Project: A+ Monolith case mod

[Ragshnak]

Hello Everyone!

 

So here i am asking for some tips and tricks for this new mod project i've started! =)

 

The reason i'm modding this case is because i want to give it more life and more use than it have been (hidden in the closet). So what i'm gonna do is to make it more modern and more watercooling friendly. The original case doesn't have bottom mounted PSU, black painted interiors, cables behind the motherboard tray, radiator mounts or fan mounts (only 2 120 fan mounts 1 front and 1 back). But it also had these 2 massive 250mm fans that was mounted on the sidepanel. This case was my first fulltower gaming case and now it's time for it to become something more functional and more pleasing to the eyes (hopefully).

 

pic of original case:

 

 

So what i've done so far with this case:

 

- drilled out every pop rivet to take the case apart.

 

- i have permanently removed the 5,25" and 3,5" cages (optical and hdd). This gave me alot of space to play with. =)

 

- inverted the motherboard tray and "backpanel" to make the PSU bottom mounted. because of this the case is now inverted, motherboard will now be setup upside down and on the opposite side.

 

- Made a mounting for a 420mm radiator in the front with the help of a 420 radiator desk stand. Before i could mount it tho i had to cut out some metal in the front and drill some holes to mount the plate with.

 

- Changed LEDs for the logo on the frontpanel to green (original is blue).

 

 

What i want to do in the future (stuff i might need tips and tricks from you guys =P):

 

- Making a mount for 360mm radiator in the top of the case (already bought a phobya grill to use for this, but have not yet done the work so to speak).

 

- Making some ventilation holes for the 420mm front mount in the front panel of the case. Not sure if i'm gonna do these holes just random or get a mesh to make it look symmetrical or if i should do something else for this.

 

- Cable managing is gonna be a little different since i cannot and won't make the cables go behind the motherboard tray. So my idea here is to use cable canals and then make holes where the cables need to come out.

 

- Cut the sidepanel for a full view window. i'm gonna try to get some help with this and if i'm lucky i will get it watercut.

 

- Not sure about this one but i'm thinking of maybe hiding my PSU with a shroud or something like that. 'cause the cable canals won't hide the cables coming from the PSU and in front of it there will probably be a mess. BUT instead of a shroud i could choose not to cut the whole sidepanel and just make the sidepanel cover the PSU and the cables from the bottom.

 

- Also the whole case will get repainted outside and inside to the color black (it has some marks in the paint and will need a repaint).

 

 

The album of what i've done is on imgur and on there, there's some more info in some pics with some ms painted ideas on. Here is the link for the album: http://imgur.com/a/uQNit

(please tell me if i'm not allowed to post links, i use this album since i'm on multiple forums for this mod!)

 

The mod will be themed in black and green colors.

 

If my english is a little weird here and there don't hesitate to correct me (if needed) since it's not my main language.

[byalexandr]

Well it's... Not bad, I would've just bought a new case and modded that because that thing isn't even painted inside (even though you are going to paint it).

[Guest Johnny5g]

where can i buy the unmodded case?

[CydiaDash]

Looks promising, followed, looking forward to this. You are allowed to post links don't worry.

[Ragshnak]

Well it's... Not bad, I would've just bought a new case and modded that because that thing isn't even painted inside (even though you are going to paint it).

Well the point is to mod THIS case so to speak

 

But this isn't at least not right now the case i will be using as my own computer case but will probably be used for a home server. I'm mostly doing this mod for fun since i've never done a project like this before and i'm super hyped to see how the endresult will be!

 

 

where can i buy the unmodded case?

I don't think you can buy this case anymore, i only know the market in sweden though but i'm sure you can google and see if you can find it somewhere where you live!

 

 

Looks promising, followed, looking forward to this. You are allowed to post links don't worry.

Thanks! =)

[byalexandr]

Well the point is to mod THIS case so to speak

 

But this isn't at least not right now the case i will be using as my own computer case but will probably be used for a home server. I'm mostly doing this mod for fun since i've never done a project like this before and i'm super hyped to see how the endresult will be!

 

 

I don't think you can buy this case anymore, i only know the market in sweden though but i'm sure you can google and see if you can find it somewhere where you live!

 

 

Thanks! =)

Well if it's just for fun, then well have fun! Your English is not bad btw, some people on here who speak English natively have awful grammar and spelling.

[Guest Johnny5g]

Well the point is to mod THIS case so to speak

 

But this isn't at least not right now the case i will be using as my own computer case but will probably be used for a home server. I'm mostly doing this mod for fun since i've never done a project like this before and i'm super hyped to see how the endresult will be!

 

 

I don't think you can buy this case anymore, i only know the market in sweden though but i'm sure you can google and see if you can find it somewhere where you live!

 

 

Thanks! =)

where did you get it? where do you live?

[Ragshnak]

Well if it's just for fun, then well have fun! Your English is not bad btw, some people on here who speak English natively have awful grammar and spelling.

Thanks!

 

 

where did you get it? where do you live?

I live in sweden and when i got it i was an intern in a computer repair shop. So i don't remember where we bought it from. Though i'm pretty sure this case is no longer in production so i would suggest to look for it in the second hand market. I made a quick search and i could not find it in stock in either newegg or amazon.

[Ragshnak]

Ah i didn't realize i used swedish words on my pics with my ms painted ideas. I think you can still figure out what i mean on them tho.

