X500 Evo: Stuffing da beast (Part 2)

Ok this time it didn't take long to progress (lol).

First of all, I realized that my Asus P8H77-I motherboard had an internal dual USB2.0 header and an internal dual USB3.0 header. Lets see... X500 case requires 3x USB 1.0/2.0 internal headers:

• 2x USB 2.0 for the Card Reader (1x for the USB connector, and 1x for the rest card slots)
• 1x USB 1.0/2.0 for the Cherry MX keyboard

So I was lacking 1x USB 2.0 header and not taking advantage over the internal USB 3.0. That meant that either:

• I had to put an internal USB 2.0 hub - Not OK
• I had to convert the internal dual USB 3.0 header to a dual USB 2.0 header - Semi OK
• I had to find a new USB 3.0 card reader, and use 1x header for Cherry MX keyboard, having one more spare for the future :D - Mucho OK

The default card reader is this one

...which once removed is that

After a bit of searching, I found out 2 legit USB 3.0 card readers that also come in white:

1. Akasa AK-ICR-14
2. Xigmatek Accessor Pro

Luckily the Akasa one was also delivered to a local Greek shop and it was also on stock so I took the opportunity and grabbed one. This is the one...

...and this is how it looks when it replaced the default. Surprisingly, it's white color matches a lot more the white DVD/RW fascia!

Here it's the new reader in place with it's thick and lengthy USB 3.0 cables tight in place (they were tight and hot-glued on the back side where they don't look ugly). Only the required length was left in place in order to just plug and not interfere with anything else.

Apart from the card reader, the Notcua heatsink+fan combo arrived as well! How thrilling :D

I already had experience with the top quality of Noctua products (after owning an Noctua NH-L12 for my i7 gaming cube) and the NH-L9i was no different! You don't believe me? Then see for yourselves...

Aye, awesomeness!
Time to install to the mobo and OMG! It fits like a glove and it's height is just EPIC!

I can't believe how firm this heatsink+fan combo fits in the X500 Evo. Like it was designed for it :)

Phew, it would be such a huge fail if it was even 0.2-0.3mm taller as the upper shell wouldn't close!

Ok time to wait for some more parts till the next article can take place...

Stay tuned.

X500 Evo: Stuffing da beast (Part 1)

Hey peepz.

As you seen on my previous article, I received the X500 Evo, but now the fun will begin for stuffing it with hardware and modding if required :)

First of all, I decided that this case due to it's awesomeness should get something beasty taking advantage as much as I could from the features it provides.

As I'm having a spare mini-itx mobo plus SSD and Hard Drive, I decided to use those in order to fulfill my needs.

A list of the hardware I have as we speak are:

• Motherboard: Asus P8H77-I
• CPU: Intel i3 3240 (3.4GHz @ 55W TDP)
• RAM: Kingston 2x 4GB (1600MHz)
• SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
• HDD: Seagate 500GB 5400rpm
• PSU: PicoPSU 160W (powered by an beefy 192W brick using 4pin adapter

So... I mounted the motherboard on X500 including PicoPSU and the drives in order to check it out.

Sadly the PicoPSU power extension cable has only 1x SATA connector and a molex which I didn't want.

No reason to keep it as-is :)
Molex connector was removed, and an extra SATA connector was attached to the wire. Ofc shrinking tubing was used to insulate the cables. After that both drives were mounted in place to check them out!
Awesome tight fit :)

As some might know I'm a bit OCD with the cabling so I used some straps to hold the SATA cables in place not to have a mess which I dislike.

OK. Data cables were ready. What about powering the extra bits of the case? Those parts are:

• DVD/RW's Molex connector (5V)
• 1x back side's 40mm fan (12V)
• 2x upper shell's 50mm fans (12V)

As you might saw, PicoPSU has two output connectors as you can see from the picture bellow...

