my small pc case gaming mod

[dcyphure]

like many pc gamers i always wanted a quiet high end gaming rig the size of a console system, not just for looks but for space, i finally came as close as it can possibly get so figure i'd share my mod for others who may want to do the same. You can use all components you already have except with this case you'll need a slim dvd drive and 60mm fans.

components:

silverstone lc02 home theater case 4"H x 15"W x 11.5"D $120 at pc-performance.com

Athlon 64 4000+

1gb corsair xms ram

asus a8v mobo

6800 gt oc'ed with nv silencer 5 cooling

4 60mm stealth fans $cheap

3 60mm (10mm thick) cpu fans ( 2 used for case circulation/ 1 used for hard drive cooling) $cheap

connect x power supply (used externally)

maxtor maxline 3 300gb sata hard drive

pioneer slim dl dvdrw burner $88 at newegg.com

This is the silverstone lc02 case which supports full ATX and EATX mobo (slim dvd required with propritary psu removed) is designed for a weaker home theater system but with some slight modding it supports high end companants quite well, the top plate removes easily and is where both slim dvd burner and hard drive resides. it also comes with an AGP riser card with extension if needed and pci riser card but if you use a dual slot card you cannot use any pci slots, but i didnt need them anyway, if you do use an external usb version. any dual slot graphics card works just fine in this case.

you can also purchase a seperate PCI express riser card and it should fit if pci ex slot is in normal position on mobo...if your not sure they make some with ribbon cable so you can maneuver your card, just search on google. the case also comes with slim dvd adapter, 2 side usb ports and sound ports

this case is well designed but for max cooling some very slight internal modification will be required which i'll explain later. the case comes in silver or black and is very sleek looking. i suppose alternatively one could put rubber feet on one side and flip it for a slim tower look.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc02.htm

Being such a small case cooling is an issue, using only 2 60mm intake fans nearest to graphics card using default vents and 1 60mm fan for exhaust although as you can see from pics you can easily add up to 4 exhaust fans if you drill your own holes in case but i'm only using the default vents. in latest revision theres a vent above cpu so with this setup the system stays quite cool and i can easily overclock. I used the nv silencer 5 for graphics cooling...i found that the graphics card is the main heat source in this case and its imperative that exhaust be blown out of the case immediatly, so thats why a cooling source like this is needed cuz its vented out of the second back slot, otherwise your case temps will be much higher. i later threw in a couple of very thin cpu fans facing the exhaust end, one near northbridge and one near ram to help circulate the intake air, not needed but any better airflow no doubt helps.

This is size comparison to my old Asus vento case, quite a difference especially since the lc02 is only 4 inches high by 15 wide it fits perfectly under my 19" lcd monitor and raises it perfectly to eye level. so using it this way gives me much more desktop space. plus its about 70% quieter.

i didnt show it, but on that top plate i used a dremel and cut a rectangular hole under where the hard drive sits, i then silicone glued a very thin 60mm x 10mm thick fan under it to help cool it and it works extremely well. i also had to notch a couple spots on plate so my fans could fit right.

The first thing i did was remove the weak 220w psu and used my atx psu externally...its odd but it works well, you can add extensions or solder extensions if you want your psu on the floor which i orginally planned. i tried to find a brick psu but they dont make any except for laptops.

with all wiring in place, as you can see theres very little of it but you also cant use floppy drive or other such...if you need F6 sata drivers for installing windows you should first slipstream them using Nlite. www.nlite.org this way you wont likely need a floppy.

for slim dvd i got the pioneer slot loading dual layer -+ rw burner...i must say i'm really impressed with this drive, its fast, slot loading is also alot easier, its extremely quiet and even loads content faster than my aopen and sony dvd burners plus i cant believe how small and thin it is, its not much bigger than a cd and as thick as maybe 6 discs or so.

since you can use one internal hard drive then you should get a large one obviously, if you ever need more you can always get usb

completed

so if you can live without floppy and pci cards and want something fast,small and quiet then this is your best bet. i'm very happy with how it turned out, i havnt overclocked very high yet and case is warmer than standard tower would be of course but cpu temps are normal, graphics card is a bit higher but theres room for more vent holes if you want, also you can use a peice of flex pipe and route it from intake fan to intake fan of graphics card which i found makes card temps lower than a standard setup but likely depends on room temp at that point.

i benchmarked heavily using mostly 3dmark 05 looping and system is very stable under mild overclock, havnt tried any higher yet. case temps are a bit warmer but no biggie.

[Jeremy]

I hate the look of that case. I once promised a man that the day I saw someone with that case, I would personally smack them around some. lol

[ripken204]

jeremy, if ur talking bout that asus case, then im with you.

dcyphure, just make sure that you watch your temps, thats why small cases can suck.

[dcyphure]

good thing i'm not within arms reach then, but keep in mind i did reform and saw the error in my ways since i have a new case now lol

ran it hard for couple days now, temps are fine and its overclocked so i cant complain, the key with cooling for this case was the nv silencer on my gcard, if the heat was blown around in the case then temps would be much higher