Antec Nine Hundred mod?

[Nagoshi]

first post in quite a while :)

Ill be selling my laptop soon (ASUS G1, lack of customization and too weak for gaming) and with the money Ill be getting a quite nice rig;

Intel C2Q6600
2x2Gb OCZ XTC PC2-8500 Platinum
eVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS 512Mb
500Gb Seagate 7200.11
eVGA 750i SLI FTW
OCZ GameXStream 700W SLI
Antec Nine Hundred
Two CoolerMaster blue fans (one on TRUE120, other one on side panel)
TRUE120 (Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme) CPU cooler

Not yet tho, since the laptop is still not sold. Id like to maybe mod the antec a little bit, maybe paint the whole steel frame a color (either a metallic blue or black). Im also planning to use some sound-activated LEDs (I did the tutorial somewhere, but its been quite a while so I dont know where it is now ^^') and I will move the front fans for better air cooling and light effects.

http://www.fixitfor40.com/images/desktop1.jpg

-The 900 has 9 bays, each front fans takes 3 as it is an HDD case
-I will move them so that it has a pattern of 1-3-1-3-1 instead of 3-3-3
-I will put my beige DVD drive at the top bay (will open it, and paint the tray and front bezel black)
-If I have the money, I will buy a fan controller that will be in the mittle bay. I may as well build mine, but I will need some help for that. Would control any controllable LEDs with that custom controller too, as well as monitor system temps with that if I can.
-Being said, paint the inner frame black of blue, but rear of computer (I/O panel) will be black.
-May custom paint companies' brands on the case, such as OCZ, eVGA, Antec, Thermalright, CoolerMaster, etc., altho I dont know where I would do this. Maybe beside the side panel, a bit like ricer cars when they put all their companies' brands on their doors.

Anyone else knows what would be good to do with that case? Ive got a dremel ready and quite some tools (2 or 3 boxes of 300 tools each LOL) and a whole summer to do this.

Will eventually do a worklog when I will begin, but not now, as I need some $1,500 first from my laptop.

EDIT: May also paint the whole case, since IMO that case could look pretty in a glossy look... May paint it either blue or red. Id have liked to have the lighting red, but I would have to change a couple of fans, and well my PSU is going to have a blue LED in it, so might as well do with what I'll have. Would a red squarish case with blue lighting be cool, or simply too colorful? Id use some kind of bright red which would remind me of a Ferrari, or something deeper.

Another thing, could someone point me out to some can painting tutorial? I don't have the money to get a compressor and an airbrush, so I will do the inside paint with some Krylon or Rustoleum (or similar products) but I dont know if it would be great for the outside if I decide to do so. Last one, should I put a layer of primer on the metal prior to painting the inside, or just put the paint?

[Fuganater]

I think your idea sounds great. I have the 900 as well and I love it the way it is. I will never mod that case. (Esp cuz its like $60-$115 depending on the sale) And it look uber sweet the way it is. I also really like your 1-3-1-3-1, just be mindful of your placement for different things. Like the for the 8800GTS to fit in that case you need to go ALL the way to the back of the HDDs so just remember that when your planning.

Other than that I'm /sub and waiting for that work log.

[Nagoshi]

Thanks for the reply. Its nice knowing some people out here have the 900 :)

Ill forget about painting the exterior, as I do not have the time for the at least month of drying, I will need to move the case some times till the end of the summer. So Ill stick with only painting the metal frame. Can someone tell me if the case is being held with rivets or screws? cause if it's rivets, Ill have a hard time painting it (as I do not want to take out the whole thing apart and trying to make it hold back without the rivets). May simply use some newspapers and masking tape, along with a sharp Xacto knife.

Ill only be using a single hard drive for now, unless I can get some kind of decent deal on two drives, but Ill manage to get them out of the way from the hard drive. I won't have 90-degrees SATA wires, so Ill have to deal with what I have.

I may have an issue with the power supply's CPU 8-pin wire not being long enough to run under the motherboard tray to the top left corner of the board, so there's going to be at least one wire hanging out in the case, but Il ltry my best to hide it.

I should have mine for quite cheap, at NCIX I could get it at 89.99 which is cheap i na combo sale, and I dont really mind voiiding the warranty. Ill dremel out some holes for wire management as, Ive heard from other forums, such a thing is quite hard in this case. So Ill be pulling all my wires behind the mobo tray.

I would also like to cut out a bit of a fan's plastic around the fan to make it slimmer and having less of a big square lighting up all around the fan, which is supposed to be round, so Ill find a way to do that on a spare fan I have around when I will have some time with a dremel. If it turns out great I may post some kind of tutorial around.

Im also thinking about asking some electrical geek around to build a fan controller and temp monitor if he can, which would be build in some kind of old CD drive housing and would be fitted direcly into a front panel unless I can think of a fancy thing to do (use an old CD drive, turn it around, put the knobs in the tray so that I have to open the drive to access the controls). Will also stealth any CD drives by glueing the tray to the front bay panels, may reroute the eject button somewhere on the case, don't know where yet tho. The 1-3-1-3-1 idea will remain, and I will put the CD drive in either the top or bottom, since I won't be accessing it that much. If I can get myself that fan controller/monitor, it will be placed in the middle, but if I can have that "stealthed" tray controller then I would place it at the top.

[3pcon]

you could just drill out the rivets and replace them when your done. I really like the Antec 900 case but for one thing. I would take the window and cut it so its in one piece instead of the two its in it stock. And for the fan controller you could put it in the little tray on top of the case and make a panel for it so it looks real clean. Maybe you could do a little bondo work to give the case a cleaner look also, But with what ever you put your work log on here so we can all see how its coming!