Project Iceni - An NZXT M59 Case Mod.

Daichin · 28 Jul 2012 at 17:02

So I've been wanting to do a case mod for a good while now but I'm not too happy with most of the cases on the market. I'm sick of all of the obnoxious stuff we get these days and want something a little more subtle. Now though, I think I've come up with something that might work.

So here we go. I'm going to start cutting up my NZXT M59 case. The goals being:

1. Replace the entirely obnoxious front panel with something more subtle.

2. Make it look good.

3. Clean up the internals and get some nicer cabling sorted out. I foresee upgrades, too.

4. Fix a number of design flaws with the case.

5. Watercooling (In a tiny case, should be fun)

So, to start, my idea is to build a front panel made of stained wood. This will eventually be integrated with the finished case. Time to put my terrible woodworking skills to the test!

Off comes the original panel in order to make some measurements.

Behold. The bottom fan mount sticks out too much right now with a fan installed as does the dvd drive. Will be ditching the bottom fan but I'm going to have to come up with a solution for the dvd drive. I never use it so it doesn't matter if it's behind the detachable front panel, but I'll need to figure out how to make it stick out less.

Managed to salvage the connectors from the front panel.

The wood panel, cut to size.

Air vent drilled. The wooden panel will be stained "black ebony".

Got materials on the way for the side panel and the actual case part of the case.

I've never done a case mod or a project log before, so we'll see how this goes. Probably with a brand new case and the old one paying a visit to the trash but oh well.

Apologies for the pictures, photos were taken with the camera on my HTC One S. Hopefully I should have access to my camera again soon.

Something Else · 28 Jul 2012 at 17:13

sounds good man, my haf 912 is a bit gaudy for me so im going for a simpler looking case that looks more classy.

when i chose my first case i thought yea lets get one bad ass looking thing haha

good luck, will watch this with interest!

also have you considered joining the vents up to form like slats with rounded edges? may look nicer than it already does

Daichin · 28 Jul 2012 at 17:28

Thats an awesome idea, fairly keen on that. The existing holes are perfectly straight so that could be done. Not sure how you'd go about it though, will have a think about it.

When I bought this case at the time I thought I wouldn't care what it looked like. How wrong I was

Something Else · 29 Jul 2012 at 00:24

Daichin said:
Thats an awesome idea, fairly keen on that. The existing holes are perfectly straight so that could be done. Not sure how you'd go about it though, will have a think about it.

When I bought this case at the time I thought I wouldn't care what it looked like. How wrong I was

i would take it to somone who has a milling machine so you can get the lines perfect.

a dremel would also be a good investment, you might be able to do it with an attachment for one thought id use an off cut of wood to practise

Daichin · 29 Jul 2012 at 00:48

I have actually got a dremel somewhere, I might take a look and see what attachments it's got.

Will see how things pan out though. I'm going to finish up the wood panel according to plan and get to work on the case. I'm eager to get to work on the case itself (got stuff for that on its way) and I've got more shelves I can cut up if I can't make changes later down the line.

Daichin · 29 Jul 2012 at 22:19

First coat of paint on the front panel.

It fits!

Shot of the interior of the PC. Bit of a mess at the moment

The 6950 ICEQ X which is entirely the wrong color. Will be coming back to this later...

Not sure what this particular group of slots on the case (I think they are for fan controllers). Whatever they are, I won't be using them and they'll be going.

Removed the DVD drive.

Front panel lined up for some measurements...

And now it fits on the front. A lot more will be done here and I'll be coming back to this later as I'll be needing to make some cuts with the dremel in order to get the front panel to sit properly.

Back to that DVD drive... The metal parts will be painted black as I imagine it'll be quite visible in the final design.

Close up of the insides of the drive. Hopefully it'll fit back together again.

Final (third) coat is done.

Waiting on Dremel cutting discs and various colors of perspex now.

Number_25 · 30 Jul 2012 at 03:22

This is easily one of the most interesting mods I've ever read.

Something Else · 30 Jul 2012 at 14:27

looking very nice now, good work!

Diggsy · 30 Jul 2012 at 16:10

The drilled area on the front will surely really inhibit the airflow? It looks extremely restrictive with so few holes in it, especially given the thickness of the wood.

Daichin · 30 Jul 2012 at 22:13

I'm not sure, but I'm not too worried about it right now. I ran it for several hours with the front on, checking temperatures and didn't notice anything different, The fan at the front isn't very powerful anyway, never has been. It doesn't push much air and I don't think it will harm airflow considering the fact that there is another 4 extra fans that move air around.

Moved the computer out of the case today:

And here is the case completely stripped down:

I can see the case better now, so I am able to see to a much greater extent where I'm going to be making cuts on the real case rather than drawings.

There is very little space in the cable tray, and as such I'm not fully sure where all of the cabling is going to go right now. I plan to create a container in front of the PSU out of sheets of opaque acrylic which should clean up the build generally, but this is still subject to change depending on how the overall aesthetic of the case turns out.

Something Else · 1 Aug 2012 at 16:17

Daichin said:
There is very little space in the cable tray, and as such I'm not fully sure where all of the cabling is going to go right now. I plan to create a container in front of the PSU out of sheets of opaque acrylic which should clean up the build generally, but this is still subject to change depending on how the overall aesthetic of the case turns out.

there was a guy on here who used an old psu, gutted the insides and used the box to hide the cables. could be worth a go?

Daichin · 9 Aug 2012 at 21:11

Update:

Cut a hole out under where the PSU is. Previously there was grill here, but I didn't really see the point of it at all since there was a dust filter directly below it and thus all it seemed to do was cut off some of the airflow. This also reduces the noise of the PSU a lot.

Current state of the case. As you can see, I've cut slits in the front to replace the holes that were there previously. Looks much better. I've also bought a stainless steel grill. It's technically for hiding your watercooling radiator but works just fine without the watercooling. Obviously I plan to go for watercooling in this case eventually so we'll see what happens to all of this then. The system for attaching the front panel is also more or less complete although it doesn't look it in this picture. The panel sits on the front of the case just fine.

Something Else · 9 Aug 2012 at 22:10

looking good there! are you not having any front bay device?

Daichin · 10 Aug 2012 at 22:04

Nope. Originally I was going to put in the dvd drive again but since I never use it I've switched to an external one I have for my netbook.