Another Dragon rebuild!

[imm0rt41]

So after seeing the success others have had reviving their Chieftec Dragons from back in the day, I was thinking of swapping my main rig over from my Smilodon to the Dragon. Think it's worth it? It is going to require a lot of modding to get 120mm fans in there, but hole saws are cheap. My smilodon is not having any problems keeping my components cool, but it is quite cramped with a 6970 in it. To give you an idea, the card is sitting in between the SATA cables (they're on the top and bottom of the GPU HS) and it makes opening the case a total PITA. Of course, I would swap the old components in to the smilodon, so it's not like I am losing anything there. So what do you think?

 

Progress will probably be slow at first, and I'm bad at remembering to take pics, but I figured I would share this rebuild with everyone. I should have a new SSD on the way for the main rig too, which is part of why I want to rebuild and cable manage my case. Maybe flat black the inside, but who knows how far I will take it. I'm open to suggestions as well!

 

Here's my AthlonXP rig in the Dragon at the moment. It has had almost continuous uptime since 2004 until the HDD died recently. This was also the first rig I built for myself in HS so excuse the wiring. After this long, you just stop caring haha

 

Old Specs: (before the HDD failure)

AthlonXP 2500+ Barton @2.3GHz

Thermalright copper hunk + tornado for CPU cooler

ASUS A7N8X-e DELUXE

1.5GB DDR PC3200 (awww yeeeah!)

eVGA GeForce 6800GT AGP

120GB HDD

 

Edited June 17, 2011 by imm0rt41

[imm0rt41]

Update: I got all of the old components taken out this weekend and have a rough idea of my plan of attack. I plan on removing the bottom hard drive cage all together because my video card is HUEG LIEK XBOX and I'll need the room for 2x 1200mm intake fans right there. I am hoping I can squeeze them in and still retain one of the hard drive cages to hold my SSD and storage drive. I plan on re-using the Zalman fan controller from the original build, just no tornado attached to it. I don't know how I lived in the same room as that monstrosity of a fan for so long.

 

So plans are:

remove bottom hard drive cage and get 2x120mm up front. Cut holes for 2x120mm in the rear. Cut hole for 1x120mm up top, and CAREFULLY cut a 1200mm hole in the plexiglass. I am nervous about cutting the window, so I may just leave an 80mm there. Really don't want to crack the window since they would be hard to find and I don't want to make a replacement

 

Pics of the aftermath to come soon. Also need to pick up a 120mm hole saw asap lol

[Owenisbad]

Some more side fans would really improve airflow, but that's up to you I guess. Have you thought about spraying the inside? That would look awesome

 

Look forward to seeing this finished

[imm0rt41]

I think for this phase of the build I was going to leave the inside silver. I want to do the whole case in a theme eventually, but couldn't decide if black powdercoat or a matched blue powdercoat would look the best. I'm always open to ideas though!

 

I originally built this rig after a friend passed away. He was killed in a drunk driving accident, and his car was the same color as this case. The dSoc sticker is why I don't want to mess up the window because it was the same sticker that was on his car.

 

Really though, I just want to get the best airflow possible so I can push my rig more. The Smilodon is just too cramped to add anymore fans without turning it in to a rat's nest of wires lol

[Owenisbad]

I think for this phase of the build I was going to leave the inside silver. I want to do the whole case in a theme eventually, but couldn't decide if black powdercoat or a matched blue powdercoat would look the best. I'm always open to ideas though!

 

I originally built this rig after a friend passed away. He was killed in a drunk driving accident, and his car was the same color as this case. The dSoc sticker is why I don't want to mess up the window because it was the same sticker that was on his car.

