Parts have arrived!
Got home this evening, and waiting for me was a parcel from City Link. Kinda forgot to tell Dad to expect delivery (sent it to his work address, always someone there vs hit & miss at home), so he was surprised to be bringing me a package.
What was inside?
Rather nondescript box, but it is what is inside which counts. And look, free Wotsits
On a rather more serious note, a size comparison. This is the box the motherboard came in, with a 120mm fan on top:
Not sure why they bothered putting a bin with a cross through it on the box, not as if I wanna chuck the £100 straight in the bin! Even for such a tiny box, the included contents are comprehensive, if not as numerous as with, say, a high end core2duo mobo.
Close up of the motherboard itself, note the routing of the fan's power wire, not exactly helpful to either airflow, or should it sag towards the fan, conducive of a long lifespan. Easily fixed, but a couple of seconds in working out to mount the fan the otherway round, and it wouldn't have been a problem.
Still, the motherboard has the full array of connectors, for USB ports, to 1394 (Firewire) and front panel audio, all of which, hopefully at least, will be the same pin outs as the existing cables. Unfortunately life is not all plain sailing. I thought I'd test fit the motherboard in the case to see how much space it would need, and to see how much space would remain, and I hit a small snag.
What I had presumed to be a standard ITX/ATX back panel, was not. Bugger. The Firewire out socket, circled in red, is almost entirely hidden behind the metal part of the case. Same problem, but from inside the case:
It also means that expansion cards won't fit as standard:
So, I think the dremel may have to come out earlier than I expected. The bits in blue may have to be removed, I'm not sure yet, as I haven't really had a chance to contemplated what I'm going to do. May just remove part of them, but once I've done that, I might aswell remove the whole thing. Note the modder's essentials, electrical tape, and KFC for dinner
The rear should be rigid enough, especially with the PSU bolted in to remove both of those sections, but I may fabricate a plate to convert the two PCI slots into one, right bang slap in the middle. Really depends on time, and if I can get hold of the materials and borrow my dear ol' Grandad's workshop for a couple of hours. That and avoid injuring myself during the process
Unfortunately a rather blurry picture (still don't know how to work the bloody Sony camera), but it should give you an idea as to the difference in size between a normal backplate and the one that this case was designed around.
Finally, a couple of pictures to show the mobo installed in the case, and the solution to the fan wire problem.
Fair bit smaller than the mobo I pulled out of it!
The solution to the fan wire - just tucked under the mobo so it doesn't disrupt the airflow (limited as it may be) in the case.
And one to show the length of the PSU wire, and the amazingly short distance it has to travel. I don't really want to be cutting and shortening it, so I'll probably try the cable tie route, but something needs to be done to move it out of the way!
Oh, and the final snaffu of the night, the Power/Reset and Power/HDD LED wires.
Literally a centimetre too short. Still gotta find the best way round that, but for some reason I feel it may involve a soldering iron
As Bugs Bunny would say, That's all folks!
Got home this evening, and waiting for me was a parcel from City Link. Kinda forgot to tell Dad to expect delivery (sent it to his work address, always someone there vs hit & miss at home), so he was surprised to be bringing me a package.
What was inside?
Rather nondescript box, but it is what is inside which counts. And look, free Wotsits
On a rather more serious note, a size comparison. This is the box the motherboard came in, with a 120mm fan on top:
Not sure why they bothered putting a bin with a cross through it on the box, not as if I wanna chuck the £100 straight in the bin! Even for such a tiny box, the included contents are comprehensive, if not as numerous as with, say, a high end core2duo mobo.
Close up of the motherboard itself, note the routing of the fan's power wire, not exactly helpful to either airflow, or should it sag towards the fan, conducive of a long lifespan. Easily fixed, but a couple of seconds in working out to mount the fan the otherway round, and it wouldn't have been a problem.
Still, the motherboard has the full array of connectors, for USB ports, to 1394 (Firewire) and front panel audio, all of which, hopefully at least, will be the same pin outs as the existing cables. Unfortunately life is not all plain sailing. I thought I'd test fit the motherboard in the case to see how much space it would need, and to see how much space would remain, and I hit a small snag.
What I had presumed to be a standard ITX/ATX back panel, was not. Bugger. The Firewire out socket, circled in red, is almost entirely hidden behind the metal part of the case. Same problem, but from inside the case:
It also means that expansion cards won't fit as standard:
So, I think the dremel may have to come out earlier than I expected. The bits in blue may have to be removed, I'm not sure yet, as I haven't really had a chance to contemplated what I'm going to do. May just remove part of them, but once I've done that, I might aswell remove the whole thing. Note the modder's essentials, electrical tape, and KFC for dinner
The rear should be rigid enough, especially with the PSU bolted in to remove both of those sections, but I may fabricate a plate to convert the two PCI slots into one, right bang slap in the middle. Really depends on time, and if I can get hold of the materials and borrow my dear ol' Grandad's workshop for a couple of hours. That and avoid injuring myself during the process
Unfortunately a rather blurry picture (still don't know how to work the bloody Sony camera), but it should give you an idea as to the difference in size between a normal backplate and the one that this case was designed around.
Finally, a couple of pictures to show the mobo installed in the case, and the solution to the fan wire problem.
Fair bit smaller than the mobo I pulled out of it!
The solution to the fan wire - just tucked under the mobo so it doesn't disrupt the airflow (limited as it may be) in the case.
And one to show the length of the PSU wire, and the amazingly short distance it has to travel. I don't really want to be cutting and shortening it, so I'll probably try the cable tie route, but something needs to be done to move it out of the way!
Oh, and the final snaffu of the night, the Power/Reset and Power/HDD LED wires.
Literally a centimetre too short. Still gotta find the best way round that, but for some reason I feel it may involve a soldering iron
As Bugs Bunny would say, That's all folks!
