Modding an ATX PSU into a Custom Flex ATX Case (3D Printed?)

[Jaytnacks]

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about a project project to transfer the internal components of a standard ATX power supply into a custom Flex ATX-sized case. My goal is to squeeze into a proprietary HP prebuilt which I'm planning to upgrade the hell out of. I’m considering 3D printing the new case, or buy a cheap lower wattage Flex ATX PSU and swap it inside it's chassis.

Has anybody done anything remotely similar, I've looked up online, haven't really found anybody else attempting it

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[REVOCCASES]

Why not go for an 600W FLEX PSU directly?

 

[Jaytnacks]

Why not go for an 600W FLEX PSU directly?

Money is the main factor here—these cases are incredibly expensive. From what I’ve seen, the internal components are essentially the same, just arranged differently. That got me thinking—why not transfer an ATX PSU into a custom, possibly 3D-printed Flex ATX case?

 

[Gilles3000]

Money is the main factor here—these cases are incredibly expensive. From what I’ve seen, the internal components are essentially the same, just arranged differently. That got me thinking—why not transfer an ATX PSU into a custom, possibly 3D-printed Flex ATX case?

Sounds completely impossible, what ATX PSU did you have in mind?

From what I've seen you'd have a hard time condensing an SFX PSU into an Flex format, let alone even a small ATX one.

 

[REVOCCASES]

these cases are incredibly expensive

you mean - these power supplies (PSUs) - right?

yeah, but there's a reason - the internal components are packed much more dense - this makes FLEX PSUs much smaller but also more expensive

to save you some unnecessary trouble, here is a size comparison between big ATX / small ATX / SFX / FLEX





even if you remove the fan and housings around the ATX/SFX PSUs, the circuit boards with all components are still a lot larger than a FLEX PSU

Maybe have a look if you can find a good second hand FLEX ... or TFX if it fits in your HP prebuilt

Good luck!

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

"cheap", I mean, a decent ATX PSU costs about the same as a relatively decent Flex PSU.

The other option is to just adapt your case to an SFX PSU, eg. by removing the front 5.25" drive or 3.5" HDD inserts. Those cases are all constructed in a very similar way, with a structural approach for the 2000s and not the 2020s, so a big drive bay is still what you get, despite the fact that next to nobody still using DVD / CD /Blueray drives.

So like, get a dremel, remove the bottom part of that DVD insert holder, add a few brackets, maybe drill a few fan holes or just cut out another section, and then install a less expensive SFX PSU inside. et voila, job done!

cu, w0lf.

 

[REVOCCASES]

good idea... but depends on what kind of "proprietary HP prebuilt" he has ...

to find some possible solution, it would be good if @Jaytnacks shares some more details what he is up to... e.g. show some photos of his PC, what wattage he is looking for and what "upgrade the hell out of" means exactly...

 

[Jaytnacks]

"cheap", I mean, a decent ATX PSU costs about the same as a relatively decent Flex PSU.

The other option is to just adapt your case to an SFX PSU, eg. by removing the front 5.25" drive or 3.5" HDD inserts. Those cases are all constructed in a very similar way, with a structural approach for the 2000s and not the 2020s, so a big drive bay is still what you get, despite the fact that next to nobody still using DVD / CD /Blueray drives.

So like, get a dremel, remove the bottom part of that DVD insert holder, add a few brackets, maybe drill a few fan holes or just cut out another section, and then install a less expensive SFX PSU inside. et voila, job done!

cu, w0lf.

