neilhart
Moderator
- Joined
- May 25, 2010
- Messages
- 2,686
- Motherboard
- ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming - ITX/ac
- CPU
- i7-7700T
- Graphics
- GTX960
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
Scratch Build # 3
I am starting this work log today to share my experiences building my next project.
The ’97’ series motherboards are now available with more versions coming. I am particularly interested in the high performance ones with M.2 and SATA Express in the Mini-ITX form factor. However as I see it there is still risk in being an early adopter and I don’t really care to own something that is not OS X supported.
At this moment I am aware of the ASUS Z97I PLUS and the ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac with the new tech.
So while the long range objective is have a small form factor high performance machine, I am going to shoot for an interesting scratch built Mini-ITX case at this point in time.
So I have ordered a Gigabyte B85N motherboard to use as a development mule and I will use one of my Haswell CPUs for testing. Until the Gigabyte motherboard arrives I am using an ECS H55H-I as a layout aid along with dated video cards.
Here is the start.
I have stripped the 4th G5 Power Mac case from my purchase last year of 5 dead systems. I took the outer shell/left side seen here. With the first two cuts I removed the top and bottom loop sections seen top and bottom of the photo. I then pulled all of the threaded inserts from the main panel. And a third cut to get the main panel that I needed.
I then cut off (what is now the top and bottom) the edges for a panel height of 16 inches (apx 404 mm). The right side is 8 inches and the back panel is 5.5 inches (202 mm and 139 mm). I made a cut that is about 60% of the panel thickness deep. The width of this partial cut is about the panel thickness (3 mm) and really should have been 4.5 mm wide. Anyway, I did the 90 degree fold that you see here without a break and a lot manual force. Note to self: purchase a break when finances allow.
I made up the 4 motherboard standoffs needed from 4 of the G5 motherboard standoffs (drilled through the bottom and from the bottom up tapped them to 6-32 threads). The standoffs are about 16 mm tall which should provide clearance under the motherboard for M.2 modules and cables.
I plan to use an AIO water CPU cooler with the rad assembly a the top of the case with an unobstructed side to side ventilation path. I have not sourced the cooler yet.
The PSU for this system is a Silverstone ST45SF-G. a 450 watt fully modular unit.
I had toyed with the idea of putting the GPU card on a cable extender but in the end decided a standard configuration would be better in the long run.
My next task is to locate the motherboard and cut the I/O plate hole followed by the GPU PCIe slot in the back panel. Then locate and drill and counter sink the motherboard standoff holes.
As a side note, the un-seen side on the panel is covered with the blue painters tape to keep that surface as free from damage as possible. The final exterior finish is still open at this time.
Comments, questions and advice freely accepted.
Good modding,
neil
I am starting this work log today to share my experiences building my next project.
The ’97’ series motherboards are now available with more versions coming. I am particularly interested in the high performance ones with M.2 and SATA Express in the Mini-ITX form factor. However as I see it there is still risk in being an early adopter and I don’t really care to own something that is not OS X supported.
At this moment I am aware of the ASUS Z97I PLUS and the ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac with the new tech.
So while the long range objective is have a small form factor high performance machine, I am going to shoot for an interesting scratch built Mini-ITX case at this point in time.
So I have ordered a Gigabyte B85N motherboard to use as a development mule and I will use one of my Haswell CPUs for testing. Until the Gigabyte motherboard arrives I am using an ECS H55H-I as a layout aid along with dated video cards.
Here is the start.
I have stripped the 4th G5 Power Mac case from my purchase last year of 5 dead systems. I took the outer shell/left side seen here. With the first two cuts I removed the top and bottom loop sections seen top and bottom of the photo. I then pulled all of the threaded inserts from the main panel. And a third cut to get the main panel that I needed.
I then cut off (what is now the top and bottom) the edges for a panel height of 16 inches (apx 404 mm). The right side is 8 inches and the back panel is 5.5 inches (202 mm and 139 mm). I made a cut that is about 60% of the panel thickness deep. The width of this partial cut is about the panel thickness (3 mm) and really should have been 4.5 mm wide. Anyway, I did the 90 degree fold that you see here without a break and a lot manual force. Note to self: purchase a break when finances allow.
I made up the 4 motherboard standoffs needed from 4 of the G5 motherboard standoffs (drilled through the bottom and from the bottom up tapped them to 6-32 threads). The standoffs are about 16 mm tall which should provide clearance under the motherboard for M.2 modules and cables.
I plan to use an AIO water CPU cooler with the rad assembly a the top of the case with an unobstructed side to side ventilation path. I have not sourced the cooler yet.
The PSU for this system is a Silverstone ST45SF-G. a 450 watt fully modular unit.
I had toyed with the idea of putting the GPU card on a cable extender but in the end decided a standard configuration would be better in the long run.
My next task is to locate the motherboard and cut the I/O plate hole followed by the GPU PCIe slot in the back panel. Then locate and drill and counter sink the motherboard standoff holes.
As a side note, the un-seen side on the panel is covered with the blue painters tape to keep that surface as free from damage as possible. The final exterior finish is still open at this time.
Comments, questions and advice freely accepted.
Good modding,
neil