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Long time coming atx G5

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Joined
Aug 19, 2018
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50
Motherboard
Gigabyte X58-UD3R
CPU
X5670
Graphics
GTX 970
**** Finished pics in post 33! ****

Well, I've had a little more time on my hands these days (shock of shocks). So I finally got off my duff and got to work on my g5 atx mod. I've had this case for a while now, even had an atx mobo mounted in it. It was initially a no cuts mod, but I really was not happy with it. Never felt complete to me, and was a real pain to work on when I had to dig into it.

I always wanted to go full atx, but wanted something a little different than the laser hive kit, mountain mods tray, or lian li tray. So it was time to bust out the fiberglass!

I cut up the back of the case a little, then taped it all up. I then laid down some fiberglass sheets and poured in some epoxy. Bam! Solid back end.

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Then to level it out a bit, I laid down some fiberglass reinforced bondo, and got to sanding. Then sand. Then sand. Then add a little more. Then sand. Oh yeah, Also sanded a little bit more... after more sanding.

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Then I laid down some paint. Not a good amount, just trying to get a better idea.

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Then used a hole saw to punch out the fan hole.

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Then brought out the angle grinder; was going to use a dremel... but Gawd that takes forever!
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Oh, also added some aluminum bits and JB Weld to a Mountain Mods Modular I/O Panel. That has already been epoxied in the case, just no pics at this time.

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I've been really taking my time on this build, but please stay tuned. More to come!
 
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I'm sorry it has been so long since updated this. I have been working on the house. Missus has been dying to paint the living room for a while now.

I did get a chance to do a little though. I think I'm close to having the surface the way I want it.

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I could really use some input here though.

I bought an extension that I plan to use to run up to the psu.

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But I'm not sure if I want to cut a hole to match that and just set the plug in where that little nub is...

Or, just run that cord through the little nub.

Kinda like so:

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The female part of that cord would be on the end of that. So I'd be able to use any old computer power cord.

So what do y'all think? A short female cord straight out of the back, or an inset female socket in the back.
 
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This thing looks amazing, going flush is going to make it look factory after you get paint it. Did you sand all of that by hand? Really nice work, looking forward to more photos.
 
Thank you, both of you. I'm taking forever on this build. It's so hard agonizing over the details.

Charlee78:
I don't still have the stock female socket, but I think you may be right. Though I do like the look of the nub out back, I don't particularly care fore have a female socket dangling at the end of that cord. So I think I'm going to inset the socket like you suggested. Geez... Scared... Thing I'm going to cut the hole today

Figaro:
Mostly yes, the sanding has been by hand. On a couple ocassions I sanded so much, the fingerprint reader on my phone wouldn't register. I attacked a couple stubborn spots with an orbital, but they both went too far, and I had to go back and add filler only to sand again by hand.
 
Got a little more done. The hole is a rough cut. Definitely need to clean it up, but I like it. I like it a lot. Pay no mind to the color, the case is just in some high build primer.

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The power socket hole I cut is cleaning up real nice. Sorry, no pics.

But while I'm waiting to get my hands on aluminum to secure that socket, I thought I'd tackle the other side for a bit.

I ordered a short usb3 extension cord, and chopped all the plastic from the female end like so:

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Then did a little cutting on that bracket that shields the firewire usb 2 and audio ports on the front panel i/o pcb:

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Then I went to town on that usb 2 port with my soldering iron:

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A little bit of jb weld putty later, I secured the chopped up female port to the pcb. Oh, also did a little metal grinding on the port for fitment:

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These are the results:

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I was planning on doing something similar with the firewire port. I have a cord that goes from usb a to female usb c. There is more than enough room to put that in place of firewire... but I dunno. Y'all have any thoughts? I'm a little afraid of butchering the firewire, only to have the usb c port look a mess in there. Then I'd be stuck and unable to undo what I did.
 
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