Scratch Build – In Progress A mITX build for my mom (19:th October, Soon finished, some overall images)

Some of you may remember me from L3p L4n build, i designed the Mars II waterblock. Anyways, now I'm making a mITX build for my mom.

I'm planning to use a ASRock Z77E-ITX motherboard with a low power Sandy or Ivy CPU, a HD 7750 GPU (Or NVIDIA similarity). This will be a scratch build (pic below)



Okay, so let's begin!(I actually started some weeks ago but created the thread now)

Got myself a package! It is a 150w Pico-PSU and a 120W AC-DC converter.



And some connectors and buttons too.



So the first thing i did was to exchange some of the connectors on the brand new PSU...
I like the result! (More connectors will be exchanged later.)



And a package from Nils!





So i got a Slim DVD without faceplate from eBay...



...what i didn't know was that it came without a eject button.



I need to fix that, and i think the cables to the button should be soldered there somewhere. Need to pull out my DMM and measure some spots so i can find the solder points for the eject button.



And i can probably solder some LEDs there.



Got a Slimline SATA cable too!



But i can't stand the color so let's exchange the cables to black ones!



Here is the housing.



And all the pins and stuff. Will hopefully solder new cables this weekend. :thumbsup:



Cleaned the caps! Need to buy black paint so i can paint the connector.







Hope you like it!

 

I will be his first follower!
This guy rocks with his cam

 

Good start. I watch how you will do SATA cable.

john

 

Lovely start !

 

Thanks guys! Glad you like the pics Peter.

Okay, so a small update. Oh, and Peter helped me with the links so you can klick the image for a bigger image(around 3000px).







Now i need to buy black paint so i can paint it black!

 

Great start, loving this!

 

why just not but a connector from stefan or nils ?

Subbed and +rep

 

Thanks guys!

Kosovar: Because it wont fit. The pico 24-pin is smaller than a regular 24-pin.

 

I think it'll be a great gift =) Unique in the world. Besides, great pics like always and when I look at how you dissassemble everything like you're playing with a kid's toy...it's just great. Awesome and keep going!! Will be following this closely!

 

good start, im following! =)

 

Ahh yes you are right , go and buy some black Plastic Dye and boil the connector into the dye 2-5 minutes

 

Sub'd

Looking forward to this

 

Suuuubbed - this can't become anything but good.

 

very interesting !
love mini itx


the drawing is made with solidworks ?

 

paint will chip quickly mate, you might trying a RIT dye or something or (if you can find it) there is a product by Plasti-kote called Ultra Vinyl Dye that is fantastic. I've used it before but it can be hard to find. The product softens the plastic and causes the material to open up (like pores on your skin) and it absorbs the color from the product.

 

Thanks guys! Love the positive feedback!

Sixfoot: Kosovar showed a site where i can buy dye so that is ordered. I think it was called iDye or similair.



Okay, so small update before i go to bed.

The slimline SATA cable is done! Turned out OK, could be better tho.

The molex part will be removed, that one is just for testing.



Soldered.



Glue.



Finished. As i said, it is only okay.

 

I think it looks fine, but when you HAD the plug opened, why didn't you expand the holes around the cables a bit and then concealed the ends of the sleeving INSIDE the plug? In that way you could have eliminated the need for heat shrink for that end of the cable.

But you're perhaps not going to use sleeving at all?

 

I will sleeve some of the things but not this because it won't be seen anyways.

 

Ontopic: Thumbs up for the commitment and the hard work. I would never go about soldering my slimline SATA cable

Offtopic: Do you mind if you share with me the thought process behind choosing a mITX for your mom? To clarify: I was thinking that my parents need a new PC, instead of the bulky 775 ATX machine they have now. They have pretty basic needs: firefox+word+skype, not even watching HD movies. And I was wondering between mITX and laptop or netop. And I started leaning towards a laptop. So now you see. It'd be nice to hear someone else.

 

Thanks mate!

How about a i5-3570K for your build?