A Positive Look at the Antec Nine Hundred (900) Case

[zlojack]

Inspired by this thread, I did my first ever build and mod on an Antec 900

I started with this:


Now time to set up the case:
A little paint job to give some colour (I'm going for a red and black theme)


But after a little more planning, I realized I needed another hole down at the bottom for some cable management, so I got out some metal cutters and a grinder but didn't take pics until after I mounted some stuff
I got on a roll with installing so no pics until after all was in, but here's what it looks like (good thing the side panel covers up that mess on the back of the mobo tray):


Closeup of the hole I made for the cables

Now all in, but those blue fans look like poo


If the PSU had longer cables I could have run more of them out the back, but with what I had, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, especially since I've never done this before!

And duct tape is definitely my friend :-)

Here are the final pics with the red fans installed:

[mad_skills]

So you can turn the damn Ultra eXtreme normally in a 900?
Jesus....
Nice work btw. Red 900's just keep coming up..

[GeckoComp]

Im in Philippines also, where did you get your SATA Cables and Sata Power connectors. I can't Find anywhere?

thanks for the tips... based most of my mods on this article...
heres my antec 900 modded...
powder coated without mod:


parts disassembled again, holed and powder caoted the mounting plate again.



the reversed hdd's with a slight hole mod to accept sata cable that isn't 45degrees.


did some wiring extensions to accomodate for the need of a longer 12v rails. and the front audio support. all laid at the back side of the case. i have rounded cables but decided to use the flat one as it gave a cleaner finish.


finally the final look of the interior...


front look:


hope you liked it. the holes were cut using dremel and a jigsaw, which i found easier and straight to use. filed and after the powder coat, the corners of the cuts were very much rounded thus removing the need for additional insulations.

looking to mod my case some more, probably the front area.
this certainly is not an easy mod, but heck, half the look is the work placed on it. it gives a certain sense of accomplishment... makes you feel good!

[MetalRush]

I also like the red... very nice
Thing is that my previous case (Lian Li PC6070) was all red, so I decided to go with blue this time
Already did the dvd-drive mod (stolen from Ch3ck5um), but I have to make some decent pic's... I haven't gotten to get a 'feel' with my (new) phone to make sharp pic's
But it made clear to me that the 'cable rewiring' is a must now... what a mess :|

[timber715]

Gecko,
those sata cables came in with the DS4 motherboard. I extended the power connectors using longer wires and soldering them, though they are available i believe in cdr-king already. just ask around.

Zlojack,
love the red too. congrats on the nice mod...

[timber715]

prepare for the worst paint job ever....





I pretty much gave up on trying to get the inside smooth because it was basically impossible with spray paint. I got the bottom, back and most of the bottom inside smooth but the rest was not.

I really only focused on getting the parts which will show smooth. Once a PC is put in it should look pretty good. In around 2 or 3 weeks I should have my new PC parts so I can put them in.

The only way I see getting the paint smooth is to disassemble the case and then paint. I do not want to do that.

sekazi,
before i went to have my antec powder coated, i spray painted the interiors too, with chrome finish... lol, i hated it and decided to dismantle the whole case, removed the paint and preped it for powder coating. at the time i hardly know any mod, thus the blue internals to fit the fans. if i knew what i know now i might have chosen a different color. but for what its worth, take it as a learning experience and grow from there. perhaps have the will to mod further and come up with a better modded 900...




Goodluck brother...

[Leeghoofd]

Latest case I did for a client, hardware specs are these :

Gigabyte DS3
Q6600 GO
2 gig of MDT ram
320GB HD
Gainward Geforce 8800GT
OCZ Vendetta 92mm CPU cooler
Liberty Enermax 500watt

Piccies are self explenatory... Too bad the main power cable of the 500 watt Enermax is shorter than those of it's bigger brother, routing behind the mobo panel was pretty impossible unless I did some modding to the PSU placement...



Holesaw cuts make it really easy to route cables through



Outside look

[Moe_Szyslak]

That's what extension cables are for You could have routed the main power cable behind it using one of those.

[MetalRush]

Well, didn't have time yet to take good pictures...
So hereby 2 quick-'n-dirty shots (low-res)...





As you can see, the cables need to be 'cleaned up'.
Hopefully I can find some time soon...

[Moe_Szyslak]

Well, didn't have time yet to take good pictures...
So hereby 2 quick-'n-dirty shots (low-res)...





As you can see, the cables need to be 'cleaned up'.
Hopefully I can find some time soon...

Hey MetalRush Ook hier?

Leuk gedaan. Waar heb je die slot load dvd burner vandaan? En hoe heb je em aangesloten?

In case you didn't understand a word of that:

Hey MetalRush Are you here too?

Nicely done. Where did you get that slot load dvd burner? And how did you hook it up?

That was Dutch for beginners. Class dismissed

[MetalRush]

Hey MetalRush Ook hier?

Leuk gedaan. Waar heb je die slot load dvd burner vandaan? En hoe heb je em aangesloten?

