Project - ITX Treasure

Project – ITX Treasure

Hi all its been a while since I have done any mod project, but that’s down to moving from London to Kent and popping out my best mod ever my son AJ. Anyway back on track and welcome to the new build I am about to embark on this time.

Back in 2010 before mini ITX gaming was even a thing I scratch built a mini ITX gaming rig, since then I have done quite a few mods, but have yet to venture back to mini ITX and with so many sexy and great looking mini ITX builds coming around and on the web, I thought this time round I would try something different and by different I mean scratch the case, scratch any ideas of making my job easy and put myself into a corner.

So I present to you my latest build based on a pirates treasure chest, first off though I would like to give a big thanks to the sponsors of this project without who this would of never got off the ground.

Website/Facebook/Youtube

A big thank you goes out to the guys over at ekwb for stepping up and supplying the watercooling solution for this product, they were kind enough to supply everything that I needed for this build and more.

Website/Facebook/Youtube

Also a massive thanks to gigabyte for supplying the GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 mini ITX motherboard for the project something that will be needed in such a small form factor due to limitations I have on size.

Website/Facebook/Youtube

A big thank you to Corsair for supplying the SFX PSU, Memory and SSD for the Project

Website/Facebook/YouTube

Thanks to Dremel who seem to step up on every build and supply me with accessories and tools.

Website/Facebook/Youtube

A Massive thanks to the guys over at XFX too for managing to grab me a AMD Fury NANO for the project, this again is another important piece due to the size limitations of the project.

Well let’s begin shall we and show you what the plan is roughly, first off let’s take a look at what is going to house all these products.

Yes that’s right I chose a small treasure chest, to give you some context on how big this chest is in real life here is a picture of the chest with some of the boxed hardware and products that have arrived.

Yes already you may be thinking I am crazy, but in all honesty I am thinking the same thing too and all that is meant for this little chest and that’s without taking into consideration I have to fit a PSU inside this chest too.. let the fun begin as well as the headaches as I attempt to do this. Until the next post :D

This should be exciting! I love a good mini ITX build.

So it’s been a long while since I updated the log or actually got started, I was waiting on a few bits more to actually get layout prepped and to crack on.

So first up today I made the templates to insure I get my holes cut right, white template is PSU and permanent pen is the rad placement marks (rad will sit under chest).

I was going to cut these out today but weather does not look that great today, so I thought I would move onto a bit of hardware porn for the insides.

So step up the little itx Z170N gaming 5 from gigabyte the i5 6600 and the sexy EK-Supremacy EVO block.

Very very shiny and the gold colour ties in with the treasure chest concept well, to finish off here is a couple of shots of the block installed.

I know it’s a small update but expect more over the next couple of months now all the parts are finally here, been waiting for ages to get cracking on this.

Just another small update, hope ya all had a great xmas and are looking forward to what 2017 brings, anyway back on course, had to do some measurements and cutting yesterday.

240mm radiator placement sorted and PSU hole done, still loads to do before I can not actually sand down and smooth off yet as I have to mount psu, with proper grill under it and then mount radiator and fan then I can decide placement of the motherboard as well as design and print the mounts to hold motherboard in place, then design the bracket that will hold the gpu in place.
Also printed up many more of the coins for the project thanks to dremel.

Only another 100 or so to print :O

Until next time.

So a long way off from getting this completed when I wanted but never less back on it now, spent the last week or two prepping the chest for radiator and components and getting layout sussed. First up time to glue the feet onto the chest.

Once I was done with that and had added some fake looking water seal tar into the chest as well as paint it black.

Still more to paint, but before I do the lid, I think its time to make the mobo cut out and PSU cutout.

Cut outs done for these sections, plan is to actually have a hole for the cable to come through but cable braided with twine to make it look like a rope, I can picture it, but best to show it in the future.

Now most of the cutting work is done, time to mount the radiator to the underside, there will be about a 2cm clearance off the surface.

After this time to mount fan and PSU in place and check the layout options again.

Now next on the agenda was making supports for the motherboard to screw into, these would have to be done via 3d software as well they would need to be different heights.

So a quick design in sketchup for the supporting mobo mounts and then export them as STL files.

Loaded up in dremel print studio and let’s get printing

Of course 3D Printing is not perfect, but after some sanding and painting black to match the chest here is how they look in place.

Before I do any more it is time to see how the layout will work in this build.

Just a rough plan, still have to design and print custom mount for the GPU but finally getting there, need to tidy up a few things and touch up some of the blackboard style paint in place but finally finishing line in sight (of course apart from cable tidying and such). Got to love this black board style mat paint though it takes the work out of making stuff look old and worn, and trust me those that have done the worn and old look know it’s quite hard to achieve, but this black paint makes it simple.

Until the next update.

Looking good man. :up:

thanks :)

Another day and another small update, this time the small engraving on the GPU block.

I personally can wait to see the red fluid and the LED’s lighting up the engraving in this block, here is rough placement ideas for the gpu.

Slowly the chest is starting to come together, just got to design and print the gpu support.

Just a small update this time, got hardline in place tested lighting ect on the build

So time to get the rest of the hardline in and fill as well as test the blocks lighting, having used red LED’s on the cpu block and Yellow LED’s on the GPU block.

So I am happy with the colour effect, lets see what it looks like in the dark

Now the next task is to stick all those coins I made into the inside, going to be a pain but someone has to do it.

Now with that done and custom rope cover for GPU’s display cable I just need to do a couple of things now, main one being final photos. Stay around as these should be done this week ;)

May I introduce you guys to my finished home hub/casual gaming rig, Project ITX treasure

It’s been a tough road getting this all to fit inside, but one thing I do love is the fact it sits so well inside my living room.

Finished just in time I think to ensure I can move onto the next huge build I have coming up, love the way this came out. A big thank you to all my sponsors for helping out with this build, without you this would of took much longer.

Awesome work man! I also love the location shots. :up:

Very cool. Looks like it will fit in quite nicely.

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Originally Posted by msmrx57

Awesome work man! I also love the location shots. :up:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by OvRiDe

Very cool. Looks like it will fit in quite nicely.

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Thanks guys, onto the next build soon involving a lian li DK05 and a lot of hand engraving work, sorry about late reply seem to be issue with notifications would of checked more but little 18 month boy is a cheeky bugger and defo keeps me on my toes... lol parents laughing at me with it saying i was the same oops.