Zotac Mod Box

[Devil_Dog]

Watching this one closely as well. You do some great work. Hope my current build turns out half as nice as yours.

[sniperbob]

did BOTH of those 295's come with GRID? if so do you really need two copies???? hint hint

[skulstation]

I waiting with impatience the end product of your second skulltrail.i am stil buzzy whit my furst skulltrail.

[coolmiester]

Cheers

And then there were two.........flame grilled.

I like them, just hope they work as well as on i7

[Scubar]

I take it when you mean flame grilled you have heated them on the surface slightly to help give that polished look ?

Excellent work btw, really looking forward to seeing another one of your outstanding mods.

[skulstation]

coolmiester i have a qwestion for you.
did your sb fan ever stop to spinnig on a setup while OCed on air.

[HuffPCair]

O sweet just saw this. Can't wait to see what you turn this into to.

SubD

[dasickninja]

I know I'm going to see God like modding, but seeing pushpins makes my soul hurt. Any chance of replacing those with TR type screws?

[Larsson]

Looks like a good start but I have to second dasickninja here; pushpins are utter s-h-i-t-e mate. But, I could see why you would go for them seeing that they blend in nicely with the board and the water blocks matching the colours and all that, but still.

[D0BR0]

Excellent, as always. I just don't like the "bindings" you put ont the blocks. The ones taken from an Intel CPU, they look a bit cheap, the contrary of the whole build and equipment.

[coolmiester]

I take it when you mean flame grilled you have heated them on the surface slightly to help give that polished look ?

Excellent work btw, really looking forward to seeing another one of your outstanding mods.

Cheers, yeah basically like you would flame polish plexi.........same thing really.

coolmiester i have a qwestion for you.
did your sb fan ever stop to spinnig on a setup while OCed on air.

Err not that i know of

I know I'm going to see God like modding, but seeing pushpins makes my soul hurt. Any chance of replacing those with TR type screws?

Looks like a good start but I have to second dasickninja here; pushpins are utter s-h-i-t-e mate. But, I could see why you would go for them seeing that they blend in nicely with the board and the water blocks matching the colours and all that, but still.

Excellent, as always. I just don't like the "bindings" you put ont the blocks. The ones taken from an Intel CPU, they look a bit cheap, the contrary of the whole build and equipment.

Not being funny but if you just look at the pictures and don't read any text (i try not to write to much anyway) then you're coming to your own conclusions and not mine so i can't do much more to help you guys there other than to suggest reading text before having a pop

From post #25
I'll get them both finished but may swap the Quick mount for Pro Mount so a back plate can be used but for the time being it should be fine and it doesn't seem to be causing the board to warp too much.

[dasickninja]

My bad man. Long shift. My eyes must've missed that. Don't mind me.

[coolmiester]

At long last i had a couple of Coolermaster ATCs 840's tuned up this morning so its all stations go.

I first got to get the ZOTAC Nitro installed into the front bezel so it was dismantle the Nitro and use the casing as a template for the screen and three white buttons.

Marked it out then drilled pilot holes to feed the fret saw blade through followed by a little filing and bobs you uncle.....sorted

I still got to cut a bit of 3mm plexi and add black out film to it so the whole screen sits flush to the rest of the bezel and disappears when the screen is not illuminated but this is how it looks right now.

I've also got to de-rivet and strip the rest of the chassis and cut the base for the 240 rad then the whole thing is off to powder coat before Rick starts his airbrushing

Pictures....

[bentleya]

Great work CM keep it up

[coolmiester]

cheers bentleya, i'm trying too

I'm on a roll.....

Basically couldn't wait till morning to cut the plexi because i wanted to see what it looked like

Cut the plexi to size and used Black Out Privacy film on one side.

Obviously not all mounted but shows how it will end up looking....ish

I'll sleep happy with that thank you very much.

[ILikeCosmosS]

dam that looks good wait this is over the panel and its plexi + black film?

it looks more like velvet wraped ( like the way they put it on car seats)

[Dangals]

that looks awesome CM

Looking forward to some more pics

[shazza]

Very Nice! I was hoping you'd post an update. Can't wait to see the rest.

[coolmiester]

Wish i had more to show you guys but they say, the hard work is in the preparation and in this case it was.

Decided to make the top grill for this Zotac 840 out of a piece of 4mm sheet of aluminium which will make the whole top section of the case pretty much flush, more in keeping of an actual Zotac retail box which i'm trying to replicate.

Not really much different from the top grill i did on the previous Smackover 840 but this time it was the full width of the case and rather than a curved edge, it was more of a bevel finish to match the front bit.

Anyway, no doubt it wouldn't of taken long on a CNC but i dunno, i just love doing this type of stuff by hand so here it is, all ready to go to powder coat with the rest of the chassis then Honeycomb mesh mounted underneath on its return.

Sorry for loads of pictures that might not really mean that much but to me they kinnda justify a day in the garden doing what i love doing.......and a little Youtube showing power file, draw filing and block sanding to finish

Youtube ATCs 840 top grill

[Rise]

Awesome

[mib]

Looking nice very nice.
More pictures please.

[coolmiester]

Just a few finishing touches before everything goes to powder coat tomorrow.

Tapped 6 holes in the top grill and added some threaded bar which will be used with small spacers to mount it to the chassis where i drilled holes (red arrows) so there is a small gap between the chassis and the vent which will help with airflow but the main reason is so it ends up mounted flush with the front bit.

Also de-riveted the hard drive caddy and chopped out a section out so the rad can fit and also cut the base to accept a dual radiator then riveted it back together.

BTW, i'll be using a GTX240 radiator in the base but just used the only 240 i had for pictures.

Pictures....

[RCG_Bex]

Lookin sweet mister miester! Loving those blocks on that board :P

~Bex

[NaeKuh]

ahhhh this is why CM is one of our legendary builders.

[lazy]

nice work cm! show us more!