siravarice
New member
Going to be modding my Antec 300 soon, probably Thursday if not before. Will post a thread with lots of not so lovely pics of how it goes!
Antec 300 Mod coming up!
- Thread starter siravarice
- Start date
thestepster
New member
ill be lookin forward to that mate as ive got an antec 300 sittin there lookin for a purpose u might inspire me 
siravarice
New member
haha I hope it does! I've got a few pics at the moment but will post them all when it's ready. Hopefully the spraying should turn out nice too. Only problem so far has been that the hole I cut for the 8pin mobo power wasn't big enough, then forgot about it and sprayed it black! Luckily I have to sand it a bit then give it another coat anyway. Should be finished tomorrow hopefully, I'll post pics Thursday/Friday.
siravarice
New member
It won't be entirely finished as I am putting in a side panel window soon when I get some nice acrylic. I will post more pics after though when I do that. Sometime next month I think.
thestepster
New member
cant wait to see what u did and yeah mate i hate the 300 for cable management that and the scout storm are terrible for it
and yeah mate i hate the 300 for cable management that and the scout storm are terrible for it
siravarice
New member
Nothing too big, a side window will be the biggest thing which will be done next month, or when I get some more funds.
It's all finished for now, will upload the pics and write it up in a bit when my phone has finished charging
It's all finished for now, will upload the pics and write it up in a bit when my phone has finished charging
siravarice
New member
Right, actually going to write it up now, was going to play some CoD but my mate is trying to sort out his failing hard drive XD Onwards into the breach and all that...
siravarice
New member
But first, I have to upload the photos, argh sometimes I hate upload speeds.
siravarice
New member
Right, firstly, I am in now way a professional and this is the first time I have done anything like this.
So here goes...
Also, sorry about the rubbish picture quality, I refuse to shell out for a nice camera when my girlfriend has one, but it wasn't charged, so.....
I CBA to show you pics of what the case used to look like. It was boring, just like any other Antec 300.
So to get to it, it stripped off whatever parts I could:
This is where the front mounted fans hide, behind some doors that have been removed to be sprayed.
Generic Computer Case Look:
So as you can see there were some pen markings for where I wanted to cut holes. And no, I didn't use a ruler when I was doing them, the case cost £40 delivered, so I really wasn't worried about a skewed hole.
Using a dremel for the first time, I enjoyed feeling like a man and loved the smell of burning metal. I burnt my fingers pulling the metal off countless times, but having such thick skin on your hands really does come in handy sometimes.
A quick pic of four of the holes that have been cut:
And yes, that 8 pin hole wasn't big enough and had to be re-cut.
The only downside to the dremel was the cutting blades, I knew you could get real saw like ones but I wasn't about to go spend money so I used the thin sanding ones, which wear down very quickly and have to be replaced quite a bit. As I found half way through cutting a hole for the PSU cables:
And this is how close I called it when trying to finish off that hole:
Taking a break from all this manly cutting and noise. I realised I had turned my bedroom, which I share with my girlfriend, into a computer mess.
My computer chair was out of bounds for now.
I'm guessing someone will say something like, you need to be more careful, and, it might get damaged just sitting there, but in all fairness I find that I end up damaging things myself when I try and look after it, I figure it's sod's law.
That night, missing my usual CoD before bed time, I built my components back up so I could still use my computer. What's nice is that it is actually quieter like this. Less fans I guess.
Then the missus went to bed and turned off the lights.
The next day I enlist my best friend Snorlax to help out. Looking at the lovely coats I did of black matte spray on the innards, I figure it best to sand it slightly with some 800 grit wet and dry sandpaper and give it another coat. This of course, goes tits up and for some reason, the spray has a reaction with the metal underneath and does not stick. It merely bubbles up annoyingly, mocking my amateur skills at spraying.
As always, preparation is the key, so masking tape city it was.
I almost forgot to do the other parts to the case, these turned out nicely, although with the extra lick of paint, it was a little difficult getting them back into the case afterwards.
Finally, we think the insides have been done pretty well, so a photo should be taken!
Notice the hard drive cage has gone? Yep, that was in the way, and it would create a lot more space for larger graphics cards, and maybe water cooling on a small scale in the future. Getting it out was fun, I hate rivets.
Next on the list was the outside of the case, which was being sprayed Volvo Silver, why I chose that, I don't know, but it was nice and light and jumped out at me a bit. I was tempted to do it in a glow in the dark finish, but thought better of it.
The outside was much simpler to do that the inside, I primed it with the usual primer, and then after that had dried, the silver went on. I forgot to take photos of this process, but it basically goes; spray grey, spray silver.
This is the finish after the silver spraying, and one coat of lacquer.
It does look a bit patchy there, but that wasn't long after the lacquer and it had not dried. It is now very nice and clean!
CBA to rotate it, but you get the idea there.
The back was not forgotten either, and got a nice coat of black matte too.
After all this malarky in the garden, it was time to get it back in the bedroom to perform
What that means it building it all up again, which I am now tired of doing as I've done it so many times for this case.
Cable management is now so much easier, but it still is annoying, as there really isn't much space behind the motherboard backplate. As you can see here only a couple cables can be seen really sticking into the case.
The finished article, or so I thought...
So then this turns up in the post, only a day after it was finished. I thought it was going to be much longer than that.
So then it all comes open again, and I redo some cable managing. The fan controller moves into the top space and the HDD moves into the bottom space, so that the cables are easier to hide.
