Chapter 1: The Cooler Master PC

Cooler? Master?

Fresh from a 10 hour overnight flight, I got to business right away. First order of business? Open ’em up and see what’s inside.

I opened the Cooler Master Elite 130 case. And the first thing that struck me was how compact the case is, and how everything has been stuffed inside. I’ve only built one PC before, that was with my brother, in a full size ATX case. This was my first time opening up something this small, and I was very excited! 🤩

All is great, I flip the case over laterally and see a LOT of dust? Dead skin?

Cleaning Up

I decided to take everything apart, and vacuum clean all the dust. Also applied fresh thermal paste on the CPU.

Connecting the 3 hard drives again with their SATA data and power cables became quite a challenge for me.

After an hour or so of cable hell, I managed to fit everything in.

I also decided to take a 1 TB hard drive from the Dell PC and replace the 500 GB 2.5 inch hard drive with it.

I couldn’t figure out how to put the 1TB drive on top of the other hard disk. Finally ended up using some blue tacks and cardboard based padding to reduce vibrations. I know it is janky, but it works! (famous last words)

Next Steps

I had gotten quite tired by now, and the missus had booked tickets to see Agatha Christie’s Witness For the Prosecution - A play which is staged inside an actual courtroom in the London County Hall!

Leaving you with a picture, and our adventure will resume in the next post. 👋

The courtroom inside the London County Hall

Cooler? Master?#

Cleaning Up#

Next Steps#

Cooler? Master?

Cleaning Up

Next Steps