In case you didn't understand a word of that:

Hey MetalRush Are you here too?

Nicely done. Where did you get that slot load dvd burner? And how did you hook it up?

That was Dutch for beginners. Class dismissed

[DUTCH - LESSON 2]
Uiteraard... had je anders verwacht dan ??
Die slot-in heb ik gewoon bij Alternate gehaald (linkje), vervolgens aangesloten met een IDE <-> slim-line adapter aangesloten. Helaas ben ik nog geen slim-line S-ATA drives tegengekomen. Maar dit werkt uit de kunst
Anders kom je een keertje kijken
[END LESSON]



[TRANSLATION]
eeeeeh...

[Moe_Szyslak]

[DUTCH - LESSON 2]
Uiteraard... had je anders verwacht dan ??
Die slot-in heb ik gewoon bij Alternate gehaald (linkje), vervolgens aangesloten met een IDE <-> slim-line adapter aangesloten. Helaas ben ik nog geen slim-line S-ATA drives tegengekomen. Maar dit werkt uit de kunst
Anders kom je een keertje kijken
[END LESSON]



[TRANSLATION]
eeeeeh...

Was it a lot of work to mod the case? And how did you secure the drive to the case?

btw, I left a message in you tweaker gallery.

[InfiniteDreamer]

Heres a Pic of a Mod to my case
more pics to follow



FYI

before and after i bought the case i was concerned about the 'dust' factor
i was reading in reviews/forums

this pic shows my solution to dust ingress thru the big boy fan when pc is switched off

incase anybody is wondering what it is - its a Roof vent cover - sprayed black and secured with a couple of spacers and screws from underside of big boys metal cover

Oh and in testing - it doesnt appear to affect airflow out of the case at all

[MetalRush]

@ Moe: No, the mod itself was about 2-3 hours of work where creating the hole for the slot-in was the biggest job.
I didn't even take my system apart.... just took the front of and took it outside with the handsaw
You also have to take a little from the frame tho... otherwise the slot-in will not fit. Now it snugs right into place
I secured the drive with (four layers) double sided adhesive tape... ssssht, don't tell anyone !!

btw: I responded on your message @ T.net, cheers

@ Infinite: pic broken?

[Moe_Szyslak]

@ Moe: .....I secured the drive with (four layers) double sided adhesive tape... ssssht, don't tell anyone !!

Oooooh, you're gonna get a lot of flak for that

[Crimzn]

Hey everyone! I moved the first front 120mm fan to the top cage among several mods that turned out quite well, and I'll take some pictures later, but my problem now is that there is no airflow on my toasty EVGA 512 8800GT SC.

I hoping for opinions on the best low cost way to help cool it. I don't know if I want to add a side case fan because I don't want any visible wires ruining my cable management.

I was thinking about a PCI slot fan, but didn't know if an upward blower or an exhaust type would be best, and if it would be more effective to put it above the graphics card, or below it to either accelerate or intercept/exhaust the warm air from the PSU.

[timber715]

why not get a GPU heatsing cooler instead? but yes i guess that wuold be a more expensive upgrade though. but that should look the cleanest too. cheers

[cloned]

an upward blower is better, taking away from the GPU's blower justs make it harder to cool the thing.

personally i have my 900's fans up one row from the default placement and it works great to cool everything fairly well.

also a side fan might help if you don't have one already

[MetalRush]

@ Crimzn: I really think a side fan is the cheapest solution (and you can find a way to have the cables positioned so that you cannot see them). The position for that fan on that particular place is there for a reason

[Moe_Szyslak]

Hey everyone! I moved the first front 120mm fan to the top cage among several mods that turned out quite well, and I'll take some pictures later, but my problem now is that there is no airflow on my toasty EVGA 512 8800GT SC.

I hoping for opinions on the best low cost way to help cool it. I don't know if I want to add a side case fan because I don't want any visible wires ruining my cable management.

I was thinking about a PCI slot fan, but didn't know if an upward blower or an exhaust type would be best, and if it would be more effective to put it above the graphics card, or below it to either accelerate or intercept/exhaust the warm air from the PSU.

I'm using a Cooler Master side fan and the wire is clear. You cant really see it if you attach the cooler at the right angle. The wire is hidden behind the metal mesh and routed over the bottom of the case.

[InfiniteDreamer]

@ Infinite: pic broken?

Oops Ta for pointing that out

fixed the link

[cabbspapp]

Well I "got my rig of da floor" last night, here are some pics.

[mad_skills]

Too much LED's for my liking but the work is excellent.
What's that LCD btw ?

[cabbspapp]

It's a Viewsonic 22" 1680x1050, don't know the model number though.

Anyway, I have a tri-blade Delta on the way for the heatsink, I think the LED's are getting old.

[-AXE-]

Great thread guys. After seeing the mods in this thread I ordered up a 900 for my new build. Real basic minimal build, so it has great air flow. I thought about painting the case before hand, but I really wanted to get it up and running as soon as possible. Maybe later...

Here's a pic of my new build.

[/IMG]