Project Panzerbox Mod: Tribute to Wolfenstein

[CustomPCMAX]

Hi all, my name is Nate and I am going to be collaborating with Bill Owen at MNPCTECH on custom modded gaming PC.

The whole project is a work in progress, but here is what we have so far.

Overview: Bill has received a pre-production NZXT Panzerbox case. His is going to be handling the modding of the case. NZXT was really cool in allowing him to get his hands on this before it is even in stores. This will be the "first EVER modded NZXT Panzerbox".

Here is a pic of the case:

Also, check out Bill's video review of this case. It looks pretty awesome!
VIDEO

The case is going to be modded in tribute to Wolfenstein 3D since we both have fond memories of playing this game.

Bill just sent me some rough sketches that he and Brad @mnpctech made for the paint job. I think it is going to look very cool!

A window on the left side will have logo outline cut in the center and painted...probably smoked acrylic window (see concept pic 1). The right side panel will have an airbrushed mural of one of the enemies with what looks to be nuclear powered gun, background is storm cloud filled dark sky and Messerschmidt flying over (see concept pic 2). The perforated mid section of the case will be painted German camouflage, with German cross painted over the front fan, and nuclear symbol from same enemy soldier painted over top fan. Green light will eminate from the green LED fan and green cathodes.

I am going to be providing the "guts" to this system. I run CustomPCMAX, a small Gaming PC Building company online. Me and Bill realized that we work in the same area (Mpls, Mn), so Bill was gracious enough to let me install a PC in one of his custom modded cases. This is very exciting for me, to say the least.

Tentative PC Specs (I will update these as I confirm parts):
I have been up in the air about which way I want to take this. Here is my current plan.

• AMD Phenom II x3 720 Black Edition (unlocked multiplier)
  3x ATI 4830 512 mb in Tri Crossfire
  Mobo - not yet decided, but I need a tri-crossfire board.
  4 gigs ddr3 ram.

Three Cores... Three GPUs... One MONSTER Gaming PC!!

Anyways, I think it would be cool, the Phenom will OC good (3.4-3.7 ghz average) and the triple CF setup will be awesome. These cards are great performers, two are just about matching a Nvidia GTX280 in performance, three should trump it by a fair bit. Plus, these cards should overclock by a good bit, so it should be some truly monster performance for a relatively good price.


Future Things to See:

• Video worklogs of the modding and installation.
  Benchmarking, OCing, gaming... all the fun stuff!

Please let me know what you think!

Sponsored by:

Internal Components (confirmed):
NZXT Precise Power 1200 Watt Modular PSU


Creative Labs : Home Page - The leader in Digital Entertainment for your PC and the Internet








More pics to come soon...

 

[Mnpctech]

The NZXT 190mm top cooling is big, but this 250mm cooling fan from performance-pcs is even bigger, and it actually fits! I'll just have to tap new screw holes

It's the Green led version, and it's very quiet, 19 dbA pushing out 105.2 CFM!

 

[hikaricloud]

Oh man, you guys are so lucky. I really want the case, even when it's vanilla. It's going to be pretty sweet seeing it modded.

 

[b0dge]

That is a large fan!!

The Wolfenstein theme should look great. Looking forward to seeing more...

 

[Mnpctech]

Thanks for tuning in and commenting guys!

I pre-installed the 250mm cooling fan from performance-pcs in the top panel today, I wanted the mounting holes made before the chassis is handed off to Brad for paint.

NZXT's mounting location for included 190mm cooling

These 2 pop-rivets fasten on the perforated top panel, they prevent the 250mm fan from sitting flush and center,

I'm cutting notches in the 250 cooling fan's frame, so it will seat over the rivets

2nd rivet we need to clear.

A notch cut the frame of the 250mm cooling fan

Heres the location of the new mounting holes for the fan. (5/32 drill bit)

10/32 x 5/8" black oxide socket head machine screws
http://www.mnpctech.3dpixelnet.com/picture_library/wolfensteincasemod.casemodblog9q.jpg

Now the fan seats flush and center beneath the top perforated panel.

 

[hikaricloud]

Nice, it's cool to know it can fit such a huge fan.

What else are you going to be doing to it, modding wise? Besides the paint job of course.

Also, kudos to the 720 pick. I own one, and on stock cooling, I got it to 3.888ghz on stock cooling with DDR2 800 PI Blacks, but it was pretty unstable. I keep mine at 3.5ghz 24/7, without better cooling, it gets too hot under full load. With a good after market HSF, like a Core Contact, you could at least keep it at 3.6, maybe 3.8 stable.

 

[Mnpctech]

Thanks!

a custom window... still debating about other mods I'm thinkin of

Another shot of the 250mm cooling fan.

The silhouette cut-out for the Wolfenstein logo (painted later)

Temporary paper template for logo location

 

[toxicity_27]

Wow, that fan is enormous! Sweet idea for a mod. I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

[hikaricloud]

I'm liking it. As soon as I saw your review on this case, my first thought was "I need this case." My second though was "Man, it needs a window."

Looking good so far.

 

[Mnpctech]

The only problem with including a window, the PSU location blocks your sweet hardware...lol... thats why I opted for smoked acrylic windows

To give the window panel an armoured look, I'll be attach these carriage bolt heads around the frame I cut with Scotch DP190 2 part epoxy.