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Project: Microfly w/ full ATX

Thought I'd share this PM and my response for the folks who are thinking of doing this mod.

nvidiapwnsati said:
Anyways, Im going to buy the ultra matx case and going to something similar like yours(if you dont mind) in the last pm you said that I can go to homedepot and ask them to cut out the proper size for it correct? So the dimensions will be 12x8.5 or the other way around? Thanks!! Im so glad I saw your post about fitting a full atx mobo in a matx case so I wouldn't need to buy another motherboard :p
Click to expand...

The 12" x 8.5" was the size of my Gigabyte 965P-ds3. I'd recommend getting a plexiglas board the size of your motherboard, so that it is fully supported from the back. The case will easily fit full ATX MBs with lengths of 12" width (I/O side) and 11" depth (maybe 11.5").

You'll also need a 14" wide x 9" height side panel. OSH sells 14" x 12" panels so all you have to do for the side panel is to cut the height down. You have a choice between Lexan and plain plexiglas. I picked plexiglas since it is cheaper. Lexan is more expensive, but I think it is more durable and more forgiving (less cracks) to work on.

Go slowly when you drill or dremel. Plexiglas tends to crack if you put a lot of pressure. Before doing it with the dremel I cut my motherboard tray with a saw. That is why it looks so ugly in the pictures. ;)

Here is what I did when cutting the plexiglas boards.
  1. Measure motherboard and side panels
  2. Buy 2 plexiglas sheets from a hardware store
  3. Cute side panel and motherboard tray to size
  4. Slide motherboard tray into case and mark through holes for existing case distance pins
  5. Put motherboard on plexiglas tray and mark locations of new distance pins
  6. Drill holes slowly for through holes and guide holes for distance pins. Make sure to leave enough space between the motherboard tray and the lip of the case so that the brace for add-on cards is inside of the case (this is not too critical, I made this mistake and you can easily correct this by making the through holes a bit longer)
  7. Slowly screw in new motherboard distance pins to avoid cracking plexiglas. If you notice it is too tight or it starts cracking re-drill the holes (Ideally I'd pre-tap the holes with a tapping drill, but I didn't have any so I ended up using another screw to do this.).
  8. Add support of plexiglas MB tray towards the front of the case
  9. Insulate case distance holders (w/ electrical tape) after installing plexiglas tray. Check these again after installing the motherboard to make sure the distance holders didn't rip through the insulation and are touching the motherboard (SHORT!).
  10. Install graphics and other PCI cards and mark plexiglas side panel cut outs (make a square cut-out for the I/O panel).
  11. Cut and fit
 
Ouch. Sorry to hear that, sfsilicon. :( I hope you can find the source of the problem quickly and that it's nothing serious. May be your mobo is getting shorted on something again?
 
PC is back up and running with all the modifications from my last update. Here are the latest batch of pics from the airflow modding. Yes, everything still looks a bit kludgy, but I'll clean things up when I get all the issues sorted out.

I had good results from the side fan mods that I removed the 60mm fan. I'm now running Intel TAT with all sides closed to see what max temps I get.

OC results with 2x 80mm fans on left side and right case side open:
3220MHz | 460FSB | DDR2 920MHz | 3DMARK06 8700
NB idle 40.5, load 42.7C | TAT idle cpu0 33C cpu1 32C, load cpu0 67C cpu1 66C (4.5 h)

  1. Cutting out the rear case grill
    IMG_0283.jpg
  2. The new fan guard
    IMG_0284.jpg
  3. Everything installed, note that I have also sealed the rear I/O ports and the PCI card slots
    IMG_0298.jpg
  4. Right side closed. Note the Zalman fan controller and the plexiglas protection film is still on
    IMG_0299.jpg
  5. Modded left case side with 2 80mm fans
    IMG_0300.jpg
  6. Everything is soooo tight now, shot through the window left of the GPU
    IMG_0302.jpg
  7. Right of the GPU
    IMG_0304.jpg
  8. Drill holes for front exhaust fan, not very elegant :(
    IMG_0306.jpg
  9. With the handle down you hardly notice them
    IMG_0307.jpg
 
Hmm, always have liked project progress :)

For the front exhaust you could just cut a rectangular hole and place screen mesh on the backside, that way you wouldn't have to worry about fixing the alignment of the holes:( .

Best of luck in any event.
 
The alignment looks fine to me; there is a pattern I see there that's symmetrical. If you're worried about it, yes, some mesh wouldn't hurt. :) However, from a distance it will look fine.
 
Without trying to be an ass. I have to disagree, It doesn't look all that great to me... However I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to shop work like this. Every one has different standards as to what they accept as quality work. It should also be noted that not every one is capable or possesses the skill level required to meat the same standards and level of workmanship as the next guy or gal. Without knowing what the OP skill level is i was just trying to give an open ended solution to fix what ]I alone viewed as a sub par punch job.
 
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