So, like many others figured it was time to upgrade my PC what with being stuck in quarantine.
I've had this case for a long time and it's been a workhorse so thought I'd stick with her for now.
The Case
She's one of the original versions so doesn't even have Air Penetrators in the bottom, just whatever was before. They worked great but after all these years were a bit creaky. Front i/o also only had two usb2 headers so not great.
The side perspex panel was also showing it's age with a foggyness at the bottom and plenty of scratchs.
Rest of the case was pretty much pristine.
The Bits
So went for:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...ce-pro-rgb-16gb-3600mhz-bundle-bu-01w-am.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoru...-state-drive-gp-asm2ne6100tttd-hd-009-gi.html
Now, since this is a 90 degree mobo with lots of airflow going from bottom to top I figure for the GFX a blower style card would be perfect. Bit cheaper and perfect for the case. DOH! should have done more due diligence here. Got this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-323-ea.html
Works really well but yeah, loud and hits 80 very quickly. So gave me the idea for my first minor mod... More on that later.
Also, since the top of the case only supports a 120 slot I got a Corsair h75 120mm AIO.
In an odd way this bad choice caused me to see the light and go to an Air Cooler (you have one of the best airflow case ever made, why go with a 120 aio!?), which also led to another mistake/accidental success with a mod to the aircooler I picked.
Turns out Ryzen boosts on the Gigabyte mobo cause the cpu fans to spike alarmingly on their fan curves for a couple seconds. It should really wait for a few seconds after picking up a spike before going to 100% for literally two seconds before going back down to 40% but that would be too much common sense.
Anyway, one of the corsair fans on the rad was faulty and these spikes would cause it to have a wobble when it got to high rpm. So much so that it started clipping the rad grills underneath!
This made it go from loud to ridiculous.
Initially switched the fan for one of my own older ones but then figured for how much it cost the whole thing should be rma'd. Especially since the rad grills were damaged in places.
So ended up replacing it with a MA620m:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cool...dressable-rgb-cpu-tower-cooler-hs-086-cm.html
Looks amazing in the case. Temps much lower than the AIO (by nearly 15 degrees in Cinebench). However, I thought this too had a fault as could hear a high pitch whine when all other fans were off.
Rather than RMA again (thankfully I didn't) I thought what the hell, I ordered a Noctua
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nf-a12x25-pwm-fan-120mm-fg-06r-nc.html
and figured there's gotta be a way into the Coolermaster to replace it's fan?
They really don't want peeople going into those things by the way! Managed to eventually open it up and get the Noctua in.
Reapplied thermal paste and temps down by another 5-10 at load now! But, the squeak still there! Turned out it was the blooming psu fan.
Vacuum and can of air blower seems to have sorted that...
Peripheral wise found a good deal and treated myself to a razer blackwidow, naga trinity mouse and one of those super long mouse mat things with rgb around it too. Also got a mouse bungee for the giggles, what a great, simple bit of kit they are!
Case TLC
The Fans
So the case... well the bottom fans had to go. Full of dust and noisy. Luckily silverstone have recently brought out Air Penetrators ap-183. A model that uses less power and has PWM support. Got three of those (2 initially; they cost almost as much as a case on it's own. 3rd the day after when £30 a day later didn't feel so bad) which have gone in and are brilliant. Loud if you set the rpm too much but they shift a huge amount of air even at more silent levels.
The centre of them with the white and blue stickers stood out in the case though so ordered 5cm round black stickers from amazon to stick on them - looks great!
Side window - so, I mentioned the old one was a bit foggy at the bottom. Taking it off I could see it was yellowing. Cheap perspex can go yellow in sunlight apparently. Thought that was odd as wasn't near the window but then realised! Had an old UV light in there for years!
So, internet search - what can clear that off and light scratches? Sanding you say? Ok, lets give that a go.
Spoiler alert, don't bother trying to sand or buff out scratches in perspex. Disaster.
Pretty annoyed with myself, all that effort for the case and ruined the window of a discontinued product. But then, surely there are companies that can make these? Yep, found one and sent them the measurements.
Got one back that was buffed and polished and honestly easily as clear as glass. So, using the original as a template drilled my hole and... cracked the corner off the very first one.
Doh. Ordered another and after lots of practise drilled the 8 holes on the new one. Perfect fit.
Front Panel and future GPU AIO?
So, was thinking about by mistake getting the blower 2070 super. Had already thrown out the packaging so no hope of a change. That's when I saw evga do hybrid kits for their gfx...
