Technician1
BSOD
- Messages
- 963
- Location
- US
Stats:
Silverstone Tek FT02BW-USB3.0 Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Uni-Body Frame Computer Case
Corsair Professional Series AX 850 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Gold
Gigabyte LGA 2011 DDR3 2133 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard GA-X79-UP4
Intel Core i7-3930K Hexa-Core Processor 3.5 Ghz (Turbo) 12 MB Cache LGA 2011
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan
Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (4x4GB) Quad Channel DDR3 1866 MHZ (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified 4 GB DDR5 Graphics Card
(2x) Samsung Electronics Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 500 GB SATAIII 2.5-Inch
(4x) Western Digital 4TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD4003FZEX
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit
(2x) LG Internal Blu-ray Writer
12v LED Strip Lights - 2 Piece (1 4' strip internal and 1 3' strip external)
Concept:
I built this computer a couple years ago and I was happy with everything except the look of the interior. I didn't like seeing the wires under the PSU and the wires going into the GPU card, (Why won't anyone design a card that has the connectors in a less conspicuous place than right on the outside edge?) so I came up with the idea of making some non conductive shielding to both hide the wires and direct the airflow a little more than the stock case (which already had great airflow).
I decided I wanted to fabricate some custom carbon fiber and polished aluminum covers to help hide the wires and dress up the interior a little bit.
Project:
I first made some templates out of some card stock I use for printing by cutting and folding and taping with masking tape to allow the tape to be moved and reapplied while using trial and error to create the shapes needed until I was happy with the look.
I then purchased some sheets of polystyrene (Black Styrene Sheets, .04x8x21") and some metal tape (3M Foil Tape 3381 Silver, 1.88 in x 50 yd 2.7 mil (Pack of 1)) and some carbom fiber decal sheets (3M Scotchprint 1080 Carbon Fiber Vinyl Flex Wrap Black CF12 60"x12").
When the styrene arrived, I marked out the templates I had made onto the plastic and cut the pieces out.
I glued them together with model glue (Testors Plastic Model Glue) and let them cure before covering them with the carbon fiber wrap. I then added the metal tape in small strips I cut from the roll onto the edges of the covers.
The covers were then fit into place (they are held in by friction fit and are easily removed for cleaning out dust) and the case was closed back up.
I monitored the temperatures over the next few weeks and they had dropped slightly on the GPU(4° F) and the CPU(5°-6° F) presumably due to the more controlled air flow patterns.
If you have any questions, ask away, I am happy to help you if you like this project.
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