[Build Log] Repaint old case & PC rebuilt - Budget edition

[Mk56TClaire]

Hi all,
For years I had a dream to have a proper build for gaming. After getting a job and saving money, on July 2018 finally I can buy components I needed. Just one problem though: the case.
So I choose a half broken second hand case as temporary case while saving money again for future needs.
The old case has no fans. It has two rear mounting point for 80mm fans but I choose not to install any fans, just using the PC with side cover opened. (Pic later)
Components:
Mb: Asrock A320M-HDV
CPU: Ryzen 3 2200G
GPU: RX 480 8GB (Sapphire)
RAM: 2x 4GB Apacer Panther DDR4
HDD: 1TB WD Blue
PSU: Seasonic Focus+ SSR-550FX

*Sorry for the quality of the pics, I took the photos using my cellphone*

During holiday time finally I got a chance to buy something. I actually have enough money to buy a decent case, but I'm not so sure what my future needs will be. So I decided to buy an old case, with 120mm fan mounting points.
I bought the case from a small PC repair shop, which also sells old/second hand PC parts.
According to the shop owner, the case is an ex-internet cafe PC, hence there are numbers on the side covers. Used case with 120mm fan mounting points are rarity here, so I guess I was lucky I found someone who sells it.

The case had Athlon II sticker and the other exact same cases in the shop also have these stickers, so maybe it was an OEM build or something like that.

Notice how yellow and dirty the acrylic / plastic(?) is. I guess it's cigarette smoke residue. Apparently the internet cafe was non air conditioned and many people smoking inside the net cafe.

Holes for air intake behind the metal grille. The size seems OK, IMO...
But from the inside the holes are smaller. Maybe faulty molding?
I don't have any drill, so I had to enlarge the holes one by one, painstakingly with a screwdriver...

..............................
I cleaned the thin acrylic with dishwasher soap. It maybe still a little bit yellow, but I think it's better than the previous state. I also cleaned other parts but no pics.

I planned to add another fan in the optical drive bay, so I remove three covers, and replaced it with a rather flimsy grill...

Spoiler

But after painting the front, oh God it looks so awful, weird, and looks worse than the original D:

Spoiler

I had to put the covers back. No problem for the third and fourth cover, but I've already destroyed the hinges for the 2nd cover so I had to hot glued it. The hinges look like this:

..............................
I painted the interior with dull black color.

And white for the exterior. And then, all set. I put all stuff back on the front panel. I didn't paint the metal grille. The now clean acrylic also put back in place. Now time to transplant organs.

Here's my components inside the old case. I used doorbell switch to replace the power button since both the power and reset buttons are broken.

Spoiler

And here it is. I know, the cable management is bad. There's not much I can do with case like this. Maybe I'll do something later.
I also painted the I/O shield and expansion slot covers black.

Blue

Although the final result may be not too appealing for others, it was a fun project. And it costs less than buying a smaller basic/standard PC case without PSU lol.
Actually this is my second project. The first one was painting the exact same case for my Linux build, although it's all black.

Cheers, peace

 

[Mk56TClaire]

UPDATE

One day after it was completed, I thought the front part was strange...?
So I edited the last photo like this and asked my friends for advice, which one is most interesting. They choose the right (the edited photo).

I put off the drive bay cover, took one cover and immediately sprayed it with dull black. Epic fail. The black color was flaky after it dried.
Got newbie's first lesson. Now I understand why I must sand it down until all white paint is completely gone.
After sanding down all the drive bay covers, I respray all of them. The result is not flaky anymore.

Then... I watched some videos about DIY transparent side panel. Actually from the beginning I wanted to make it but I don't have power tools. Since most of the mods require those tools to make big hole in the original side panel, or drilling the case and the corners of acrylic / glass / whatever to attach the screws.
Until I watched this video:
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZK8hOC_5Xw"][/video]
The magnet idea seems interesting, and I can quick detach - reattach the panel.

So I bought 2mm acrylic sheet, cut into 45 x 42.5 cm, and the rest is following exactly like what he did. And the result is:

Ah, finally the project is completed before the holiday is over. Well, it's even more fun that I thought lol.
Cheers, peace