CM Storm Sniper Mod

[insomnarium]

Hi, guys!

I'm about to make a bold move, since I have no experience with modding cases, so I would like to explain my ideas to you and consult about a few things first.

I'm a proud owner of a CM Storm Sniper since 2009, and I love it's design and everything, but looking at some new cases out there, I can notice some nice new trends that weren't around back in 2009. First of all, I own "vulgaris" version of Sniper, which means it has silver internals... I was banging my head against brick wall when "black edition" was released just a few months later, and wanted to paint mine black completely ever since. But more recently, I got some more ideas.

First of all, motherboard pan, or whatever it's called (sorry, not a native English speaker). I want to expand it so it goes all the way to the HDD and 5.25" rack. Originally, Snipers have short motherboard pan, so cables that go behind it are still visible, and that bugs me a lot. After expanding, or even replacing the entire motherboard pan, I want to make holes and place a bunch of rubber grommets (I found some guys selling them, if anyone is interested, I will post the link).

Second, cable sleeving. Sniper cables look ugly "naked". I plan to completely sleeve all cables inside, and maybe remove those I don't use (firewire, etc...). That will make cable management much easier, and it will look much more nice that way.

Third, powder coating it black.

Here are some photos representing before and after, made in Photoshop...

What I am the most interested about is does anyone here have an experience with modding motherboard pan? Can I just remove it and replace it with the new one made by tinsmith? I mean, I will certainly have to remove bolts, and bolt entire thing together again when process is complete, but won't it compromise case structure? Any tips and heads up?

 

[Conchubair]

Looks like a nice plan, do you plan on changing the fans at all to match?

 

[Feronix]

You might want to check what it costs to mod this versus what it costs to buy a new case, but if this is what you want, I think you've definitely got some nice ideas.

As long as you do a build log

 

[MadShadow]

*Motherboard Tray

 

[insomnarium]

I might swap the rear exhaust fan for the Cooler Master fan with LEDs to match the ones in the rest of the case, but only if I can find ones with the separate power cable for LEDs. My friend recently got CM JetFlo 120 fans, and they look completely sick in the dark!

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The only problem is they are just too loud at 12V, and the lights dim when you use voltage regulator, since they have no separate cables for fan and lights. I still have to make up my mind about that one.

Regarding the mod costs, it will still be cheaper than many decent cases out there, and I don't feel like retiring Sniper yet, so yes, this is what I want to do. And project log will be done.

 

[S_I_N]

looks like a great idea I had the sniper black edition at one time and did some mods to it. Nothing like the new mobo tray. But stop and think about it for a minute. You might be able to just make a piece that adds to the lenght instead of making a whole new tray. Kinda like tom did for his Orca build. Just an idea that might save ya a ton of $$$ and time. What I mean is it'll bolt to the mobo tray just under the mobo so it hides the seam or maybe even wrap it with some vinyl wrap to hide the seam.

 

[insomnarium]

You got the point! I will just bolt another blanking plate over motherboard tray (0.5 mm tin plate should be enough, I guess) and paint everything black.

 

[tinytomlogan]

I dont think they sell the stock fans with the LED cable do they?

Does your case have spare LED power cables then (cant remember)

 

[insomnarium]

Yeah, Sniper has two 200 mm fans with spare LED power cable which you can turn on or off on the top of the fan speed potentiometer.