Turning a "cheap" case into a low temperature work horse

[KMARTshopper]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...450-3000&Tab=1


Ok.... In this thread,, I will be discussing how to take this little scooter,, and, with a few slight mods and a bit of re-fabricaton,, make her into a porsche.. I will have to edit this thread a few times

Ok looking at this case,, its fair to say that it looks decent,, but not the sexiest case on the market....

Looking at the photos,, we can assume that it comes in beige/white... yes...... nothing a little black or strange color spray paint cannot fix,,, BUT thats later... dont want to scratch up new paint../..

Before purchasing... make sure that the inside does not look like that ,,, well I mean,,, without the 3 1/2 tracks that stretch to the floor(shown here has only slots for 2 more devices... no good !)... mine has this model with the tracks to the floor so lok out for it .. so it exists and for the same price... If you want to addd mul;tiple drives/devices,, her ventilation will suffice !!
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Ok VENTILATION.......

The grill you see on the front profile comes off.... whats behind it? plastic....

perfect for a hole with 45 degree slats for a 120mm FAN to suck air into your super computer-to-be... ok,, so unscrew the front face and do it !!!

Wait,,, problem 2... you have this aluminum plate for 2 80mm fans,,, CUT ALL OF IT OUT... make room just for the 120mm fan,, a big hole should do fine.... for this i used ghetto tools to cut IE wire cutters... that or a dremmel should do....... Anything in front of the fan equals an obstruction,, hindering airflow and stressing the fan motor...

Ok now that the face plate has a hole perfect for your fan (with 45 degree slats for screwing the fan in ) you want to grab a magic marker or paint spray can of your choice, and go to work.... If you leave her white, or any light color,,,, i strongly suggest coloring the outter area inside of that face plate grill (the plastic around the fan hole on the outside) black...

Why? well when you put the grill back on,,,, (be careful with the little bending notches ) you will notice the difference...

Put the grill back on and she is good to go...
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Back ventilation...... I STRONGLY suggest cutting out that poor excuse for a grill on the back wall of your PC.... Buy an 80mm gril that looks like air can go through it !!!
Add yourself an 80mm exhaust fan.....

This will channel that huge intake airflow, thru your PC, past the CPU and out the back door....

MY AGP has no fan and the pci getting hot !! What do i DO/??? I really have not touched this area since I attached a fan to my AGP card.... I can feel a 10 degree difference in that area alone...

Ok , heres an alternative.... Do you have SLOT vents (You know the little slot covers for when you have not installed a PCI device, but with holes for air to breath) If you got em,, use em.... if you are using a 5 slot PCI ,, pick your hottest PCI and spce 1 above and 1 below,, do same for AGP.... Leave space to breathe...
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Roof fans and such,,, GREAT IDEA... BUT,, heres the catch,,,,,, Dont want to fight with the power source...

If you are willing to cut into the power source and add a hole at the bottom or somewherre away from these roof fans,, then you are good to go.....

GO out to your local truck store or place to soup up your car..... Get either a truck exhaust thats bending about 90 degrees (avoid dust on the off time) , or get a chrome exhaust for a car, that can fit at least the size of an 80mm casing (might come out to 100mm or so... but im not looking...)

If the exhaust coem with a way to bolt to the computer,, great , if not ,, try and find a pre-fabricated one with the proper holes and attachments.... fan fit?? good...

Make your hole between power source and where CD device would be..(installking roof top fan inside the pc will not give you much space,, unless you do not plan to install a cd drive or device in the top 5 1/4 bay...

Either way,,, the idea is to keep the fan free of coca-cola spillage,, and or dust when you turn her off...

Block off the original intake of the power source (you made new and effective vents to the power souce by now) and now you should have that little pocket of hot, rising air eliminated...
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What else is there??? lol

PAINT
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Do what you will lol..... My focus was to vent her lol... but ok,,,, I would definitly suggest black metalic paint.... something that isnt really cheap....

Dont paint the face plate grill ( a suggestion) since that color grey/silver looks excellent on black...
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Well my PC has 6 hard disks. and a 2500+ AMD athlon... a geforce 4 and an ati all in wonder.. cd burner and a dvd rom./.. She runs at a constant tem of 46 degrees with an ambient of 27c.. Not bad considering,, i have only added the front fan so far... last case I had this set up in shut down the PC thermal protect !!!!!! BIG DIFFERENCE //
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If you want an inexpensive and a pc channeliong air the way its supposed to,,,, try this...... I did it and Im happy to say, that It worked out with much success... Its a small tower,,, but shes full of junk and packing a punch!!

((( AMD 1.83g barton / ABIT NF7-S / 3 IDE HDD /3 SCSI HDD/ CD-DVD drives / nividia mx 440 dual -ATI allinwonder both with 350 DAC / 256 DRR ( too poor to buy more ) / a450-3000 case / 425watt power with ghetto rigged device power for more connections to HDD etc etc..,.

Shopper