Bitfenix Prodigy - Fallout 3 Case Mod - Vault Boy

[ciobanulx]

 

 

Table of Content

 

First post

Front panel mod

Components Overview and Mods Update

Top panel and power/reset switch mod

Top panel test fit, floor mod, front panel acrylic, custom case feet, acrylic side panel test fit, case disassembly

Painting the case

Case assembly and overview

More case overview and rad grills painted

Top lights on

Front acrylic panel test fit

Front panel acrylic rad test fit

Front panel complete

Completed case overview

Bitfenix case badge painted, side panels on

Specs, build log start

Build log banner update

Final shots of the case

Components overview

Components update

Painting rads update 1

Painting rads update 2

Painting rads update 3 and overview

Motherboard arrival and testing

Painting SSD and EK Monarch RAM Modules

EK Monarch RAM modules installation

Pump top arrival

Pump and res config

Painted pumps and test fit

Cables sneak peek

EK R9-290 Water Block

R9 290 Water Block and Back Plate Installed

Motherboard Covers

 

 

 

 

Just last week I stumbled upon a fairly cheap Bitfenix Prodigy on Gumtree here in Australia. Having wanted to do a build in a Prodigy ever since it came out, I immediately contacted the seller. I found out he was pretty close to where I was and I managed to get the case that same day for $60.

 

I then purchased a rotary tool and decided to mod the case in order to fit a 280mm rad in the top and a 240 in the front. The mods I will be doing are inspired by Singularity Computers Client Build 6.

Here is a link to the build log on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWYPRHLWSBL6pG-4RFgzQeQ-nBH3sKNGv

 

The idea is to do a Fallout 3 themed build inspired by the Vault Boy. This is in anticipation to Fallout 4 (whenever they decide to announce it) and also because Fallout 3 is my favorite game of all time (let me know if you agree).

 

I'm probably just gonna name this build "Vault Boy" unless I come up with a better name until it is finished. Also I'm just doing the mods at the moment as I have no idea what components I wanna put in it, I'm probably gonna wait for the Devil's Canyon CPUs and new NVidia GPUs. The only components I will be buying at the moment are the rads as I can't really complete the mods without them, fans, pump and res. I will also mod the side panels with windows on both sides.

 

Once I am done with all the mods I will buy a power supply and have a go at sleeving and custom length cables for the first time. This is also my first time modding a case.

 

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the Prodigy before I started to cut into it so here is a picture of the stock case for those of you who are not familiar with the case:

 

So here is what I have done so far:

 

I took the front panel out, removed the mesh and cut along the sides just leaving the edge where the clips are so that it will still stay on the case.

 

I then used a hand file to take out all the rough bits and also 400 grit sand paper to smooth everything out. Probably went to far on those top two corners but I at least managed to make both sides look the same. I will also be painting this and the whole case, except the top and bottom plastic feet.

 

I also cut the front of the case

 

This is where I am at so far. The idea is to put a 10mm acrylic panel on the front of the case with a 240mm rad mount in the middle. I will be painting the case blue with the front panel sides yellow, similar to the Vault Boy colors. I will use a combination of blue, yellow and black sleeving for the cables, and Mayhems yellow fluid with rigid tubing. And I was thinking to use a dark blue transparent acrylic panel for the front and mount the 240mm rad to that. And for the top I will use the Koolance 280mm shroud. I will be using Cougar 120mm and 140mm blue LED fans.

 

I will make an order for the rads, fans and top Koolance shroud this week. When that comes I will cut the top of the case to fit the shroud, buy the acrylic panels to finish the mods and test fit the rads and fans. I will then paint the case.

 

Let me know what you guys think.

[Bagmup]

Hey, Prodigy brother 

 

We should collaborate haha. Subbed

[Prömetheus]

Nice

Can't wait for the finished product

[BloodWithIce]

OMG SUBBED

[Manny Calavera]

TOtally subed

[Noctus]

Fallout inspired case.

 

 

^ One of the best sentences on this forum...... SOO subbed ! 

[ciobanulx]

Hey, Prodigy brother 

 

We should collaborate haha. Subbed

 

Your Prodigy looks awesome. Might you be on the Gold Coast as well?? I can see from your build log that the front panel on the white version is different that the black version. Looks easier to cut. After I've cut mine, because of where the pins are it just doesn't look that good as I couldn't cut all the way to where the silver sides. However it had a mesh going over it so I might be able to use that somehow on the sides.

[ciobanulx]

Fallout inspired case.

 

 

^ One of the best sentences on this forum...... SOO subbed ! 

 

Hahaha agreed :D:D

[Bagmup]

Your Prodigy looks awesome. Might you be on the Gold Coast as well?? I can see from your build log that the front panel on the white version is different that the black version. Looks easier to cut. After I've cut mine, because of where the pins are it just doesn't look that good as I couldn't cut all the way to where the silver sides. However it had a mesh going over it so I might be able to use that somehow on the sides.

