Photos from the build & mod process. This will be green in the old fashioned sense of the word; no more (or less) earth friendly than any other computer.

Here's a pic to get started.

This will be green in the old fashioned sense of the word; no more (or less) earth friendly than any other computer.

The exploded view.

This is the top rear of the chassis where I will cut another hole for the exhaust fan. Maximum size for the fan will be 90mm or 92mm.

This shows the drive bays; 1 5.25'', 2 external 3.5" & 1 internal 3.5". The HDD mounts in the internal bay which is vertical against the front of the chassis at the right. Eventually I'd like to relocate it to the lower 3.5" bay and cover the external slot for FDD. This would allow space for an intake fan where the HDD currently mounts if I decide I want one.

Paints for the build seen here with my able assistant. Left to right they are Little Mister, primer gray, black & Grabber Green.

Exhaust holes cut in Chassis, Case, & plastic trim piece on top. These holes are pretty ragged but I plan smooth them as best I can and hide whatever doesn't look good!

Here's the blow hole through both steel layers; the chassis & the case. The mobo tray is left out of all these photos. The plastic piece w/ the grill locks into the slots seen on top of the case.

I switched to the short-strand fiberglass filler - what I should have been using in the first place (Thanks Bill Owens!) This will cover the second 3.5" drive bay which I will use for the HDD. (Some sanding required!) I decided to affix the screen grill to the top cover permanently w/ epoxy. I will probably blend it with the Bondo. At that point I may remove the screws and fill those holes as well.

Here's the case & chassis side by side. The shape of the window makes the best use of space available. I could have gone w/ a more regular shape but I wanted to open it up as much as possible w/out showing the side of the PSU or drive bays. *updated to add* This was when I was hoping to find a PSU to fit the original location that would provide the power I want. I've since scrapped that idea and ordered an Ultra LS600 which will most likely show slightly through the window. I've removed the sheet metal piece that is seen here between the drive bays and the back of the chassis.

Here's the case on the chassis. I've since filed the edges and will go with some u-channel or other window molding.

And that's all I've got so far. This project will take a little while even though it's not particularly technically challenging. I'll be ordering parts as they can be afforded. The weather is also limiting my bondo / sanding / painting. It's been rainy and the temperatures have been lingering in the high 40s the past couple weekends. I don't have an enclosed work space where I can do that sort of thingso I'll just have to wait it out!

I'm going to use a CDR/RW I have on hand initially. Eventualy I'd like to upgrade to a combo DVDR + CDR. I have a sound card that might make its way in there along with a USB add-on card. I want to get a fairly large HDD but we'll have to see what's available & affordable when I get to that step! I'm looking at an AMD dual core CPU with a compatible mobo again depending on what's available & affordable. I've got my eye on a card reader / fan controller for the 3.5" bay. I'm planning to splurge on a couple 16mm Anti-Vandal switches for power & reset. Other fun things will be Cold Cathode lighting, LED case fans, and UV sleeving for the cables, all in green.

I've read a bit on the best ways to keep the inside of your case cool. It would have been pretty easy to mount an intake fan up front (still would be) but what I've read suggests that it's more important to pull more CFM out of the case than you push in so I went with an exhaust fan. Is it more important to push as much air as possible OUT of the case rather than pull it IN, fostering a lower pressure environment inside the case? Please take poll below or respond in comments. Thanks!

intakes are always more important as if you have more air going out than coming in dust will get stuck on every tiny hole....

otherwise good work

Thanks Kyle!

What I read did say that there would be a lot of dust in there but wouldn't an intake fan do just about the same? Do I just need to cover possible intake ports with some sort of filter?

Thanks!

I say exhaust.

and going completely against kyle if you have an intake fan then you get more dust going in to the case for instance if you look at an intake and an exhaust fan in a case that has been set up for a few months there will be a lot more dust on the intake than the exhaust you will have less dust in the case with an exhaust.

Josh

I received my PSU and have started to try to shoehorn it into the case. I will need to do some further modification to the chassis to get it to fit but the extent of my mods will depend on just how I mount it. Here is the PSU resting in the bottom of the chassis for spatial reckoning.

Here's the PSU loosely resting in the most desirable location. You can probably tell this will not allow the optical drive to be inserted fully into the chassis. Also, I'm assuming the fan shown here is an intake for the PSU (venting air out the back of the unit and the case in it's intended orientation. If I mount the PSU in this orientation I will probably need to cut another hole in the case so it can draw air, right?

While an intake in this location was not my first choice I could justify it given that the PSU will certainly overheat without it. I do have another comparable grill to mount in that location.

The other option of course is to turn it around but given where the wiring harness exits the PSU that fills my external drive bays with cables!



I'm leaning toward another hole in the case. Opinions?

Wow that case is tiny!

Josh

Josh;

Yes, it is small, isn't it? HP builds these things with some proprietary hardware sizes. (I think Dell also puts one out like this, not sure.) I'm building from the chassis up so I'd like to use more (ATX) standard sized components. There are smaller cases out there but the hardware is arranged to fit better in a smaller space (drive bays vertical for instance.) There is space available in the case it just depends on where I'm willing to place the PSU and whether or not I rethink my window. I do have one complete case of spare parts to fall back on. But I want my window and I want my shiny lights!

Are you going to be running a floppy drive in the case or more than just the one optical? If just the one drive, you might consider putting the optical drive mounted flat on the front fascia. but on the inside after removing the drive bay supports. You could have it placed so the drive tray extends vertically from the top of the case when extended. I've seen a couple cases designed in that way. In doing so, you'd want to give it a very slight tilt toward the rear of the frame. The orientation works with a lot of cd/dvd drives as they have small tabs that hold the media in the tray. It might give you the extra room you require.

Scirocco that is a great idea! I'm going to give it serious consideration.

I have want to use a card reader / fan controller just under the 5.25" bay and was planning to use the additional closed off 3.5" bay for the HDD. I'd have to relocate both of those well.

I love compact cases!
The speaker mesh is sweet for intakes - nice use - Oh, the exploded view shot is awesome too

If you keep the PSU there, you will be better served pointing the intake towards the panel - or else the 120mm fan will be competing with the smaller-fanned CPU cooler for airflow - which is bad for CPU temperatures.

Come to think of it, are you going to have room for a CPU cooler in there??
If not, have a look for an SFX or slightly longet TFX power supply (all known as SFF ones), they're way smaller, lower wattage, but good enough for an average system - go check out FunkyStickman's O-Scope project - he uses one

*edit* from a second look, I think that the case is actually made for an SFX PSU

As for intake/exhaust theories:
With the setup you have, I'd personally try and squeeze both in there - If you can't, just go with the exhaust in the top.
I'm a fan (*groan*) of slightly more exhausts than intakes (i.e. negative pressure) because I like making sure that the hottest air gets out of the case-trap as soon as possible. This system will suck in air from any other ventillation spaces in the case though (you will see them from the dust accumulation around the edges of external drive bays) but it's not that hard to clean 'em

Best of luck with your mod!!