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

[pustbunker]

After a few months of sporadically tweaking, I feel my 900 is about done. I've never modded cases so I just used creativity.

My 900 isn't modded, I just tried to make the best use of the holes that were already there. Just to show you can have pretty neat cable management on an original 900! Thanks for the ideas everyone and sorry for the bad quality pictures.


Here you see my back side. It shows my (lack of) cable management. Since the case closes easily, I didn't really put more effort in it.



Here are the insides of the case. As you can see I installed 2 CCFL bars (the other one is in the ceiling of the case) and put another fan on the drive cage in the inside.


Here you see the CCFL inverter and the way I used the zip ties to fasten the fan. Thanks for this idea to the guy a few posts above me!


And here is the result in action.

[=>WiLL<=]

Good work, man. Did ya use any wire-extensions to make any cables longer?

[pustbunker]

Yup, in the top 5,25" I've got a fan controller. It came with all kinds of extension cables so I had a lot of freedom getting those fans powered up

[Goreg]

Yup, in the top 5,25" I've got a fan controller. It came with all kinds of extension cables so I had a lot of freedom getting those fans powered up

What controller, and any pics of it xD

[pustbunker]

Here it is, a Zalman ZM MFC1 plus.

Since my hd is inside a 5,25 bay with a nexus disktwin and my DVD drive takes up a space I only had one slot left for a fan controller.

There are 8 120mm fans in my case, so 2 of them aren't connected to the FC. These are the original 900 fans. The other ones are 2 zalmans (noisy but great cooling) on the Scythe Infinity HS. There's 3 Cooler master fans and the 200 mm at the top.

Getting the 200mm connected to the fan controller was a bit troublesome. The FC has 3 pin connectors so I had to wire a molex to the end of a 3 pin cable. It works just fine except I think I lost a bit of speed potential. The FC powers 12v and the 200mm requires a bit more to run at full speed.

[Tarthkin]

Great Thread!! I got alot of ideas from it and recently finished modding my own Antec 900. I hope to have pics up soon but for now a brief description: External parts, fan grills, side grill, front grills all painted gunmetal grey, inside mobo tray and drive bays painted flat black and i replaced the stock blue fans with red fans and added a large red LED rod at the bottom of the side window. The inside is wire free with everything running around behind the mobo.

[Bubbaxm2]

Sounds nice. Now get some pics up!

[jwood314]

Wow, I just want to thank all of the great posts on this thread. I am currently modding 2 900s and 1 Lian Li A17. I ma taking lots of pictures. Hope to share them soon! I am also excited that I finally got registered on these forums!

Cheers,
James

[Bubbaxm2]

Well welcome to the forum to both of you. (James & Tarthkin) Hell I have been here for over a year and this thread is the one that actually got me posting more! Lots of great ideas in this thread.

[Janno]

anyone got ideas how to mount a TC 120.3 on the 900 without the swiftech radbox? :-P
i'd still like to put it in the rear, but ran out of ideas for a bracket
any help appreciated

[jwood314]

Well here are some of my first shots. Nothing to crazy on my server. I am not complete, still waiting on some tools from Harbor Freight, great prices, slow delivery. I did drill some half inch holes, they really tear stuff up, I believe you are better off using a punch and die.

I hate wires. I cannot tell you how happy this thread has made me, and the inspiration I have gotten from it. I am an EE and spent 9 years doing design, I am in the AF now. So I don't mind hacking things up at all. If you let the smoke out, that can cause problems though, no smoke yet.

I wanted to make wire runs as short as possible. This requires hacking the power supply up and re routing the cables. I replaced both fans in the power supply with some stealth fans made by Vantec. They are quieter and move the same if not more air. That is my unscientific opinion. Silence is of utmost concern to me, this is my server.


Ok, normally I would post some form of picture, but I have no clue as to how to do that. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
James

[Hor$eman]

Ok, normally I would post some form of picture, but I have no clue as to how to do that. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
James

When you press on "Reply", you see the text box where you enter the text. Below that is "Additional Options". Below additional options is "Attach Files".

When you press the "Manage Attachments" button, a dialog will open, allowing you to browse for up to 5 pictures (or other). Each item must be no larger than 200k. Once you have selected the files (pics) to upload, press "Upload" and wait for it to do so. Then post your reply.

[Hughyhunter]

I am an EE and spent 9 years doing design, I am in the AF now.

Sweet... Me too! Actually I'm on terminal starting on Monday. Cant wait to spend a few months messin with the comp.

What EE are you talking? I'm EE on ACFT.

