Look What I Just Recieved in the Post!

gr1mey · 8 Jul 2006 at 10:36

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

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!!!

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!

gr1mey · 8 Jul 2006 at 11:45

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

they do match, just the flash from the camera.

gr1mey · 8 Jul 2006 at 18:10

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

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.

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.

gr1mey · 8 Jul 2006 at 18:11

Before...

After...

gr1mey · 8 Jul 2006 at 18:21

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

gr1mey · 8 Jul 2006 at 18:49

yeah, also considering white, for a nice contrast

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 01:32

I stilll love this case all the same. Once I build a radbox it will be a case to die for

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 01:34

hmmmm MM yeah, droooooool

Im stilll not allowed there!

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 01:39

neg Im just not regg'd long enough...believe it or not.

"jesus christ" they say we've had enough of him already!!"!

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 12:11

exactamundo

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 12:13

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!!!

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 16:04

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.

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 20:54

good knowledge

Im just happy to have the one Ive now got, its a stunning case, and to be honest what nickname is right doesnt bother me too much

gr1mey · 9 Jul 2006 at 22:39

what do you mean "gutted" ??

gr1mey · 10 Jul 2006 at 08:16

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.

gr1mey · 10 Jul 2006 at 19:43

CaSh_MoNeY said:
Gutted....

Still a nice case tho mind

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.

gr1mey · 10 Jul 2006 at 21:20

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.

gr1mey · 10 Jul 2006 at 21:22

I aint fussed at all, it was everyone who came in here and hijacked it.

gr1mey · 10 Jul 2006 at 21:47

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!

gr1mey · 10 Jul 2006 at 22:00

gonna knock some drawings up some time this week