Now at £150 I'm still not sure I'll bother doing this since I could have gotten a much better card for that extra money and it'll really grate but I figured I've got the time, lets pave a path for one.
Nowhere natively to mount this since the top 120 port wouldn't be reachable by the gpu.
This case does however have 5, 5.25 bays... I wonder...
Turned out I was about 5 years too late for mass produced 5.25 bay converters for a 120mm fan.
Looked around and found a company in the US that still make them. Cost $15 and about $20 to ship, ergh. Anyway, the colour looked to match the ft02 so ordered.
Also ordered some coolmaster rgb 120mm fans and a silverstone 120mm fan cover and filter.
One of the coolmasters went into the top mount and the other has gone into the front.
Managed to take out the tooless optical drive holders and put the mod into the 2nd - 4th bays.
Annoyingly if the case had 6 of these bays I could have gone for a 240mm rad...
All looks good when the power is off, just not as clean as it did prior to the 120 mount on the front, but when powered up the rgb actually looks really nice and I've gotten used to how it looks when it's off.
Furture
So, that hybrid cooler isn't in stock yet, will decide what to do when it comes.
I'd also ordered another 16gb of Ram but true to form with this build and nearly zero due diligence discovered that even though it's the same make and they're both 3600 with the xmp on they are ever so slightly different. Wondered why the rainforest had it for £50 less. So it's gone back, will try again when it's in stock here.
Also, been thinking how nice might it look if someone did 180mm rgb fan frames. Silverstone are pretty much the only 180mm fan makers out there and they don't so I'm hatching a plan to make my own!
So the circumference is 2pie.r = 565mm
Phanteks do new strips that are 550mm - that'll do!. I have the covers from the original fans in the case so if I cut out the middles I might be able to create my own 180mm fan frame!
Have those ready, just waiting for the strips and hope they bend the way I want them too!
Front I/O - silverstone have a usb3.1 io with type c and normal interfaces. Only available in US from what I can find and the type c says doens't fit in the ft02 because only 60cm in length... I go the tape measure out and think it'll just reach the port on the mobo. Do I chance it? Not sure - don't really use them but could be nice to future proof it for the... erm, future
Anyway, will update this post later with pictures... It's been fun, mostly.
I've had this case for a long time and it's been a workhorse so thought I'd stick with her for now.
The Case
She's one of the original versions so doesn't even have Air Penetrators in the bottom, just whatever was before. They worked great but after all these years were a bit creaky. Front i/o also only had two usb2 headers so not great.
The side perspex panel was also showing it's age with a foggyness at the bottom and plenty of scratchs.
Rest of the case was pretty much pristine.
The Bits
So went for:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...ce-pro-rgb-16gb-3600mhz-bundle-bu-01w-am.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoru...-state-drive-gp-asm2ne6100tttd-hd-009-gi.html
Now, since this is a 90 degree mobo with lots of airflow going from bottom to top I figure for the GFX a blower style card would be perfect. Bit cheaper and perfect for the case. DOH! should have done more due diligence here. Got this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-323-ea.html
Works really well but yeah, loud and hits 80 very quickly. So gave me the idea for my first minor mod... More on that later.
Also, since the top of the case only supports a 120 slot I got a Corsair h75 120mm AIO.
In an odd way this bad choice caused me to see the light and go to an Air Cooler (you have one of the best airflow case ever made, why go with a 120 aio!?), which also led to another mistake/accidental success with a mod to the aircooler I picked.
Turns out Ryzen boosts on the Gigabyte mobo cause the cpu fans to spike alarmingly on their fan curves for a couple seconds. It should really wait for a few seconds after picking up a spike before going to 100% for literally two seconds before going back down to 40% but that would be too much common sense.
Anyway, one of the corsair fans on the rad was faulty and these spikes would cause it to have a wobble when it got to high rpm. So much so that it started clipping the rad grills underneath!
This made it go from loud to ridiculous.
Initially switched the fan for one of my own older ones but then figured for how much it cost the whole thing should be rma'd. Especially since the rad grills were damaged in places.
So ended up replacing it with a MA620m:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cool...dressable-rgb-cpu-tower-cooler-hs-086-cm.html
Looks amazing in the case. Temps much lower than the AIO (by nearly 15 degrees in Cinebench). However, I thought this too had a fault as could hear a high pitch whine when all other fans were off.
