Gary’s Computer
My computer was running a little slow so I decided to cut some speed holes in it to boost performance.
This was an older computer that has a steel U shaped lid on the case instead of one of the newer cases that have a door on the side. My computer was running how which was preventing me from overclocking it any further. I decided that I needed more airflow in my case to keep my CPU cool. Rather then buying a whole new case I decided to cut my own airflow increasers into my existing case!
While I was cutting holes and installing new fans I figured it was a good time to pretty it all up.
COMPLETELY REMOVE THE COMPUTER FROM THE CASE!
I can’t stress this enough. If you get metal shavings in your motherboard you have a dead computer. Prepare your work area carefully. Bolt your computer down before you begin working or you will be sorry. However, don’t bolt it to some old shelving that has been there since you bought the place and for who knows how long before that, as we did. Notice how we cleared our work area before we began working to prevent metal shavings from getting into everything. Oh wait, we didn’t do that.
Notice in this picture how we bolted the computer to an old shelf. We covered ourselves with an old sheet but we bravely kept our sandal covered feet exposed to the burning hot horribly sharp steel splinters that come flying off during the cutting. That’s actually Lenny working on his computer but it shows the sheet and the feet nicely. You can also see my U shaped lid on the right hand side.
Lenny Wearing the Protective Toga.
First I decided to cut an air intake hole in the lower front of my case. There was already a fan mount there but it had a stamped metal guard on it that seriously reduced airflow, so I cut it out with a hole saw. My previous attempts at cutting a round hole with a jigsaw convinced me that a hole saw was the right tool for the job. Those are my feet. Notice that they are decidedly less hairy than Lenny’s.
Speed Hole Number One Drilled.
I repeated this process on the back side of the computer and after cutting the holes, we now had some cool Ninja Stars to play with. They are very sharp and would slice your finger clean off. We gave them to some of the neighbor’s kids when we were done with them.
Ninja Stars
Next it was on to cutting the door in my case lid. Notice how professionally I set this up. I used multiple C-clamps and even used a piece of wood to guide my jig-sawing. I even measured it.
Totally Professional Clamp Action
Unfortunately, although I did a killer job with the jigsaw it turns out that the piece of wood was not straight. Damn you Home Depot.
Lenny expressed confidence in my ability to “Just shave a little bit off with the jigsaw to even it out.” It turns out that he was horribly misguided. Out comes the Dremel to touch-up my touch-up. Steel was not kind to my cutting wheels. :
Dremel Cutting Wheel Before and After
You can see in the lower left corner of this picture that my U shaped case lid has now become a sort-of J shaped lid. The doors in the background are from an ‘89 Chevy Corsica that fell off the car as it drove down the road in front of my house. – That is not a joke. I guess the car’s owner decided that it was only a matter of time before they fell off anyway and he was glad to be rid of them.
Now J shaped Lid
After determining that I had caused enough damage for the day I decided to put the computer back together. I put some chrome grill guards over the holes so the jagged metal will not rip my flesh into pieces and put the computer back in the case.
You Can't Have Enough Chrome
Then I tidied up the cables in my case to help improve airflow and to make it look nice.
Tidy it up.
And finally I installed my green cold cathode light in my case. Stay tuned for part 2 as I cut holes and install fans in my case lid and install a window in my computer.
The Only Cure is More Green Glow.
