Well.. i got tired of the antec 900 .. too hard to work in with my big hands lol , and not much wire room on the backside .... and it just felt like a cheap case .. i ripped the plastics off and could easily flex the chassis

so i went to fry's today and picked up this.

Zalman GS1000

feels, much, much, more solid than the antec.....and it has a ton more room (i mean, it is a full tower where as the antec was a mid-tower )












i love the gloss black finish and the side panels are an anodized brushed black, it looks really really clean.

Plans:
Black/White/Red color scheme

plan to rip it apart and paint the chassis gloss white, the cable protectors on the cutouts inside the case are a gloss black, those will stay black, should look nice against the white.

this thing will never see more than 2 HDD's so those will stay at the bottom hot swap trays. going to pull the top 3 HDD trays and the only top bay that will be used is the top one for cd-rom drive, this way i can install two 120mm fans on the rear of the bays to pull cool air from the front of the case..

all fans in the case will be 120mm red LED, 5 fans total, 1 exhaust in rear, 2 fans in the top (undecided if these should be intake or exhaust, what do you guys think?) , and 2 fans stacked on the rear of the drive bays.

if its not too much trouble i will paint the fan shrouds gloss black and paint the blades gloss white, this should give some contrast against the white chassis, and look pretty sick with the red LEDs.

will put a new cutout under the mobo for easy removal and installation of CPU heatsink/fan.

lastly, will put a cutout in the case door to install a plexi-glass window, try to find some anodized black, or anodized red rivets.

thats all i've planned up so-far .. as most plans go i'm sure there will be changes .. if you have any other suggestions feel free .. thanks for looking

-Travis

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Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

Edited: 06/13/2010 at 01:42 AM by TravisFTW

noodie pic





-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

also thinking of doing some maybe red and black wire looming

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

As a rule of thumb, no two fans placed within 6 inches of each other should be going in opposite directions. This causes short-cycling of air, which means that one pushes it in while the other draws it out without ample time to transfer heat. Short-cycling defeats the purpose of having fans, so you might as well just have openings.

Picking fan orientations can be difficult depending on where the case allows for fans. However, you can simplize it by understanding how heat transfer works with air systems. Building a higher static pressure inside the case is the best way to force turbulance and increase heat transfer. Turbulance is important for mixing cold (relative to heatsink temp) and warm air (relative to air outside the case), which causes a drafting effect, meaning it maximizes the efficiency of your fans. Building a higher static pressure is as simple as orienting fans in such that there is more CFMs comming into the case than going out. Since computer cases are far from a "closed" system, meaning that they are sealed and immune to inductive drafting, you can have the holes already in the case work for you.

My suggestion is that apart from the rear fan, have all fans designated as intake, and buy a slot cooler or two to aid in exhaust. This will cause a uniform flow of air from front to back and proper turbulance from the top fans to create an optimal environment for heat transfer.

However, if you really want to make this unique, do some research on air dams and ducting to keep GPU, PSU, and CPU temps at the absolute minimal for air heat transfers.

Good luck!

-------------------------
Supporting the Underdog
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
720 Phenom II X3 (Unlocked to X4) w Zalman 9700LED 3.76Ghz (17.5X215)
Corsiar 520w PS
HIS 4850 (700/1133) w Fatal1ty FC-ZV9
4 GB XMS2 6400 + 4 GB G.Skill 6400 4-4-4-15
2 Seagate 500GB 7200.11 + 150GB Raptor
Westinghouse LCM-22w3
Fatal1ty 1010 mouse

i'm deciding if i should go have the chassis professionally painted or just attempt it myself haha

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

door is cut .. just gotta make measurements for the acrylic and drill holes for the bolts .. i'm going to use small bolts and nuts rather than rivets .. just cuz they are easier ... the heads of the bolts are going to be painted metallic red.



-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

Looking good so far. Are you still undecided on who is doing the paint? I think a white painted case will look awesome. Also instead of using loom material how about sleeving and some heat shrink. If you wanted to go all out you could even re sleeve your PSU to match the rest of it.

