500r,camaro

[crazzyxjoex]

Hey there, decided to do a small worklog about my current case, it's nothing major or extravagant just a few small mods. not totally done with it but here we go.

 

I originally wanted to do something along the lines of a scratch build like this

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2916.jpg

(yes... yes... I am old school and still draw designs out instead of using CAD)

It is basically a case made of aluminum sheet and plexiglass. Laid flat and had acrylic tubing on the corners of the case on the outside that was to be integrated with a dual loop liquid cooling setup.

 

However, after deciding to go to the Culinary Institute of America, I decided that it wouldn't be ideal to undertake such a build with the limited amount of resources and time that I have before making the long trek from Dallas to New York. Not to mention how expensive culinary school is -__-!

 

So then I decided to jump on some deals during Black Friday and bought a Corsair 500r, I liked the lines and the shape. The case seemed to be easy enough to modify and semi-make my original plan above. How ever I didn't have the time to do it anymore as I was preparing myself for culinary school and wanted to save a little bit of money.

 

Come New Years, i decided to keep it a simple case no mods.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2830.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2829.jpg

 

The set up was this:

Core i7 930

EVGA SLI3 Mobo

******** sniper and tridants 15gb ram

1 reference 6870 XFX

1 XFX 6870

1000W powersupply

H100 cooler

Corsair force 3 120gb X2 in RAID0

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2827.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2826.jpg

 

 

It wasn't too bad of a setup for a dorm, but modding was itching me...

I wanted to put an xclio 250mm fan in it with an acrylic side window.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2820.jpg

 

Decided against it as that would cover up the majority of the hardware in such a small case. and would take away form the black and white theme (at the time i wanted to have the changing led colors match my razer mambas which was why i wanted to use the xclio fans)

 

My last computer had my statement of love fore my girlfriend all over it, and so i wanted to implement it in my current computer as well. For a gift she gave me a die-cast 68' Camaro Z28. My favorite car. Why not combine the three things I love!?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/2012-01-21084115.jpg

 

The plan. Dremel the black plastic base so i can fit my ssd's under it with cables.

Find a black crossfire bridge, and sleeve my cables.

 

Couldn't didnt a black crossfire bridge that anyone would sell to me :(, did the next best thing...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2883.jpg

made a white carbon fiber one!

 

now onto the car itself...

I had trouble dremeling the base as the plastic kept melting where i dremeled so i had to pause a lot. It was an ugly job but i managed to do all that needed to be cut out. didn't have pics of the process although i would be a bit embarrassed to show what i did cause it was ugly! Then i proceeded to take out my ssd's and hardrives from their respective cages. Unscrewed everything that kept the cages in place and took them out then put a cage under the optical bay area and screwed it in. Here are the end results.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2907.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2909.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2910.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2913.jpg

I originally moved my power cables on the top plugs because i thought they would not fit but after looking at it i realized they fit perfectly and the cables on top of the tip of the hood looked ugly anyways.

 

Here's a look at the power and sata cables going into the base of the car mount.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2914.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2915.jpg

 

 

and overall look so far...

btw upgraded my video card setup from two 6970's to an Asus DirectCU II 6970, got it off a little asian girl that won it at the AMD HardOCP event in dallas a few weeks ago.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2922.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2921.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2920.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2917.jpg

I apologize for my crude camera skills.

 

 

here's a quickie, i finally got around to doing the cabling and make it look some what decent,

had did it in the night and was tired and on the phone with the gf, so it was sloppy initially also i installed three 12 inch cold cathodes.

 

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2937.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2933.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2932.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2935.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2930.jpg

 

but yea it was sloppy and It was just to see how far my cables should stick out, as it was my full intention to route every cable between the motherboard and the motherboard tray.

 

so the next morning...

after many hours and some cursing as why the cables wouldn't stay put and lay flatter so i can put the motherboard on the standoffs, and redoing the whole process because i didn't like the way the 24 pin cable looked... lol decided it looked better coming from the grommet holes instead of under the motherboard.