 

2 new added pictures in the album, old photos but never uploaded them before.

[Ragshnak]

Mod update:

 

So today i've worked a little with the cable canals and testfitted them in the case. I've uploaded an image on how it looks and some estimation ideas for the res, pump and hdd/sdd and where those will be located. the white cable canal will also be painted black.

 

So now i've gotten the radiatorgrill i ordered. Now i'm just waiting for the 360 rad, res and pump i bought from a user on a swedish forum. With all that stuff i should be able to do most of the stuff before i send the stuff to get painted.

 

I've also now decided to not do a full view window but instead just cut it so that you won't see the PSU and the bottom of the case (where all cables and the pump will be located).

 

Also i still have to mod the front panel so it will be able to take in more air which i still don't have a good idea on how i should do it, ideas are welcome! =P 

[Ragshnak]

Mod update:

 

New day and more work!

 

A few days ago i finally got the secondhand watercooling parts i bought! When i got them i testfitted it all into the case and it looks promising. It might be a little cramped but with the right fittings everything should work out fine! I will do a testfit when i get ahold of a CPU block that works for both AMD and Intel, the testfit will be done with some spare tube i have and non-compression fittings i have laying around. The final build will have compressionfittings (most likely monsoon gold/orange fittings).

 

After that testfit, i realized i needed a fan hub so i got myself a phanteks PWM fan hub which will be placed behind the motherboard tray. When i placed it there i noticed that i would need some more holes in the motherboard tray that did not exist at the moment so i had to take it out and cut some holes. With that done everything should be able to get behind there and get plugged in. While working on this i also figured out a way to mount the white cable canal, i was pretty lucky since it lined up perfectly with some holes in the motherboard tray so i only needed to drill some holes in the cable canal and use some PSU screws to lock it in place! =)

 

On monday i will send the top of the chassie and the sidepanel for watercutting, we'll see if it is possible though because my contact wasn't sure he would be able to get it done for me, but we'll see, the important thing is that the sidepanel gets a nice and straight clean cut since my own abilities will not make any perfect lines with the dremel =P. The top i can fix myself if needed since even if i do a poor job following the lines they will be hidden under the radiator grill and the radiator, but it would be so nice if they could fix it!

 

3 new pictures are added in the album, i had some issues with the pictures in the album overview mode (might just be for me) but i had to actually click them to view them.

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention one more thing. In the frontpanels bottom area i'm thinking of making a big hole and then put a mesh behind it, tho i'm having a hard time finding mesh that is not very expensive.

[Ragshnak]

Mod update:

 

Today i have been doing a mod to the bottom part of the front panel, it's an alternative mod which i can scrap if i want but i'd like some feedback from you guys if possible!

 

I have already uploaded 2 new pictures with the mod, the mod i've done is my alternative for mesh but i don't know if it's good enough or if it just look bad? I have been drilling some holes (homemade mesh) into the bottom part of the frontpanel for ventilation. So the thing i'm asking is if i should scrap this and go for mesh instead or keep it as is? If i keep it as it is i might wanna do some more holes for better ventilation but not sure on how, either i make another row inbetween the 3 rows of holes that exists right now or i make like an "X" pattern if you know what i mean? I'll upload a paint picture with the "X" pattern to make sure you do know what i'm talking about! =P

 

I've also did some soldering, i changed the power- and HDD-LED to green from blue. forgot to buy 3mm LEDs before so...

 

I have another question to you guys as well, what do you think of maybe painting the motherboard tray to "razer" green instead of black?

[Ragshnak]

Finally got the sidepanel and the top of the chassi back from the watercut and it got perfect! (picture in the album)

 

Now i'll just need to get a glasspanel that is the right size for the sidepanel hole. =)

 

I just have to do some more ventilation holes on the sides of the frontpanel and then i might be close to be done. before i send it to get painted i'll do a testfit with the stuff i have, i don't have a CPU block (yet atleast) so i won't be able to do a real test loop so i will just have to do some kind of "if i had a cpu block" test. 

 

So before i'll send it to get painted there's ALOT of sanding to prepair it for the paint.

 

to be continued...

[Ragshnak]

Mod update:

 

 

So as you can see in the picture i've finally made a testfit with the parts that i could use, the only thing i couldn't really test was the whole waterloop, but it should not interfere in anyway, anyway. I have also updated the album with more images than this one. It's supposed to have a GPU- and CPU-block but unfortunately i don't have any which i could use for the test fit. in the final waterloop i will use some angles to make somewhat straight tube runs but i will also do some bends/curves since i will use soft tubing and not hard, tho that is something i would like to try some day. =)

 

So before i can send it to get painted i will need to figure out a drain system for the loop, but i'll need to get a hold of some fittings and etc. Which means i will need to drill a hole in the bottom of the chassie for this drain system.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts about the work i've done so far. I'm pretty happy with how it is atm since i didn't expect much from myself. =)

 

It might take a while before i will do the next update on this i'm afraid since i won't be buying all the things i need to finnish it right now. 

 

EDIT: The glass window will be attached after the paint is on there! =P

[Ragshnak]

Mini update:

 

Built and bought my tap for emptying the loop. I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the chassie for the tap tube that will go through there. Album is updated with new pics.

 

This is the last thing i've done for now since i will soon send it to get painted and after that is done i will go ahead and buy the rest of the watercooling and get my window cut for the sidepanel.