First mod started!

[spindle]

Well I've started, last night I got the urge to pull my existing MESH computer to bits, stripped out all the internals, and transfer them to my new Scorpio case. I was going to wait until I'd ordered my new motherboard and processor before doing all this but in the end I couldn't wait, so decided to go with what I'd got.

I'd had delivered new case fans yesterday, two 80mm Vantec Stealth's and one 80mm Akasa multi-coloured led thingy. On advice from this forum I've fitted the two Vantecs to the front blowing through the hard disks and across the motherboard, and the Akasa is on the back exhausting out. The Scorpio case also has another 80mm fan in the pre-modded door, but that doesn't appear to work.

I also fitted the coolermaster aero to the processor, replacing the existing hsf. Boy is that noisy! Fortunately it's adjustable so while I'm not overclocking I've turned it down.

A few problems, the broken door fan will need replacing. The door on the case (a copy of the Zorro type cases) is lit up in three places, but only two are lit - one of the blue LED's isn't working.

Also, I'd plugged the door fan in and it wasn't working, but decided to leave it plugged in anyway. However, for some reason I found Windows to not start up when this was connected, so unplugging it solved the problem. Weird, wonder if anybody could shed light on this. I wondered if maybe the fan does work, but I've not got enough power from the cheap (came with the case) 400W PSU. It's on my list to replace anyway, because I want to run cold cathodes and ev wire in the case too at some point.

I was going to upgrade my Athlon XP 2000+ to a 2800 barton, but I'm thinking maybe I'll wait until the Athlon 64 3000+ are "cheap as chips" and get one of those instead, along with a suitable motherboard. That coolermaster fan isn't going to last I know, it'll drive me mad.

All in all, a pleasant Friday evening, the result being a much more interesting PC that my old boring beige box. Pics to follow when I can find some free webspace.

Added note: When my setup was the bog-standard Mesh I measured the temperatures of the PC using Motherboard Monitor. I was getting measurements of Case 34 degrees CPU Diode 51, CPU Socket 50.

With the new setup with it's improved airflow (even with the dodgy door fan and the coolermaster turned down) I'm getting 29, 44, 44.

[unrealrocks]

Don't forget the A64 2800XP'll be out soon - thats gonna be well cheap!

Sounds good - if you want picture hosting I can stick em up for you ... pm/msn me

[spindle]

Don't forget the A64 2800XP'll be out soon

Really? Great stuff. I see in this month's CustomPC mag that there is a motherboard for AMD64's for £70. Not the best I know, but at least the prices are definitely coming down.

I'll PM you about webspace. Ta!

[spindle]

Just quickly uploaded a few pics to UPLOADIT - I'll be in touch about proper webspace UNREALROCKS, but for now this is a start:

http://server5.uploadit.org/files/gl...ith-mod1_1.jpg
http://server5.uploadit.org/files/gl...ith-mod1_2.jpg
http://server5.uploadit.org/files/gl...ith-mod1_3.jpg
http://server5.uploadit.org/files/gl...ith-mod1_4.jpg

[spindle]

An update (just using this thread as a type of log, sorry if I'm boring you!). The door fan wasn't broken. I had one of the round ide cables touching the back of the fan stopping it spinning. Cable-tied the cable out the way, but really need a fan grill on the back of that fan.

The multi-coloured fan blowing out the back has had to be disconnected as I'm drawing too much power from the PSU and it's stopping my ADSL modem working. New PSU will be ordered soon.

A friend has lent me his soldering iron, now I need a blue LED and I'll set to work on the broken one inside the front of the door.

[serlex]

great mod!

[spindle]

Thanx

It's a fairly simple affair, just a pre-mod case, a bit of tidying inside, and some blinky flashy lights. Got to start somewhere I guess, and it beats beige hands-down!

[serlex]

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=56983

similar case!!!!

[spindle]

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=56983

similar case!!!!

I think that's the Zorro case, of which my Scorpio is a reasonable copy.
See here: http://www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Mod_Cases.html

If it is the Zorro I'm kicking myself because that's CHEAP from ebuyer!

I've just swapped the 400W PSU that came with the case with my original 300W. The watts might be lower but the amp rating on the 300W is higher! Hopefully my modem will stay up now.

[spindle]

A bit of a result. Can't remember now why I needed to open the case just now, but I did, and while it was open I decided to see where the "mystery cable" led to.

The "mystery cable" was the IDE activity cable which I had plugged into my motherboard. Question was, where did the other end go? The case didn't have an LED light on the front.

Or did it?

Turns out the hard disk activity indicatior is actually the bottom light on the front of my case - the one I thought was broken! And here I was thinking I needed to order a new LED, borrow a soldering iron from somewhere and get stuck in!

So why didn't it work??? Well I'd only put the cable in the wrong way on the mobo. A quick swap round (well, 15 minutes actually) and ooooooh.... lights.....

So that's sorted. The window fan which I thought was also broken was also OK, I just had a round IDE cable touching the back of it stopping the fan spinning! Doh...

Anyway, now I have a fully functional case. And now I remember why I opened it up in the first place...

For the first time in 23(?) years of using a computer of sometime, I'm actually using one WITHOUT a floppy drive! The only time I ever need a floppy drive is on the very very rare occasion when I need a boot disk. Except now I have a DOS-bootable CDRW, created using instructions of the net. So I've whipped out the floppy drive, replaced the blanking plate... and pray I never have to plug it in again!!!

One less drive, one less molex plugged in, one less ide cable. Nice!