...so the extra spare extension I bought in the past would come handy! After I removed the connectors it had (keeping only the one that attaches to PicoPSU) I thought about using a veroboard, to mount it along with 4x headers having 5V-GND / GND-12V.

As you can see from the lower part of the veroboard, it's really hand having each line shorted, giving me the ability to add as many headers I want in the future (not that it will be needed from what I can tell). I also putted some silicon base in 3 parts in order to be able to mount it properly :)

And here it is mounted and taking power from PicoPSU.

Here you can see it placed next to the motherboard and giving juice to the backside 40mm fan.

And here it's giving juice to the pin header of the DVD/RW (after I tossed the big and ugly Molex connector).

It's getting rather nice imho isn't it?
What I observed so far are the following:

• My i3's stock cooler has more height than the case can take, alas the upper shell doesn't close. The only valid coolers for that setup after searching a lot on Google were 2.
• Either the stock cooler of the lower consumption i3 3220T
• Or the awesome "Noctua NH-L9i" ultra low profile 37mm combo
• As you can imagine... I ordered the Noctua without a hesitation after contacting Loriano to get measuring of the innards of the case and the stock 3220T cooler height.
• All fans are mounted using silicon rubber mounts for better noise cancelation and ease of fitting. As these mounts are black, they don't look so nice with the rest of the white case. In order to make it look even better, I ordered a set of white silicone mounts to give them a spin.

So that's it for now...
More articles will come in the following days as I'm waiting some things to arrive :)

Stay tuned.

X500 Evo arrived :)

Hello peepz.

As some might already know, last year Loriano Pagni (know from the awesome custom MiniMig cases) designed a mini-itx case shaped in a way reminding the Amiga 500 named the X500 Plus case.
You can see more info and videos in Loriano's website here: http://www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/x500blackedition.htm

Loriano made a Kickstarter campaign in order to get some help with funding as all this work for such small quantities required a lot of funds nor to mention energy and work.
From the early days I wanted to support this effort so I became a backer on the initial X500 Plus White case.
During the campaign, and in order to raise more interest into reaching the final goal, Loriano also offered the possibility for a new model called the EVO that was almost same as the Plus model but had Cherry MX keyboard in the known colors (Blue, Brown, Red, Black). Despite being a bit pricey, I couldn't resist so I made the choice of going for the full package of the X500 Evo in white including Cherry MX Brown keys, full custom laser etched keys in grey/beige (incl. custom boingball and Amiga keys), the DVD/RW+Card Reader combo and the extra PCI-e flexible riser card.

After a year and some months, the package reached my doorstep a couple of weeks ago!
It was thrilling opening the package and seeing the final product for the first time :)
Hahaha the first thing I was presented upon opening the package was the folded "X500 Evo - Quick Guide" with a greeting for me.

There was another envelope inside with the rest accessories:

• A PCI-e flexible riser card
• Acustom plexi-glass keychain
• 4x replaceable Cherry MX pink keycaps (for WASD keys)
• A keycap removal tool
• 2x sticky cable mount guiders
• 21x white circle stickers (for covering up)

No need to tease more... here's the X500 Evo in it's full glory :)

Awesome isn't it?
Here's the left side view showing the DVD/RW + Card Reader combo.

And here you can see the back side...

...with the mini-itx panel,

PCI-e low profile card mount, having above a small rectangle for the VGA connector. You can also see the back 40mm fan.

Here's the upper shell removed to show the 2x 50mm fans, and the headers for the Power and Hard drive LED and the power switch.

Here you can see the Cherry MX keyboard, the DVD/RW+Card Reader combo  and the right side 40mm fan.

Here's the case with the keyboard removed to show the mounting spots for 2x hard drives.

And here's the Cherry MX keyboard (Ducky Zero DK2108)

In the following weeks, I'll make other articles about how I'll stuff this awesome case with proper hardware :)

Thanks a lot for this awesome case Loriano. For your continuous support full of kindness and encouragement. We all love you.

Stay tuned.