Anyhow... Like Horseman said it's easy to attach pics. Another way to do it if you want to keep quality is through this sight. http://www.imageshack.us/ You just have to upload them and get "codes for forums" and then click on insert pic when you post and bam!

[jwood314]

Hor$eman, thank you for the information. I will attach a couple of photos. Well, at least try. EE is an electrical engineer, got tired of it and joined the Air Force. I like hardware, horrible at software.

I like to do wire splicing, if the power supply dies though, the next one won't look as nice for a while. Once the board is in, the wires protruding from the motherboard tray will be shortened as much as possible.

My tools arrived from Harbor Freight today! Took forever, but the price was right, so I can finish cutting the holes I need, and hopefully reinstall the motherboard tonight. I should have a few more picture this weekend.

While this is not a totally crazy mod, no bondo or fiber glass, it meets my needs of maximum quiet air flow. This box is on 24/7, and quieter is better.

After this is finished, I will work on the wife's PC, and take what I learned form this. Close to the same type of work, but there is a fan controller I am adding and some reverse HDD. Must hide cables, cables are the enemy.

If I did not absolutely have to have this motherboard working again, I would loose a ton of data on Windows Home server, I would take all of the headers used for the front of the case, HDD light, PS, Reset, USB, and remove the headers from the mother board, flip them around, and rebuild the cables. That would be a great many more cables completely hidden. I will end up with a spare mother board once this is over with, most likely will buy another 900, I prefer the rev 1 though, and do that to it. I don't believe the SATA are through hole, I think they are surface mount.

I am very glad again I found this site.

Cheers,
James

[MetalRush]

That looks promising, James
I'm curious about your 'final product'.
Please post the temps on the hdd's...

[Hor$eman]

What kind of HD cage is that?

[jwood314]

The SATA backplane I got here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817995001

I don't have temps on the 5 drives. This is used in Windows Home server, which has a bug atm, so until I get a patch, not much goes on with it. WHS will be a great product once they figure out their problem. It allows you to take as many different sized HDDs as your machine can handle, and will combine them into a single drive. Cool product, the wife and I like it.

Here are a few more pics. I won't take any with the SATA cables installed, sad that there really is no alternative on them. Someone needs to create wireless HDDs.

All that is left is soldering all of the splices back together, should have it turned on tonight!

One problem I am having is in painting. I primed and painted the power supply, but man, it chips super easily, and doesn't look all that good. I have seen some photos of great spray paint work, I guess I need some more training on that!

Cheers,
James

Should not have punched a hole for the front firewire connector, oh well.

[Bubbaxm2]

Looks good man!

[=>WiLL<=]

Looks great, like you did some in-depth planning before drilling. Call some local auto paint shops about powder coating... they can lead you to the right place. Thats if you did not want to hassle with spray paint

[jwood314]

Thanks for the kind words. I am going to start the next 900 on Sunday. The next one is an order of magnitude more complicated, more fans, fan controlle etc. I learned a lot on the first run. It is also a Rev 1 case, which is what I like. Then, the culmination of the work, will be to finish my A17. That is another order of magnitude. I have gotten some reallly good ideas, read, stolen other peoples mods, and hope to put a few unique spins on them for the Lian Li. That is a week or two away.

What does it cost to do some basic powder coating? I would like to get a power supply and possibly some other stuff powder coated. I don't need exact, just something like 50 bucks or 100 bucks or 200 bucks, just a general idea.

Thanks,
James

[Hughyhunter]

Powder coating can be expensive. However if you want a decent paint job we can help. I recently did mine and put a lot of time and research into it. If you look back a few pages you can see the finished product.
Just let us know if you want to go that route. As for a price on basic powder coating I have not a clue.

[=>WiLL<=]

What does it cost to do some basic powder coating? I would like to get a power supply and possibly some other stuff powder coated. I don't need exact, just something like 50 bucks or 100 bucks or 200 bucks, just a general idea.

50-60 bucks is what I paid. No scratches on the case every time you tinker with it: priceless.

[Goreg]

looks really nice jwood

[Hi_Clocks]

I just got my Antec 900 and soon to start modding it. One question I have is what color of black is everyone using to paint the inside, is it Flat Black?

[jwood314]

I used satin black spray paint, and I do not like the results. I bought the paint at Hobyb Lobby, I want to say Krylon, I don't want to walk to the garage to find out atm. I am going to powder coat the next power supply. Will make some phone calls tomorrow, so if you are in the Shreveport LA area, I can let you know what I ended up paying for the service.

James