Unfortunatley Flex atx PSUs at affordable rates are near impossible to obtain where I live specifically , I'm in India, paired with import tax, you can't find any below 150$, even if you do, they're from pretty shady sources That's the reason this Idea even came into my head in the first place, or the logical option is to always put an flex atx psu

 

[Jaytnacks]

you mean - these power supplies (PSUs) - right?

yeah, but there's a reason - the internal components are packed much more dense - this makes FLEX PSUs much smaller but also more expensive

to save you some unnecessary trouble, here is a size comparison between big ATX / small ATX / SFX / FLEX

View attachment 3685

View attachment 3686

even if you remove the fan and housings around the ATX/SFX PSUs, the circuit boards with all components are still a lot larger than a FLEX PSU

Maybe have a look if you can find a good second hand FLEX ... or TFX if it fits in your HP prebuilt

Good luck!

Thanks, It's pretty clear I'm outta luck lol, the only wise choice would to mount an atx psu externally and feed the wires through the cutout where the sfx psu originally was

 

[Jaytnacks]

good idea... but depends on what kind of "proprietary HP prebuilt" he has ...

to find some possible solution, it would be good if @Jaytnacks shares some more details what he is up to... e.g. show some photos of his PC, what wattage he is looking for and what "upgrade the hell out of" means exactly...

So this is the Jank in question, HP Prodesk 600 G6, comes with an i7 10700. I'm a teenager in college and this is all I could squish in my tiny apartment, Hence the extremely low budget . What I was hoping to do is hook up a dual fan 2 slot card, potentially a 3070 and use it until I graduate, but this thing only comes with a 290 watt psu out of the factory . I was thinking I could possibly make it work with a 600 maybe 750 watt flex atx psu but they cost a minimum of 15k to 20k Indian rupees because of outrageous import tax from chinese products, it's close to 150 to 200 in dollars, And the damn motherboard does not even come with 24pin connector, I know the wise thing to do is pull whatever I can out of this case and swap it to another cheap case and maybe a h410m motherboard but due to circumstances, I

 

[Jaytnacks]

So this is the Jank in question, HP Prodesk 600 G6, comes with an i7 10700. I'm a teenager in college and this is all I could squish in my tiny apartment, Hence the extremely low budget . What I was hoping to do is hook up a dual fan 2 slot card, potentially a 3070 and use it until I graduate, but this thing only comes with a 290 watt psu out of the factory . I was thinking I could possibly make it work with a 600 maybe 750 watt flex atx psu but they cost a minimum of 15k to 20k Indian rupees because of outrageous import tax from chinese products, it's close to 150 to 200 in dollars, And the damn motherboard does not even come with 24pin connector, I know the wise thing to do is pull whatever I can out of this case and swap it to another cheap case and maybe a h410m motherboard but due to circumstances, I

Continuation: I really cannot do the wise thing, hence this mess. Do you have any solution to mount a gpu in this thing, I recently came across this video on youtube with a similar scenario, And thought this could be possible, I'm gonna have to dremel out the bottom to make way for the 24pin extension cable, and maybe design and 3d print an enclosure for the GPU, But I think I could pull it off clean with a modular PSU and place the enclosure and psu on top

Link to the video

 

[vinnyoflegend]

What GPU do you plan on adding? That PSU label says the two 12v rails, main and CPU can put out up to 260w.

The i7-10700 is likely being limited, run a benchmark like cinebench, I suspect it won't draw more 100w. Leaving up to 160w for a GPU.

If that meets the requirements of the GPU you would put into this case, then the mod I would go after is soldering or splitting/splicing enough 12v and GND lines to make your own power connector.

 

[Jaytnacks]

What GPU do you plan on adding? That PSU label says the two 12v rails, main and CPU can put out up to 260w.

The i7-10700 is likely being limited, run a benchmark like cinebench, I suspect it won't draw more 100w. Leaving up to 160w for a GPU.

If that meets the requirements of the GPU you would put into this case, then the mod I would go after is soldering or splitting/splicing enough 12v and GND lines to make your own power connector.

My initial idea was to jump start a cheap psu and mount it externally and put possibly a 3060 or 3070(unlikely to fit), and just go with it, but would make the build a lot cleaner if I can ditch the one that it came with it for a flex. there is no way I can work with the given 290watts