Xbox 360 Mod/Hack Rating:

Difficulty Level:         2 out of 5

Skill Level Needed:   2 out of 5

Personal Risk:            2 out of 5

Equipment Risk:         2 out of 5

Duration:                     1.5 out of 5

Cost:                            1.5 out of 5

Satisfaction:                3 out of 5

Bottom Line:        2.5 out of 5

Expensive Memories

Data storage in video game consoles have always been a premium commodity since game data saving became possible.  But this was only understandable and acceptable during the early days of disc-based consoles.  Now, advances in the mass storage industry made economies of scale possible on a priced resource in computing – storage capacity.  A closer look will show that video game console are now riding the hardware and software advancement of personal computers.  In fact, the latest generation of Xbox and other consoles are more of a Personal Computer than a Video Game Console!

There’s a PC in your Xbox 360!

If you try opening any of the three 7^th Generation video game console, like the Xbox (warranty voided!), distinct PC-like components may be found: CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD, Audio Chip, MoBo & Chipsets, Optical Disc Drive, Network Adapter, USB Ports, Video Ports and more.  This means that with the right motivation, equipment, materials and skills, you can safely extend and expand the functionality and performance of the gaming platform.

Do-it-Yourself Xbox 360 External Hard Drive

Instead of buying a $149.99 120GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive from Microsoft, you could safely and easily add one on your own externally.  You could revive that old 80/120/160/200GB ATA/IDE Hard Drive that’s collecting dust in your drawer.  Imagine viewing your precious media files through your shiny Xbox 360.  Cool huh?  Yeah!

Hardware Needed:

   Xbox 360 System (Power Adapter, Video Cables, Controllers, Video Display & Games)

   3.5” ATA(IDE) Hard Disk Drive (preferably 60+GB Storage Capacity)

   3.5” ATA(IDE) Hard Disk Drive USB 2.0 External Enclosure Unit (w/ Fan):  $10-$30

   USB 2.0 Data Cable – Standard A/B Plug (usually included with the External Enclosure Unit)

   5V/12V AC/DC Power Adapter (usually included with the External Enclosure Unit)

Software Needed:

   Microsoft Windows XP or later Operating System

   FAT32 Formatting Software (Paragon Partition Manager, Partition Magic, Win98 FDisk/Format)

Tools Needed:

   Philips-Type Precision Screw Driver Set

   Mini Screw Driver or Small Tweezer (for changing Hard Drive Jumper Pins)

   Dry Cleaning Cloth or Dry Tissue Paper (for dust cleaning)

Skills Needed:

   Basic Hardware Assembly Skills

   Basic Electronics Skills

   Basic PC & Windows Operating Skills

Alternative Hard Disk Drive & External Enclosures:

   3.5” SATA Hard Disk Drive w/ corresponding HDD USB 2.0 External Enclosure Unit (w/ Fan)

   2.5” ATA(IDE) Hard Disk Drive w/ corresponding HDD USB 2.0 External Enclosure Unit

   2.5” SATA Hard Disk Drive w/ corresponding HDD USB 2.0 External Enclosure Unit

The Main Phases & Individual Steps:

1. Avoid transferring static electricity to any electronic devices.
   1. Attach a grounding cable to your wrist whose other end is connected to a grounded metal or outlet.
   2. Or firmly hold a grounded metal surface to dissipate any static electricity in your body.
2. Install the Hard Disk Drive in a compatible USB 2.0 External Enclosure Unit.
   1. Back-up important files from the old hard drive that you wish to use.
   2. Use a dry cleaning cloth or dry tissue to remove any dust or debris from the old hard drive (be careful not to break or scratch any component).
   3. Refer to the user’s manual in the External Enclosure Kit that you will use for more detailed instructions on how to install your HDD in it.
   4. The HDD must be set as “Master,” if not, configure it to “Master” by moving the jumper pins with a pair of tweezers.  Refer to the instructions on the drive’s label,  manual or website.
   5. Firmly attach the HDD to the connector(s) of the External Enclosure Circuit.
   6. Enclose the HDD and the Circuit with the External Enclosure.
   7. Firmly place the screws to secure the new External USB Hard Drive.

