CM 690 Mod and Build

[yzmxer608]

I bought some new parts and am going to mod my Cooler Master 690 case some. I decided to make a topic for it so people can see what I did and how it turned out, get ideas for their own mods, and to inspire people to take what they have and make it their own.

Here is a few lists, everyone likes lists right?

Parts I Have:
-Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W PSU
-Biostar TA790GXE 128M Motherboard
-AMD Phenom 8400 x3
-3GB (2x 512MB and 2x 1GB) Samsung RAM
-Sunbeam Core Contact 120mm CPU heatsink with TX-2 thermal paste
-Scythe Musashi GPU heatsink
-2X Hitatchi Desktstar 7200rpm 320GB HD's

New Parts:
-AMD Phenom II 965 BE (125W C3)
-8GB (4x 2GB) Corsair 240-pin ddr2 XMS2 RAM
-XFX HD 5870 GPU
-4x Rosewell 120mm fan filters
-3x (2 per pack) Vizo 120mm fan anti-vibration kit
-2X Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black HD's
-3x Apevia black 120mm fan guard
-Cooler Master sidepanel with blue led 120mm fan and window for CM 690
-Logisys set of 2 12" blue cold cathodes

What I plan to do:
-Take parts originally from HP Pavilion and rebuild the Pavilion (8400, 3GB RAM, 1 of the HDs (keeping the other for storage)) to have a second PC for the family
-Cut plastic honeycomb pattern from top and front panels of cm 690
-Cut the top 2 and rear fan mounting position metal circular mesh out of cm 690
-Cut bottom of cm 690 under the psu (carefully to retain strength) to allow better airflow for the PSU fan (only half of the fan is getting fresh air now)
-Rebuild with new parts

So far I stripped down the cm 690, cut the plastic patttern off of the front and top panel, mounted the Musashi on the 5870, and have the Pavilion back up and running (what I'm posting from). Here are some various photos I have so far .

Top panel with plastic removed (I didn't use those scissors haha, used wire cutters), I put eletrical tape along the edges where the pattern was cut. I know it sounds ghetto but it doesn't look too bad, it shouldn't really be seen too much, just self-conscience about it I guess

Front panel with plastic removed. For both the top and front panel the metal mesh was a pain to get off, have to bend tabs back and slide them through their slot. Hard to do when there are pretty many of them you have to make sure are lined up at once.

Phenom 8400 (right) and Phenom II 965 next to each other

 

[yzmxer608]

Sorry for the double post.

Here are a few shots of the 5870 with the Musashi on it. It actually uses the same mounting holes as the 9800GT. I was dissapointed when I found out the back metal plate was held in place by screws that keep the stock heat sink on, I really wanted to have that plate on. Just think it looks cool, plus it protects the card from anything that might drop on it. I just tried sticking it on there with no screws to see what would happen. When I mounted it how I would regulary, it had play in it (up and down), didn't want that in case it would vibrate- plus it would annoy me knowing it wasn't secure. I found some random screws and nuts in my tool kit that happened to fit perfect . Not sure if it is just the one I got, but some of the screws were on really tight, using a small phillips screwdriver (like the really small ones) I couldn't get some of them off. Took some thinking and I ended up taked a need nose pliers to hold and turn the screw driver, more leverage did it. However, I did snap off the tip of the phillips in the stock heatsink housing . You can see the screws in some of the shots, I didn't want to cut off the excess in case I would ever need to use them again.

Few shots of the Corsair RAM.

Right now I'm stuck until my dad and I can start cutting the case. I would install the CPU and mount the heatsink but I want to spray it out with air before I do.

 

[philbar71]

nice looking log you got there. keep us updated

and for a worklog double posting is ok

 

[kmote]

I like the detailed photos there, keep 'em coming. And yeah don't worry about the double post so much here, we know that there is a limit for the number of pics you can have per post which can get in the way for stuff like this.

 

[Burn]

be sure to put some sinks on this (circled in yellow) as well as the cards VRM's:

or your card is going to go poof in no time

 

[yzmxer608]

Thanks guys, I was messing around with the dof on a few of the shots . I was reading this: How To: Extensively Modify Your Thermaltake Big Typhoon - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net and it got me thinking if I could do any mods to my core contact. Putting the small sinks on the pad/heatpipes doesn't sound like too bad of an idea, if it actually does anything. I have some extras from my Musashi I was thinking of maby using. Also thought of maybe putting something on both sides of it to create a duct sort of so the air will go through the fins and not escape through the sides. Just not sure what I would use, and how it would be mounted. I would obviously probably most likely maybe get lower temps by just lapping it, but I don't know if I'm up to that just yet. What do you guys think of it?

Edit: Thanks Burninator, I'll add some on those .

 

[Burn]

no problem

edit: heres a "template" for what you should have sinks on, hope it helps

 

[yzmxer608]

Looking at that now, I wonder if I should take the sticker off of this thing and put a sink or however many on it.

 

[Burn]

nah, i don't think you need sinks on those. on that waterblock i posted i don't think it even touches those. the area above them on the waterblock is machined out

 

[yzmxer608]

Ok, just wanted to make sure . I added a filter and one of the Apevia fan guards to the sidepanel fan. Original fan guard was too restricting compared to this one. The filter would probably be better if it was on the outside of the fan instead of on the inside since it wouldn't get the fan itself dusty then, but the fan's leds wouldn't look as good.

Forgot to add to the list of new parts the Logisys set of 2 12" blue cold cathodes , will add them now.