HP Compac DX2300 Case Mod

[Vamprie]

This is a project that me and my brother have been working on since August. He was in need of a new computer and he wanted something that was unique looking so we decided that we wanted to do a case mod. I had this old HP Compac DX2300 just laying in my room and I had no real plans for it so I asked if he wanted to use the case and he said that he liked the look of it so we decided that we were going to use it. We thought about some ideas and we decided that the

case should have a side panel window, be painted black on the inside and the rear and we hade to figure out a better airflow solution since the case only had a rear 92mm fan mount originally.

 

(We don't have all of the components yet, that is why there are non installed in the case. We are thinking of going with Ryzen since it has good price to performance.)

 

 

I looked at the front of the case and thought that we maybe could mount a 120mm or 140mm fan in the front to solve the airflow problem.

 

 

I took some mesurements and it looked like it would fit, but we needed to cut away the grille and some of the surrounding panel to make space for a new panel that we could attach to the case and then mount a fan to it. So I started by removing the grille with a Dremel and after that I sketched out roughly where we hade to cut to make space for the new panel.

 

 

We used metal shears to cut the panel. Then we made a panel from sheet metal that fit in the front of the case and mounted it with some rivets. we used rivets in stead of screws to make it look more factory.

 

 

I made some mesurements to see what size fan we could fit and it turned out that 120mm was the largest that would fit. So we used a hole saw to make the hole for the fan and drilled 4 screw holes around it that we used to mount the it. I hade some rubber vibration dampers that I got from my 200R case so we put those in the screw holes to get rid of some of the vibrations from the fan. We test mounted a fan to see how it all would fit. It looked good so we got to work on the side panel window.

 

 

We measured and sketched out where the acrylic would fit the best and then we cut the panel with the metal shears. I then put some rubber trim around the edge to make it look a bit nicer and then attached the acrylic with some double sided foam tape.

 

 

It turned out that we hade to modify the front panel connectors becasue they were going to be in the way of the fan otherwise. I cut awas as much of the plastic as I could and then used a hot glue gun to seal and protect the cables. I had cut away the mount for the FPCs when earlier so I just glued them to the front panel. I drilled a hole beside the fan so that the cables could enter the case. 

 

 

Because this is a HP case, it was designed for a specific motherboard and that means that you can not remove the I/O shield. So I used my Dremel to cut it away so that we could fit another one insead. It took it's time but in the end it worked out great. I test fitted an old mobo and a I/O shield (wich was not the correct one but it worked for testing). Those were the major things that had to be done before I could paint the case.

 

 

I masked of the things that I did not want to paint and painted the rest with a black semi gloss spray paint. I am not the best at painting but I think that it it looks decent. The inside was a bit hardes since there is less space and more nooks and cranys that had to be painted. 

 

(Sorry for dark pics)

 

So here we are then, a few months later we have a unique case that nobody else has. Mission acomplished

It was a fun and educative project that I learned alot from

 

Thanks for reading and I would like to hear what you think about it in the comments!

 

[Theguywhobea]

Wow that looks really good dude, nice job.

[Vamprie]

Just now, Theguywhobea said:

Wow that looks really good dude, nice job.

Thanks!

[AnalogCanavity]

I would recommend these 2 fans for the case, a I really like the mods

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/GxrcCJ/silverstone-case-fan-fw91

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NcQypg/noctua-case-fan-nff12industrialppc2000pwm

[Vamprie]

29 minutes ago, Zic05 said:

I would recommend these 2 fans for the case, a I really like the mods

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/GxrcCJ/silverstone-case-fan-fw91

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NcQypg/noctua-case-fan-nff12industrialppc2000pwm

We already have a Corsair ML120 Blue LED for the front. but those would be good as well

[Vamprie]

Bump

[NelizMastr]

Something to keep in mind, but the front of that HP case is closed, so the intake fan won't have a lot of fresh air to breathe. Maybe you should get creative to get some air in there

[Vamprie]

3 hours ago, NelizMastr said:

Something to keep in mind, but the front of that HP case is closed, so the intake fan won't have a lot of fresh air to breathe. Maybe you should get creative to get some air in there

Might seem like it is not open, but the lower half of the grille is actually open so that air can go through