1. Connecting the External USB Hard Drive to your Windows PC.
   1. Connect the Power Cable to the Power Adapter.
   2. Connect the Power Adapter to the new External USB Hard Drive.
   3. Connect the B-plug of the USB 2.0 Data Cable to the External USB Hard Drive.
   4. Connect the A-plug of the USB 2.0 Data Cable to the USB Slot of the PC.
   5. Plug the Power Cable of the External USB Hard Drive to an AC Power outlet of the RIGHT Voltage.
   6. Switch-on the External USB Hard Drive.  The HDD inside should start to spin-up.
   7. Let Windows detect the new hardware and wait for ready to use indication.
2. Format the External HDD Unit (HDD capacity is less than 32GB)
   1. If HDD capacity is less than 32GB, open windows explorer.
   2. Right-click the drive and click format to run formatting tool of Windows.
   3. Choose FAT32 as File System, enter Label or Volume Name and leave other settings to default.
   4. Click start to format the drive.
   5. Wait for the format process to finish.
3. Format the External HDD Unit (HDD capacity is more than 32GB – Windows XP does not natively support partitioning and formatting FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB, a special Application will be needed)
   1. Run the Partitioning & Formatting Software to setup.
   2. Select the Physical HDD.
   3. Run command to Delete/Remove all partitions in the External USB Hard Drive.
   4. Run command to Create a new partition in the External USB Hard Drive.
   5. Run command to Format the new partition in the External USB Hard Drive using the FAT32 Files System.
   6. Add Label or Volume Name for the partition/drive.
   7. Run command to execute/commit the actions to the External USB Hard Drive.
   8. Wait for the partition/format process to finish.
4. Transfer your media files in the new volume in the External USB Hard Drive.
   1. Open the new volume in My Computer/Windows Explorer.
   2. Transfer you media files and organize them as desired.
   3. Wait for the transfer process to completely finish.
5. Safely Removing the External USB Hard Drive from the Windows PC.
   1. Close any open Explorer window relating to the External USB Hard Drive.
   2. Click the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon in the System Tray Notification Area.
   3. Click to Select “Safely Remove Hardware”.
   4. Wait for the “You can now Safely Remove the Hardware” notification.
   5. Disconnect the A-plug of the USB 2.0 Data Cable from the USB Slot of the PC.
   6. Turn-off the External USB Hard Drive.  The HDD inside should start to spin-down.
   7. Un-plug the Power Cable of the External USB Hard Drive from the AC Power outlet.
6. Connecting to a Xbox 360 and viewing your files.
   1. Bring the External USB Hard Drive (along with the Data Cable & Power Adapter) near the Xbox 360 console.
   2. Connect the A-plug of the USB 2.0 Data Cable to the USB Slot of the Xbox 360.
   3. Plug the Power Cable of the External USB Hard Drive to an AC Power outlet of the RIGHT Voltage.
   4. Switch-on the External USB Hard Drive.  The HDD inside should start to spin-up.
   5. Let Xbox 360 detect the new hardware and wait for ready to use indication.
   6. Run Media Center, Choose Portable Device to open the USB Storage File Browser.
   7. View your media files.
7. Safely Removing the External USB Hard Drive from the Xbox 360.
   1. Close any open File Browser relating to the External USB Hard Drive.
   2. Click the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon.
   3. Click to Select “Safely Remove Hardware”.
   4. Wait for the “You can now Safely Remove the Hardware” notification.
   5. Disconnect the A-plug of the USB 2.0 Data Cable from the USB Slot of the Xbox 360.
   6. Turn-off the External USB Hard Drive.  The HDD inside should start to spin-down.
   7. Un-plug the Power Cable of the External USB Hard Drive from the AC Power outlet.

Benefits:

   Save from $110 to $140

   Make use of your old/idle Hard Drive

   View your Media Files from Xbox 360

   Have a High-Capacity Portable External USB Hard Drive

   Have a High-Capacity Portable Back-up USB Hard Drive

   Have a High-Capacity Media File Storage for your Xbox 360

   Have a “Staging Area” for other more complicated & more exciting mods/hacks

   Personal Satisfaction & Bragging Rights (Yeah!)

P.S.: A Little more about the Xbox.

Xbox 360 was made available on November 2005 in the USA, Mexico and Canada.  It was released in Europe and Japan in December 2005, other countries followed in the following year.  The console was completely sold out  upon release in all regions except Japan.  With only a year in the market, Xbox 360 was launched in at least 36 countries, the highest first year distribution for a video game console.  As of January 2010, over 39 million Xbox 360 units have been sold.

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How to Not Die

Not dying is a critical component of living. In order to not die in CS:S, you have to employ a subtle
combination of skills, skills, and skills. Or hacks, but if you hack you obviously don’t care about
skills. Let’s move on.

Below I have outlined some of the most common techniques employed to prevent death.

• Take a deep breath and loosen up the death grip on your mouse. The more tense you are, the more mistakes
  you’re going to make and the more susceptible you are to "the shakes".
• Take your time. Don’t run around every corner at top speed. Try walking, and paying attention to your teammates.
• Listen. If your speakers suck, get some headphones and use them. If you aren’t listening around every single corner, you’re
  already dead.
• If your under assault, don’t run for cover unless there is actually cover nearby. If you have to move more
  than five feet, any player with skills is going to shut you down. It’s better to face your enemy, and
  take them down with one clean, well aimed shot to the head.
• Employ strafing. Strafing gives the enemy a moving target without removing your focal point
  from the enemy. Remember to stop and shoot, and time around the enemies fire.

How to Kill

In addition to not dying, experts agree that in order to possess true Counter Strike Skills one must
not only not die, but also subject others to death. In other words, you need to waste your enemy
efficiently and taking as little damage to yourself as possible in the process.

The following strategies have led to the successful death of many counter strike players, skilled
and otherwise.

• Head shots. Head shots, head shots head shots. Head shots. Got it? The next time somebody empties
  half a clip into an enemy’s left foot and then whines about the injustice when they only did 43 damage
  gets slapped. Don’t even both aiming below the neck unless it’s your only shot available.
• Don’t run and shoot. In Counter-Strike, one or two good shots from any decent
  gun will lay out your enemy, so it’s often best to stand your ground and take the best shot you can. Strafe is incredibly useful when
  under assault, but use it wisely.
• Time your attacks. If you know your enemy is reloading, recovering from switching weapons or
  throwing a nade, or doing anything else that will have them distracted for a momeny, take advantage. A charge
  can be an effective maneuver if there is only one enemy and you have the upper hand.
• Use flashes wisely. If you flash, make it count. Remember that the enemy is probably going to see it
  coming from a mile away if you just heave it out into the open. If you’re throwing around a corner
  or through a doorway, time it so the flash bursts on entry and doesn’t give them a chance to react.

Teamplay

Being a good team player is incredibly important if you want to win consistently, and enjoy Counter-Strike to
its fullest. Let the following basics be a guide for you in becoming the best team player that you can.

