Case Mod - In Progress [Project]: Big Bro' Prodigy (E-ATX mod) FINAL PICTURES: 12th March - 2014

Thanks! Hah,
It was pretty nice, we are getting a long (luckily, lol), haha.

Anyways! Here's an update for all of you!
First of all I'd like to say I'm terribly sorry that it has taken this time. No one is to blame (besides myself) but I did have some really bad luck regarding some stuff that prolonged the making of this update a lot. What has taken a lot of time because of some stuff not working as they should is the video.

Thanks for understanding,

Here it is!



UPDAAAAAAATE! : D

Unboxing of GIGABYTE z77x-UP7 and test-mounting in the case - 12/03 -2013

UPDATE 12/3 to 2013

Hello dear readers!

I've finally managed to fix material for a new update. A lot of crap got in the way. First my SDcard would die, then the microphone wouldnt want to work, then had my computer formatted etc.etc. Everything that could happen did happen

Here's the update thou!
About the motherboard I have been provided with by


This update will be mostly about unboxing of the motherboard z77x-UP7.
The unboxing will be in the form of a Video and photographs of the box, the products supplied within and the way motherboard looks inside the chassis!
Hope you'll like it!

If you're wondering when more modifications will be made on the case I can tell you that next update will for sure be about some sort of work around the case.
This update, like I said will be an unboxing of the motherboard.

I'm also using my new macro lens in this update, so do not forget to look at the pictures! >

Let's go! Yiihooo!
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That said, there will be an unboxing video complemented with pictures and text.
Here is the video anyway (My first unboxing video ever ^_^)

Video
LINK TO THE VIDEO



Complements with pictures and text:

Front:
Here we see the box itself. It is quite big and deep, of course, to make room for all accessories and extra stuff.


Symbols/Labels
Here are the labels that I said I would explain in this log:

• GIGABYTE OC Motherboard - GIGABYTE's official Overclocking motherboards.
• 32 +3 +2 Phase Power - This motherboard has 32 power phases for the CPU, 3 for the Intel HD Graphics and 2 for the of VTT (voltage to the RAM).
• Ultra Durable ™ 5 - Name of the durable components that are used on the motherboard.
• World Record 7.102GHz - This motherboard has kept the world record for Overclocking with an Intel Core i7 3770k. The clock speed was 7.102Ghz.
• Best of Computex 2012 - Tom's Hardware has appointed this motherboard's components ( Ultra Durable ™ 5 ) to "Best of Computex 2012".
• BlueTooth 4.0 + 300 Mbps Dual Band Wi-Fi - Features on the wireless networking card.

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The back :

Here is some information on the motherboard and its properties. The ones I feel are important, I will take up here but also go through when it comes to the review of the motherboard (another update):

• Support for up to 4x Graphics , at the same time.
• OC BIOS - backup BIOS in case such the primary would become corrupt or fail.
• OC-Touch - Buttons for live adjust of the CPU ratio, BCLK, etc. (live overclocking)
• " True All Digital PWM Design "

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Cover/Lid:

• IR3550 PowIRStage - Highest rated and most awarded Power Stage in the industry.
• 2x Copper PCB - double copper layer on the PCB.

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The Motherboard

Here we have the motherboard, the monster Z77X-UP7 ! (Attached to a motherboard plate).
As we can see pretty quickly it's a highend motherboard with many PCI-E lanes many SATA ports ( 10 to be exact ) and some other features such as Debug LED and many types of connections . It also has some other surprising properties (which are not visible in the picture but I will go through in the review), eg 2x 8PIN connector to the CPU (EPS12V) for additional power supplyment , for example Extreme Overclocking . It has also, as I mentioned above, 32 +3 +2 power phases overclocking buttons 2x Ethernet ports etc.

I will as I said go through all of that when it comes to doing a review on the motherboard. Here's however a couple of pictures on the z77x-UP7!




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I continue with pictures of the contents and some explanatory text

All content is placed on a table so we can see them all!


CF & SLI Bridges - So we can run multiple graphics cards simultaneously.

• Crossfire bridge for dual AMD graphics cards.
• SLI bridge for dual Nvidia graphics cards.
• 3x SLI bridge for triple Nvidia graphics card.
• 4x SLI bridge for four Nvidia graphics card.

3.5" USB 3.0 Bracket - A solution so we get 2 USB 3.0 ports.


