Project: Little Rascal (MATX Lian-Li V300)

Nixeh

n00b
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
53
I finally decided to start modding my Lian Li V300. Some people might ask why... as it is a nice case, which it is true, its a gorgeous case, but can be greatly improved on in places, and this is what i plan to do.

My plan is to modify the Lian Li V300 case, so that it can accomodate a full working Dual 120mm Watercooled system, and a full 9" Gfx card (which was sadly overlooked by Lian Li :rolleyes: )

I have already composed a review of my intial thoughts of the case which can be found here.. Nixehs V300 Case Review

Right enough of the babbling and on with the Project Log. I got some cutting discs for me trusty dremel today and instead of do all the modding in one go i decided to post it bit by bit as it might inform people about the good and bad points of this case and obvioously the moddability of this case.

I decided to strip the case down to its bare chassis, removing the majority of the bezels, fans and mounts and the accessibility port for sound, usb etc etc at the front, and this is what i got.

1.jpg


2.jpg


Here is a closer picture of what i plan to be removing today. I havent decided on whether to remove the just the floppy drive caddy, or the bottom cd rom caddy aswell.

All i need to do is make room for the dual radiator and fans, and also the space needed for the 9" graphics card (X1900XTX)

3.jpg



As i found out, the fan mount is detachable, which is going to help me a bit later, as i will definetly have to alter it to accomodate the mounting for the dual 120 rad.

4.jpg


5.jpg



And after about 15mins of careful hardcore dremel action, i managed to roughly cut out the floppy drive... heres the wreckage.

6.jpg

What you see here is the bottom part of the floppy caddy.

Removing the floppy caddy on its own opens up a hell of a lot of space.

8.jpg


9.jpg


I still wonder why Lian Li put the floppy drive space into this case. Ok so there might be the odd few users out there who use the space.. but most of us dont. And i think if they removed it, it would be the best case for sff'ers (if you dont mind the slightly larger footprint).

This pretty much concludes my project log at this moment. Obviously i have to do more work, but ill get round to that in the coming weekend, especially when i finally get the radiator ordered.

Also before i go, i noticed one thing that i have to modifiy around if i decided to remove the cd rom caddy.
10.jpg


This is the bottom most support of the HDD, now ive had a look and im sure it will be stable without it, but im not sure what it would be like for stabability and also if this will help absorb any vibrations.

Anyway, hope you like my first log.

Feel free to leave comments, and suggestions and constructive cristism.
 
about the 9" card length being overlooked, keep in mind that 9" is longer than the spec size of video cards, and there likely weren't any that long when r&d was going for this case.
 
That is true, but also with R&D notice the R, research, they should of researched what was coming out in the near future and the spec and dimensions of the cards.

I personally hate 9" cards, we want things to get smaller not bigger and bigger.
 
Knewi forgot something.

The spec is what im running in this current system which is as follows:

Opteron 165 @2.5ghz
Biostar Tforce 6100m9 Skt939 Motherboard
2Gb Gskill ZX DDR Ram
X1900XTX (Sapphire)
320Gb Maxtor HDD
500Gb HDD (which will replace my failing 160Gb HDD)
Hyper Modular 580w PSU (Blue)
NEC DVD Burner (currently black bezel which will need replacing)

Watercooling:
Dual 120mm Black Ice GT Radiator
Custom made or Cd Rom bay Res
2x120mm Akasa Amber Fans
1x80mm Akasa Amber Fan
2x40mm Fans

Not sure on what CPU and Gfx blocks to use yet.

All this will be running on my Dell 2405fpw
 
Nixeh said:
Knewi forgot something.

The spec is what im running in this current system which is as follows:

Opteron 165 @2.5ghz
Biostar Tforce 6100m9 Skt939 Motherboard
2Gb Gskill ZX DDR Ram
X1900XTX (Sapphire)
320Gb Maxtor HDD
500Gb HDD (which will replace my failing 160Gb HDD)
Hyper Modular 580w PSU (Blue)
NEC DVD Burner (currently black bezel which will need replacing)

Watercooling:
Dual 120mm Black Ice GT Radiator
Custom made or Cd Rom bay Res
2x120mm Akasa Amber Fans
1x80mm Akasa Amber Fan
2x40mm Fans

Not sure on what CPU and Gfx blocks to use yet.

All this will be running on my Dell 2405fpw

Is it me, or did you not list a pump? Just wondering. I'm very interested in what you're doing, since I was going to do the same thing, I just couldn't decide between the Enermax Venus CS and this. It seems like this needs more modding, but the end result may look a hell of a lot better. /subscribed
 
I hope Nixeh doesnt mind, but I'm also doing basically the same mod...at the same time. Im undecided however if I am going to be mounting the rad on the top or the front as of now. Here are some pics of how the gt series rad will fit in the case. I'll take them down if asked by the OP.

DSCN0257.JPG

DSCN0258.JPG

DSCN0259.JPG

DSCN0260.JPG


All those pics were taken without moving the radiator at all. As you can see it will literally "fit like a glove." Ive never owned a lian li before but I cannot say enough about the thickness of the gauge aluminum they use; the case is unbeleivably sturdy. Hope these pics help anyone out with their decision to buy this case.
 
correct. I'd like to use a radgrill up top but im not sure yet if it will fit. It would have to be offset and that might cause one end to hang over. Maybe ill just take the plunge anyway and find out.
 
Neo what psu u using in that case.

I just put my stuff in and my modular hiper 580w doesnt fit.
 
i have a ocz gamexstream 700W psu in mine. You would have a tought time fitting a modular because of the extra length the connectors add. I can barely squeeze all the extra wire behind the psu but it does fit.
 
Back
Top