PC Modding

Man, I’m stuck on a project. I need to drill a hole in my case—not through the side panel, but right in the aluminum tray where the motherboard mounts. I need a 2.5cm hole about 1cm wide. What’s the best way to do this without making it look like a total mess?

Christian Mendoza60 said:Guys, I'm struggling with a problem. I need to drill a hole in my case—not through the side panel, but through the aluminum mounting plate where the motherboard screws in. I need a hole about 2.5cm wide by 1cm deep. What should I use to drill this so it looks decent?

I actually just did this today.
Here is how I handled it: first, I marked the square area I needed to cut out using a regular pencil.
After that (and make sure you double-check your marks at least 8 times), take a nail and a hammer and make small indentations at the corners—slightly inward from the actual edge—so the drill bit doesn't slip. I made three little divots per corner because I planned to drill three holes so the saw blade (just the blade, obviously) could pass through easily.
Then I just sawed it by hand. It makes for a straight, clean cut without any wobbles. It’s slow going, but it's definitely better than trying to use an angle grinder or something similar; I tried that before and it was xD
Here is a quick sketch showing where to make those indentations so the drill stays steady:
___________
|' ' ' '|
|' '|
| |
| |
|. .|
|.. ..|
-------------
Does that make sense? The dots (and dashes xD) show the spots where you'll make the indentations and where you'll drill. Depending on which direction you start cutting, you might not actually need three holes per corner, but that's my method.

Once you're done, the edges will be sharp, but a standard metal file will smooth them right out.

Instead of hand-sawing, I previously tried making the cut with an angle grinder, but it ended up crooked and messy, leaving black burn marks on one section (the paint job fixed that later).

I'll post some photos tomorrow of the cutting and painting process. I'm painting it black using some metal spray paint and a basic brush. The paint didn't grab onto the surface very well at first; I probably should have used a primer first. For now, the first coat is drying, and I'll get back to it tomorrow morning.

EDIT: One more question regarding wire sleeving. Where can I find some here in the US? Is it worth buying a kit from MDPC-X, or does that kind of stuff come pre-installed like on Alienware laptops? I looked at the kits MDPC-X offers, and for about $100 I can get all the necessary sleeves, heat shrink, and shipping. Besides that, would I need any other tools?

I handled the cutting using a similar method—marked the corners with a nail first, then grabbed a small rotary tool with the smallest grinding disc I could find and just worked it from hole to hole. After that, I cleaned everything up with a file and finished it off with a custom paint job. Went with a matte black automotive spray for the whole case, looks about $10. It turned out great; the paint bonded perfectly everywhere. I’d show off the finished work and the process, but honestly, I'm broke and my phone is completely dead 🙂
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Here’s a shot taken on a buddy's phone showing what my rig looks like while he preps the case:
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8379/dsc00687dp.jpg
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2981/dsc00690n.jpg
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/2820/dsc00689g.jpg

Sorry the quality sucks, lighting was pretty dim!

My case is currently drying out. I went over a few spots again this morning. There was some discoloration in certain areas, but things are looking better now.

Finally finished. Everything is dry and all connected inside. It’s definitely an improvement over how it was, though I guess it's still not quite perfect yet.
The main goal was to clear out the space in front of the vents so no wires would block anything.
In this photo, you can see the area under the GPU and in front of the 12cm front fan. Now, no wires are directly obstructing the airflow, whereas before it was just a mess of two fan cables, two 12V PSU cables, the GPU fan cable, and a SATA cable.
In this photo, you can see the space behind the CPU fan (behind it, if we're looking at the direction the air blows forward) and the HDD cage. Absolutely no wires are in front of that fan now; previously, there were ATX cables, an IDE cable, and the HDD power cable right there.

It isn't exactly a work of art, this photo, and the lighting wasn't great either, but you can tell it looks better than before. Imagine this same shot with 528 wires cluttering the foreground—that's how it used to be.

I'll pick this back up after the holidays. I need to drill a hole for a top fan (I might try some DIY soldering there), another hole for cable management, and a fresh coat of paint—thinking of going with a red and black theme.

Nice work. It looks great, but more importantly, it’s actually functional. My setup is the exact same way—I've got photos on my desk showing me working without a case at all right now. I'm planning something similar: hiding all the cables and doing a ton of cutting. I actually had to go out and grab some heavy-duty tin snips just to get started. I'll post some shots once I'm finished. Keep it up.

btw. what GPU and CPU are you running?

The GPU is running at 4890 with a Scythe Musashi, while the CPU is at X3 720 using a Scythe ninja 2.

Alright everyone, I finally wrapped up my PC Modding project, so here are some shots.
Just a heads-up: the case started out completely white. In some of the early photos, you can see the paint didn't bond perfectly at first, but I sorted that out. I couldn't get any photos of the actual cutting process because I ran into some issues, so this is just the painting and assembly stages. Also, I went with a MAT finish—looks great, but man, fingerprints show up like crazy xD
Here’s the build progress:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30wpldu&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ex2dcp&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=33k99ah&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1y4e4k&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=34o82f5&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2m82of6&s=6

Now, here's how the teardown looked:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=nwlvzr&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2n24iyv&s=6

Stripping down the PSU to repaint it:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2yo3h46&s=6

My workspace:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2iuclzl&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=sx22cx&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=29nuidy&s=6

The specs and the "fridge":
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=nefexi&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ufavbd&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=ei4irm&s=6

Cable management:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2hywhp2&s=6

The finished build:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=orrmut&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=11h6r75&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=8zp4w8&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=a0ghv5&s=6
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2thkj&s=6

So, yeah, that's it. I know there's a hell of a lot of photos, but let me know what you honestly think. I managed to damage the HDD mounting bracket while working on it, which actually opened up space in the front for an extra 12cm fan I need to pick up.

