Thought aboit making a fiting pcb to cover the space. Any easy ideas? 3DP looks of with the texture. miniATX in a full tower

-Work in progress-

I modified an Azza Overdrive case I bought back in 2023 to serve as a sort of "alien power core" for my multi-function simpod.

I'd never done an intricate case modification, custom cooling loop, vinyl wrapping, Aida64 panel, or ARGB lighting before I modded this case. I learned A LOT.

I started this project in 2024, but life got in the way and kept getting in the way, such that I had to put down the work and didn't pick it back up and finish it until this year.

Primary Hardware:

• Case: Azza Overdrive
• Motherboard: ASRock X670E Taichi
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12-Core 4.40 gigahertz
• GPU: ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX™ 5080 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition
• RAM: 64 Gigs G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5
• PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1650 Watt
• OS drive: Samsung SSD 990 EVO 1TB
• Games/applications drive: Samsung SSD 990 PRO 4TB

Water Cooling Components:

Alphacool

• EPDM tubing,
• Core 1 Aurora CPU waterblock,
• 5080 GPU waterblock,
• NexXxos UT60 360X60mm radiator x2
• NexXxos XT45 200x60mm radiator
• Water flow/temperature sensor
• in-line water temperature sensor
• quick disconnects x4
• Tec Protect 2 Premixed PC Coolant x2.25 liters

Bykski

• "Full Armor" D5 pump
• Cylindrical DNA 50x260mm Reservoir x3

Primochill : green soft tube fittings (not the reservoir plugs, though. I forget where I bought those)

MDPC: braided sheathing

Other components:

• Extra USB ports: 4 USB 2.0, 4 USB3.2 Gen1, 1 USB3.2 Gen2
• 3 ARGB/fan hubs
• Aquacomputer Quadro
• Azza Hurricane III 120mm fans x12
• Cooler Master SickleFlow 200mm fans x2
• 720x2560 LCD touchscreens x2
• 16 custom-made steel panels/components
• Enough vinyl car wrap to cover a Mini Cooper
• Enough LEDs to be visible from Earth orbit.

I bought the case in 2023. I bought the GPU and its water block in 2026. I bought the rest of the primary components when I first started this project in 2024.

I've got a bunch of videos on YouTube, if you're interested in seeing more. I've included links to a short (5 minutes) showcase, a longer (17 minute) showcase, and the playlist of all case-related videos.

TLDW showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkWWYcY44s

Full length showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcwu8fnWrF8&t=4s

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkWWYcY44s&list=PLX8bSzypR_yM

I've got an old HP Z820 chassis that I'd like to give a second life as an 8-bay NAS, and I'm looking for some advice on the best way to approach the case modification.

The original Z820 motherboard is unfortunately dead after a CPU was dropped into the socket rather less gracefully than intended. Rather than throw the chassis away, I'd like to convert it into a proper storage server.

I have an HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF motherboard with an i7-6700 and 16 GB RAM that I'm planning to use for the build. Despite being an SFF office machine, it's perfectly capable hardware — it was previously used for gaming and video editing and never gave me any trouble.

The plan is roughly:

• HP Z820 chassis as the main enclosure
• HP ProDesk 400 G3 motherboard
• Two 4-drive HP hard-drive cages, giving me 8 drives total
• An HBA salvaged from an old Dell PowerEdge T110 II
• Standard ATX PSU
• Linux/NAS software

The main challenge is the physical conversion. I need to create/adapt a motherboard tray and rear I/O/PCI area, plus a PSU mount. I've got some sheet aluminium available for smaller custom brackets and panels.

Rather than fabricate the motherboard tray and rear structure entirely from scratch, I'm considering buying a very cheap ATX case and using it as a donor — essentially cutting out the motherboard tray, rear section and PSU mounting and transplanting those pieces into the Z820 chassis.

I'm leaning towards this because a £20–30 steel donor case gives me a lot of useful material and existing reinforced/bent sections to work with, rather than having to fabricate all of that from flat sheet.

The drive cages themselves are also being repurposed from the old HP workstation hardware, so the end result will be a bit of an HP Frankenstein machine.

Does anyone have experience doing something similar, or any suggestions for the best way to approach the donor-case conversion?

I'm not particularly concerned with keeping the Z820 looking original. The goal is basically a solid, practical 8-bay NAS while reusing as much of this old workstation hardware as possible.

Happy to post photos of the current pile of parts if useful!

This isn’t my main rig. It’s my bedroom PC. Found a Lenovo Legion Tower on Goodwill and really liked the geometric look. It always stood out in black with my white furniture and I decided to take a stab at vinyl wrapping it to white for the first time. It’s not perfect and I will likely try to redo my work but it was fun giving this old girl new life. Even added a frosted look to the acrylic in the front. Took out the motherboard and all the proprietary components. Had to order a power button and break off some plastic to fit it into the slot.

AMD Ryzen 5 5500
Machinist B450
MSI RX 580
32 GB DDR4 3200
250 GB NVME SSD
250 GB HDD
1 TB SATA SSD

Hi everyone! I have a very powerful and expensive PC that I love. Right now, I have my own room, but due to an upcoming move, I’ll have to share it with my two brothers (who are very young). I’d like to know if there are any ventilated, lockable cases available to protect my tower from their little hands.

