First build and a case mod?

[Woody1999]

Hi all,

I will be building a new gaming and general use PC in the near future, but I want to add a bit of a twist to the normal first build, I want to add an acrylic window and some white LED strips to my NZXT H230 White. Is this particularly easy, or should it be avoided? I also need some advice on tools. Tin snips appear to be the best option but I'm not sure how well they will work with the sound dampening foam in the way.

Here is the build for anyone interested, I hope it looks good when I'm finished. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Woody1999/saved/6jqV3C

Woody

 

[Diox55]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£154.74 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro Rev. 2 36.7 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For £0.00)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£66.17 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card (Purchased For £0.00)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£54.28 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.79 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For £0.00)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£3.83 @ Aria PC)
Other: White LED Strip (£7.99)
Total: £424.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-24 15:30 GMT+0000

I would just change out that motherboard. The h97 motherboard line from Asrock is very solid, and I have heard rave reviews about them. As for modding the case, I can't really comment on it. I recommend doing some research into it, since NZXT is such a well known and well used case manufacturer. I'll do my own research as well as get back to you on this.

 

[Woody1999]

I'd rather have an ATX board for Crossfire compatibility in the future, but ASRock are a good choice, I've used them before. I only picked the MSI board because all ATX ASRock boards went up in price quite a bit over the last few days, not sure why. Luckily they've gone down again now. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/cs9qQ7

My main issue is the case mod. Do NZXT offer any kind of warranty on their cases? I'm pretty worried that I'm going to mess it up and need to order a new case. I've seen them actively support case modders before, but I'm not exactly experienced at it so they'll probably not help me with it.

Woody

 

[Diox55]

I'd rather have an ATX board for Crossfire compatibility in the future, but ASRock are a good choice, I've used them before. I only picked the MSI board because all ATX ASRock boards went up in price quite a bit over the last few days, not sure why. Luckily they've gone down again now. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/cs9qQ7

My main issue is the case mod. Do NZXT offer any kind of warranty on their cases? I'm pretty worried that I'm going to mess it up and need to order a new case. I've seen them actively support case modders before, but I'm not exactly experienced at it so they'll probably not help me with it.

Woody

Well Woody, I can't give a clear yes or no answer on it. Go onto some other different forums or call NZXT and ask about it. See what they would cover under warranty.

 

[Woody1999]

On live chat support with them right now, asking about their services.

 

[Diox55]

On live chat support with them right now, asking about their services.

Sounds good man. Let's hope you can mod the hell out of this case! I haven't gotten big into case modding, but I've seen some epic creations.

 

[Woody1999]

They won't supply windows, they won't cover it with a warranty. Oh well. Looks like I got one shot at it then.

Woody

 

[Diox55]

They won't supply windows, they won't cover it with a warranty. Oh well. Looks like I got one shot at it then.

Woody

Search the interweb, someone might make or sell a custom side panel for it.

 

[Woody1999]

They won't supply windows, they won't cover it with a warranty. Oh well. Looks like I got one shot at it then.

Woody

Search the interweb, someone might make or sell a custom side panel for it.

Yeah I've had a look. The only ones I could find were for a Bitfenix Neos White side panels. It won't be too hard to mod it myself, I found an old jigsaw in the garage, and I've worked out exactly how I could do it.

Woody

 

[Diox55]

They won't supply windows, they won't cover it with a warranty. Oh well. Looks like I got one shot at it then.

Woody

Search the interweb, someone might make or sell a custom side panel for it.

Yeah I've had a look. The only ones I could find were for a Bitfenix Neos White side panels. It won't be too hard to mod it myself, I found an old jigsaw in the garage, and I've worked out exactly how I could do it.

Woody

Sounds good man, I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Woody1999]

Thanks mate, I'll post some pictures when I get round to doing it.

Woody

 

[Diox55]

Thanks mate, I'll post some pictures when I get round to doing it.

Woody

Sweet man! Looking forward to it, maybe you could even upload the build to Pcpartpicker for everyones eyes to feast upon ehh (;?

 

[Woody1999]

Thanks mate, I'll post some pictures when I get round to doing it.

Woody

Sweet man! Looking forward to it, maybe you could even upload the build to Pcpartpicker for everyones eyes to feast upon ehh (;?

Well first thing to order will be the case. I'll keep the current PC in the new case until I order the rest of my parts. The case I currently have has no fan mounts at all, it's basically suffocating my system.

Woody

 

[Diox55]

Thanks mate, I'll post some pictures when I get round to doing it.

Woody

Sweet man! Looking forward to it, maybe you could even upload the build to Pcpartpicker for everyones eyes to feast upon ehh (;?

Well first thing to order will be the case. I'll keep the current PC in the new case until I order the rest of my parts. The case I currently have has no fan mounts at all, it's basically suffocating my system.

Woody

That leaves me.. breathless! xD. Corny joke mode activated! That sounds good man. I hope you have good luck building this!