Question Anyone ever cut or modify their case to fit a larger heatsink cooler?

[TormentRiddenband]

I have acquired what I believe to be a a In Win B631 case (micro ATX slim) with a e79378 stock intel cooler, with a h81m-c Mobo inside.
It had a i5-4440, however I put a i7-4790k in it and put (16 gigs) 2x8 ram in it.

I want to upgrade the heatsink/cooler..
Most of my options are things like noctua l9x65 (works if good airflow..) and with a headache and super tight fit maybe noctua i12 ghost s1 (noctua says it works if non overclocked).

However if I cut open the top of the case where the heat sink would be I could maybe put one of the larger tower heat sinks in and have it stick out about an inch or 2..

Does this sound like a good idea? Bad idea? Or Crazy but might work idea?

 

[USAFRet]

Does this sound like a good idea? Bad idea? Or Crazy but might work idea?

If you're asking the question, probably a bad idea.

What sort of DIY tools and experience do you have?

 

[TormentRiddenband]

If you're asking the question, probably a bad idea.

What sort of DIY tools and experience do you have?

It's a thin aluminum case.. I could probably use a Dremel. Most of my tools would be overkill.

I would just be cutting a rectangle in the top of the case.. square shape plus the 1 1/2 inch slide it requires to pull off.
I know I can do it.. I haven't done much with PC's.. some sound equipment experience.. modified my Gameboy last year and swapped out some Gameboy game batteries a few months ago

 

[punkncat]

Rather than home brew modify the case in an irreversible way, what about a case that fits the cooler you have in mind?

 

[geofelt]

I would not.
You could easier just take the parts out of the case and lay them out on a table.
One of the attractions is to have a small footprint.
It looks like the case was designed around the stock cooler.
There is a vent to feed it.
You may not be aware, but the stock intel coolers come in different capabilities.
For example, some will have copper bottoms vs. simple aluminum.
They also will come in different heights.

 

[TormentRiddenband]

I would not.
You could easier just take the parts out of the case and lay them out on a table.
One of the attractions is to have a small footprint.
It looks like the case was designed around the stock cooler.
There is a vent to feed it.
You may not be aware, but the stock intel coolers come in different capabilities.
For example, some will have copper bottoms vs. simple aluminum.
They also will come in different heights.

I am aware. Noctua website shows that some of their coolers would fit it.
So I checked my Mobo and ram size..
As long as I use ghost version it fits.. but the one that would be about an inch too high is about $15 more and rated higher.

My stock cooler is the e79378 (copper core).

I tested that idea with a stress test with no case and it crashed within 7 minutes.

it hit 100c quickly on 3 out of 4 cores on 10 minute stress test with case on and stock intel cooler but didn't crash..

However I used prime95 and didn't know it hates and overheats haswell cpu's if not dialed in correctly or using an older version.

I'll go try a different benchmark test and see where I am at. My case has the heat sink fan and a small but higher speed side exhaust fan. I don't even see room to add more fans.. I was thinking about maybe installing 1 or 2 on the outside of the case going into a place it has holes or drilling a few holes somewhere if need be..

I don't want to upgrade case because I have upgraded nearly everything on a computer I purchased last month already.. and I'd rather wait a bit and buy a new gen computer.

 

[Karadjgne]

Might be better to see if you can fit a 120mm/140mm aio under that top cover where it's vented.

 

[geofelt]

An easy test that uses your more common instructions would be the cpu-Z stress test.
Run HWmonitor during the test and look at the max temperatures.
You may see some cores hitting 100c. in red, indicating throttling.
But, if there is no failure, you are ok.
Under those conditions, look at the current clock rate.
It should be reasonably high unless there is massive throttling.
Normal gaming load will not fully stress all cores, more likely only a few.