2023 Fractal North inspired case build

Earlier this year, I upgraded pretty much all the components of my PC. Not caring about aesthetics too much, in all my previous builds, I always kept the same old Antec full tower from my first build in 2000.

Well I finally got tired of looking at the discoloring old white plastic and wanted to upgrade to a Fractal North case. Only thing was that the North backordered for months everywhere and I didn't really like any other case. Well, I thought, I'm pretty handy. I'm sure I can make my current Antec case look as good and modern as the Fractal North. Think I came pretty close....

Transformation. Old Antec case from 2000 to Fractal North inspired PC case.

My self-imposed restriction was to build it only with things I had laying around and only buy minimal things as needed. The only things I bought for this case build were
- USB extension cables + necessary adapters to connect to the front panel section of motherboard
- Alkyd Urethane black paint + Polycrilic from Home depot

I reused as much as possible, wherever possible.
- metal shell of the Antec case became the foundation I built from.
- front panel was built from 3/4" red oak flooring pieces I had left over. Cut them down on my table and miter saws as needed.
- reused the existing momentary switches and "jazzed them up a bit" with kitchen cabinet handles.

A lot quieter with the upgraded Fans. And A LOT more aesthetically pleasing!

Antec full tower case from my first PC build in 2000. I'd never really cared how my PC looks as long as it functions ok. But I got sick of looking at the aging white plastic.

Old parts. i5-2500k. 16 GB DDR3 RAM. GTX 970. Antec case that I'd modified somewhere along the way for better cable management.

start stripping

all old components and plastic parts stripped. Down to the metal shell that will be the basis for the new case.

metal shell of the old Antec case

original HDD mount that needed to come off to make room for AIO

drill out a couple rivets and came right off. Since I wouldn't be using the CD drives, HDDs will go in the 5.25" bays.

marking for the top 140mm exhaust fan cutout. Angle grinder with a 4" metal cutting wheel came in handy.

test fitting the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 AIO

Original 80mm fan grills cut out. Marking for the front panel cutout needed for proper airflow to the LFII 280 AIO

marked

cutout for AIO. JB welded a little reinforcement piece at the top of the cutout.

front panel mounting nuts JB welded in

front panel mounting nuts JB welded in

Spraying the case with black alkyd paint. Used my old Graco HVLP sprayer

sand between coats

many light coats is key to smooth finish. I did 6 coats in all. 1 primer coat, 3 paint coats, 2 coats of poly.

best I could get it. Good enough for something that will be sitting underneath the desk all the time.

(most of) the gfx cards I've had. EVGA 8800 GTS --> Galaxy GTX 560 Ti --> Gigabyte GTX 970 --> Gigabyte RTX 3070

EVGA 8800 GTS --> Galaxy GTX 560 Ti --> Gigabyte GTX 970 --> Gigabyte RTX 3070

details of the front panel build. Basically a wooden frame using leftover 3/4" red oak flooring. Cut to a frame the same dimensions of the case front. Drilled holes for the power and reset switches and some USB extension + FP audio cables that get routed to motherboard. Hot glued the cables flush with the top of the panel, filled in gaps using wood filler and painted it all black to match.

Details of the power/reset switch build. This took a while. I thought about buying momentary switches from amazon, but wanted something more custom. I liked the solid metal kitchen cabinet handles I have. So I cut the ends of one of them, made a tiny notch on the underside of the cutoffs, and glued the existing momentary switches to them. They look and feel a lot more custom and upscale than anything I was finding on amazon.

front "legs". This is just for show. The case is held up by other 1.5" wooden legs on the metal body of the case.

gluing together the front net/dust shrowd.

slats. red oak flooring boards cut into 1/2" wide narrow pieces. I didn't realize that my table saw blade is old and was leaving burn marks on the cut sides of the wood. They wouldn't be too visible, so decided to just go with it.

dry assembly

sexy

empty shell

AIO installed

AIO dust cover. Window screen works pretty well. Hot glue used to attach screen to the frame looks pretty bad, but not visible at all once the front slats are installed.

Used window screen as dust blocker. Works pretty well.

test assembly

out with the old

in with the new

final assembly

"cable management"

Final shots