.

Thanks for looking. More updates in the near future.

[AKIMbO]

The case is now fully de-riveted and I've begun painting and priming the case. The color scheme is white on the outside with black fan/rad grills. The front bay mesh will be black as will the 5.25" drive bay covers. The interior of the case is cherry red. Sleeving will be white with a random black sleeve thrown in here and there.
http://i55.tinypic.com/2jeppoo.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/k2xwdv.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2lxj8kk.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/4vipn8.jpg

There's some orange peeling going on with the 5.25" cage but it's nothing a little sanding can't take care of.

Thanks for looking and more updates coming soon!

[ottoyu34]

looking good!

[AKIMbO]

looking good!

Thanks man! :D