Before I move on to the PC Case and Case mod for the new workstation build, I want to add a bit to my previous post about choosing the CPU/Socket for your build. Another source of info that I forgot to mention is an excellent magazine called MaximumPC, which I read every month. They have a nice blend of tech/game related information and reviews that provide a lot of help in choosing a computer and/or components to buy for a new build. The recent November issue has a nice piece on Windows 7 that convinced me to build my new computer using this new Microsoft operating system (in 64 bits). A short article by Gordon Mah Ung, senior editor, reminded me that most people can build a new computer without jumping up to the X58 platform and save a lot of money at the same time. Prices for a P55 rig or one built on the i5, LGA 1166 set up would probably run at least $300 cheaper than the system I’m building here. Gordon’s contention is that he won’t be upgrading his CPU until 2011 when prices are much cheaper. However, for my purposes (CG work) I’ll be upgrading to the 6 core i9 “Gulftown” cpu in the middle of next year (if it isn’t delayed).

PC Case: Coolermaster HAF 932

HAF 932 just out of the box

Choosing a case is a lot of fun because there are so many good ones out there at very reasonable prices. One good thing about building a system at the end of the year is that you often have several component “round up” reviews on major tech sites that go into detail on what the best specific computer components are for that year. In my previous system build, I chose the Antec P182 because it had terrific reviews and was at a very reasonable price. That case held me in good stead for several years, but I was ready to try something new this year. mdotStrange’s choice of the CoolerMaster Cosmos case for his big daddy system got me to looking at CoolerMaster cases which previously I thought were mostly for entry level builds.

I had a good browse of the cases on sale at Fry’s and discovered that the CoolerMaster HAF 922 and 932 were awfully well designed. I also liked the Zalman GS1000 which looked very stylish and functional. I toyed briefly with the idea of getting a Lian-Li case, but the high prices drove me away from these beautiful cases. After doing some research and reading reviews at sites like PCStats.com, I was liking the HAF cases even more. I usually buy a full ATX cases because my hands are large and I have a hard time maneuvering inside a small case. Plus, larger cases often are cooler cases if you design the fans and airflow correctly. Since the HAF 932 was a large case (and is it ever weighing in at 30 lbs), I focused on learning as much as I could before I committed to buy.

Browsing through youtube, I discovered an excellent vid by TJHarlow who apparently does case modding for a living. His 5 part video of repainting the interior of the case to a flat black sold me on the case for my build. And although I wasn’t going to re-rivet the case like TJ does (too much work), I did want to follow his lead and re-paint the case using his method as it would be a fun thing to learn and I like the way the case looks with a black interior instead of the light gray factory color.

After purchasing 2 cans of gray primer, 2 cans of flat black and 2 cans of clear coat along with masking tape, I set about disassembling the case and masking it for painting. Everything went fine until I had to remove the special CoolerMaster finger-press button retainers for the CD rom drives. TJ mentioned that “considerable force” was required to remove them.  It was hell removing these things and I broke one of them in the process. The retainers work just fine, but they weren’t really designed to be removed and when you finally get one off the springs and plastic gears inside fly all over the place forcing me to crawl around the kitchen with a flashlight trying to find tiny parts. Fortunately, I’ll only used at most 3 drives, so I wasn’t in too much of a problem. I was worried about putting them back on though. We’ll see how that works out once everything is painted.

These little buggers were hard to remove

Another small snag came when I discovered that the two large fans at the top of the case and on the side required an Allen wrench to remove the screws instead of the standard Phillips-head. And no Allen wrench was provided with the parts that came with the case. CoolerMaster dropped the ball here, I think. Fortunately, a full set of Allen wrenches cost about $6, so it wasn’t really an issue. But why not provide the right size wrench with the rest of the parts? Strange.

Found a nice spot outside the bookstore where I work to paint the case and a few extra parts. Wish I would have spent a little more care in masking the parts that I didn’t want painted. I got the outside window, but forgot to mask the other side which let to a few splatters of gray paint on the plastic window. Dumb thing to do on my part. But after several hours (be sure to use a mask and try to work outside as the fumes can be pretty toxic), I had the three coats on and let it dry overnight.

First primer coat of gray is done. Note masking.

After bringing the case home and doing some simple touch ups (be sure to do your work when there’s lots of light, I waited till the late afternoon and my light was not good), I cleaned the case off with a clean rag and set about trying to fix the gray splatters on the side panel window. Alcohol seemed to do the job (also cleaned up stray masking tape residue), but for some reason I decided to try the stronger solvent Acetone, completely forgetting that the see through window is plastic. Well, one swipe and I realized that Acetone breaks down plastic (Yikes!) and it left a smeary blur where I wiped. Another dumb mistake. I finished the job with the Alcohol, but was left with a slight blur on one corner of the window. Not a problem for me, but if I was building this system for money I’d be sunk.

Don't use Acetone on plastic parts folks

I managed to get the case re-assembled, however I wish I had diagrammed some of the parts a bit better. The direction the fans are facing make a difference in the airflow and I didn’t write the positions of the fans down, but quick search on youtube got be back on track. Also, the HAF installation guide pretty much laid everything out except for the fans. Got it all back together fine with the exception of the button retainers which were hell to put back on. Finally, I had to use a flat head screw driver to apply enough force to get the retainers to fit. Even then one of them exploded on me and it was back to crawling around on the flow trying to find tiny parts with a flashlight. Big mistake removing these things from the case, should have left them all on and simply masked them well with tape. Plus, even when I got them back on several retainers wouldn’t work properly, so I had to remove them and fix the interior gears. Finally, after several hours I managed to get all but two to work correctly. CoolerMaster does have a parts store, so I ordered two more retainers (cheap) to replace in a couple weeks. But, man, what a pain. I’d definitely advise against removing these unless you really have a lot of patience and good tools handy. Be very careful that they don’t fly out of your hands as the small springs are nearly impossible to find on the floor.

But, the paint job sure looks nice and I’m glad I took the time to do it. My partner Lisa is going to paint a nice zombie on the side of the case while I’m assembling the rest of the system. So this will be my Zombie build for 2009. With the red fan in front, should be perfect!

Paint Job finished. Case looks nice!

Next up: The motherboard and RAM memory.