Thanks, Jack!
I got the foam from PerformancePCS. It's also available from FrozenCPU. The stuff is expensive but it's worth it. I used it in my present case and all I hear from my computer when I'm sitting three feet away from it is the gentle swoosh from the front fans sucking air through the filter and that is just barely. There is a long thread over on Overclock.net on the problems people have had with PPCS but I've never had a problem with them...yet (knock on wood).
I didn't get anything done Sunday. A friend and I drove up to Crown King, AZ to see what it was all about. Except for the four years I was in college in Abilene, TX (the longest decade of my life), I've lived in AZ since '56 and had never gone to Crown King so when my friend suggest a day trip up there, I was all over it like stink on skunk. Once we left the interstate, it was mostly unpaved road with some "interesting" stretches where the road was really narrow with steep drop offs on one side. Crown King was a quaint little community in the pines. We ate at a curious little restaurant (the only place to eat there besides the general store, a sub shop, and the saloon, the latter two looking a bit disreputable). The place looked like a dump that had been there a hundred years (it actually was only 19 years old but was built from salvaged materials, some used rather creatively) but the service and food was excellent. I found the cutest little Vice Grip type locking pliers at the general store that were only 4" long; I bought two of them. I had had a rough night the night before so after we got home, I crashed.
I had another rough night last night (allergies and leg cramps) so I went back to bed after being up for a couple of hours this morning and didn't stir my stumps until 11 AM. I ran some errands this afternoon including an Ace Hardware run and picking up the sheet of acoustic foam I had ordered along with some more parts from my mail service.
One of the parts I got in was some black 4 pin fan connector bodies to replace the ugly white ones on the top and side fans. I broke a lug on the back fan when I temporarily installed it so I could glue the aluminum back fan plate on so I had to order another fan (and a spare). Once it gets in, I'll replace the connector body on it. Having pin removal tools certainly made life easier when swapping out the connector bodies.
After swapping out the connector bodies, I installed the top fans and grills. I had to use sheet metal screws that I had cut the tips off of so I wouldn't cut myself up reaching up in there.
This is an inside shot. I also have the fan splitter cable installed but I need to install some cable clips to keep the cables properly corralled. It's a pity the trailing edges of the fan blade don't have the chrome colored stripes the leading edges do; they give the white spinning fan blades a pearlescent look.
And another shot of the top.
I had to get some washers to finish installing the front grill and fan. The mounting ears on the fan look a little Michael Mouse but they won't show once the front panel is put back on.
This is the back fan plate I had to glue on so I could lay out the acoustic foam.
Here you can see why I needed the plate glued in place. It would have been impossible to hold it in place while laying out the acoustic foam for the back of the case. The foam will cover up all those ugly cut out edges. The plate and fan will sandwich the case so the glue won't be the only thing holding it on there.
In addition to changing out the fan connector bodies, I also needed a cable to go from the fan hub to a fan header on the MOBO. The company that made the fan hub also makes a cable for it but, at only 30cm long (roughly 12"), it was a bit too short so I bought a 60cm fan extension cable and cut it down to 38cm (roughly 15"), replacing the male connector body with another female one. I had fun crimping on new pins because they and the wires are so tiny, my eyes are not all that great, and my fingers are fat.
Although I was cutting off the end of the cable with the male connector on it, I wanted to see if I could salvage the connector body by removing the pins. I bought a set of four pin removal tools when I made the cables for my present case but I didn't know for sure what one of the tools was for. I know now. It's for removing pins from male fan connectors that have a hood over the pins (the ones that don't have a hood have the wires soldered on; you have to unsolder the wires instead of removing and replacing pins). Learn something new every day.
If I feel up to it, I'm going to tackle the foam for the back of the case. I also need to do the sides of the top of the case but I need to cut some little 1/4" thick by 3/4" square blocks to space the cable clips above the foam and make holes in the foam to clear the blocks before I can install the foam and the clips. I didn't know how big the base of the clips were going to be until I got them today. The clips have an adhesive backing that will secure them to the blocks and I'll use 3M Mounting Tape to secure blocks to the side of the top of the case.
Well, I've bored you all long enough.
Last edited by Lady Fitzgerald; 20 May 2014 at 01:35.
That's a nice mod and would allow more rad space if one uses water cooling, which I'm going to do.
I like the top fan mod but I forget the reason for it. Those are exhaust fans, correct.
@ Gary that would be a great mod. for a push/pull radiator.
This case mode is going along quiet smartly.
Lady don't forget to save a Corsair Logo. When you get don't you might forget what brand of case you started with.
Correct. I even have them installed in the correct direction (). The reason for the mod is the original top grill would have let in huge amounts of dust and made getting positive case pressure impossible. The shroud was a fairly quick and dirty way to seal the massive air leak without looking dorky. It will also let me rotate my laid over CPU cooler 90° to make getting at it and my RAM possible without pulling the MOBO.
Your funny!
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