 

Really though, I just want to get the best airflow possible so I can push my rig more. The Smilodon is just too cramped to add anymore fans without turning it in to a rat's nest of wires lol

Fair enough, probably best to leave the side as it is then. Maybe you could add a 120mm intake fan at the bottom to cool your 6970? I hate how small my case is too sometimes

[imm0rt41]

Fair enough, probably best to leave the side as it is then. Maybe you could add a 120mm intake fan at the bottom to cool your 6970? I hate how small my case is too sometimes

Honestly, my 6970 isn't even getting that hot as it is...even at 1GHz it doesn't go much above 70C while gaming. I think I may use my other dragon as a guinea pig to get a process down for cutting the plexi. I'm thinking as long as I use something like painter's tape over where I plan on cutting it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

 

This forum needs a :thumbup: smiley

[imm0rt41]

The aftermath as promised:

 

ASUS A7N8X-e DELUXe, 512MB PC3200 Mushkin Blue Line, Some random 512MB PC3200 Patriot stick, my old 5900se with arctic cooler4 on it (massive OC back in the day), etc.

 

 

This should give you an idea of what I am working with other than the window. Lots of room, and a completely unmodded canvas

[Boinker]

LOL, did I enspire you to destroy something. LOL. If you want me to do to yours what I did to mine just pm me and we will arrange a price. LOL.

Its easier to get one fan (120 or 140mm) in the front but what I had to end up doing is replace most of the front internal structure with a metal plate and rivet it into place. You can get two in there but you loose all the 3.5 bays. Go get a 120mm fan templet and print it out on your computer. Ill post a linky for you later. Others then that keep the rear 80mm fans as they are. Put in one center top blow hole that leaves enough room to use the top expansion bay. Mount the hard drives on an xspc x3 mount anywhere drive bay just in front of the fan or fans and then get a new acrylic panel for the side panel with a 120mm fan hole and you for the most part have what I did to mine. LOL. Good luck with the mod. Only difference is mine has a few other things done for performance that I will not reveal. LOL.

[Boinker]

The location of the fan hole templete is mnpctech.com they are a nice mod store and they sell lots of cool goodies for Modding. Good luck and do not bother cutting wire management holes in the motherboard tray. The space between the tray and the back paneled is too narrow so Use wire tie hold Downs from frozencpu.com.

[imm0rt41]

Think 1 240mm would fit up front? I could maybe save the top 3.5 drive bay if I did that...all I would need to do is add some venting in the front of the case. Maybe cut out the smooth parts and fill them with mesh for more of an HAF look. I don't mind losing the second drive bay, really. Just means I would need to rig something up to mount my SSD and my HDD in the 5.25" bays. Money is always tight (since I buy SSDs for no reason ) so I don't want to spend too much money outside of the cost for tools. As for cutting metal, well I have a 22 gal air compressor and grinder. This case does not stand a chance mwahahaha

 

My mind is working, and that is a dangerous thing. Once I get started on something, it usually ends up pretty badass...here's my old race car

 

1993 Del Sol Si

Race prepped, interior only for gf/daily use lol

Edited June 21, 2011 by imm0rt41

[gotdamojo06]

if you need/want more room in the front...you can always do what I did with my SSD....I used zip ties and put it on the back of my 5.25" drive bay cage...opened up room for my pump and made it look much cleaner...

 

 

Pictures were taken on my phone so they arnt the best of quality...

 

Always a suggestion for the SSD if you needed more room up front

[imm0rt41]

That's also an option, hadn't thought of that! I think I might find a way to build a 5.25" -> 2.5"/3.5" adapter so I can put the drives together. Maybe make it in to an enclosure type thing with an 80mm fan on it lol

 

So what I am thinking for now is, if I measure and a 240mm fits up front I am going to cut out the smooth pieces of the front panel and fill them with mesh, then mount the fan behind them. That shouldn't hinder airflow much, and will let more air get in than before. Plus, I would have the quiet of a 240mm fan up front which is always nice. I need to get to home depot here pretty soon to get a hole saw so I guess I should start measuring!

 

Oh and boinker, I might be able to feed wires behind the tray, I was able to with my other chieftec I have, and while it was tight getting the case closed I made it work. I rethought it and actually spread out the wiring in the ATX rail so it was only 1 wire thick going behind there and it fit much better. I hate wiring though. I even wire tucked the engine bay of that car. All of the headlight, indicator, etc wiring was hidden under the fenders so only the engine harness was visible. Made race-day electrical fixes very easy to troubleshoot lol

Edited June 21, 2011 by imm0rt41