WiFi & BlueTooth Expansion card - So we can run WiFi and BlueTooth on a desktop computer, wireless!
I am looking extra forward to this as I have an ethernet cable through the whole apartment which is just in the way all the time. Wireless internet will solve this nice!


eSATA Bracket - Solution to example run internal hard drives as externals.
Looking forward to this solution as I have an internal hard drive that I move around with sometimes.


Measure-voltage cables - Cables for reading genuine hardware voltages in the motherboard.
Should be fun to read hardware voltages and compare with those softwares are reporting.


GIGABYTE sticker! - Mount it wherever you want! ^ _ ^


In addition to the above, I have shown you that we get 6x SATA cables , motherboard manuals, drivers for the chipset and expansion card and such things.____________________________________________________________________________________

The motherboard in the case:

Now we have seen the motherboard a bit, but how does it look in the case?
I took a picture with the motherboard in the case to see how the final product will look like, and to be honest, I was very impressed!
This will be badass, looking forward to it a lot!

The case without feet and handles.


The complete case, however without the side plate.
The colors just goes so extremely well togheter, I'm impressed! Imagine this color scheme, gah! Loving it!

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Finally:
That's what I had to show you this time!
Sorry this update has taken its time. I shouldn't blame anything but myself but I've messed up and in addition this video has actually taken a long time to do Took a lot of time to do the voice-overs (I had to record the voice after the video). But now it's ready and hope you liked it!

The next update will be with some modification, of course! I'm sick psyched to continue modifying and hope you are trhilled for it aswell
However, I can say as a warning that next update might take a while.
The reason is that I have been appointed " Test Pilot " for the Asus PadFone 2 . I will be using the product for a specific time and then do some kind of work (atm I have a diary, a thread at a forum and so on). Since this "test pilot thing" has a deadline, I will prioritize that for the moment
Since I also have an exam coming and two courses to be completed, some time will be spent there.
But an update will come eventually!

Comment or question if you'd like please, I get happy when people write!
Thank you for reading and following!

Have a nice day,
Thanks in advance
Best Regards
Nikkop

 

I can't believe you got that mobo to fit, Glad this build got some MOTM love. I hope you succeed with this build

 

How much room do you have between the top of the motherboard and the inside of the case? Are you going to have the room to run cables up and over or are you going to have to go around? Great work so far

 

Hah, thanks! I was chocked that it was featured on MOTM. I hope it will be liked when the project is finished
Thanks, I hope I will too! hah.

Thanks a bunch,
There's enough room for cable management, as you can see in one of my pictures with the cables attached, there's no problem with fitting the 24pin ATX:


I will be resuming my work on this project after next week when my current courses at school are finished. Can't wait for it!

Best regards
Nikkop

 

UPDATE 08/04 2013



UPDAAAAAAATE!

Cutting the chassis and mounting the motherboard plate. - 08/04 -2013

UPDATE 08/4 - 2013

Hello dear readers!

Long time no see, as they say. Joking aside, I am now back on track after a break from the project for about a month. But now I'm here to take it all by storm and I hope you are ready!

So we may all wonder what it will be about this time?
Last update was an unboxing of GIGABYTE z77x-UP7 while this time it will be modification related !

I showed this picture earlier in the thread to demonstrate how it looks when the motherboard is inside the chassis. However the motherboard is just inserted to see if it will fit, no modifications are made on this picture:



Now, I have come to the moment where the motherboard plate will actually be attached to the chassis. So I turned up and down the whole apartment during my modification. (My girlfriend is away otherwise it would have never been able to look like this at my home, hah!)

So yes, the update will be about how I manage to mount the motherboard plate by cutting the chassis. Enjoy!
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Here we have a picture like the above, that is a picture of how motherboard and motherboard plate looks like when it is inserted into the chassis itself (no modification made)
It's tight as hell, but it's half the thing, compact computing!


I devoted many hours to test fit and measure a lot to find out where I wanted the motherboard plate exactly! Given that I press into an E-ATX motherboard in an m-ITX chassis so it may get pretty tight on space, everything will be compact
Anyway, after many hours of measuring, I concluded that I wanted it to be mounted exactly like this, using the holes in the bottom of the chassis as measuring points:


The actual I/O and PCI portion of the motherboard plate, seen from behind. This is how I want it mounted.


What I had to do then, because I can not cut on the inside of the chassis, was to turn the chassis so that the bottom was pointing upwards. Then I was able, with the help of the measuring points, to put out the metal pieces in the same place as if they were on the inside.
This made it possible for me to put up markers for where I wanted to cut. Since I have, literally, milimeters to play with in tolerance, it was a very careful job



Markings are made so now it's rock 'n' roll!


