As I already put in space for an 80mm intake fan, into which I'm going to put a coolermaster 80mm Red LED fan I figured it'd make sense to put in an 80mm exhaust fan. Due to the size of the case, there is no practical way to fit a PSU to the outer walls of the machine, so I'm going to mount a small one inside the case, probably above the RAM sticks on the motherboard, or against the side without the daughterboard, with a power extension going out to the outer shell but that may well change depending on the shape and size, as well as available space. As there is going to be a pretty good flow of air front-back inside the case I don't think the PSU being internally mounted will matter - it'll draw air from inside the case, and expell it back into the case. I wouldn't dream of doing that with anything more powerful, but I think it'll be ok due to the low thermal demands of this system. What I will do is make sure the exhaust on the psu is closer to the case exhaust to increase cool air going in and reduce the amount of time the hot expelled air hangs around.
There's a problem though. The rear of the case isnt big enough to mount the motherboard as it stands, in it's chassis part, and an 80mm fan without going into the edge of the lower part of the case. Solution - dremel time...
And at the same time, might as well get rid of a load of the excess metal on the daughterboard tray too - it was important to the original chassis, but in this case, it's just adding weight...
So we go from this....
To this....
And before anyone starts screaming about iron filings and cutting heat - yes I did remove the daughterboard before cutting :p
I left a little of the top section in for structural rigidity - it actually has a small part which prevents flex on the daughterboard, but took out as much as possible.
Then I had one of those annoying thoughts you wish you'd had BEFORE you cut somethin.... The original plan was to simply put the power and HD activity leds on the front. But then I realised... the HD won't be used at all except for during boot - and the power should be pretty obvious from the LED fans that'll almost certainly end up in here - so now I'm considering running cables from the NIC activity LEDS - one to a red, one to a green LED - red being external internet NIC or dangerous part, and green being the internal LAN or safe part of the system. Spose i'll have to dig out my multimeter and fire up a card to see what voltage LEDS they use - see if it's a practical idea or not...
Further to this, I also thought about making a little alu panel for the front of the case - only about 2 inches square - and re-mount the power button and leds on that. Even if it isn't going to see much activity, I'd like a HD access LED anyway. I am also considering mounting that panel on a piece of 3mm plexi with a angled edge, sanding the edge of the plex a-la defyants frosting, and having a glow all around the panel for a power light, then the button, hd access and NIC activity lights inset on the panel....
One other idea I had but I'm not 100% on this one yet - I don't really want the harsh lighting from a cathode in there - I figure a combination of LEDs from the fans and other ones I'll put in will be enough lighting for the case as it's so small... The heatsink on the CPU has a black plastic shroud on it...
And I was thinking about removing it and replacing it with one made from plexi, again sanded to get a frosted look, and with a couple leds embedded in it to give it a glow...
i know some people like to plan every aspect of every mod before they start, but I kinda like lettin chaos have SOME say in the process lol
EDIT: Actually, just had a thought of sorts - if I get a mini-atx power supply like the seasonic I keep finding on the net - that has an 80mm fan in it - that'd fit where I was planning on having an exhaust fan, it'd act AS an exhaust fan, I'd be able to mount it directly on the outer wall too, and most of it should be hidden by the bit of the top cover I didn't cut out for a window - might just solve about 3 problems in one :D
EDIT 2: Got one of those lil seasonic psus - tis a lil longer than i'd hoped but it'll do nicely :D Now I just need some extra length screws to get thru the 4mm sides of the case....