-------------------------
~5.53 GHZ CPU-Z Link~

went to home depot last night and got some rustolem spray paint (metal primer, and gloss white paint, and clear)

going to also paint the fan fins white, undecided if i should do the fan shrouds red or black.

there is also a tray for the PSU with a little pull handle on the back of the case so basically the psu is on a "drawer" and it has 2 rollers so it slides in and out of the rear of the case... going to paint the tray and the shroud gloss black..
if i think my paint job sucks too bad then i will take the parts and have them professionally done .. i have the hook up on a guy that does powdercoating so that would be super awesome to have the pieces powdercoated...

as for the looming ... i meant sleeves haha .. going to order all the sleeving and stuff from murdermod.com .. their stuff is good. . going to also order black SATA cables

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

window done




should i leave the bolt heads polished or paint them red?

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

Edited: 03/13/2010 at 08:56 PM by TravisFTW

devised up a mount for the front intake fan... turned out pretty nicely if i do say so myself , just gotta make 2 more holes for the other 2 screws .. also got masking done for paint





-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

I think black would look best. You need to get some u channel trim for that window. your edges are a little ruff. the trim would clean it up.see this.

-------------------------
FX 8150 X 8 4.5MHz
Asus Crosshair V
ATI Radeon HD 6950 X2
8 gb Corsair Dominator GT 9-9-9-24@ 1866mhz DDR3
Seagate 7200.10 HDD LG BluRay HD DVD
w/LightScrib
Crucial M4 128 SSD
55"Vizio LCD
Corsair HX 1000 psu
NZXT Phantom Black
Corsair H80 push/pull
Razer Death Adder VooDoo edition mouse and Keyboard.

Murdermod has some very, very cool stuff Looking forward to seeing that case painted white. Also I would say black for those screws as well.

-------------------------
~5.53 GHZ CPU-Z Link~

lol ya i know it is a little rough looking ... i really needed a jigsaw but i dont have one so i had to use the dremel for the entire cut :\ ... it was really loud and i live in an apartment so i did it on my balcony, i was trying not to upset any of my neighbors lol... i'll pick up some of that uchannel stuff though it looks pretty good

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

it seemed a little too chilly outside to paint (its about 62* right now) and my balcony stays in the shade all day so that doesnt help :\ .... i started on some small peices to see if they would do ok in the weather ... if they do good then it will be on to painting the case :]

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

setup a small space heater pointed at the case, does wonders for even spraying and dry times when temp is a bit cold out side.

Case looks awesome man and your doing a great job.

-------------------------
AMD phenom II 1090T @ 4.23 Ghz custom water cooled
Asrock 890 FX deluxe 3 mother board
4 GB DDR 3 1600 @ 1688 Mhz 7 7 7 24 T1 2688 Mhz NB
2x 1 TB WD Sata III 64 mb cache HDD,s raid 0
2x 5870 HD @ 1015/1300 Asus reference
Dual OS win 7 x64 ultimate & win 7 x32 Ultimate (bench os)

thanks :]

i dont have a space heater :\ , what i may do is spray it outside and then carefully pull it inside my door just inside my apartment enough so i can close the door .. i'll crank my heat up in here to about 75* ... then i'll just take it right outside onto the balcony to spray each coat .. as long as i can get it in and out of the door i should be good

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

first light coat of primer is dry, about to spray on a second coat ...



also got a few of the other pieces done, will probably put a second coat of black on them and then a couple coats of clear.



-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

last coat of primer is on and drying ..







-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX

looks like you are doing great. How fun is to mod and build your own rig? It freakin' Awesome Fun.

-------------------------
FX 8150 X 8 4.5MHz
Asus Crosshair V
ATI Radeon HD 6950 X2
8 gb Corsair Dominator GT 9-9-9-24@ 1866mhz DDR3
Seagate 7200.10 HDD LG BluRay HD DVD
w/LightScrib
Crucial M4 128 SSD
55"Vizio LCD
Corsair HX 1000 psu
NZXT Phantom Black
Corsair H80 push/pull
Razer Death Adder VooDoo edition mouse and Keyboard.

heck ya it is fun .. takes alot of patience though, i am ready to see this thing done lol

-------------------------

Custom Zalman GS1000--Windows 7 Professional 64bit
MSI 7900GX-G65--AMD Phenom II x4 945
Thermaltake 650W TR2 RX--1TB WD Caviar Green, Sata, 7200 RPM
(x4) Patriot 2GB DDR3 1600MHz--Dual Radeon HD 5770's in CrossfireX