Jase's Fractal Design Core 1300

Hi, I'm Jason and I would like to share my computer build with you.

Recently binned my Antec 902 case, good case but all the plastic molding on top was very hard to clean so dust just stayed in the edges.

I have downsized to a Micro ATX case.

A Fractal Design Core 1300 and to go in it : an ASRock 970M Pro3 mobo.

Brief case review : I didn't realise the 2x drive bay cage was fixed, so had to drill it out to fit my large 60mm deep rad, same with HDD mounting plate. Also not much room for cables behind mobo tray so side panel bows out. However large cutout for CPU back plate is great.

Brief mobo review : USB3 socket halfway down at the rear, cases cable loops right outwards, looks silly. 24pin socket is a struggle to get plug in properly.

Current innards. Plan to change the loop when funds allow, maybe add gpu to loop if i can source a full cover water block for it. Also a side panel window.

SO...my rad is multiport which means there is a drain port plug on the bottom which meant it didn't line up with the front mount fan holes, so I had to make a hole in bottom of case for the drain port plug to sit in.

Marked position by scratching with a screwdriver, drilled several holes then slid an allen key through each hole and rotated it to snap the holes apart from one another.
Didn't mark it accurately enough as it was hard to measure drain port on rad, so drilled more holes etc.
Cut excess sticky outy bits off with cable cutters then filed the edges.

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Fractal Design Core 1300 front window mod

After pulling the front cover off the case, I drilled each of the 4 external corners and scored with a stanley knife around the outside of the (larger) rectangle.



Then out came the cross section using a junior hacksaw.



With the front cover piece out of the front panel I then filed flat the 4 parts that the cross section had been fixed to.

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With a straight edge I joined the lines I scored with the cross section still in. (I used a set square for this but it was a bit long hense the wonky line top left of pic - it filed flat though)

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I tried cutting through with the stanley but it just wasn't happening. So out came the drill again to create a few holes in a line so I could slip the blade of the junior hacksaw in them and get sawing down the scored lines.

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Front panel piece done, not perfect but it'll do. Also the clear acrylic window is fixed using 3mm double sided sticky tape.

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JOB DONE. I have always aimed for a green theme so one day those white fans will be painted green and maybe a bit of LED lighting added. Also those copper fan/rad screws that you can just make out will be painted black.

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