[Staff Project] NZXSPC Modding and Painting

Staff Project NZXSPC Modding and Painting

Published: 11th July 2012 | Source: OC3D Forums | Author: Gary Wain

Modding and Painting

By now you should have all been over to the Forums area of the site, visited the Project logs section, and seen all the glorious projects that are underway. Like me you've probably seen a few that really stand out as favourites. If you still haven't managed to make it over there, then shame on you, you're missing out on a great aspect of the site and missing the opportunity to exchange knowledge with your fellow enthusiasts. But remember, the Forum isn't all about modding and projects, there are many different sections catering for pretty much all aspects of this gloriuos habit of ours. So do yourself a favour and get on over and have a butchers. Who knows, you just might be able to help answer a question that someones posted, or perhaps find the solution to that issue that's been bugging you for ages

Onwards with Project NZXSPC then. In this update we're going to be looking at how we've needed to mod the case to enable our plans to come to fruition. Modding should never be seen as critical of the manufacturers plans, We think of it more like tailoring a suit. Taking something that we like, and adjusting it to fit us perfectly

Removing HDD bay

First up for the dremel is the Lower section of HDD bay. With it removed you can clearly see how the area opens up. And yes, our measurements were right, the XSPC rad won't fit.

Cutting 5.25" bay floor

Next step is to remove a section of the floor area of the 5.25" drive bays area. It is possible to remove this whole area, however this wasn't needed as there was enough access to get the dremel in. Please note these are pictures of the initial cuts, the edges will be cleaned up and painted to match the rest of the case.

Test fit of front radiator

With all the necessary metal work removed we can now test fit the rad and the res. You can see that the end tank of the rad protrudes through the floor a good 15mm, but still plenty of room to house the XSPC 750 bay res, and plenty of room for a nice tidy plumbing job to be done.

Side panel window

Last bit of cutting before we pack the trusty dremel away is to cut a new side panel window and to cut a piece of acrylic to size to fit the new shape. We've chosen to leave the protective film in place until we're ready to stick the window into the panel, that way it reduces the risk of marks and scratches.

Painting the fans

As you know we're something of a fan of the GT 1850 here at OC3D towers. You may also know we're not big fans of its looks. Not to worry though as a quick lick of paint turns these ugly ducklings into beautiful swans (OK, well not quite swans but you get the idea). After sanding, cleaning, priming and undercoating, the cowilings have been given a coat of matte black and the fans themselves a coating of Gunmetal grey to match the case.

So that's the bulk of the modding done, of course there's a bit more to it than that and a fair few things that aren't shown. So guys if you want to have a more in depth look at this build or any of the many other great projects that are going on then you'll have to get yourself over the Project logs area of the forums. But be warned, many an innocent peruse of the modding section has turned into a serious modding habit.

Most Recent Comments

26-05-2012, 14:31:56

SavageCupcake

hi guys

going to be getting a muskin chronos 120 gb soon for windows, programs and a couple of games (BF3) to go on

i currently have a single wd caviar blue 500gb. how should i go about transferring stuff? ive got windows 7 OEM so i should be able to re install it due to having the same mobo etc?? will i have to reinstall all my programs? will my steam games be affected? any help would be great

26-05-2012, 15:08:05

jamesriley94

I always do a clean install. Write down the programs and just download and reinstall them. Gets rid of all the junk on the pc.

As for steam, yes it will be affected. You need to go onto in steam, right click a game and click back up game files i think it is, then back up all games so some folder of your choice.

After reinstalling steam after getting the new SSD, you can restore all the games straight from the saved backup folder. Beware though, you cant choose individual directory locations for each individual game. So, if your steam games amount to more than 120gb, or around 90gb after windows installs, it wont fit on the SSD, so you may have to put them all on the old hard drive. To do this, while installing steam after getting the new SSD, create a folder on the old hard drive called Programs, or Steam or something, then choose the directory as that to install the Steam program to. Either that or just choose not to restore some of the games as I take it you dont play all your steam games every day.

26-05-2012, 15:12:37

SavageCupcake

i wanted to leave the steam games on my hard drive mate

ill do a clean imnstall then, my music and photos wont be affected on my old hdd wil they?

26-05-2012, 15:16:48

jamesriley94

No they wont, but to get to them you'd have to go like, users - (username) - music which is kind of awkward. It'd be better if you'd move my music and everything out into the root of the drive, then delete the windows folders as you dont really need them, and it'll just make things awkward

27-05-2012, 05:12:44

McRoger

After reinstalling steam after getting the new SSD, you can restore all the games straight from the saved backup folder. Beware though, you cant choose individual directory locations for each individual game.

27-05-2012, 07:13:38

jamesriley94

Seriously?! This has happened 3 times to me now, people just copying and pasting parts of my posts, all it is is just spammers trying to get their post count up! Maybe if you research things yourself you'd actually have a valuable input into the thread instead of just being a worthless aubergine.

27-05-2012, 13:22:14

Master&Puppet

Make sure you download the latest firmware for your ssd. The sandforce controller has had some issues in the past but each revision of the firmware has made things much better.

27-05-2012, 14:01:02

SavageCupcake

is the muskin chronos a reliable drive? or should i save up a bit more and get a corsair force 3 or crucial m4?

dont want to have it dying on me

27-05-2012, 14:15:55

jamesriley94

I'd play it safe and get the crucial, even if it was double the price of the mushkin.

27-05-2012, 14:21:33

SavageCupcake

well the mushkin and crucial are both 90 quid at aria

crucial it is then

[Staff Project] NZXSPC Modding and Painting