• Listen to your teammates. If someone requests help, don’t run the other way.
• Watch your teammates. Know where they are. You don’t have to plan and calculate every
  move if you pay attention to “body language”. If your temmate is reloading and open to fire, cover his
  ass. And hopefully he/she will do the same for you.
• Use momentum. If your team is getting pounded every round, it’s time to take advantage
  of the one thing you do have – numbers. A good hard rush into the enemy base can be an incredibly effective tool in turning the tides
  of a match. In order to work though, you need everybody in on it and you don’t stop halfway – just move!.
  There are sacrifices to be made, but they will be worth it.

Buying Weapons, etc.

I see so many players that jump into a match and immediately spend all their money on the most powerful weapon they can.
Flashes, nades, smoke, armor, kits, nightvision, and anything else they can afford.

There are a few things wrong with this picture. First of all, if you just joined you have no idea what
type of enemy you’re up against. You might find youself wishing you bought a Scout instead of that M4.
Secondly, for many of us the first few matches we’re in “warmup” mode and the chances of dying and wasting all that
cash increase quite a bit.

So, to wrap this up let me share a few buying tips that might help you become a better CS:S player.

• If you’re broke, save your money and get a powerful pistol. You can probably grab a gun off the ground
  anyway, and using a pistol now and then keeps your aim honed.
• Only buy nades/flashes/smoke if you plan on using them. Furthermore, only buy them
  if you plan on using them and will actually get a chance to use them. If you’re dying before you use your
  inventory, you’re wasting money.
• It’s often good to let the few front runners buy the flashes, and everyone else pick up a nade and
  maybe some smoke. The flashes are most effective for rushing/breaking a point.
• Mix it up a little. Everyone has their favorites, but using different guns keeps your skills
  in check and you will be prepared the next time you have no weapon and pick up some peashooter off the ground!

Thanks for reading, and please share any tips or general feedback you have in the forums.

Introduction

Around a year ago I picked up two generic Xbox compatible controllers for about $2. They were new in
box, and although I didn’t own an Xbox (and still don’t), I knew I had to grab a couple.

After collecting dust since last summer, I finally dug one out today decided it would be fun to have
on my PC. The only gamepad I have for my computer is some Gravis pad from probably 6 years ago. The
Xbox pads are made by PowerPad Colors, but they feel reasonably sturdy, and have rumble and two
swivel caps, which is more than most reasonably priced PC gamepads have.

Fortunately for us, the Xbox controller has a USB interface, so it’s only a matter of splicing
a male USB adapter on in place of the funky Xbox one. So, this should be a simple hack. The
following materials will get the job done.

The Mod

You can see that I’m using a Male-Female USB extension cable for my male USB adapter. We’re
just going to chop the adapter off and discard of the cable.

Make sure you use the right end (circled in the above picture). We’re going to do the same thing to the
Xbox cable, too.

Cut the Xbox adapter off right at the base, leaving yourself some room to splice on the new
one. Cut the USB adapter off at least 4 or 5 inches away from the adapter.
Now strip off about an inch of casing from the end of each exposed cable that we’ll be connecting.
There will be a lot of thin silver wires and foil wrapped around a few smaller, colored wires.
The silver casing is the shielding, but unless you want to try and preserve it just cut it away
to expose the colored wires.

Using your wire strippers, pull away the casing on each of the colored wires to expose the bare
wire. Now you can proceed to actually splice the wires togteher.

Each wire of the USB adapter should match up to a colored wire on the gamepad. The Xbox controller
has one additional yellow wire, which you can just ignore. You can use either heatshrink casing
or electrical tape to cover up the bare leads. Heatshrink is more permanent and professional, but
for simplicity I just used some electrical tape on each of the smaller wires, then wrapped up the entire
thing tightly, making sure the bare leads did not cross.

You can see the ghetto-fabulous mod I’ve done above. The cable shown here detaches from the Xbox
controller, which is why you don’t see it actually leading to anything. Feel free to be as fancy
as you want – some heatshrink will look nice and hold up better, so now that I know it works I’ll
probably redo the mod when I get to the second controller.

If everything went well, we should be able to set up the device and start using it. The first thing
to do is snag the XBCD drivers (download here),
and run the installer file.

Once the drivers are installed, plug in the controller and it should detect and install the drivers
for “XBCD XBox Gamepad”. Now go to Programs -> XBCD -> Setup Utility and set up your new gamepad!

And that’s it! Not bad for a ten minute Xbox mod. Enjoy.

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Making Liquid Effects in Photoshop

Interested in making some slick looking liquid effects with Photoshop? Well read on, because in a few easy steps we’ll show you one of the best methods of getting that look.

Creating The Liquid Water Drop Effect

First take the document that you want to create the liquid effect on. Create a new layer. In the new
layer take the lasso tool and draw the shape that you want the liquid drop to be. Fill that shape
with black.

Then set the “Fill” opacity of that layer to 3%.

The next set of steps are really just refining the layer styles for that new layer.

Double clicking on the layer will bring up the Layer Styles Window. First thing we want to do is give
our layer a lifted effect. So Click on “drop shadow” and change the settings to this.

Note the quality setting has the contour changed. The next two settings will give us a lifted feel
(when we are done) first is the inner shadow.

Note that the “blend mode” has changed to Color Burn. The Second Step is inner glow, note that the
color has been changed to Black and the Blend Mode is now Overlay.

The next step is what makes it pop. Bevel and Emboss. Note the changes in “technique” and the color
changes in the shading area.