Nah mate, I'm up on the Sunshine Coast, yeah, the white version panel was solid, wasn't too bad to cut out but I'm a mechanic, so I have a lot of tools that make it a lot easier.

You shoulda put this in build logs.

[BloodWithIce]

 

Nah mate, I'm up on the Sunshine Coast, yeah, the white version panel was solid, wasn't too bad to cut out but I'm a mechanic, so I have a lot of tools that make it a lot easier.

You shoulda put this in build logs.

Can I ask which town from the coast are you from?

[Bagmup]

 

Can I ask which town from the coast are you from?

Beerwah mate, you?

[BloodWithIce]

;

Beerwah mate, you?

Bokarina

[ciobanulx]

Nah mate, I'm up on the Sunshine Coast, yeah, the white version panel was solid, wasn't too bad to cut out but I'm a mechanic, so I have a lot of tools that make it a lot easier.

You shoulda put this in build logs.

 

Yea all I have is a $40 ozito rotary tool from bunnings haha. I might need to buy a jigsaw to cut the acrylic. What did you cut the acrylic with? Yea I figured I'll put it in the build logs when I'm done with all the mods. Might be a while till I get the mods done with final uni exams coming up in a few weeks and then probably a few good months till I can actually afford to buy components. I'm happy with my current build at the moment so this is just a mod project for now thought I'm really exited to keep working on it. Yours looks so good

[Bagmup]

Yea all I have is a $40 ozito rotary tool from bunnings haha. I might need to buy a jigsaw to cut the acrylic. What did you cut the acrylic with? Yea I figured I'll put it in the build logs when I'm done with all the mods. Might be a while till I get the mods done with final uni exams coming up in a few weeks and then probably a few good months till I can actually afford to buy components. I'm happy with my current build at the moment so this is just a mod project for now thought I'm really exited to keep working on it. Yours looks so good

Yeah I used a jigsaw with a fine tooth blade. I also have a compressor and air tools.

Your current build is epic, better than anything I'll put together.

[ciobanulx]

Yeah I used a jigsaw with a fine tooth blade. I also have a compressor and air tools.

Your current build is epic, better than anything I'll put together.

Yea will most likely get a jig saw, I don't see how I'm gonna cut a 10mm acrylic panel with a rotary tool lol.

 

Thanks a lot mate, I'm also real happy with how it turned out the only thing I would like to do to it is make my own custom cables, individually sleeved and custom length. I can barely close the back panel on that build haha. When I'm done with the mods on this case I will be scouting for a power supply on eBay or Gumtree that I can play around with.

 

I'm sure your build will turn out real good. From what I've seen so far it looks awesome. Real good work on those mods. Real keen to see how you manage to fit that 280 45mm thick rad in the top and a 240 in the front. From my measurements I should be able to fit a 45mm 240 in the front and a 30mm 280 in the top. I haven't bought them yet so I'm probably gonna wait and see how you fit yours first and I might try to fit 45mm top and front.

[ciobanulx]

So I did a little more modding to the front panel sides because I didn't really like how it looked

 

I decided to cut the mesh that was on the front panel, bend it and wrap it around the sides of what's left of the front panel.

 

 

It looks a little better but I still don't really like it. Once I get the acrylic panel in there you won't be able to see the rough bits on the inside and I'm also gonna paint it. So I'm gonna wait till I get the acrylic panel and see how it looks with that and if I still don't like it I might just make the whole front acrylic.

 

Let me know what you guys think about the front panel and how it looks with that mesh. It will probably look better if I make the whole front acrylic but I'm gonna have to polish the sides real nice so hopefully I can figure out how to do that.

[Bagmup]

Awesome, I like that a lot.

[ciobanulx]

Small update on the project

 

Sorry for not posting anything on this for a while but I have been very busy studying for finals and haven't really made much progress. Just brain storming different ideas in my head haha. However I have acquired more tools, materials and other bits and pieces for the mods and some components. The idea is to have every thing that I need ready for after my finals and then I can just dive into it.

 

Just to let you know a few of my ideas for the mods:

• I decided to scrap the whole front panel bit that I worked on as I just don't like how it turned out
• Make the whole front panel 10mm blue transparent acrylic and mount the 240mm rad and fans straight to that
• I have also decided to try and make both side panels out of clear acrylic completely
• Paint the whole case, inside out, including the bottom and top handles/feet with some kind of blue plasti dip, a blue that resembles the colors of the vault boy. I decided on plasti dip because I think it looks good and also easy to apply for my first paint job
• Paint the 280mm Koolance shroud blue as well
• Have various bits like screws and grills painted yellow, as well as the fluid will be yellow and yellow/blue sleeving, to balance the blue out
• I will be using acrylic in the floor of the case and also to cover the PSU sides
• Reposition the power and reset button to the back of the case (thanks to @Bagmup for the idea)
• To paint the case I have decided to pop all the rivets out and take it completely apart. I will then probably rivet it back or use 5mm M4 bolts or something.
• Plasti dip the radiators

That's pretty much it for the mods I think, unless I come up with other ideas in the mean time. I have everything I need for all this except the plasti dip and the 10mm acrylic.

