NZXT H2 case mod

[whatsthatnoise]

I want to share my first exploration into case modding. Got my NZXT H2 for about a year and started thinking about a more fancy look with some LED Fans thrown in.

Plan is to mod the front door and add a window in the side panel at low cost/time spent.

original case

Side panel draft (with markings to print it out on 2 x A4 pages)



Couldn't find pictures from the cutting process and my smartphone cam refused to make sharp pictures of it (due to bad lightning), but anyway.

Final side panel with my crappy hardware inside (almost 4 year old stuff woohoo).


Awesome custom cooled graphics card INC!



Going to replace the front door with some mesh ... removing the cover.




aluminium mesh (1mm thick) ... could use a scissor on this one *cough*




... some folding later




putting it in place to see if it fits ...





http://s1.directupload.net/file/d/2855/f85q72n3_jpg.htm

Looks pretty nice to me already, even unpainted.

The acrylic panel and the aluminium mesh cost about 7€ each. Pretty much worth it. Gonna paint the mesh and cut out the white plastic of the front door next.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Nice work there man, throw a few pics into the members gallery when you're done/happy with it
Moto

 

[hellfire24]

great work,it's a great case and i hope it becomes better then you expected.

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Thanks, will add more pics and progress soon.

Nice work there man, throw a few pics into the members gallery when you're done/happy with it
Moto

Members gallery is this one, right?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Thats the one, theres another one in overclocking for waterbuilds as well though
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Mhm, I'm afraid to post there. My specs are laughable, no matter how the case looks like.

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Time to cut out the the front!








primer (white) applied after sanding ....






Black paint is next, already ordered four more blue LED fans for the front and inside.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Its not so much the specs as the Rig itself, there are P4's in there
and seriously, you are doing a great job here, more proper modding than most would consider doing,
I appreciate the work you are putting into this, and I know a lot of the old hands will as well,
its the time, care and attention to detail that matters and it shows here so don't be shy,
if you can do this kind of work to a case you rock, any Muppet can throw the latest gear into a case and call it custom, but you are actually modding, not just adding custom bits from a snazzy website
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Hehe, I got it, thank you.

However, it gave me an inspiration to hide some of the stuff behind a "plate", more on this later.


As for the progress .... black paint added on the in and outside of the mesh.










I'm waiting for the fans to arrive, now. Should still take a few days because of Easter holidays. Guess it leaves some time to do something to the interior of the case.

I'll add a panel to the side of the HDD cage using left over acrylic and the white primer as paint.

The panel will go here ...

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Plate? oh gods, I've started something here lol,
My plate on the rear of the Mobo tray hides a lot hehe
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareuk.inc&cat=13&post=311860&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

made from a sidepanel from a case I had lying around, I also used part of that case for the tray that lines my roof, you can see that just above the plate
hiding a fancontroller, two inverters, a Usb3.0 header adaptor and a few feet of W/c tubing
I like where you're going man
stupid Ocd level cable management is next hehe
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Never thought of a plate behind the motherboard to hide the cables, myself. Guess I'm just sticking with the side panel for that job. But it's a good idea nonetheless, looks very clean without all the cables in first sight!

Have you used some kind of spacers to keep the plate on a distance? I'm still thinking about what I could use (or re-use) for that kind of purpose.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I used mobo standoffs to keep it at a uniform distance
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

And you drilled a winding in there to put those standoffs in? Or how did you apply them?

E: After some thinking, I suppose you used empty holes for different form factors?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

yup, the holes I used were already there, my case supports E-Atx boards, if you wanted to though a 2mm bit should provide the pilot hole to screw it into (carefully ofc)
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

I'm thinking about a way to do something similar to the top of the motherboard. It's just plain ugly to have all those condensers and stuff visible in all kind of different colors. That's what I meant to do with a "plate". I'll probably build a dummy out of cardboard/paper first and see how I can make it fit/how it will look like.

Anyway, I got the acrylic panel for the HDD cage cut, sanded and drilled.

Three and a half failed drill holes later ... I should have taped it and put an old piece of wood below the drill hole, but well still got some acrylic left if it finally breaks.





painted and put in place with the thumb screws and screw holes provided by the case ... as expected the paint covers my awesome drill failure.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Hehe, Acrylic's a pain to cut, file or drill, tape up and sandwich in blocks (as you've learned
Looking good though mate
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Yeah, on top of that I got the cheapest one, too. Just 2mm thin. On the pro side, I can just scribe it a little and break it along there. Just works if I only need a straight line, ofc.

 

[whatsthatnoise]

All right, the LED Fans arrived. I choose to use Xigmatek Crystal CLF series, 120mm. I got them for really cheap. They look really nice, both when on and off. However, if they wouldn't have been that crazy cheap, I'd be pissed. Simply because the advertised <20dB is a damn joke. If you hold them in your hand it might be true (since you will absorb any vibration), but once you put them anywhere (like standing on your desk or even attached with rubber screws) these things are damn loud at 50%+ speed. Simple reason for that is the poorly constructed frame of the fans. It bends easily, no stability in there and therefore vibrates as hell when in contact with something like your case.

Here's two of them in front @5V, still pretty bright and somewhat quiet... again, the look is what I was expecting just not having to run them at ultra low speed





Anyway, since they were cheap it got me thinking about a possible fix. The best way to start was improving the frames stability and since I had some stripes of the mesh left from the front panel ....



sanded, primed and painted them for good measure ...



Easiest and most of all reversible way to put them in place is with Hot Glue so that's what I did next ...



Not that pretty on close up, but like I said, easily reversible and works for testing.

The result was increased frame stability, no bending/twisting anymore. Running at full speed still vibrates a little, but given the 1500RPM of the fan at max speed it's quite reasonable. However, the noise generated when put in the case dropped noticeable!

Which leaves me looking for a nicer permanent solution, maybe the same Hot Glue style, but with solid metal or something ...


at ~50cm distance ...

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I think once those are screwed in place you'll find the vibration problem will easae further, nice fix man
Moto

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Well the ones in the front are screwed in and without the "fix" (just did that for one fan to test it) and nope ... they are really a pain to listen to when running @more than 5V.

Then again I'm running a silent system, majority of people might not care. I would barely consider them even quiet. The noise they make is of some really annoying sort.

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Cleared the test fan of the mesh and glue and tried a different, cleaner and nicer approach. Using left over acrylic.

3x 120x25mm and 1x 100x25mm (to leave some clearance for the cable)


... glued into place


and in action ...


Gonna stick with that, all it needs is enough clearance around the fan slots (2mm more on each side ...). Which rules out this solution for the front fans, but looks nice and works like a charm otherwise.

Seriously, not sure if I should be shocked or relieved about how much of a difference this makes noise wise. -.-



*tries to think about a solution for the front fans*

 

[XNine]

I approve of this modding! Nice work indeed.

 

[hellfire24]

^it's good to see someone from nzxt!
you peeps are great,phantom(full tower)is an amazing case for it's price(my friend has one ).switch is the best watercooling case in it's price range.
keep up the good work

 

[XNine]

^it's good to see someone from nzxt!
you peeps are great,phantom(full tower)is an amazing case for it's price(my friend has one ).switch is the best watercooling case in it's price range.
keep up the good work

Thank you very much for your comments We are definitely striving to provide the community with a lot of options at affordable prices. I think people will be very surprised by our offerings in the next year as well.

What's great about working for NZXT, is I'm working with enthusiasts and gamers, much like myself. So, we want to build things that not only the community would want to buy, but we would want to buy.

 

[hellfire24]

^let's hope you come up with great products asap.
cheers