Introduction to the stock case:
So, the Gigabyte Triton is a PC case from late 2007.
It has a top mounted PSU design that notoriously sucks heat off the CPU heatsink, but the PSU is not to blame. It's common knowledge - for us geeks
- that with some AMD socket coolers you don't have a choice. You either let them blow the hot air upwards on the PSU, or downwards on the graphics card.
Even the idea of removable hard drive bays sounds crazy with an excess of half a dozen rivets per compartment, but even if you could remove both, the question would arise "What for?". And indeed; with all the bays in place you have 300 millimeters of space, so you can fit all graphics cards, except the monstrous HD 6990s.
Even if you remove all those bays you are only left with roughly 19 centimeters of space, with a single 120 mm fan mount, so if we talk watercooling, even a 200 mm rad is a very remote possibility if you aren't handy with a dremel. There is only one additional fan mount, a 120 mm on the back, so forget having any watercooling that's entirely on the inside, unless it's a low performance Corsair H80. Even if we don't focus on such pricy features like watercooling, we can still find things that this old case lacks of.
Its idea of cable management are clamps awkwardly close to the motherboard, to the point where they are useless, and anyone who got this far in reading will only shrug at the mentioning of a missing CPU socket mounting hole on the motherboard tray, and won't be consoled even the slightest with the three types of high quality, vibration absorbing tool-less drive mounting that's offered.
So why even bother with this case?
Everyone who ever had a Triton knows, that it's an incredibly sturdy construction. It is 440 x 200 x 480 mm, and 8.4 kg (18.5 lbs) compared to 450 x 210 x 485 mm and 7.2 kg (15.9 lbs) which is the Corsair Carbide 300R, a case of similar size, which is slightly larger but still lighter. Even the fact, that after 5 years, 2 motherboards with a dozen other upgrades, and two falls off the table - with all the components entirely intact - it still hasn't got a dent or even a loose screw, proves that it's worth giving this case a chance to continue doing what it was built for, saving it from what would seem to me an early retirement ...
But i would be lying if i'd say there is no sentiment in deciding to prepare this case for the new age of home computing. So let's see what i'm up to:
When i'm done with this case, it will have a sidepanel window, decent cable management, a removable motherboard tray with a mounting hole, support for eSATA, USB 3.0, 2 SSDs, a 240 mm rad (H100 push-pull, or any 50cm rad pull) without compromising any of the 3.5" bays, and more.
Some "before" pictures i took in my "hobby room":
Note 1: This is the right placement of RAM in this particular motherboard.
Note 2: I've already removed all the rivets from the front and the top, that's why the front plate looks loosely attached.
Note 3: I'll be replacing the motherboard, RAM, and maybe the CPU cooler too in the next two weeks.
So, the Gigabyte Triton is a PC case from late 2007.
It has a top mounted PSU design that notoriously sucks heat off the CPU heatsink, but the PSU is not to blame. It's common knowledge - for us geeks
- that with some AMD socket coolers you don't have a choice. You either let them blow the hot air upwards on the PSU, or downwards on the graphics card. Even the idea of removable hard drive bays sounds crazy with an excess of half a dozen rivets per compartment, but even if you could remove both, the question would arise "What for?". And indeed; with all the bays in place you have 300 millimeters of space, so you can fit all graphics cards, except the monstrous HD 6990s.
Even if you remove all those bays you are only left with roughly 19 centimeters of space, with a single 120 mm fan mount, so if we talk watercooling, even a 200 mm rad is a very remote possibility if you aren't handy with a dremel. There is only one additional fan mount, a 120 mm on the back, so forget having any watercooling that's entirely on the inside, unless it's a low performance Corsair H80. Even if we don't focus on such pricy features like watercooling, we can still find things that this old case lacks of.
Its idea of cable management are clamps awkwardly close to the motherboard, to the point where they are useless, and anyone who got this far in reading will only shrug at the mentioning of a missing CPU socket mounting hole on the motherboard tray, and won't be consoled even the slightest with the three types of high quality, vibration absorbing tool-less drive mounting that's offered.
So why even bother with this case?
Everyone who ever had a Triton knows, that it's an incredibly sturdy construction. It is 440 x 200 x 480 mm, and 8.4 kg (18.5 lbs) compared to 450 x 210 x 485 mm and 7.2 kg (15.9 lbs) which is the Corsair Carbide 300R, a case of similar size, which is slightly larger but still lighter. Even the fact, that after 5 years, 2 motherboards with a dozen other upgrades, and two falls off the table - with all the components entirely intact - it still hasn't got a dent or even a loose screw, proves that it's worth giving this case a chance to continue doing what it was built for, saving it from what would seem to me an early retirement ...
But i would be lying if i'd say there is no sentiment in deciding to prepare this case for the new age of home computing. So let's see what i'm up to:
When i'm done with this case, it will have a sidepanel window, decent cable management, a removable motherboard tray with a mounting hole, support for eSATA, USB 3.0, 2 SSDs, a 240 mm rad (H100 push-pull, or any 50cm rad pull) without compromising any of the 3.5" bays, and more.
Some "before" pictures i took in my "hobby room":
Note 1: This is the right placement of RAM in this particular motherboard.
Note 2: I've already removed all the rivets from the front and the top, that's why the front plate looks loosely attached.
Note 3: I'll be replacing the motherboard, RAM, and maybe the CPU cooler too in the next two weeks.
As with all projects, feedback and suggestions are very welcome, and expected! 
