So, before we begin this little makeover project, lets start with the case itself.

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Mw==

The antec Mini P-180 startead to make its debut around mid 08 and was pretty popular amongst people who wanted a flexible case, but still wanted something that was quiet and noise reducing as well, even with fairly powerful equipment.

After building my "Black Ice" project back nearly 3 years ago this month using a Silverstone SUGO 4 case, my first mATX build after years of the large and mostly unused expansion of ATX sized builds. I went through couple of mATX cases, including the short lived SUGO 5 series case, when I decided to go back to my favorite case maker and go with the Antec mini-p180 which I have used ever since, including my most recent Sandy Bridge upgrade build

Now that my hardware is up to snuff by todays standards for some decent PC gaming, I felt it was time to get my case up to standards as well. Considering I simply couldn't find a new mATX that melt all my high standards that I wanted in a case, I decided to modify my exisiting mini p-180 because, well....thats what case modders do!

The case itself has worked very well the last 3 years with my Core 2 Duo build but has largely remain unchanged except fan removals and swapping with Gentle Typhoons 120mms




For MANY years, i've stuck with the typical and honestly, VERY overused lighting them of blue and white LED"s and such, and this build was no different other then I didn't really exemplify either the colors or lighing in the mini p-180




With my new Sandy Bridge build including my first Asus ROG mobo, the Maximum IV Gene-Z, the color theme of the mobo orginally had me grossed out with the red/black/silver. However, the more I looked at it, the more I was getting used to the idea of maybe taking it to the next time, and just for a  change from the years of Blue and white i've been doing in the last several of my case mods




Yes, I think its very overdue time for not only a new case mod but also, a new color theme that i've never had or attempted before. My aging mini p-180 case is just the right blank slate to start off with

I've got a few ideas to make the front stand out a bit more





Yes, the large blowhole need some "contrast" me thinks and I have a simple yet effective idea in me brain....





These very thick and heavy Antec triple layer sound dampening panels do work very well, but after 3 years, they are boring as hell to look it and don't promote any enjoyment of seeing expesnive electronic goodies inside the case, so were gonna fix that...




G.Skills generous donation of goodies after getting my memory with no case sticker help further my idea of what to go with...




And of course the downright sexy and beastly looking combo of the Dark Knight HSF and the new Asus ROG Maximum IV Gene-Z mobo is the main reason and example of what my plans are for the case makeover will consist off.




Even the mobo box and innards themselves are really sexy looking! I  justhad to sit and stare at all the goodies I got with this ROG mobo, when I first opened i! Freaking awesome, thanks Asus! It just further inspired me to do something different and unique with this build, within my budget guideline

Just got back home after a long day on the road and I found one of the best sites a case modder can hope for, a nice box left on my doorstep filled with goodies!

Now were gonna start working on the biggest and toughest part of the case redo, the side panel window, along with some minor case tweaks i've been wanting to do for awhile





First off, seeings how im gonna be mounting my HDD in the upper 5.25'' drive bay, and I want maximum air flow with twin 120mm intake fans, its time to get rid of the useless and annoying drive bay shelf. Its drill time baby!




Poor little shelf and its rivets never stood a chance...




Ahhhhh, i've been wanting to do that for years, MUCH better! Also removed the plastic drive bay guide rail on top as well, no more air impedence here folks!

With some help from my father with the shop vac to clean up the shavings that this is gonna create while I cut, its time to do this! *drum roll*






A few minutes later, it is done! Phew...glad thats over with!




Because this is an Antec mini-p180, the side panels are a 3 layered designed to muffle noise from within the case with two layers of aluminum and a thick and soft plastic between them. Because the window kit is designed to be installed in basic cold rolled steel cases, I needed to thin the window cutout




With the inner layer of aluminum removed, by far the messiest part is now here, I have to take the dremel and remove ALOT of the plastic paneling so the window molding is able to fit around the case panel. This took awhile and smelled horrible with hot melting plasting flying everywhere

Looks awesome! I wish I had the nuggets to paint my case....

Allright, accomplished some more work on it recently so lets continue!


Time to get this baby rebuilt and running!






In an effort to help balance the cases airflow as I wanted to have "positive" pressure and not negative for best cooling effects, I tried to try to 5v mod the upper 200mm Antec Big Boy fan. Unfortuantly, 5v doesn't even get the fan spinning at all, no matter what I tried.  With the 200mm van even on the lowest setting at 12v, it still exhausts more air then the twin 120mm coolermasters can provide thus, I'm still suffering from a "negative" air pressure effect and my initial temps are showing it. Grr.........lame. For now, I have no choice but to leave the 200mm top exhaust fan until I figure out my cooling problem...





 Dunno in the end if I i'll have the big top fan fan running or not, but least it it looks good now!