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2956.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2953.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2951.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2949.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2947.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2940.jpg

 

 

still want to re do the sata cables and dremel a hole to better fit the usb header cable on the left. and you guys make think the way i twist and braid my cables is weird, but in my honest opinion i see way to many modders do their cables and route them nicely only to have the single braided cables lay straight. i think its tacky and if you're going to spend time sleaving and routing cables have them look elegant with nice curves rather than go from one point to another in the shortest possible distance.

 

So i finally got around to putting the acrylic window on. Originally i was going to use the original left side panel, but Before that i wanted to see if i could switch the two side panels. it worked!

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2992.jpg

 

after seeing that it worked I still wanted to use the fan that it came with so i did some tinkering with the mesh via needle nose and viola!

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2984.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2987.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2988.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2986.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2985.jpg

 

I liked it, but in the end i decided to take the fan off to make the case more streamlined.

although i kind of liked it and thought it could help dissipate the heat from the motherboard. I might try to reroute my cabling behind the motherboard and see if i can fit the fan inside the case, although it will be very difficult considering i ran the cables through the motherboard tray hole and motherboard.

 

here are the pics of the acrylic window

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2989.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2995.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2997.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_2998.jpg

 

and some extra pic of inside xP

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3004.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3003.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3002.jpg

 

Next up, applying carbon fiber on the whole case! and fixing the light bleed through and crossfire bridge! Also thought about installing some electroluminescent lights in the undercarriage the the camaro, Oh and im going to pick up anther 3 tb hard drive and then apply carbon fiber to all three hard drive as well. And make a mounting bracket for my white and black headset, although my friend is going to get rid of his vengeance headset so im going to try to get it off him and paint it white and black to match the case lol.

 

Im also thinking of getting the new Corsair performance pro series of SSD's and mounting them inside the case in raid to show them off. probably somewhere on the upper left hand side it would look sick dont you think?! but money is a little tight since ill be moving to ny soon for school, so who knows when that will happen. my friend told me i should email corsair and ask to be a sponsor lol I wish!

[Wired]

Nice mods! You may want to consider reversing the car. That way the airflow would be a bit more streamlined going from the front of the car to the back (after all that's how the cars are designed).

[stratosrally]

Also, the car would look as if it was undergoing wind-tunnel aerodynamic testing...

 

Very creative case mod. Thumbs up!

[crazzyxjoex]

Carbon fiber time :3, unfortunately i messed up a panel because my knife was too sharp and cut something i accidentally touched and in the end i have to get another roll and finish the back side. but heres a small update. next time i think im just going to use a normal razor, lol

 

 

my usb drive :3

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3047.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3057.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3066.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3067.jpg

 

 

and now the case, or half of it at least.. lol

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3033.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3036.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3038.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3039.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3042.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3043.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3069.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3070.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3071.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3072.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3075.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3076.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3077.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3078.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3079.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3080.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3081.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3082.jpg

 

theres a lot of lil bits i need to smooth out and snip but ill do that when i get a better heatgun.

[Socialite]

Looks awesome! I'm glad you took the time to do right and matched up the pattern from the carbon fiber as well! Top notch modding sir!

[crazzyxjoex]

thanks man! :)

 

here's a little update, probably the last one til i move to ny

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3090.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3091.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3092.jpg

 

 

 

 

I covered the backside of the case and put my badges on, lol i know its no longer sleek looking with the badges on there but i figured that the backside will be facing the wall most of the time so its not to bad, and i can always take them off.

 

and i did a little h100 mod ;) just covered it really lol, i thought about painting it but im not too sure, and im also thinking about putting white carbon fiber around the block. who knows...

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3088.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3087.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/crazzyxjoex/rig/IMG_3086.jpg

[stratosrally]

Dang, your images are all showing bandwidth exceeded. Wanted to check out those updates!

[ACP]

Hey where did you get that side window from? I'm looking to do the same for my 500r