Honestly, I think you did a great job here. That case looks killer, and it was a smart move to ditch the cage to make room for an extra fan. 👍
How does an HDD even fit in those 5.25" bays if you actually put one in there?

I’m trying to shove these HDDs into the drive bays for the ROMs, but I’m running into a wall. They're positioned sideways, and both drives are exactly as wide as the bays themselves—no wiggle room at all. I actually had to hack away at the sides of the bays just to get them to plug in; you can see where I cut into the metal in the third photo. I might post another shot later once I get my hands on a camera, since I'm currently borrowing one. You can see the drives sitting in the last pic; the top one isn't fully seated yet, but the bottom one is locked in. Once I get the top one flipped and tucked in, everything will be packed tight and tidy. 🙂

I’ve got this cutout in my desk where I want to tuck the PC away—it’s about 55cm deep and 36cm wide. Since it’s built into the desk, I can only get airflow and access the IO from the back. The motherboard is mATX and pretty shallow at just 19cm. I was thinking of running a plug right above the IO panel through the passive CPU cooler (CM TX3), then mounting the drives (WD 6400 AAKS and a 1.5TB Green) directly behind it... though that might lead to some overheating issues. For the PSU, I’d put the 120mm fan along the bottom edge to help pull air across the Accelero S1 on the GPU.

Anyone know a more efficient way—like, cheaper ways using roughly the same number of fans—to set up the airflow without needing massive dimensions?

Maybe I could squeeze a 92mm fan between the drives and the cooler? Or even mount a 120mm fan on some spacers so it sits right next to the CPU cooler...

Could you maybe snap a few photos or draw up a quick sketch? It’d help us give you better advice instead of just guessing while I try to picture that hole in your desk in my head. We've got plenty of ideas, but damn, we can't really know for sure until we see it.

The only thing I can think of, without even sketching it out, is just asking: "Why mess with nature in the first place?" 😁
Since warm air rises, it would probably be better to blow the air from underneath, letting it heat up as it travels upward.

Man, I really want to set this thing up horizontally to save some space. Thinking about squeezing another shelf under the PC setup. I'll get a sketch ready tomorrow night—super busy right now 😢

Ah, I see. In that case, it shouldn't matter whether it's the intake or the exhaust side.
Once we get a look at the sketch, we'll try to offer as much advice as we can. ^^

A bit late to the party, but here’s a quick sketch:

http://i46.tinypic.com/98bzo1.png

Specs:
Intel Celeron 430 @HyperTX 3 Asrock G31 2600 XT@accelero S1 WD 6400 AAKS
Asrock G31
2600XT@accelero S1
WD 6400AAKS and WD15EADS
Chif 350W.

Everything should stay pretty chill. Right now, I've got this exact same setup in a massive mid-tower case with just two fans—one in the PSU and one in the front, 120mm@5V—and temps are looking solid.

The distance for the 120mm intake fan is kind of up in the air, right? I could basically slap it right next to the CPU cooler. Personally, I think keeping it closer to the cooler might be better since those fins are pretty dense, so it needs that extra pressure to really move the air through. Currently, I've got it at about 2-3cm. As for the drives, they're sitting on rubber mounts (three flexible points!)—I came up with a design that doesn't mess with the airflow at all but keeps things super stable. This sketch is drawn to scale.

🤦

this mod is straight up legendary for real gamers 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂

I've been working on this PC Modding project for four days now.
It isn't a massive amount of work, but I haven't had much free time either, so I'm just chipping away at it bit by bit.
All the internal components are sitting out next to me, gathering way more dust than usual 😁
I'm working on the Custom Paint Job and drilling two holes—one for a top vent and another in the chassis behind the motherboard for cable management. It's similar to my last mod, just in a different spot.
I'll post some photos tomorrow; it's drying right now and I still have one section left to spray.

James Morris4 said:I'll post pictures tomorrow...

That one day turned into six, haha.
School started back up, and I already had two tests during the first week, which was a bit much.
Here are some photos. It’s nothing major, but I’m happy with how it turned out. ^^

This was the setup before the case arrived; the kid went through a bit of a struggle during that period, but things are better now. 😁



For the hole on the top (where the fans will go), I had to mark the position first, obviously. I didn't have the right tools (total amateur, haha) to make a perfect circle, so I just cut a hexagon using a hacksaw blade.





It looks pretty terrible after cutting. On top of that, I ruined one drill bit right before I even started cutting. The second bit I had was pretty bad too; it started smoking from friction before it actually pierced the metal. Because of that, I ended up damaging the surrounding paint quite a bit, though I fixed it later. Using a file helps the overall look.





Preparing for the Custom Paint Job was simple enough. I marked the areas to be painted on the case with a pencil, cut paper into those shapes, taped them down, and got to work.



And finally, how everything looks (I forgot to install the front panel):



The work is very unprofessional. I didn't have any real tools and just jumped into it without much preparation, but since this is my first PC Modding project of this kind, I'm satisfied. It definitely could have turned out much better.
I'm not entirely happy with the shade (it looked different when I tested it on paper 😁 ) and I had several slips regarding masking off the parts I wasn't painting. Plus, I didn't really have a specific theme for the Custom Paint Job; I was mostly just making up shapes as I went along.

I shouldn't take all the credit, though—my grandfather helped me out a lot. 😁 He would Give Space, help with the drilling, and so on.