Computer Mod

This is my very first instructable so tell me what you think. I looked on here for computer mod stuff and only a few things turned up,(making a window, etching on your window) so I decided to give all of you computer modders the full version of "modifying your computer".
Materials you will need:
1)plexiglass
2)small 1/2 to 3/4 inch screws
3)drill with bits
4)a way to cut your case material (in my case a dremel cut right through the metal)
5)hand screw driver
6)masking tape
7)File
8) 1/4 inch tubing
8)anything you think would look cool on your computer (I used some neon orange wire sleeve, blue cold cathode light, light up ATA cable, and SATA led cable)
There is so many computer mod sites I used http://www.xpcgear.com/casemodding.html

Step 1 The Window

The first and most basic computer mod is to add a window. So lets get going.

The first thing you will want to do is decide if you want to have just a hole, a hole with tubing around the edges, or a hole with tubing and plexi-glass (a true window).

Take off your door panel and look at your computer for any parts that will prevent your door from fully closeing. In my case it happened to be a support beam for my power supply and the lip at the rear of my case. These parts caused my first attempt to fail. So measure and measure again.

Add 1 1/2 inch of clearence to your measurements to allow for the extra plexi-glass. Then mark your window on your case useing some masking tape and start cutting.

Comments

[Dannne11]

Nice mod!
But you suck at cable management.

[shtihl]

Cold Cathode lights do have a limited life span but the control box and switch are basically the same so when it comes time to replace the light bars, you dont have to completely uninstall them. kudos for thinking of the 4 inch bars. make sure you completely clean the surface you are going to mount to as this will cause the tape to come undone

[shtihl]

the correct name for the ATA cables is IDE cables and the "4 pin power thing" is called a molex connector and what the author is installing in this step is lighted SATA and IDE cables that use el wire.

[equinox55]

You can also use about an inch of heat shrink on the ends to prevent fraying and it looks less tackey

[shtihl]

you can use a hot knife (a putty or butter knife heated with a torch will do) to melt the end of the sleeve after it has been cut. this makes it easier to use the heat shrink and gives it something to grab making it more secure

[b4andafter5]

Or you can use electrical tape. It's easier.

[apr1694]

electrical tape gets bad over time and when removed it leaves sticky-ness (also the dust gets through the gaps and sticks there)

[equinox55]

but heat shrink looks nicer

[R.A.T.M]

dang it hass to get hot in the computer u have a water cooled with some air fans in a custom i prob did not need the water but go big or go home

[craig3]

Do you think UV lights will still look good if i already have some red LED lighting in the case? the LED cabling is just around the window, which wont interfere much with the inside of the clase glowing is i use red uv active cable covers, right?

[TSC]

Sweet! sweet! sweet! sweet! All the do day long!!

[bmx__chris]

It looks water cooled, great job!

[CaseBoy]

i so want to do ome thing like this for my xbox

[sephiroth67]

Small flaw here. There are still HDDs that use ATA cables, and there are high speed CD and DVD drives that use SATA. I personally have no old style ATA cables anywhere in my rig. Traded it all for nice slender SATA cables!

[tokymaru]

My custom pc has both ATA cables (which i only included for my old HDD) and SATA, although i haven't taken the time to make all my cables look pretty and organized... ill eventually get around to it....

[Mario1]

again we drop silent "e" so it's tubing not tubeing

[LetsExplodeSomething]

 give him a break doush

[sick_f#ck]

wow m8 this looks grate!Nice work.i like window design coz its inovative :) keep up that good work :)

[The Compiler]

I wouldn't leave it open because of the dust and the air circulation inside the pc, it's really a bad idea. Flo

[bowmaster]

If its open it's way easier to clean out the dust.

[DrCoolSanta]

PCs get dusty anyway. Second, your hardware stays cooler, trust me.

[The Compiler]

Sure, but much less dusty. And the hardware doesn't stay cooler. Normally, one fan sucks cold air into the pc, another one gets hot air out. So if you open it, that air-circulation is interrupted, making your fans non-operational. Flo

[DrCoolSanta]

Nope . . . I have had stuff that would heat up fast, opening the cabinet keeps it a little cool. Like so many of my hardware, especially GPUs that heat up fat work when the cabinet is open but not when closed.

[keethrax]

A good case will keep your important bits cooler while closed. Because it will be designed to channel air appropriately. A overloaded, or just plain bad case will be cooler while open.

[Gamersunited22]

(removed by author or community request)

[DrCoolSanta]

Noob just because my GPU would get heated up if I don't open my case? I have proof since it happened to me. STFU please.

[polird]

I agree. when I open up my case, all the temperatures go up because the air flow stops. In a good case, air moves from the front to the back, but with no side, there is no air movement and therefore the air just sits there. The only time your components will cool with an open case is if it is very cheap. DrCoolSanta is wrong.

[DrCoolSanta]

Asus NVIDIA EN7300GS is cheap hardware, yeah lol. I may be wrong, but by quoting a situation, I just telling what happened to me and how I fixed it. If you can infer something else do that. And anyway, I am talking about the cabinet I got on my HP PC, yeah I know its not an uber rig, but something from HP can't really be a sucky case.

[johnathon007]

any oem pc is a sucky case, none of the big companies like hp, dell, or gateway use anything that is even good enough for using as a garbage can.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194 thats the one i use and if i take the sides off my temps go up 20c

[Pumpkin$]

Working on a case mod TUT. my self, the open case idea does not sound that bad...

[Mad Cat]

Hey, can someone help me with my computer? I use a AMD 4000+ and have the stock fan and a fan on the back of the case, but when I play games like San Andreas and Doom 3, the processor reaches around 95 degrees celcius (seriously). What do I do?

[junits15]

well I would try runnig the computer with the case off, to see if it is a circulation problem. Then if the temperature drops to acecptable levels just ad some more case fans, you could tap into the molexes for power. (and clean the heatsink and add some new thermal grease.)

[Mad Cat]

Yeah I tried all those things, but it didn't work. The computer was replaced but the one with the problem now resides in a relatives office and happily does word processing and Internet browsing at a freezing cold 72 degrees Celcius LOL.

[punkatsub]

you could also try removing the heatsink and if the stuff between the heatsink and processor are powder more than liquidy, remove the powder and replace the stuff with a thing called thermal paste

[it_dont_work]

72-80 degrees is about the right operating temp for the athlon cores.they were a hot little chappy

[punkatsub]

really?, most computers generally like to run at about 30-40 degrees.

[it_dont_work]

yea the amd socket A and the begining of the 939 series where hot little buggers sitting at about 60 degrees with the stock cooler at idle was about average. 80 under load and but 90 is exploding range. if your intel is running over 50 degrees full load your cooler might not be clean enough of dust or your thermal compound is dead (unless you've taken the sink off the stock thermal compound shouldn't need changing for a LONG time) my core 2 duo sits at 43 under heavy load, a clean dust free case with good cable management and air flow is the best way to cool a pc before going nuts with extra coolers and fans or water cooling.

[punkatsub]

yeah my intel 2 duo which i have ocerclocked to 1.68ghz, is always on the 30-40s

[polird]

you can get a better cpu fan. if you have 775 socket i recommend Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. It's huge, but my cpu stays in the 40s under max load with the fan at minimum. Its also very quiet and cheap. Or you could use water cooling, but that is very pricey. All the high temps like this that i have read about have been with AMD though. I use intel.

[ekulmeekul]

ahhhhh yeh i would undo all that overclocking you have done! or if you haven't done any the heatsink probably isn't making contact with the cpu! no cpu should be getting to those temps with a heatsink and no overclocking! But hey it is AMD ur dealing with here!