Rather than RMA again (thankfully I didn't) I thought what the hell, I ordered a Noctua
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nf-a12x25-pwm-fan-120mm-fg-06r-nc.html
and figured there's gotta be a way into the Coolermaster to replace it's fan?
They really don't want peeople going into those things by the way! Managed to eventually open it up and get the Noctua in.
Reapplied thermal paste and temps down by another 5-10 at load now! But, the squeak still there! Turned out it was the blooming psu fan.
Vacuum and can of air blower seems to have sorted that...
Peripheral wise found a good deal and treated myself to a razer blackwidow, naga trinity mouse and one of those super long mouse mat things with rgb around it too. Also got a mouse bungee for the giggles, what a great, simple bit of kit they are!
Case TLC
The Fans
So the case... well the bottom fans had to go. Full of dust and noisy. Luckily silverstone have recently brought out Air Penetrators ap-183. A model that uses less power and has PWM support. Got three of those (2 initially; they cost almost as much as a case on it's own. 3rd the day after when £30 a day later didn't feel so bad) which have gone in and are brilliant. Loud if you set the rpm too much but they shift a huge amount of air even at more silent levels.
The centre of them with the white and blue stickers stood out in the case though so ordered 5cm round black stickers from amazon to stick on them - looks great!
Side window - so, I mentioned the old one was a bit foggy at the bottom. Taking it off I could see it was yellowing. Cheap perspex can go yellow in sunlight apparently. Thought that was odd as wasn't near the window but then realised! Had an old UV light in there for years!
So, internet search - what can clear that off and light scratches? Sanding you say? Ok, lets give that a go.
Spoiler alert, don't bother trying to sand or buff out scratches in perspex. Disaster.
Pretty annoyed with myself, all that effort for the case and ruined the window of a discontinued product. But then, surely there are companies that can make these? Yep, found one and sent them the measurements.
Got one back that was buffed and polished and honestly easily as clear as glass. So, using the original as a template drilled my hole and... cracked the corner off the very first one.
Doh. Ordered another and after lots of practise drilled the 8 holes on the new one. Perfect fit.
Front Panel and future GPU AIO?
So, was thinking about by mistake getting the blower 2070 super. Had already thrown out the packaging so no hope of a change. That's when I saw evga do hybrid kits for their gfx...
Now at £150 I'm still not sure I'll bother doing this since I could have gotten a much better card for that extra money and it'll really grate but I figured I've got the time, lets pave a path for one.
Nowhere natively to mount this since the top 120 port wouldn't be reachable by the gpu.
This case does however have 5, 5.25 bays... I wonder...
Turned out I was about 5 years too late for mass produced 5.25 bay converters for a 120mm fan.
Looked around and found a company in the US that still make them. Cost $15 and about $20 to ship, ergh. Anyway, the colour looked to match the ft02 so ordered.
Also ordered some coolmaster rgb 120mm fans and a silverstone 120mm fan cover and filter.
One of the coolmasters went into the top mount and the other has gone into the front.
Managed to take out the tooless optical drive holders and put the mod into the 2nd - 4th bays.
Annoyingly if the case had 6 of these bays I could have gone for a 240mm rad...
All looks good when the power is off, just not as clean as it did prior to the 120 mount on the front, but when powered up the rgb actually looks really nice and I've gotten used to how it looks when it's off.
Furture
So, that hybrid cooler isn't in stock yet, will decide what to do when it comes.
I'd also ordered another 16gb of Ram but true to form with this build and nearly zero due diligence discovered that even though it's the same make and they're both 3600 with the xmp on they are ever so slightly different. Wondered why the rainforest had it for £50 less. So it's gone back, will try again when it's in stock here.
Also, been thinking how nice might it look if someone did 180mm rgb fan frames. Silverstone are pretty much the only 180mm fan makers out there and they don't so I'm hatching a plan to make my own!
So the circumference is 2pie.r = 565mm
Phanteks do new strips that are 550mm - that'll do!. I have the covers from the original fans in the case so if I cut out the middles I might be able to create my own 180mm fan frame!
Have those ready, just waiting for the strips and hope they bend the way I want them too!
Front I/O - silverstone have a usb3.1 io with type c and normal interfaces. Only available in US from what I can find and the type c says doens't fit in the ft02 because only 60cm in length... I go the tape measure out and think it'll just reach the port on the mobo. Do I chance it? Not sure - don't really use them but could be nice to future proof it for the... erm, future
Anyway, will update this post later with pictures... It's been fun, mostly.
Last edited:
