Removing HDD cage to fit 290X Lightning

ElliottC420

ElliottC420

ElliottC420

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Stupidly I ordered a 290X Lightning (dispatched yesterday) thinking that it'd fit in my Zalman Z9 case. Turns out I'm going to be about 13mm off and am kind of lost as to what to do.

I can get hold of a power drill to pop out the rivets holding the lower HDD cage in but even then the higher part of the cage will be obstructing the card. (see image below)
** No hotlinking **
http://www.pureoverclock.com/wp-con...view/cases/zalman_z9plus/zalman_z9plus_10.jpg

I have a hack saw but I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to be sawing part of my case open just to fit a graphics card, or if it will even cut through. Have any of you guys had any experience with modding cases and can you see any way around this?

Worst case scenario is I'll have to return my 290x and go for a Galax 970 or something similarly priced, I'd very much like to fit the 290x though if it is possible.
 
What I will say is if you end up cutting or drilling any part of the case to remove all the components and properly clean out any metal swarf.

Don't want to be shorting anything out!

Is it a windowed case? I suppose removing part of the HDD cage wouldn't matter if not.
 
Yeah i'll make sure to get rid of anything left over in it after I'm done, the case has a window but it doesn't show the front side of the case so it won't be visible when the side panel is on.

Also the case is only temporary, i'll be picking up a new one in the coming months.
 
It's an old picture with my old 6950 and a custom cooler, but I had to remove the cage in mine.

20131208_234656.jpg


Just drilled out the rivets with the case completely stripped down, then hoovered out any swarf and that's it.
 
Hmm, I'm pretty sure that the PCB and backplate will end up going into the upper cage though. (The card is 302mm long)

How would you go about removing part of that? Or all of it? (I only have one hard drive, and I'm sure that I can rest it at the bottom of my case for the time being)
 
Also do you recommend running the PSU with the fan facing down? I have it facing up at the moment as I had a reference blower style 290 before so it wouldn't have affected it.
 
If it is just a case of rivets holding the parts in you need out you could just drill them out like you say. IF the whole HDD rack is seperate from teh case you could always just cut it down once you have removed it, maybe cut it by exactly one HDD bay so it still lines up with the other bays, then just hold it in place, mark up the rivet holes on the HDD rack, drill them, and replace the rivets with some bolts, although it looks like you would need very flat bolt heads so they dont interfere with sides of the case closing properly. You could use countersunk bolts then just use washers to recieve the counter sink on the insde before you pu the nuts on i guess.
 
BluD said:
If it is just a case of rivets holding the parts in you need out you could just drill them out like you say. IF the whole HDD rack is seperate from teh case you could always just cut it down once you have removed it, maybe cut it by exactly one HDD bay so it still lines up with the other bays, then just hold it in place, mark up the rivet holes on the HDD rack, drill them, and replace the rivets with some bolts, although it looks like you would need very flat bolt heads so they dont interfere with sides of the case closing properly. You could use countersunk bolts then just use washers to recieve the counter sink on the insde before you pu the nuts on i guess.
Click to expand...

I'm going to try to fully remove the lower cage and just cut away a section of the upper cage with a hack saw while it is still in the case. If that doesn't work then yeah I'll have to do what you said with the flat bolts (I think I may have some actually).

The 290x came today and there's no way in hell it is fitting in the case as it is right now. Such a shame as I have a ton of games ready for me to bench it with :mad:.

At least I got some Haribo :D
 
It's all just riveted in, I drilled them out and it all came out no problem. My hdd is in one of the 5.25" bays held by bungee cord.
 
After a few painful hours of drilling and worrying I finally got it done, ended up removing both the top and bottom hard drive cages. Some of those rivets are really determined to stay in aren't they?

Cable management is non existent but I'm pleased to say that everything works. Also, the 290x Lightning is as loud under load as my OG reference 290 was at idle. Very happy with it, the lights are cool too.
 
Glad to hear it. Its much more satisfying resolving a problem rather than giving in and sending it back like some people would do.

Sounds like you have a nice card, worth all the effort i hope :)
 
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