Here at SFFReview we support modders, from the regulars to the newbies. Over the past week, one of our newer users, Gambo, has stunned us all with the first scratchbuild he’s ever attempted, and it’s amazing!
Project 2&½ was designed for surfing the net, CAD and light gaming, and it embodies the SFF spirit we all love here. Built from aluminium, and housing a Gigabyte H55N-USB3 ITX motherboard, this is a little powerhouse. Here is a brief walk through the build, the full worklog is in our forums! Gambo began with our favourite CAD tool – Google Sketchup. The case has room for three 3.5″ hard drives and a TFX form factor power supply. Quickly, the chassis took shape, growing before our very eyes.
The early design phase, showing a removable motherboard tray
A shot of the exterior design, showing the subtle features that makes this mod one-of-a-kind
Building time!
The beginnings of the chassis are taking shape
Here Gambo has added the first wave of panels to the chassis
Early on, the decision to move to two 3.5″ drives and a solid state drive was made, both for speed as well as letting the 3.5″ drives breathe.
The drive bay is removable as well, aiding in upgrades and maintenance.
A slim optical drive was chosen for it’s size, and a custom mount was made. The work continues.. Now for some sleeving!
The final shot of the sleeved PSU looks perfect
The first shots of the exterior, it looks fantastic!
It’s taking shape now, with Gambo following his CAD work faithfully.
Gambo shows us the parts as they go through the painting process
The exterior shell after paint
And the assembled chassis, freshly painted in a gorgeous black
Gambo begins final assembly
Here we see the optical drive tray, showing Gambo’s eye for perfection even in the smallest details
Phwoar! This thing is tiny!
Nearing completion, the focus on perfection is paying off
Not much room in here, but it all fits!
A side view, showing the component layout
Here’s a picture for scale, that’s a standard 3.5″ HDD you see there
More cable routing, the case is designed to cope very well with what Gambo had in mind for hardware
Completed assembly, it all fits!
This case just looks awesome in black
The sleeved cables on show help display Gambo’s workmanship
Subtle, refined, awesome.
This close up shot shows the fit and finish is spectacular
And we have the finished case. Well done to Gambo for completing an epic first mod, and hope to see more work from you in the future. Here’s the completed case in all it’s glory, and remember, visit us in the forums!