Conclusion

THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!! SAVE THE STYLE! This will give you the ability to reuse this effect at
any time and QUICKLY! Your final effect should look something similar to…

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Installing MOSFET heatsinks is a fairly simple procedure, but it takes a bit of time and attention
to make sure you do a good job.

The mainboard in question here is an EPoX EP-8RDA+, and the MOSFETS channel and
regulate all of the voltage onto the board. What does that mean for us? They get HOT! Time to cool them
down.

The MOSFETS

Close Up

First of all locate the MOSFETs.

The Materials

For this procedure you will need a heatsink adhesive compound (I’m using Arctic Silver Adhesive Compound),
a compatible thermal paste (Arctic Silver again, in this case), something to mix with, a clean surface, and
of course the heatsinks we are going to install on our MOSFETs.

The Heatsinks

I chopped up an old Pentium heatsink with my Dremel and lapped the surface.

The Adhesive Compounds

It’s important to get the right mixture here. Too much of any element and it won’t stick, or it’ll never
come off again. This may be the desired result, but I like to keep my options open. Go for about 1/3
parts each.

The Finished Product

After mixing the paste, apply a thin layer to your heatsinks and put them in place. You should let them
dry for about 12-24 hours before firing up your PC. Enjoy!

While the power supply still does not capture the sort of prestige as the CPU,
video hardware, and other more “important” components, hobbyists and overclockers
are fast realizing the importance of a quality PSU. Whether you have just invested
in a high-end unit, or you are simply pursuing more effective case airflow and a
cleaner wiring job in general, sleeving your PSU’s cables can be a worthwile project.

Seeking more organization in an already cramped case, I will take you step-by-step
as I sleeve my beloved Antec True480.
As much as I love my PSU, I can’t claim that it’s the most aesthetically pleasing
thing to stare at:

Nor is it in the proper condition for a really effective cooling setup. While it
isn’t going to make or break your cooling setup, all those stray wires can certainly
disrupt your airflow.

Materials & Preparation

There are a few options for sleeving material out there, but by far the most
appealing one is FLEXO sleeving. It has a much cleaner look than spiral or loom
wrap, with the added benefit of being very flexible and easy to use heatshrink
with. Let’s look at all of the materials we’ll need for this project:

• Power Supply
• ~10′ FLEXO Sleeving material
• ~3′ 1/4″ – 3/8″ diameter heatshrink tubing
• Molex pin extractor or other tool with sharp point
• Heat gun, hairdryer or lighter/candle

The amount of FLEXO and heatshrink tubing will depend on how many cables your PSU
has and how long they are. Before ordering any materials, take the time to measure
your cables and order appropriately. Always order a little extra to make up for
mistakes or that mysterious cable you never noticed before

While the ideal tool for extracting the Molex headers is a tool made for the job,
you can get away with a razor blade or other sharp point. In order to shrink the
heatshrink tubing you will also want a heatgun. If a gun is not available, you can
use a hairdryer or lighter (if you are careful not to burn the tubing!). As you
can see above I’ll be using a fine point driver tip for Molex extraction, and just
a candle for melting the heatshrink.

Once we have all of our materials ready, get a nice clean workspace prepared and
remove the PSU entirely from your case. Now we are ready to prep the PSU for the job!

Preparing the PSU

The first step is to remove the Molex plugs from our PSU. I’m using an AMD system
so for the purposes of this article I’m only focusing on the Molex headers, not
the P4 plugs. The concept is similar and it should be no problem to translate
these steps over to the P4 plugs. The plugs we need to worry about are the Molex
and mini-Molex:

Before removing anything be sure to note the order in which the wires go in! If
you cannot remember please refer to the pictures in this article. Starting with
the mini-Molex plugs (the ones that go to your floppy drive), we
can release the four pins by pressing the tabs down as shown below:

Once the tabs are depressed you can slide the plug off the pins and we’ll have four
bare pins like this:

The regular Molex plugs require a little more effort; there are two tabs on either
side of the pins which you need to push in:

Once you do so, the plugs slide off easily like the mini-Molex did:

Now rinse and repeat until all of the wires are done! You might also find that
some of your wires are budled and secured with zip ties. These will serve to annoy
you to no end if they aren’t removed before the sleeving begins. Just snip them off
with some scissors or a wire snip:

If you made it this far, we are almost ready to sleeve! One last thing which I
wanted to do is to reorganize the wires where they meet the PSU. They are bundled
and zip-tied where they all conjoin on the PSU, and not in the best order. Wires
overlapping one another, causing a general mess and not pleasing to look at. I
removed the zip tied securing them, played around for a bit until they were a little
more organized, then secured them again with a new zip tie.

Once you are happy with this we can sleeve away!

Sleeving the PSU

The sleeving itself is fairly easy to work with. Using 3/8″ FLEXO, measure and
cut a length of tubing for the first ’section’ of wire leading from the PSU to
the first Molex plug. Leave a few inches on either side for the heatshrink, and
then start working the FLEXO onto the wires. You will need use the ‘inchworm’
method to work the FLEXO from one end to the other, being careful not to catch
on the pins and tear the tubing.

Once the tubing is in it’s place, cut two small
lengths of heatshrink tubing and work them down to the sleeving. Once the sleeving
and heatshrink is in place you can replace the first Molex plug at the end of the
sleeving. This will bend the wires into their ‘natural’ shape and let you fix the
tubing and heatshrink over the wires as they will look when finished. Before you just stick the plug back on, bend the tabs out again so it will
snap into place. Once everything is lined up and spaced correctly, apply heat to
the heatshrink tubing and it will seal the sleeving in place.

