My Computer
I decided to cash in some Fry’s gift certificates and replace my main Windows machine. Here what I started with:
Old computer:
Shuttle SN41G2
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
512MB Corsair PC3200
AIT Radeon 9800 Pro
Seagate 120GB
New computer:
Crapy case from 1998
AMD 64 3000+
1GB PNY PC3200
AIT Radeon 9800 Pro (from old computer)
Seagate 160GB SATA
The construction of the new box was quite uneventful. Uneventful is exactly how you want a computer building project to be. I made only one trip to Fry’s, which is not even close to my record of five trips for a system I built some time back.
I am looking forward to playing with Windows XP 64, and Debian AMD64. Right now I am still in the process of transferring my files to the new machine.
Because I am using an old case (circa 1998) I had to add some extra airflow. Basically the case is a steel box. Since it had no case fans, a few small holes in the back provided all the heat dissipation for the enitre case. It originally housed a Pentium II which generated far less heat than an AMD 64 3000. So, I decided to add an 80mm case fan exhaust. My first idea was to cut a circular hole in the side panel, but this was shelved when I learned that it would cost me at least $30 for the tools.
I decided to use the resources I had on hand, basically a drill and some drill bits. I laid out the measurements of the case fan with a pencil. I drew a dot every place I wanted a hole. Then I took a tool which I think is called a “nail punch” (you could just use a nail) and dented each pencil marking. This allows the drill bit to stay where you want it when drilling rather than skidding across the metal surface. Now it was time to drill and drill and drill, I ended up with around 64 holes. To clean the holes up, I attached a “grinder” to the drill and smoothed the back side of the panel. Then all I did was attach the fan and put the side panel back on the case. For purely aesthetic reasons I added some blue LEDs which shine through the openings.
I hope you will see that doing case mods is not something to be left to the computer elite. I would recommend that you get some experience using an old case before ripping into you brand new Antec box.
Tags: hardware