Now that is one sexy looking ROG themed DVD drive if I do say so myself!

Now its time for some wiring cleaning up. The Coolermaster wiring was a nice silver color, so I decided to leave that alone, but I wanted the wiring to look clean and sharp inside the case. Again, using some double sided sticky tape and some patient, this is what I came up with!





Looking pretty good methinks, but that video card looks a bit... "boring" Hmm.....





Just enough red to add some contrast and color to the rear and go with the ROG color theme





Front looks totally kick ass now! No more boring and dull all black color, it looks really nice and goes with the Asus ROG theme well! But it still needs something to give it a "Bad ass rig look" and I think I have a simple idea.....




Time to fire it up and check out everything! Hmmmm, the fans look good but even at high and VERY noisy speeds, the LED's just don't pump out enough red for my taste. Looks like another order from FrozenCPU.com!







This is were I ran into my next frustrating part. The Coolermaster Sickeflow fans arn't what I call "quiet" at their top speed much to my dissapiontment. On top of that, I found out the hard way that my Asus Maximum IV Gene-Z mobo doesn't allow me to control the chassis fan headers individually. The UEFI Bios also doesn't allow me to set certain RPM's to keep the fans from "ramping" up when the temperature increases inside the case, they go by the chassis temperature and I can't override it.

On top of that, running the top 200mm Antec Big boy on the lowest setting creates too much of "negative" pressure inside the case, especially when the front intake fans arn't running at max, which are WAAAY to freaking loud.  Well this all just flat out sucks....looks like im gonna have to do some re thinking of the cooling layout of the case :mad:

AND on top of it, now with the big window in the side panel, the new GTX 570 SC video card looks a bit...."boring" to look at. I've placed an order for something special to help give it a more "custom" look to go with the case mods and color theme.


Stay tuned for further updates!

Oh man that is a sweet case

Sexy stuff. Really like the color scheme.

Well, here's a small update at this point as im currently on hold waiting for new fans, decals, lights and a special part for the GPU.
 
 
I think i'm pretty much done with the front area of the case. Looks pretty good now with the case badge swag!
 

 


I decided to see how the ROG mobo decal would look for starters. Not bad, but the amount of clear sticker is somewhat ugly. Gonna have to replace it with a new one and trim off all the excess clear sticker so it looks sharper on the case.
 

 
 

Still not finished, but looking pretty good so far!
 

 

Woo hooo! I just got a new package of goodies at Frozencpu today, my new red LED light strip!







This sucker really pumps out the light! I get spots on my eyes just by looking at it for a few seconds! I'm a dilemna though, I can't decide which looks better illumination and mood lighting wise for the case. Below is if I have the light strip on top of the case. It looks good and lightens up entire case. But at same time, almost seems too much...






Or if I put it on the back side, it gives it a bit more of a "moody" look though not as well illuminated inside





What do you guys think/prefer?

If you guys are feeling generous once I get this sucker completed, vote for my rig in MODS RIGS. And thanks whoever gave me my first blue ribbon!

More stuff came in, so more progress to be made, lets do it!

Nothing makes a Friday that much better then getting more goodies in the mail! In this case, stuff from eVGA and Asus!




Oh yeah, now were talking! Thanks Asus for the extra goodies and thanks eVGA!




Ever since I got the case mostly put back together, it was bothering me that the video card looked so... dull and boring. I was originally against the very idea of paying for something that should have came with the card in the first place, but after I saw a few other eVGA cards with them and how good they looked with the backplates, I decided to change my tune and give one a try




And in less then 10 minutes, wallah! Much more sleeker and custom looking! Best $20 i've spent in a good while for a "bling" touch and a total snap to install! Kudos to eVGA once again!





Oh yes, thats much better! Just what the case modder ordered!




Yeah, now it looks like it was made just for *Night Fire*!





Thanks to a nice guy at the Asus ROG forums, I got an extra mobo sticker to put on the side panel. Now its got some sexy ROG color as well!





Now were getting close to the end! But man, that window molding has always looked dry and dull looking. Hmm, I have an idea.....




Good old Armor All to save the day!




Very nice! I'm real happy with out this is turning out, despite the few setbacks! Were getting real close to final completion of *Night Fire*! Just two more little parts that im waiting on, a little bit of touch up here and there and she'll be ready for the full unveil next week, and just in time for Battlefield 3 launch on the 24th at midnight, wooooo!

The final countdown has begun!

i love this case i just wonder what you could do with a xigmatek utgard case (hint hint) 

shrekdaklown

i love this case i just wonder what you could do with a xigmatek utgard case (hint hint) 

 
A what?
 
Edit: Oh, I see now. Ewww....ugly ass case IMO, no thanks. I wasn't impressed with my Corsair 600T either. I'm pretty much Antec 4 life