Modding the Cooler Master Cavalier 3

[gvblake22]

Ok, I have upgraded my case to a Cooler Master Cavalier 3 SEEN HERE


I'm not gonna list all my mods right now because there are a lot and I'm still not sure if all will become a reality so that's why this is a running thread that I will update as each new mod has been started or completed.
Ok, well let's kick this biotch off!!
First task was to strip this thing of all its cloths and dignity! HAHA

[gvblake22]

Ok, I decided I wanted to divide the cooling of this case into two sections. The top being the "CPU/RAM/Motherboard Section" and the bottom being the "HDD/VGA cooling section".


So once I figured out how I wanted to cool this bad boy, it's on to the prototype/construction phase...
I started little and decided to try making the dual 40mm fan bracket. I found a roll of aluminum and decided it would work great for what I had in mind, here's how it turned out so far (no fans yet of course though):
The fans will go in the square areas outlined in pencil (kinda hard to see)


Here's what it should kinda look like. The bracket will be between the two 40mm fans and the back of the case (so the fans will be inside the case):


Not quite sure how I will secure the bracket. It actually self press fits in there pretty well so I may just try that to begin with and if it doesn't work out I will see about some adhesive of some kind to hold it in place.

[gvblake22]

Ok, here is a preliminary sketch of the side window.
(The gray X's are the drive bay areas)


After many, many, MANY hours of masking and measuring, and re-measuring, I have managed to finally mask off the designs and lines to cut!


I made sure that I could fit in a 120mm fan in the top window section as well as an 80mm fan in the bottom window section if I decided later on that I needed more cooling:


The top 120mm fan:


An angle view from the top:


Can you guess what these holes will be for? I just hope I won't need those standoff holes in the future!:


Overall it was a long day of measuring and making mistake after mistake. I also found out how tricky it is to try and draw circles or arcs without a compas or protractor :bang head

Now on to the Dremel work!!

[gvblake22]

Finally got most of the dremel work done! That was a long process, PHEW!!!






Still have a couple more things to dremel out and then file it all down... :)

[Capper]

yeah, I think I'd secure it with a couple of sheet metal screws or something.
no sense in taking a chance of a big piece of metal coming loose and flopping around with all those electronic components in there

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Capper

yeah, I think I'd secure it with a couple of sheet metal screws or something.
no sense in taking a chance of a big piece of metal coming loose and flopping around with all those electronic components in there

Most definately. Just wait...

[gvblake22]

Well, unfortunately I wasn't quite done with the dremel work, but I managed to get the rest of it done today! YAY!

First task was to get that damn dual 40mm fan bracket situation fidgered out. I ended up redesigning it a little bit and I think I am happy with the results:




After that whole ordeal, I went back to attack the front intake in an attempt to increase airflow through the already small opening:



I am still waiting for all my fans and other "accessories" to arrive so tomorrow I hope to get all the cuts filed down, the window installed and try to get all of the metal shavings out of the case. I found that using wet paper towel worked pretty well to get up most of that metal dust all over from cutting...

[gvblake22]

Got all the cuts filed down and the window installed 8)

[gvblake22]

First up now is one of a few accessories I decided to add (gotta love ebay):





Next I added an on/off switch to two empty, rewired 120mm blue LED fan frames and put them to good use as spacers for a duct past the PSU on the top 120mm intake fan. And a huge thanks to JudgeDredd from OCForums for making this duct and lighting possible by donating the fans to my modding cause!!!!!!!:


It was a close fit with the PSU but made for a good place to hide wires:


I then decided to add this switch to the front panel area along with a dedicated processor fan speed controller and digital temperature display all in a custom multifunction front panel display in an empty 5.25" drive bay cover:

[gvblake22]

Then I had to mod my new heatsink fan a little bit:


Then it was on to that ever-annoying dual 40mm fan bracket: