Budget ITX Project: Wifey Retro Build.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 26 Dec 2016 at 20:23

Hi guys thought I would post this up and may be some interest to others.

Basically my wife suggested she would like her own computer at home for office stuff and watching YouTube/Facebook etc. We looked around for awhile at cases that she liked but nothing really stood out. So I came up with the idea of maybe building it inside something else entirely.

A few bids later on Fleabay and we got this.

Its a normal FM/AM Bush Radio which is special edition colour supposedly in connection with something to do with the Royals.

Now for specs, everything was bought used as im trying to keep costs as low as possible. The system does not need to be super powerful and would like it to be cool and quiet as it will be sat on her desk in the sitting room so I decided on the following.

Intel Core i3 2120
Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler
Asus P8H61-I ITX Motherboard
4GB DDR3 (May upgrade to 8GB, will see how it gets on)
Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
Pico Style PSU that came in a old ITX case.
Windows 10 Pro

I thought it would be quite easy to fit it all in but once it arrived I realised it would be alittle tight if I wanted to keep all the original radio controls intact and visually working. The idea is to keep this looking as original as possible from the outside.

Sorry I didn't take a photo before I started hacking but this is what it was like inside.

After lots of hacking this is where its currently at

The motherboard just fits and the bracket towards the right with the reddish paper on is where the PSU board will mount. On the right hand side you can see I have drilled and filled some holes to mount 4 USB ports on the side. These are yet to be mounted yet.

Thats where im at for now until I get the CPU cooler and get it all tested.

Thanks for looking.

HoneyBadger · 26 Dec 2016 at 20:41

Impressive!

Could you not have purchased a NUC and mounted it on the back of the monitor she would be using?

.:SAmSuNG:. · 26 Dec 2016 at 22:46

Of course but wheres the fun in that?

LewisRaz · 27 Dec 2016 at 01:18

Love builds like this! Good work

shahpor · 27 Dec 2016 at 15:23

Excellent idea!

Looking forward to seeing this build.

Now hurry up!

ALXAndy · 28 Dec 2016 at 14:00

Excellent. Was thinking that would never be big enough for a board etc but was wrong, gladly

.:SAmSuNG:. · 3 Jan 2017 at 21:33

Small Parts Update.

Sorry for the lack of progress the Xmas post has slowed things down alittle reaching me out in Germany.

After the last post I stuck what I had together to test it all and install windows. Ive lost the mounting hardware for the Corsair AIO so tied abit of wire vaguely to hold it in place. Good news is it all works.

But today I managed to get a few more bits though the post.

First is some glue I bought to try mount whats left of the motherboard tray into the case. Im not sure if either of these will work but will give it ago when I get to that point.

My wife picked out this power button for the build. Its nice when its off but im not sure the white LED ring is really in keeping with the build. She likes it though. Im still to decide where this will be fitted.

Next is the CPU cooler. I managed to get this for £19inc which I think is a decent price as they still seem to hold their money used.

I also picked up some filter mesh which will come more apparent later in the update.

Lastly because im a tard and bought a mobo without HDMI, I bought this to adapt the DVI to HDMI but guess what? I failed again and bought a male to male.

So Cooler fitted. Its nice and tidy and does not interfere with anything.

When fitted back in the radio you can see the open grill where the speaker was mounted sits perfectly above the CPU cooler.

I dont really want to be pulling this apart very often so it needs some filter.

Before

After

As soon as I have the new 90 degree DVI to HDMI adaptor I can finalise the position of the Mobo and cut more of the holes for the I/O.

Thanks for looking.

mikeggratton · 6 Jan 2017 at 15:14

love this, can't wait to see it finished

Ollie_B_2000 · 8 Jan 2017 at 12:20

Great job so far, I love how the fan lines up with the speaker grille.

LePhuronn · 8 Jan 2017 at 13:27

Lovely work

.:SAmSuNG:. · 8 Jan 2017 at 15:41

Thanks guys. Ive done a few little bits since last update but im waiting for a few parts that I have to have before I can finalise the position of the mobo and cut the rear IO. Will hopefully have a update for you soon.

Cenedd · 13 Jan 2017 at 11:44

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
My wife picked out this power button for the build. Its nice when its off but im not sure the white LED ring is really in keeping with the build. She likes it though. Im still to decide where this will be fitted.

That's the problem with asking what they want. Once they tell you, you have to accept it because they take it really badly when you say "I hear what you're saying....but you're wrong.".

Thought for a minute you were planning to get that AIO rad in there too! :eek:

As for the DVI, it's easy to get on a run of fail. I usually find this happens when I'm either filling or draining a loop *sigh*

Like the case idea. It's always good to have a PC look like something else for some reason

Modjo · 19 Jan 2017 at 20:15

I like this a lot. Love this type of stuff....Subscribed!!

Zefan · 19 Jan 2017 at 20:23

This is awesome :cool:

.:SAmSuNG:. · 26 Jan 2017 at 12:03

Sorry for lack of updates I had a week away skiing. Had a few issues with the stupid DVI port and being able to route it into the case but have hopefully over come then.

Will get a update for you guys at the weekend.

Cenedd · 26 Jan 2017 at 12:15

Nice. Hope there was suitable aprés-ski!

.:SAmSuNG:. · 26 Jan 2017 at 16:33

It was with work so all quite restrained.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 28 Jan 2017 at 22:16

Update time.

Since my last update I discovered I had a few issues.

First though the power button and USB ports were drilled and mounted correctly.

Then the mistake of buying a motherboard without HDMI has come back to bite me. Basically without hacking a hole in the side there was no way to connect a video out into it. I tried a few different adaptors but non would fit. So the only way around it was to flip the motherboard 180 degrees. This would throw up some more problems but this is how I mounted it.

I had to clear some parts protruding from the rear of the radio so came up with this.

This way I can fine tune the height on the board in the case.

This though caused issues with the old wheel and buttons in the top of the case as she was adamant these must still look and feel original. One major problem was the old volume wheel was hitting the motherboard.

After much thinking the only way around it was to trim down the PCI-E slot.

This was pretty simple but not something I would do on a expensive board.

The old buttons now just fit with abit of cutting and shimming and feel and look as they should.

I also mounted the SSD with some velcro.

And finally mounted the power supply board in with some more velcro. Wasnt sure if this was conductive or not but so far so good.

Ive put it mostly back together to test and it works. I have a load of bits on order to fix the IO on the rear but I think I have that sorted out.

Now though I am finding things are alittle on the warmer side than I would like so I plan to try improve the ventilation without effecting the aesthetics. That will be my next update with what I hope should be the finished mod once all the other IO parts arrive.

Thanks for looking.

LePhuronn · 28 Jan 2017 at 22:18

Still a lovely job

mikeggratton · 21 Mar 2017 at 12:52

Any update on this? I think it look great.