 

My Performance PCs order arrived yesterday so I'm gonna show you what goodies came in it:

 

• Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 280mm Radiator
• Alpahcool NexXxoS XT45 240mm Radiator
• Cougar CFD140 x 2 - Blue LED Fans
• Cougar CFD120 x 2 - Blue LED Fans
• Koolance 280mm Shroud
• Various fan/rad grills
• EK rigid tubing
• EK RAM Block X2
• Various Bitspower Fittings and other bits
• Bitspower 3 inlet res cap, I already had a Bitspower 150 res

Love the look of these fans

 

I also bought two Laing DDC Pumps off Gum Tree for $50. Unfortunately Performance PC sold out of the dual DDC pump top that I wanted and I had to buy from a different place but that hasn't arrived yet.

 

These DDC pumps look different than the normal ones so I'm eager to get that pump top and test them out. The seller said he tested them a day before I bought them and they still worked and I think $50 for both was a pretty good deal. Hopefully they work well. They are quite ugly in their stock form but with the dual pump top and I'm also gonna build an acrylic housing for them, should look pretty good.

 

 

As I said before this is mainly a case mod project so I am mainly buying watercooling components at the moment. I have decided on a power supply however that can be sleeved easily, I think lol (having never done sleeving). I will be buying that once all the mods are completed. The PSU is the SilverStone ST75F-GS 750W Strider Gold Power Supply, might go with the 650W but I think it's only $15 to $20 cheaper. I also think I'm gonna go with the MSI Z97I Gaming motherboard given that it will work with Broadwell. Until Broadwell is released the cheap Intel Pentium G3268 looks like a good chip to play around with. As for GPU, the R9 290 is looking pretty cheap on eBay atm and I already have some G Skill ram laying around.

 

So that's it for now, will probably post a short update when I get that pump top. Otherwise I'm gonna continue the mods after my finals. The last one is June 26th, two weeks from today .

 

 

 

 

 

[Bagmup]

Sometimes I wish I had done what you have and swap the radiator thickness, my 240 is 30mm and the 280 is 45mm. I had to mod the Koolance shroud as well so that the rad sat flush, oh well, live and learn

I'm waiting on my pump and gpu block to arrive, hopefully soon.

[ciobanulx]

Sometimes I wish I had done what you have and swap the radiator thickness, my 240 is 30mm and the 280 is 45mm. I had to mod the Koolance shroud as well so that the rad sat flush, oh well, live and learn

I'm waiting on my pump and gpu block to arrive, hopefully soon.

I did a sort of hand test fit and I think I will have to cut the bottom of the case anyway, due to the end tank on that rad. However I will not know for sure until I fit the shroud and top rad and fans.

 

Looking forward to more updates on your build. Looks really good so far . Seeing you work on yours will hopefully give me enough satisfaction so that I can stay away from mine til after finals haha

[TheTiger]

Looks great, I'm looking forward to see the finished build! Followin!

[Tearass]

I'll just really quickly follow this...

[ciobanulx]

So its been more than a week since my last update. 2 exams down, 2 to go. One tomorrow and the last on Thursday. Anyways, after pretty much non-stop studying all weekend I had enough! I could not stay away from the build so I went ahead and worked on the top panel and a few other things.

 

 

Turned out pretty good I reckon. I haven't checked if the rad fits through but I went a bit over my measurements so it should fit.

 

 

Also cut the hole for the power and reset switch in the back

 

 

After some filing it fits pretty well

 

 

Drilled the holes for the front panel acrylic. Hopefully you can see them. I still need to get the front panel acrylic.

 

 

I also had a go at taking some rivets out and completely removed the top panel

 

 

 

And that's about it. I probably shouldn't have removed the top panel as I still need to drill holes in the bottom for the case feet I got and probably will need to cut the bottom for the front rat to fit properly. Anyways I will be getting some M4 or M5 bolts to put the whole case back together once I paint it, so I will just get that now and put the top panel back. I guess things like this happen when you're to excited hahaha.

 

I'm still waiting for the pump top for the two DDC pumps to arrive, I still haven't tested them. Hopefully the pump top is not lost, it has no tracking unfortunately.

 

Stay tuned for big updates at the end of the week and over the next weekend. I will be purchasing the paint on Thursday after my exam, a whole bunch of bolts and finishing pretty much all the mods. I will then paint the case

[Bagmup]

Looks good mate. I had to cut a bit extra from the roof because I carefully measured it without the blanking bungs in haha, they add another 5mm or so to the length.

[ciobanulx]

Looks good mate. I had to cut a bit extra from the roof because I carefully measured it without the blanking bungs in haha, they add another 5mm or so to the length.

I also didn't measure that haha. Hopefully I went enough over my measurements for the rad to fit. Will test it out tomorrow. With the power and reset button did you just cut the PCB? so that just the power and reset bit is left