If all goes as planned your wires should look pretty similar to this:

Of course, we get to repeat the process for each and every length of wire on the PSU which
we want sleeved! Tedious? Yes. Worth it? You bet. Once you start finishing up it will
look a hundred times better:

And now that you’re done slaving away over your PSU, go ahead and reinstall that
sucker, and give yourself a pat on the back. A worthy project, and your stylish
PSU will be the envy of the town. ;O)

If you have questions, comments, or think that anything should or shouldn’t have
been included in this article, I encourage you to stop by Fury-Tech Forums
and leave a line or two. We’d love to see what you have done with your PC, and
if this article helped at all. Good luck and may the hertz be with you!

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While most of the articles here at Fury-Tech.com are centered around more advanced modding
techniques, it’s about time I cover the grassroots of any build: the case. While seemingly
one of the most basic parts of a computer, to the untrained hand it can be a complex maze
of bays, wires, plugs and screws behind that calm exterior. This article was recommended
by an old friend and member of the Fury-Tech Forums,
arlo (www.twoblocks.com). Thanks for the idea!

The goal of this article is not to provide an extensive manual on every single case out there. Every
case has its own peculiarities that need to be attended to, so my goal is to outline the necessary
tools, precautions and preparations common to all case installs.

Preparation

Before you get started the first thing to do is to ensure that you have all of the necessary tools for
the job. While it can vary from case to case, you will almost always need the following:

• Philips head screwdriver
• Screws for motherboard, all devices and the case cover
• Anti-static wrist strap (semi-optional… see below)
• Anti-static mat (optional)
• Motherboard risers
• Motherboard manual
• Needle nose pliers (optional)

If you purchased a new case, it should come with all of the necessary screws and MB risers. The risers
are usually small brass extended screws, although some motherboards still use plastic risers. If you
are upgrading your current case, you may already have screws and risers that you can use.

An anti-static wrist strap is always nice to have, but if you do not own one just be sure you have a
clean workspace available to you, and any time you need to touch a piece of hardware be sure to
ground yourself by grabbing the frame of the case first. ESD (Electro-static Discharge) can destroy
a sensitive chip without you even feeling the shock. As a general precaution, whenever you are
handling hardware keep your fingers on the PCB and away from any integrated chips. An anti-static mat
is great to have too, but not necessary.

If you don’t have the original motherboard manual, try a
search on-line for a copy. If you really can’t find anything on it, don’t worry too much, we’ll just
need to plan ahead a little. Finally, needle nose pliers are helpful for pulling jumpers, but not
absolutely necessary. You’ll know if you need them when you get there.

Step One: Preparing your hardware

Find a clean, well lit area where you can take up some space. If you are upgrading your current case,
then the first thing to do is to remove your hardware from that case. Store all of the removed
parts in one place, and keep all of the screws together or you will misplace them. Make sure
it isn’t plugged in, and start by removing all of the cables leading to the hard drive(s), CD-ROM(s),
and floppy drive. Take note of where they plug in to one another, and especially the alignment of the cable.
You can plug cables in backwards and upside down. Next, unplug the power from each of the devices
and clean away any dust that is left in there.

If you do not have the manual that came with your motherboard (if any), it’s important to take note
of a few things before you remove the rest of your hardware. Your case will have a number of small
wires leading to the motherboard, which are all plugged in next to one another. These wires
control the LEDs on the case, the power button and the reset switch. Without a manual to refer to,
it can be a pain to remember what order and where these wires go. Most motherboards will have it
marked directly on them, but to play it safe I would recommend you jot down the order and name
of each wire, you can do this as you remove each one.

Once that is taken care of, you can continue removing the rest of the hardware. Start with your bay
devices – hard drives, CD-ROMs, CDR/Ws, DVDs, etc. Once all of these devices have been removed, the
only thing left plugged into the power supply should be the motherboard. Squeeze the clip on the
connector where it meets the mobo and gently pry the power header off. Now you can clear away
any dangling wires and start removing your PCI/ISA/AGP devices. If you have other wires leading to your
motherboard, sound card, or elsewhere, write down the location and the device so you can refer back to it.
Remove all of the cards in the motherboard
one by one, and store them very carefully in a static free area. The motherboard itself is secured by
a number of screws, and can be removed fairly easily by undoing the screws and lifting very carefully
from the edges. Some people might suggest removing the CPU/HSF and the memory before removing the
motherboard, but this is really up to you. If you’re careful then you won’t damage either, and you
also won’t need to reinstall the heatsink on your CPU which is a time saver.

Now that you have everything out of your case you should be able to see the motherboard risers. Again,
they are usually brass or plastic, and they are located exactly where each of the motherboard screws
was placed. If your new case wasn’t shipped with these risers (they are usually in with the screws
and accessories in a small bag), go ahead and remove the ones from the old case. If your new case
doesn’t have a power supply, remove any screws from the PSU and remove that also.

Step Two: Installing your case

With all of your hardware removed from the old case (if any), we can start the process again, except
this time it’s backwards! First go ahead and secure the power supply, and move any power cables out
of the way. Next, make sure that the motherboard risers are installed in the case and screw the
motherboard back down again. Be sure to line up the port bezel properly, it can be a little annoying
at first trying to get your video, PS/2, USB, etc. ports to line up with the faceplate. Try bending
back the small metal tabs around each port on the bezel, this can make it a lot easier.

I guess we won’t be doing this completely backwards, because I recommend that you plug all of those
tiny wires from the case into the mobo at this point. Refer to your motherboard manual if you have it,
or the notes you took down earlier. Now plug the motherboard power header back in, and reinstall your
bay devices (HD, CD-ROM, etc.). Plug in the ATA cables from each of these devices to your motherboard,
looking back on your notes, then plug in the power cables, and then you can reinstall your PCI/ISA/AGP cards.

