antec nsk3400 mods :D

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:04 pm

done over the course of 8 or so months

full list of mods:
- removed rear fan grill
- painted front panel
- removed front audio and firewire connectors
- blocked pci grill
- blocked psu cable hole
- cut cable management holes
- cut psu intake hole
- foam inside front panel
- window mod
- cut psu 'bottom' grill
- psu fan swap ~900rpm coolermaster
- removed 1xmolex cable, pcie cable from psu
- rear fan 1000rpm glacialtech
- hdd suspension
- heatsink swap on northbridge

edit: forgot to mention, its very quiet, audible only when there is direct line of sight with the case (eg. when i lean back in my chair).

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:25 am

very clean and very nice!! That is well done build!

C. Zoui · Post by **C. Zoui** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:28 pm

Working with the NSK34xx series is quite a fun challenge, isn't it? As one of the smallest regular-profile mATX cases, you have to be plan the placement of everything very carefully, especially the wiring.

I see you were more than up for the challenge; nice cabling! I was considering something similar with my current NSK3480 build.

Looks like you did a good job on painting the front bezel to complete the all-black look, too.

How are your temps so low if the front intake is being blocked by the HDD, though?

Also, how did you remove the molex and pci cables form the PSU?

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:54 pm

How are your temps so low if the front intake is being blocked by the HDD, though?

most fresh air comes in through the 3 open pci slots, and about 3-4cm of the bottom front panel is left unblocked, mostly to cool the hdd (i know this airflow path works, because all my temps rise when i remove the side panel- maybe except for the gpu temp).
those are idle temps, and it was surprisingly cool when i did the temps even though its summer (between 20-25C i reckon)- i can easily imagine all the temps jumping 10c on a hot day.
i also did a stress test just to check the cpu, and saw it reach 48C running at 1.9ghz @.975V, using prime95 and atitool artifact scan (2600pro was about 47C).

Also, how did you remove the molex and pci cables form the PSU?

whilst doing the fan swap, i just cut them short, bundled them together inside the psu and covered the tips....with masking tape.

i actually had the cpu fan still on at one point, but after making the window it looked kind of ugly so i removed it. idle temps are surprisingly the same, load temps are about 10C hotter though- but i hardly stress my system anyways, just some occasional gaming.

i get bored very quickly (at one point i almost bought an nsk1380 on impulse, just for a change!), so i'm always looking for ways to change the look of my case, in the future i'm looking to enlarge the window and maybe paint the inside matt black

Jokoto · Post by **Jokoto** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:33 am

Very nice. Excellent work with the wire routing! I should do the same with mine (see sig) sometime. I'm not into windows though, otherwise it's great. What is that hole in the side of the PSU compartment visible in the first picture though? The one over the letters 'tec' in Antec?

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:16 am

Jokoto wrote: I'm not into windows though, otherwise it's great. What is that hole in the side of the PSU compartment visible in the first picture though? The one over the letters 'tec' in Antec?

i wasn't a window person at first, then i was, then i wasn't, now i am again!
the hole is to accommodate the psu, which had to be flipped for the cables to reach. i didn't want to risk blocking some vents that antec thought were necessary for the psu

cyberspyder · Post by **cyberspyder** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:54 am

Did you use vinyl paint for the front panel? And did you have to remove it? I was planning to paint my SOLO too.

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:06 pm

i didn't prepare the surface or anything if thats what you mean, i just went right over it with a matt black can of quick dry spray paint from my local hardware store- think it was just good old auto paint

the front panel on the nsk3400 is actually 3 parts, one of the parts was the silver front so it was very easy to remove and paint by itself. the solo however, if i'm correct has an actual piece of aluminum glued to the front panel- which may make life a little harder unless you're going to just spray the whole thing.

good luck anyways- hope i was helpful

pbecker · Post by **pbecker** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:03 am

porkchop mate, I would just LOVE to know how you did the vertical HD mounting

I would like to do the same thing in my NSK3400...

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:25 pm

better, newer pics here viewtopic.php?t=48293
the posts are made of these plastics donut thingies from a meccano set and washers- super glued together(washer-donut-donut-washer-donut-washer), and then screwed to the case with the original antec fan screws.
the rest should be self-explanatory