G-Dubs
New member
The thing about Modding, the problem as it were, is it's an itch that has to be scratched once in a while. Trouble is, the more you scratch it, the worse the itch gets.
Having managed not to scratch mine for nearly a year now it's all gotten too much for me and I just have to undertake a Project.
The particular itch that's been tickling me for a while started nearly 2 years ago when I began a mod of an old (very old) Thermaltake Mozart case (Project Modzart). Sadly the project was never completed, however it did serve to provide inspiration, as I simply fell in love with the interplay of Mate Black and Copper.
As you can imagine having decided on the theme I was "delighted"
to see that Alpenwasser already has a Black and copper build well underway. I won't pretend for a moment that i'm in his class, but I do hope to bring together something interesting and individual.
This will most likely be a slower burner project, and whereas a large amount of the plan is decided a lot of it will evolve as I progress through the early stages of planning and the build. So without further ado.....
Project plan
Case
this will be the Excellent NZXT Phantom 630. Having reviewed it a few months back I was rather taken with it. In Particular the build quality and the Excellent Matte Black finish.
Hardware
At present i'm planning to use the Hardware currently inside the NZXSPC build that it my current daily driver/gamer machine. This may change, in particular i'm hoping to get enough funds together for a new GPU.
Cooling
None of the cooling has been decided upon. However I am planning to mod the case to accept not just a 360 in the roof, but a 360 in the front also. With that amount of rad I hope to be able to go down the lower fan speed route but we'll have to see.
The exteio of the case will remain largely unchanged however I will be modding in a full size window replacing the letter box affair the case came with. and of course losing the fan and the grill in the door.
A few changes are going to be made inside. Although the 630 will accept a 240 in the front it has to be a fairly slim affair. OK, so the drive bays can be removed but unfortunately the plinth on which they stand is still just a little too high to enable a thick rad or push pull set up be put in here.
Main rack removed with a 2 drive section moved to the posterior position
With the plinth entirely removed there's no way to mount the drive cages.
The solution is to cut the anterior section away along the line shown by the ruler and replace the posterior section
I'll also going to have to take out the 5.25" bays (after first checking that our chosen alternate reservoir pump option is viable)
Fortunately it's a mix of screws and rivets and should be an easy enough job. Failing that I'll just chop the base out
So that's the plan so far. Some ideas are firm, others are still evolving.
Having managed not to scratch mine for nearly a year now it's all gotten too much for me and I just have to undertake a Project.
The particular itch that's been tickling me for a while started nearly 2 years ago when I began a mod of an old (very old) Thermaltake Mozart case (Project Modzart). Sadly the project was never completed, however it did serve to provide inspiration, as I simply fell in love with the interplay of Mate Black and Copper.
As you can imagine having decided on the theme I was "delighted"
to see that Alpenwasser already has a Black and copper build well underway. I won't pretend for a moment that i'm in his class, but I do hope to bring together something interesting and individual.This will most likely be a slower burner project, and whereas a large amount of the plan is decided a lot of it will evolve as I progress through the early stages of planning and the build. So without further ado.....
Project plan
Case
this will be the Excellent NZXT Phantom 630. Having reviewed it a few months back I was rather taken with it. In Particular the build quality and the Excellent Matte Black finish.
Hardware
At present i'm planning to use the Hardware currently inside the NZXSPC build that it my current daily driver/gamer machine. This may change, in particular i'm hoping to get enough funds together for a new GPU.
Cooling
None of the cooling has been decided upon. However I am planning to mod the case to accept not just a 360 in the roof, but a 360 in the front also. With that amount of rad I hope to be able to go down the lower fan speed route but we'll have to see.
The exteio of the case will remain largely unchanged however I will be modding in a full size window replacing the letter box affair the case came with. and of course losing the fan and the grill in the door.
A few changes are going to be made inside. Although the 630 will accept a 240 in the front it has to be a fairly slim affair. OK, so the drive bays can be removed but unfortunately the plinth on which they stand is still just a little too high to enable a thick rad or push pull set up be put in here.
Main rack removed with a 2 drive section moved to the posterior position
With the plinth entirely removed there's no way to mount the drive cages.
The solution is to cut the anterior section away along the line shown by the ruler and replace the posterior section
I'll also going to have to take out the 5.25" bays (after first checking that our chosen alternate reservoir pump option is viable)
Fortunately it's a mix of screws and rivets and should be an easy enough job. Failing that I'll just chop the base out
So that's the plan so far. Some ideas are firm, others are still evolving.
And why is that so, when you go in something it allways going to be EPIC all the way. And that makes going crazy in my head, i will also love to do something like this. Or will like the skills 