If you had any other wires (such as a wire from your CD-ROM to your soundcard, reinstall them at this point).

Step Three: Finishing Touches

Now it looks like we’re done! Well, not quite. Before you fire that thing up take a moment to
make a mental checklist. We want to be sure of a few things:

• All cables are properly plugged in, secured and not obstructing any moving parts
• All PCI/ISA/AGP cards, RAM and CPU are all seated properly.
• The motherboard is not making direct contact with the case – I.E. the MB headers are installed properly.
• The voltage on the power supply is set properly

It is absolutely crucial to ensure that the voltage is set correctly on your PSU. Look at the back
of the unit and there should be a small switch to select either 110 or 220 volts. If you’re in the US
make sure it is set to 110. If you are in another country set it according to the kind of power
your electricity provider supplies you with.

If everything looks good and you have checked and double checked for mistakes, plug that sucker in
and give it some juice. With any luck your brand new case will be humming peacefully away, and you
can let me know this guide helped you. Or, on the other hand,
your computer could burst into flames and you can let me know
that this guide ruined your life. Alas, the chances of fire are small; and if you did everything carefully
and correctly it will be doing great.

Conclusion

All in all, installing a new case is a simple task. It takes some patience, a few tools, and a lot
of focus; but in the end it’s a lot more fun than just buying pre-built! And for us tweakers, it’s
the only way =)

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Following in step with my window mod I decided,
like so many others before me must have, that a window in your case is only as
cool as what’s inside. Or something like that. So, about five minutes after
finishing the window mod, I decided to go the last mile and grab a Studio 54
neon auto light for my case.

They can be picked one up for about $10 at Wal-Mart; so this is obviously a
pretty cheap project. It’s about half the price of your average cold cathode,
and you probably don’t have to order it.

Preparation

Before we get started, let’s look at the materials we will need for the light mod:

• One Studio 54 Neon Auto Light
• Wire cutters
• Electrical tape
• Molex splitter or extension
• Dremel (optional)

Step One: Dissection

If the light fits inside your case without any changes, the only thing you need
to do is cut the wire leading to the 12V cigarette style adapter, and splice
it onto a Molex plug. If the light doesn’t fit, you will need to chop one end off,
preferably with a Dremel or similar cutting tool.

In order to plug the light into your power supply, it needs to have a Molex adapter.
You can simply cut off the cigarette adapter, and splice it with a Molex in the
following order: black (ground) connects to clear wire on light, yellow (12V) connects
to white striped wire on light.

If the light will not fit inside your case, Dremel the end off with a thin
cutoff wheel. Be extremely careful when cutting along the bottom of the unit,
there is a circuit board approximately 1mm below the surface which you do not
want to damage.

I made the first cut deep enough to expose the knob (which controls the sensitivity
of the audio response) and the switch which turns the audio response on and off.
A second cut made further down freed up the entire board, and the end can be moved
out of the way at this point.

Conclusion

This is indeed a cheaper and quicker solution than ordering "real" lights. There
are a few drawbacks of course, it is a neon light and does produce some heat. Not enough
to see any change in my case temps, but every little bit counts. Also a light made for
your PC won’t require any cutting, taping, chopping, et cetera. But that just isn’t
any fun now is it tweakers?

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Sure, there are plenty of cases out there with window kits already installed, but
many of us already have a perfectly functioning case. And many of us don’t like
spending five times what it would cost in real materials. But a lot of us tweakers
just don’t want to miss out on the fun. Whether you just want to save a buck or two,
or if you’re in for the adventure as well, I’m going to give you the basics on
modding your boring old case with a nice pretty new window. ;]

Preparation

There isn’t a lot of preparation necessary as long as you have collected the appropriate
materials. Make sure you are in a clean, safe location where you can make plenty of
noise and get messy. Sawing a hole through the side of your case tends to get a little
bit of both.

Before we get started, let’s look at the materials we will need for the window mod:

• Tower/Mid-Tower/Server Case
• Dremel
• Cutoff Wheels
• 4 Case Screws and Nuts
• Drill bit sized to case screws
• Plexiglass sheeting
• Flexible plastic door edge guards
• Razor blade or other plastic cutting tool
• Screwdriver (philips and flathead)

Step One: Case Cut-out

As you can see by looking at the case, there is a slight groove that makes a nice
outline for the cut. I’ll start my cut along this groove, working on the inside face
of the case door. This way you can scuff up the surface and not worry about destroying
the paint job. If you are trying this on your own case and there is no outline,
now is the time to sketch it out on the inside of the door. Without a guide it will
be real tough to make a straight line and all your hard work could come out looking
sloppy. Take your time with the shape and make sure everything is even. Now get out
your Dremel and we are ready to start cutting :]

To make things go as quickly and smoothly as possible, it’s a good idea to work
the cutoff wheel about 4-6″ ahead of where you are cutting, making a groove
you can follow along with. It takes a little time so really patience and a
steady hand are your best friends at this point. Looking at the pictures below,
you can see how I Dremeled ahead making a groove to follow. The corner may get a
little tricky, but a little patience will pay off. I basically applied pressure with
the cutoff wheel at incremental points around the corner, and then connected
them to obtain a curve.

You want to do this an a clean, well lit and well ventilated area with no flammable
materials nearby. The Dremel tends to send sparks flying everywhere, and you
probably don’t want to burn your house down, now do you? Also try and avoid inhaling
any of the metal powder left behind; it helps to use a handheld vacuum or can
of air to keep the area clean.