FINITO!
This cost be really not much, just the amount of the spray, some files and some sandpaper. Oh, and don't forget to wear a mask when you're spraying, this stuff really does stink. Next up is a side window, that me and my dad are going to do as he has the jigsaw, and some enermax cluster fans, probably white or blue ones so it looks more shiny.
Thanks for reading!
So here goes...
Also, sorry about the rubbish picture quality, I refuse to shell out for a nice camera when my girlfriend has one, but it wasn't charged, so.....
I CBA to show you pics of what the case used to look like. It was boring, just like any other Antec 300.
So to get to it, it stripped off whatever parts I could:
This is where the front mounted fans hide, behind some doors that have been removed to be sprayed.
Generic Computer Case Look:
So as you can see there were some pen markings for where I wanted to cut holes. And no, I didn't use a ruler when I was doing them, the case cost £40 delivered, so I really wasn't worried about a skewed hole.
Using a dremel for the first time, I enjoyed feeling like a man and loved the smell of burning metal. I burnt my fingers pulling the metal off countless times, but having such thick skin on your hands really does come in handy sometimes.
A quick pic of four of the holes that have been cut:
And yes, that 8 pin hole wasn't big enough and had to be re-cut.
The only downside to the dremel was the cutting blades, I knew you could get real saw like ones but I wasn't about to go spend money so I used the thin sanding ones, which wear down very quickly and have to be replaced quite a bit. As I found half way through cutting a hole for the PSU cables:
And this is how close I called it when trying to finish off that hole:
Taking a break from all this manly cutting and noise. I realised I had turned my bedroom, which I share with my girlfriend, into a computer mess.
My computer chair was out of bounds for now.
I'm guessing someone will say something like, you need to be more careful, and, it might get damaged just sitting there, but in all fairness I find that I end up damaging things myself when I try and look after it, I figure it's sod's law.
That night, missing my usual CoD before bed time, I built my components back up so I could still use my computer. What's nice is that it is actually quieter like this. Less fans I guess.
Then the missus went to bed and turned off the lights.
The next day I enlist my best friend Snorlax to help out. Looking at the lovely coats I did of black matte spray on the innards, I figure it best to sand it slightly with some 800 grit wet and dry sandpaper and give it another coat. This of course, goes tits up and for some reason, the spray has a reaction with the metal underneath and does not stick. It merely bubbles up annoyingly, mocking my amateur skills at spraying.
As always, preparation is the key, so masking tape city it was.
I almost forgot to do the other parts to the case, these turned out nicely, although with the extra lick of paint, it was a little difficult getting them back into the case afterwards.
Finally, we think the insides have been done pretty well, so a photo should be taken!
Notice the hard drive cage has gone? Yep, that was in the way, and it would create a lot more space for larger graphics cards, and maybe water cooling on a small scale in the future. Getting it out was fun, I hate rivets.
Next on the list was the outside of the case, which was being sprayed Volvo Silver, why I chose that, I don't know, but it was nice and light and jumped out at me a bit. I was tempted to do it in a glow in the dark finish, but thought better of it.
The outside was much simpler to do that the inside, I primed it with the usual primer, and then after that had dried, the silver went on. I forgot to take photos of this process, but it basically goes; spray grey, spray silver.
This is the finish after the silver spraying, and one coat of lacquer.
It does look a bit patchy there, but that wasn't long after the lacquer and it had not dried. It is now very nice and clean!
CBA to rotate it, but you get the idea there.
The back was not forgotten either, and got a nice coat of black matte too.
After all this malarky in the garden, it was time to get it back in the bedroom to perform
What that means it building it all up again, which I am now tired of doing as I've done it so many times for this case.
Cable management is now so much easier, but it still is annoying, as there really isn't much space behind the motherboard backplate. As you can see here only a couple cables can be seen really sticking into the case.
The finished article, or so I thought...
So then this turns up in the post, only a day after it was finished. I thought it was going to be much longer than that.
So then it all comes open again, and I redo some cable managing. The fan controller moves into the top space and the HDD moves into the bottom space, so that the cables are easier to hide.
FINITO!
This cost be really not much, just the amount of the spray, some files and some sandpaper. Oh, and don't forget to wear a mask when you're spraying, this stuff really does stink. Next up is a side window, that me and my dad are going to do as he has the jigsaw, and some enermax cluster fans, probably white or blue ones so it looks more shiny.
Thanks for reading!
siravarice
New member
Yeah I know the window should be cut first, but I have the spray left over and I will hopefully be using some U channel stuff so I'm not worried about that.
Yes it is much easier, although the space behind the motherboard backplate leaves a lot to be desired, it helps in getting cables out of the way and not in the way of the airflow.
Yes it is much easier, although the space behind the motherboard backplate leaves a lot to be desired, it helps in getting cables out of the way and not in the way of the airflow.
You deffo needed more silver mate, that is patchy in all the pics. With paint its take your time or dont bother imho
siravarice
New member
The paint is fine now Tom, as I said, it wasn't long after it had been sprayed and still wasn't that dry. All the patches are gone now it's fully dried.
name='siravarice' said:
LMAO patches dont just go fella. you can see in the assembled pic there is light patches. If its not showing the primer than its insanley rough. If theres one thing I know inside out its paint
siravarice
New member
Then maybe I should give it another coat and get of these phantom patches?
