Thermaltake Xaser III Mod (First time project)

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Joined
30 Jan 2012
Posts
38
Location
Solihull, England
Hi,

Ive been looking through a lot of case mods and logs and its been getting me wanting to do my own. Ive done PC builds, liquid cooling loops and that stuff, but never a full case mod. I figured i didnt want to fork out a lot of money in order to do my first one, as it will probably go wrong in quite a lot of places. So, hunting around the house of goodies i found out an old case that has been sitting there gathering dust for ages.
A Thermaltake Xaser III.

startr.jpg


Anyways, ive thought this is a good place to start. Havent decided too much into design yet, but im definitely getting it resprayed. I might go with a white/blue to replace the black/red but we'll see. I just wanted to ask for any ideas on this build or what you thought of what im doing so far.

current1.jpg


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As you can see not much has actually been done yet. The back of the case has been removed, as well as the 3 lower sets of drive bays, the PSU rail and the motherboard tray. There has also been some work on the front cover just removing a "Thermaltake" LED sign that i thought looks ugly so, going to get that replaced with something cooler. Also removed the USB ports from the top of the case, thinking about cutting a section out there and having a 360 or a 240 rad there at a later stage.

Something i know i am doing with this case is swapping the PSU to the bottom and raising the motherboard. As it is an old case, the PSU is located at the top which i really dont want. Ideas are that Im either going to try cutting one out myself, or send it off to a laser cutting company and try to get one done there (yeah, if anyone knows of a company in the uk that can do this can you let me know, all ive found either wont reply or only deal with industries).

backplate.jpg



Plans that ive thought about so far for the build (not 100% yet) are;
cut an area out at the top for a 360 rad with 3 fans pushing air up through
cut an area out at the bottom for the psu fan (if i can get the back done) and cover that with mesh or perforated metal, as well as for a 240 rad with 4 fans in push/pull out of the bottom
the new backplate will have space for a 140 fan pushing out warm air
a 140 fan in the front bringing in cool air
an MSi 990FXA GD65 motherboard, not sure on other specs yet, this was again floating round the house so im using this.

Just wanted to know what people think about what ive planned so far, any hints or tips for doing a case mod, or any ideas they may have for the build. As i said, i am brand new to this so am looking for advice and criticism. Thanks :)
 
That case just has too many things working against it to work as the basis for a decent project (IMO). There’s some scope for improving the airflow by modifying the case to use 120mm/140mm fans instead of the existing 80mm versions, but I’d stop there.

If you need to get a replacement back panel fabricated by a third-party then I'd give up now purely on cost grounds.
 
That case just has too many things working against it to work as the basis for a decent project (IMO). There’s some scope for improving the airflow by modifying the case to use 120mm/140mm fans instead of the existing 80mm versions, but I’d stop there.

If you need to get a replacement back panel fabricated by a third-party then I'd give up now purely on cost grounds.

I'm just looking for a start into case modding, not really a 'decent project', just wanted to get used to doing certain things here and there before i go into trying to do a decent project. This is just sorta a practice run, see what i can and cant do.

As for the back panel, i have a friend in the modified car scene that might be able to get me one cut with not too much expense, somehow i dont think cutting one myself will go too well. If i cant i will just try with the PSU at the top.
 
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