Once this is done, you’ve got the major work out of the way. At this point I took the grinder
that came with my Dremel, and smoothed the edges off so I didn’t slice my hand
trying to finish up my project. You don’t need an absolutely smooth finish because this
will be covered eventually anyway.

Step Two: Plexiglass Cut-out

Now with the case outlined we can measure out an appropriate sized piece of
plexiglass for the window. I layed the cut case door on the plexiglass and
marked off the opening, then cut a rectangle about 2″ wider and 2″ taller
than the window opening. This way we can mount the window on the backside of the
case and not worry about trying to cut the plexi perfectly.

You can use your choice of tools to cut the plexiglass; some may argue but I find
my Dremel to do the job a lot faster than a razor would. Since I’m not concerned
about a perfectly clean cut, it does the job. Just be careful, as you work the
plastic heats up tremendously and liquifies; it can easily bunch up and shatter
a cutoff wheel, too, as you can see….

With the window cut out, at this point you may want to cut out a hole for any
fans you are mounting. I duplicated the size and location of the 92mm fan mount
on my case and cut out the appropriate size for my fan.

Step Three: A little bit of drilling

And just when you thought you were done Dremeling! We still need to drill out
the holes for our screws, so mark off the points and drill with an appropriate sized
bit. A diamond tipped drill would really help at this point, too. I used a normal
bit and ground it down to practically nothing. Once I drilled through the case,
I smoothed of the holes with a smaller grinder, again to spare myself from any
injury, and of course to keep things clean where it will be visible.

Step Four: Guarding the edge

Now I suggest you check and make sure the holes all line up, and the screws are
going to run through okay. If everything looks good we can install the edge guards.
The particular guards I found have a couple problems. First of all they are only 24″
apiece, so all in all it took about 2 1/8 full strips to cover all the bare edges.
This isn’t that big of a deal, but if you look closely you can see where the
guards segment.

The bigger issue with the guards was that they are thick. The inside surface of the
guards is too high, and when the plexiglass is screwed down tight it creates a bow
in the plexi. This is obviously not very appealing and certainly not a professional job.

Step Five: A great fit

The bowing problem is easily solved though, with some 60 grit sandpaper and a little
labor. As you can tell, sanding down the guards helps the plexi get a flush fit on the
case door. Once you are sanded down, all you need to do is screw down the plexi,
mount the fan if you chose to have one and you’re nearly finished.

The only thing left at this point is to clean up the window and case door, make sure
no metal powders or plastic gunk is left behind and put that sucker on your computer!
Oooohhh… marvel at the beauty of raw hardware, churning out all those FPS before
your very eyes!

Conclusion

Well fine tweaker friends, that is all you need to mount a professional looking
window in your PC for little to no money. But is this article over? Nooo!! Well
this article may be over, but something is missing from this project. Something to
maybe, shed a little light on the situation?

So don’t just sit there, once you have your nice new window, what could be better
than an inexpensive, bright as hell, sound responsive neon light kit? Not much.
So check out the Studio 54 Neon Light Mod.

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If you have read my Tweakmonster RAMsink
guide, or checked out the Cooljag
JAC304C Prelim, then you will know that I’m on a mad mission to freeze my MSI GeForce4 TI-4600.
Before we review the performance of the JAC304C, I decided to review the 313C so I
have something to base my results off.

The Cooljag JAC313C is invariably the most popular 1U cooler for GeForce4 cards. You
can find them for sale all over the ‘Net; I got this particular unit from Newegg.com.
It’s a great looking heatsink, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Until
I get to see the numbers, though, it’s just hearsay .

First we will check out the specs of this unit.

Preparation

The 313C is extremely similar to the 304C – in fact, about the only difference is in the
size of the heatsink. The 304C is about 7mm taller, and 21 grams heavier. Still, at 252
grams, this is undoubtebly a lot heavier than the stock heatsink on most GeForce4 cards.
Because of this, and the application design of the heatsink, we will need high grade
adhesive compound to keep the heatsink on the GPU. I will recommend Arctic Silver Thermal
Adhesive as it is a high quality product that worked great on my Tweakmosnters.

Before we get started, let’s look at the materials we will need for the installation:

• NVidia GeForce4 TI-4600 based video card
• Cooljag JAC313C
• Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive
• Arctic Silver Thermal Compound
• Cotton Swabs (Q-Tips)
• 91% Isopropyl Alcohol
• Razor blade
• Pliers

At a minimum you will need AS Adhesive Compound to affix the heatsink to the GPU
on your GF4. Realize, however, that once it dries it is not coming off! Since
I plan on removing the JAC313C relatively soon in order to test the JAC304C, I need to
be able to remove it eventually. I used Arctic Silver 3 Thermal Compound
mixed in with the thermal adhesive to achieve this. The exact amount will be covered
later, but if you want the option of removing your heatsink, pick up some AS3 before we get started.

Installation

The first step is getting the stock heatsink off the card. The GF4 has a spring loaded
clip that makes it relatively easy to remove, although a bit strange if you haven’t used
one before. Referring to the pictures below, you will notice pin mounts on the two
opposite corners of the HSF. You should be able to use a pair of pliers
to remove them, I found a twist/pull motion to get them off pretty easily.

Once the pins have been removed, two plastic mounts should still be holding the heatsink
on the card. Press firmly on the mounts from the underside of the card. You might have
to pinch them through with a pair of needle nosed pliers. Once the mounts are free the
heatsink should come off easily.