I call on my dear friend who will help me through this thick metal


I start to saw and it goes fairly well! Becomes difficult to turn sometimes, but canbe done with some different methods. Have run out of blades for my dremel so the jigsaw will do all the work!
Here is how it looks when the I / O hole becoming sawn up.


Aaaaand it's gone!


I place the tray parts again to ensure that everything matches and is in place. I/O hole is now a hole and PCI-holes remain to be sawn, so far so good!


After I checked that everything is correct I continued to saw. I use these "things" to fasten and tighten some parts


There you go! After many minutes of planning and sawing the hole is finished! Next up, the scary moment every time you saw something, did it turn out good ?


To make sure everything works I tested the plates by having one piece of sheet metal on the inside of the chassis and the other on the outside. I was extremely lucky as there was a screw hole in the chassis (marked with red arrow) that was in exact position to the motherboard tray holes. What are the odds?! I could therefore mount a screw to see how it was when attached



I turn the case over to see how it looks like from the inside, and damn! I was incredibly pleased with the outcome on the inside (the outside (bottom) needs a little work). I really like the looks of it.
I've also thought about coloring the motherboard plate black so it does blend in better with the black color.


And then comes the big question, how does it look with the motherboard inside? Will it fit? Will everything will be according to my measures?
Honestly, everything was perfect Just as I wanted, is ill pleased and happy about it
The motherboard fits perfectly and now all ports are accessible on the underside of the chassis!


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As you can imagine, this was a vital part of the modification, cutting the chassis to get all ports accessible. Excuse me if I say it again, but I'm so happy with the outcome

What do you think of this result? Please let us know what you think about it!

Comment or ask a question if you'd like! I love when people write/ask/discuss about this project.
Thanks for reading and following!

Have a nice day!
Thanks in advance
Best Regards
Nikkop

 

nice work mate.
One thing that would concerne me quite a bit is the overhead a waterblock from a gpu stands above the pcb. It looks like a quite tight fit in your case ( ;-) ) as the avaliable space between the pci bracket (mounting point to the rear of the mobo tray) to the end of the case seems less than 10mm.

 

Wow that looks awesome!
Good work and good luck with all that is left

 

I love it, awesome job!

 

Now that is a Prodigy mod. Great work so far, I'm lovin' it.

 

Yup, this is insane.

Brilliant work!

 

I can't wait to see how everything will fit. A very original mod !

 

Such an epic motherboard, stock cooler
Nonetheless, amazing build

 

I love this. I look forward to each step of your progress. Good luck!

 

As a Prodigy owner, I'm so glad you're doing this. It's a beautiful case but it is too big for ITX. This is rather an elegant solution.

 

Now that's how the Prodigy should have been built. Great work

 

Thanks a bunch for all your kind words! Really kind, I appreciate it a lot and it motivates me to do this project even better.

I'm glad you are enjoying this and seeing potential. The computer will hopefully be total badass when finished!

If there's anything particular you are wondering about or have any suggestions for please let me know!
Thanks

Hah, thanks! The stock cooler is only temporary Will be replaced with something better I'm sure!

Thanks It's a very beautiful case indeed. My previous project was a modification of the "PowerMac G5" and the Prodigy looks a little bit like that with the handles/feet.
It's a little too big for the m-ITX indeed, but for an ATX/E-ATX it's pretty tight hehe.

Haha, awesome!

If I could only see the smile on Sheldon's face:

Thanks!
I'm sorry but I don't really understand what you are referring to. Do you mean the last PCI-E slot, if I would have a GPU in there and that the block might hit the front of the case?


Thanks everyone once again! I'm happy to answer all of your questions!

Best Regards
Nikkop

 

If you look at a waterblock for a gpu
The block where you mount your fittings is normally above the rear bracket.
Measured from the mainboard, the distance to the top of the rear mounting bracket is lower than the distance to the top of a waterblock.
So the highest point measured from the mainboard is not the mounting bracket from the 7 pcie slots of the mainboard, it´s the waterblock which might collide with the sidepanel of the Prodigy.

Pics from Aquacomputer forum :
http://forum.aquacomputer.de/wasserk-hlung/103047-neu-kryographics-titan-acrylic-glass-edition/

The last pictures show that the black terminal for the fitting is way above the top edge of the pcb

As an Example

 

This is awesome! How will the cables run from the bottom? Taller feet?

 

Taller feet ? Aren't the standard ones big enough ? It's 4cm from the floor. The only thing i can see problems with is the DVI cable, and even that one can be solved with a 90 degree DVI connector.