Hi guys, I recently aquired a Latitude E5470 and was looking for a way to internally increase the number of USB ports. As this line of laptops has a docking port (called E-port from what I could find) and the IO can be expanded with it I thought I'd be able to take D+/D- from said port (as it will never see that dock again). I was searching for a pinout of it but couldn't find a match (i was able to find a "classified dell document" with a pinout, but that didn't correspond with mine, ground plane alone). I was made aware of this subreddit because a few years back someone wanted to mod it aswell (power button for rack mounted ones but that was it).

Thanks in advance, if further infos are needed, I'll provide as fast as possible.

Has anyone on here ever dealt with the X51 case? I would like to build another pc out of that current case and scrap the old components. But the number one issue I am having at the moment is how to do the power supply. I am open to suggestions! Thank you.

I bought a new table and now the front i/o panel that is at the top of the case is hard to reach. Do you guys know any 5.25" accesory that has:

Power and reset buttons

Hdd and power leds

USB 3.0 +

SD card reader

Thanks

Dell OptiPlex 3080 Micro (Mini PC)

Processador: Intel Core i5-10500T (6 núcleos / 12 threads até 3,80 GHz)

Memória RAM: 8 GB DDR4 (2666 MT/s)

Armazenamento: 256 GB SSD

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│                 . │ 18,2 cm

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18,2 cm

Olá, pessoal,

Eu tenho um Dell OptiPlex 3080 Micro com um i5 de 10ª geração, 8GB de RAM, e um SSD NVMe, e estou procurando ideias de modificação malucas, mas práticas.

Meu objetivo é transformar este pequeno PC de escritório em uma máquina de jogos compacta, mantendo o máximo do hardware original possível.

Pensamentos atuais:

• Remover a placa-mãe do chassi original da Dell.
• Projetar ou modificar um gabinete personalizado.
• Usar um adaptador M.2 NVMe para PCIe para uma GPU dedicada.
• Adicionar uma fonte de alimentação compacta (Flex ATX, SFX, PicoPSU, etc.).
• Instalar uma GPU pequena como:
  • RTX 3050
  • RTX A2000
  • RX 6400
• Manter o tamanho geral o menor possível.

Estou tentando evitar construir um PC de tamanho normal. A ideia é algo mais como um mini PC de jogos do tamanho de um console, talvez em torno do tamanho de um PS3 Slim ou menor.

Perguntas:

1. Alguém já conseguiu converter um OptiPlex Micro em uma builds de jogos personalizada?
2. Que GPU você recomendaria levando em consideração tamanho, consumo de energia e preço?
3. Você manteria a placa-mãe em um gabinete personalizado ou construiria tudo externamente em um setup do tipo eGPU?
4. Existem gabinetes compactos que poderiam ser adaptados para este projeto?
5. Alguma ideia de modificação criativa que eu possa não estar considerando?

Estou aberto a soluções incomuns, impressão 3D, suportes personalizados, docas de GPU externas, ou redesigns completos de gabinete.

Adoraria ver fotos ou links se alguém já fez algo parecido.

Obrigado! 🚀🎮

Been slowly tweaking this build for a while and the newest change is the TRYX HOLO.

The build already had this silver/black cyberpunk look with a lot of RGB outlines, so I was curious to see whether a screen-heavy AIO would fit in or just make the inside feel too busy.

After installing it, I can honestly say it intergrates way better than I expected. The display adds another focal point without completely taking over the build.

Still thinking about adding one or two small mods around the GPU/PSU area, but I don’t want to overdo it.

What would you guys change or add?

I’d like to keep it fairly clean, just with a little more personality.

just added a cold air intake and a downpipe to my pc😂

Work in progress

Shameless plug if anyone is interested in printing their own: https://makerworld.com/models/3361092

Hey everyone, after months of prototyping, tweaking blueprints, and pouring everything I had into this project, I finally finished it!

It's a fully functional custom PC case made out of wood. I wanted to achieve a premium, mid-century modern / Art Deco vibe that looks like a piece of high-end furniture rather than a typical plastic/metal gaming box.

Specs & Materials:

• Material: 4mm Baltic Birch plywood
• Finish: Stained with Rosewood (Palisander) and sealed with CLOU Antibacterial Hartwachs-Öl (hard wax oil) for a smooth, matte finish.
• Form Factor: Supports Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards.
• Airflow: Laser-cut front and top panels with integrated custom dust filters to keep the system clean while maintaining solid thermal performance.

Since I don’t have a website or big marketing budget yet, I would love to hear some honest feedback from this community. Would you rock a wooden case like this in your setup?

If you want to see more of the build process or follow my journey, I just started my Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/martinlanger.design

All these answers for paint prep say to sand first, which makes sense. But if I’m just trying to put a painted stripe on a white case, what does the workflow look like?

If I sand the general area before masking off what I want, wouldn’t the sanded area around the stripe look different from the rest of the case? If I mask then sand, I’d think the edges of the stripe would have worse adhesion because the masking tape lifts the sandpaper. Do I sand the entire case?