With the heatsink removed, it’s time to clean the GPU off. The residue left behind should be
completely removed before applying the AS adhesive or thermal compound. It isn’t as easy as
I might make it sound, but with a little patience and the right tools you should be able
to remove all of the old thermal goo from the GPU.

I started off by thoroughly dousing the GPU in 91% isopropyl alcohol, and using a
cotton swap to start loosening up the goop. After working at this for about 10
minutes, I used a razor blade and my ‘helping hands’ to scrape the residue. This works
really well, but only use a blade if you are confident that you aren’t going to
scratch the face of your GPU. It’s a delicate surface and you have to pay extremely
close attention to your work.

You can use some kind of carb cleaner if you want, but no matter what you use, make
sure it includes no oils, has very low acidity and especially isn’t citrus based. Goo
gone would have stripped this thing clean, I’m sure, but is very corrosive to electronics.
Let’s have a look at the processs:

Before we start glueing everything, stop for one minute and make sure you have all of your
materials together. Once you start mixing the adhesive you will only have a few minutes
to work with it, before the mixture heats up and begins hardening. Once the adhesive
reaches a gel consistency it is unusable. Ensure that you have a place to mix your
adhesive (anything will work as long as it’s clean and flat, just use non-plastics).

This is where the Arctic Silver 3 thermal compound will become useful. Put a glob on the
top of the heatsink, not much but enough to cover the heatsink in paste once spread.
Now use sterile rubber gloves or a plastic bag to rub the compound into the heatsink.
Rub the compound in circular motion until the entire face of the heatsink is covered. Now
grab a paper towel or soft cloth and wipe it all off again. You will notice the HS has a
slight tint to it now; this is a good thing, as it means the AS3 is filling in all the
tiny hills and valleys.

Now that the heatsink is prepared, we are ready to mix our adhesive and install the
sink. If you DON’T plan on removing the heatsink once installed, mix up a 1:1 combination
of the Arctic Silver Adhesive Compound #1 and #2. If you DO plan on removing the heatsink,
mix the AS adhesive normally, but the final mixture should be about 60% adhesive and 40%
regular thermal compound. Mix everything before application, and then you can apply the mixture. Looking at
the picture below you can see how much I used for my adhesive/compound mixture.

Place a small glob of the mixture on one corner of the GPU, and spread it evenly across
the entire surface of the chip. The thickness you need will depend on your heatsink;
for a properly lapped heatsink, a very thin layer will work fine. If your heatsink surface
is less smooth, you will want a little more to ensure it makes full contact.

Again, you only have a few minutes to properly apply the adhesive. Be quick but precise,
and if you feel like you are just making a mess, clean it up entirely with some
isopropyl alcohol, and start over with a fresh batch. It’s better to waste a little then
have the adhesive harden all over your card, or in big clumps for example.

If everything goes well, you should be ready to install the heatsink on your GPU at
this point. Referring to the pictures below, you want to line up the HS so the indented
edge is facing toward the front of your case (i.e. away from the video jacks). Center
the heatsink over the GPU and press it firmly down. It will take about 10-15 minutes
to form a reasonably good bond between the HSF and GPU, so don’t move the heatsink
at all during this time. You may apply some pressure to help it make contact, but
be careful not to twist the heatsink in either direction. Direct force on the
center of the heatsink is appropriate.

And that’s it! Now you want to wait at least two hours for the compound to harden.
Don’t use the card before this two hours is up, the last thing you need is that heatsink
falling off during use. Once it’s dry, throw it in your case and it’s time to OC
that sucker!

Conclusion

For all intents and purposes, this procedure is for overclockers. Unless you just want
to make your card pretty (which is nice, too), installing a 1U HSF onto your video
card is only done to squeeze a few more MHz out of your core OC. As such, I was
extremely excited to finally test this unit out.

Although I won’t share too many details, so as not to ruin the JAC313C vs. JAC304C
review, I could have been happier with the results. In order to find the highest core
OC possible, I ran benchmarks in 3dMark2001 SE, CodeCreatures (full bench), GLExcess (1024×768,
all tests) and Novalogic’s Comanche 4 demo bench. If it doesn’t make it through every
one of these tests, it isn’t considered stable enough for a notable OC.

The highest OC I was able to run all of the benchmarks at with the stock cooler
was 324.0MHz. Although I was able to run nearly everything at 333MHz with the JAC313C,
it locked up during the CodeCreatures test. The highest stable clock I could hit with the
JAC313C was 328.5MHz. A 4.5MHz jump. Not that impressive. However, there are some things
to consider before jumping to any conclusions…

First of all, benchmarks were run about 4 hours after the 313C was installed. AS3 can take
a few days of steady use before it reaches optimal temperatures. Given a few days to work
its way in, may yield a few more MHz in the long run. Also, this card is at stock voltage.
I plan on doing a voltage mod very soon, before the 304C test, so we will eliminate
all possible restraining factors.

One thing of interest that I should mention before I say goodbye though, were my 3DMark
scores. Although the other benchmarks didn’t show such a major improvement from the
additional 4.5MHz, 3DMark jumped from 11596 points at 324MHz core, to 11703MHz at 328.5
core. Not a huge jump, but in the past a few extra MHz would usually result in a another
30 or so points, not the 107 points like in this these tests. Hopefully this means that
heat is not an issue, and the voltage is in fact holding this card back from a higher
OC. Instead of gasping for air at 324.0MHz, the card may have been cool running at 328.5,
but starving for voltage.

Well, I don’t want to say too much. Take these benchmarks with a grain of salt. I’ll have
a full comparison focusing only on the benchmarks once the VMOD is finished and I have
tested the JAC304C. Until then tweakers, may the hertz be with you!

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