An Orange Beige Mod - mATX to ATX - Name: TBD

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Hello!
Today I start my build/case mod log for my beige mod case themed around my favourite Hotline Miami character TONY. Incidentally I chose the gigabyte SOC FORCE not because I am colour matching but because its a brilliant motherboard within my price range and I plan to do some LN2 overclocking with it in the future.

At the current point in time with a pressing (university) budget I have parts that just get the job done. They are as follows

PARTS:

G3258
Gigabyte SOC Force Z97X
G-Skill 8gb single DIMM
Sapphire ATI 7950 Vapor-X
EVGA G2 750 watt (will get soon)

Some insight into the previous case to be victimised modded for those who care.

My grandmother dropped off this old prebuilt machine she had for years, it ran a E6750 Core 2 Duo, 2GB of DDR2 and a Nvidia GT710 in some unidentified OEM el’cheapo case. The case only fitted a mATX size motherboard and when I say mATX, I don’t mean some giant mATX with room for 420mm radiators, I mean this thing had room for only 80mm fans in the front and you couldn't take the HDD’s out without taking the heatsink off the motherboard. Dimensions are 365mm tall by 175mm wide by 350mm deep. So to me, this is a fairly ambitious project, there isn't really any room to breathe and my measurements are going to have to be fairly precise.

The design and theme of the build

Theme: ORANGE. An orange Soc Force board and an orange tiger (Tony) from Hotline Miami. Aesthetically, straight clean lines and sharp edges are very appealing to me with a fairly neutral dark colour palette with orange highlights. Also expect plenty of minimalism with little flairs of boldness here to there. Its quite a small case so I don’t want to be too busy. I am going to strip it right back and almost completely rebuild the case with acrylic sheeting. As I’m on a budget I will try to stick with the original materials as much as possible but some things just have to go.

TL;DR

Theme: Bold orange accents and a fairly dark colour palette, based around Tony from Hotline Miami
Beige Mod - Old mATX case is being converted into ATX
On a budget, don’t have copious amounts of money to blow on it.

Here is the case:



And the theme/mascot:

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Thread is no longer being updated, find the build continued here. http://www.overclock.net/t/1563763/an-orange-beige-mod-matx-to-atx-name-tbd

So the build starts!

Sorry in advance for the potato quality photos, this was on a Samsung S2, I will have my camera for the next set.

Here are a few more images of the case.

For scale here is a hard drive on to of the case.

I got some stuff in the mail!

Until my new heatsink comes its just sitting on top like that. The mounting bracket didn't fit.... It still gets better temps than intel stock though.

The front panel is going. Its ugly and not very sturdy.

There where these little rivets which came out real easy with the drill. They get stuck on there a little bit but you just grab them with your pliers and pull em right off.

This whole front panel is getting cut out and Im just going to use it as support for the face which will be a piece of acrylic sheet. I was going to use tin snips but just fell back to a 4" grinder with a cutting disk.

Its pretty rough but its not going to be seen anyway. I will clean it up a bit more and give it a paint when I get another spare moment. Now for the back

I want a nice big side window.

Unfortunately it won't be a perfect square. But thats not the worst thing in the world. The arcylic will just fit if I cut it here. If I do a perfect square I won't have enough of a lip to securely mount the window.

I will finish that off with a die grinder and some metal files. I can't afford to have the grinder bite in and go out of the lines. Its not fine enough for this work.

Picked up some paint and sandpaper from the hardware store (which I got to take with my semi-decent camera) and I've ordered vandal switches, acrylic sheets, and some other bits and pieces to come in the mail. There should be another upodate this weekend.

Thanks for checking out my build!

2 Likes
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Awesome work so far. Looking forward to more updates! What are you planning to use the system for mainly?

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Thanks! I'm planning to use it for CAD projects (will update the CPU for that eventually), gaming and just as an everyday rig. Hopefull I will be able to give the SOC and G3258 a spin on the DICE/LN2 when I get a new PSU

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Hey guys!

I'm home again so I have my DSLR, and all the tools I could need! I had a spare moment yesterday afternoon/evening so I decided to finish off the side door.

Unfortunately something (a wire) is a little loose in the old DeWalt, she's been going good for around 6 or 7 years now so its been a good run. I will break her open and have a look at it but I think its time for a new one. Luckily I have a back up...

No guard so it feels like its constantly wanting to bite my fingers off... and something is rattling around and she's shuddering quite a bit. Its definitely time for a new 4" grinder.

I used a grinding disk to get the edge pretty close to where I wanted it before I broke out one of my favorite tools.

A little air powered die grinder.

With some really nice bits.

Progress.

It started getting pretty dark so I had to turn a light on. Fluorescent is so harsh...

Now that I got it to a point I was happy with finishing off by hand with my files I decided to rummage about to see if I could find some thing to strip off paint with.

What is this stuff..??

It so rough, stripped it back without even looking a little bit worn.

Ahhhh I see now, I don't know a lot about sand paper but this is definitely German quality.

It did quite a good job. I left my files at the house so I went back and finished off the door.

And thats it! Postal service sent me an email that my acrylic has should've been delivered yesterday. I will check again tomorrow. My fans and new heat sink should also be arriving soon. Fun times!

Thanks again for tuning in!

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Great stuff so far, I love all the hands on hard modding going on. Also Hotline Miami, nice.

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Cheers bro

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Yeah great photos. I might have missed this, but what color are you planning to paint the case?

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Mostly black and grey. Highlights will be orange. I've got some smoked acrylic and orange acrylic on the way. It should be here in the next few days which will be good. I'm planning on getting a lot done this weekend

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Small update:

Got some stuff in the mail today!

A few fans (Bitfenix Spectre) and a low profile heatsink (DeepCool GABRIEL Gamer Storm)

Unfortunately, I had the acrylic sent to the wrong address so there will be a delay of a week for cutting and fitting that while it gets sent to me. In the meantime I will begin painting and finish cutting up my case.

Thread is no longer being updated, find the build continued here. http://www.overclock.net/t/1563763/an-orange-beige-mod-matx-to-atx-name-tbd