Look What I Just Recieved in the Post!

gr1mey

gr1mey

gr1mey

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Look What I Just Recieved in the Post! ATCS 201b

ATC_FRONT_CLOSE.JPG


ATC_INT.JPG


Well, quite frankly its a mess at the moment - the case is covered in greasy finger marks (probably from a house with kids). There is a large amount of dust built up around the fan grills, and worst of all there is that nasty sound deadening foam all around the case!

The grease and dust can easily be remedied, but this foam is gonna take some removing unfortunately :mad:

And when I turned the thing on, just LOL, its like a damn hoover, so many fans inside - ok its doing a nice cooling job, the CPU idles at around 30'c, but the noise is TOO MUCH!

Specs of the components for those who care:

ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
P4 Northwood 3.06 ghz - CoolerMaster Aero Fitted
512mb Generic RAM
ATi 9800XT 256MB (AGP)
120GB 7200rpm Maxtor SATA HDD - this is enclosed in the Vantec HDD cooler - which IMO is responsible for 25-30% of the wretched noise being emitted by this beast.
Sony DVD-RW (4x)
Enermax 350w PSU

I'm gonna start stripping the thing down shortly, and I will post some pics of it later on after a good old clean up (and empty) I plan to use the components in a HTPC Im going to be building very soon (hopefully based on the Antec NSK) I need to think that through a bit more now, and DEFINATELY purchase a new skt 478 cooler, this aero is too loud!!! :p

Love the look of the case other than that though - its gonna be real nice when Im finished with it!

Im not 100% sure what Im doing with it yet, more than likely it will become watercooled, and house my current Opty/Ultra-D/RAM when I upgrade to a conroe based system - but other suggestions are welcome! maybe a silent air project? Im just not sure! :)
 
Last edited:
DaveBennett said:
Preety nice case, but even from the pics it looks as greasy as hell! Also, is it just the light in the pic or do the face plates on the blank disk drives not match :S

Dave
Click to expand...

they do match, just the flash from the camera.
 
Well, after almost a whole day of work on the case (I did have to pop out to the merchant to get a few supplies) the case is now stripped down, dusted, cleaned, polished, and most importantly - and the most time consuming part was to remove all of that awful sound proofing sheize. In the end I had to give in to trying to to scratch the chassis too much, and bought a wall scraper with a stanley knife blade in, scraped the worst off, then I had to soak the adhesive with white spirit, scrubb it with a nail brush, then scrape the rest off with the scraper, wipe it down, I then had to sand all the scratches away with a sanding block! The adhesive was unbelievable, so sticky, it was like jelly after being soaked and clung like mad to anything!

But I think the results are worth it, and I hope you all agree.

JFYI it was a nice day so I moved outside to do the work - also the natural light is much nicer than have to use the flash ;)

ATC_FRONTRIGHT_OUT.JPG


The front two 80mm fans have been removed, they were over-clogged with dust, and loud anyway, so they will be replaced with some nice quiet ones, maybe Sharkoons or maybe Akasa Ambers. The top 80mm fan was removed, and the grill cleaned, but I replaced it for the moment - it will most likely be replaced as well.

ATC_FRONTLEFT_OUT.JPG


Only 3 Blanking plates with this case, so I put the CD drive in, it will most probably not remain, but is good for the photos. Also a few PCI plates missing, but thats not a problem, they can be sorted out once I know how many I need with the final system installed.
 
ahh cool, thats a good tip for future reference - I was thinking about have the interior of the case painted anyway, so that should hide some of the blemishes that are there... :)

all black interior...mmm
 
cmon what should I do with this case?

dare I butcher it and cut a rad into the top? I'd probably have to cut the PSU bracket as well if I do this...?

or should I build a radbox for all the WC gear and try and route the tubing through a PCI bracket or the 80mm fan??

suggestions for what to do here please!!! :)
 
oh Im confident I can do it well. I did take a jigsaw to my £170 silverstone case, so this, albeit a classic isnt quite the same league in terms of money.

I can just about squeeze a 120.2 rad in the top there, with sacrificing 2 5.25" bays.
 
I didnt buy it thinking it was one of the rare, older Black Widows - I bought it fully knowing what it was, and for the sole reason that its a great looking case (and the components that were inside were good for a HTPC).

Where you got the idea that I payed silly money for a case I thought was something else rather confuses me tbh.

so no, I am not "Gutted" as you put it, in the slightest, infact Im well happy.
 
CaSh_MoNeY said:
Gutted....

Still a nice case tho mind
Click to expand...

you deny it?

its none of your business how much I paid for it, and in any case I cant put a price on it, seeing as I bought a complete case full of components.
You were suggesting that Im a fool for buying the case under the assumption it was a Black Widow - when in fact I never knew about any of this dispute about whats one and whats not - I bought the case purely as a ATCS 201b-BXT, which is what was stated in the descritpion of the item - and is what I recieved.

You jumped to a conclusion there.
 
not really touched about it at all - you just narc me off for your comment - you know what you said, and implied.

I aint bothering any more, you just turned my nice post about a case I bought and restored into potential flaming.
 
back on topic.

Ive kinda come to the decision that Im going to make a radbox, to sit under the 201b, it will house a 120.3 rad, with a black aquacomputer grill, a pump and res, Im not decided on specifics yet.

Maybe an Aquaextreme 50z
Thermochill PA120.3
not sure about res, I did think about externally mounting a tube res on the opposite side to the rad, that might be cool...

I also plan to plumb the whole thing in 15mm copper pipe...I will route the pipes from the back of the radbox, up the back of the case, and inside via either 2 15mm holes above the 80mm rear fan, or maybe through a PCI slot - not quite sure yet.

Gonna try and make a start on the radbox maybe this weekend, once Ive decided what components are going inside.

It will be made out of MDF and either heavily sprayed, or maybe coated with sticky back plastic to get the high gloss black finish.

pics will be posted once Im up and running on the project - although a Project Log forum would be cool! :)
 
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