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Mac Mini 2011 build!

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Hey @"zackmd1" do you have model project of tray? I would need this to rebuild for my mobo?
 
I just got the motherboard tray with open I/O from him. Then I cut I/O holes out of an acrylic sheet for Asus H110T/CSM and will hot glue it to the opening. If I want to change to a different motherboard, I can take out my customized I/O plate and build a new one for the new motherboard. At the same time, I got a $16 Dynatron T459 from eBay and use its heatsink (installed with M3 x 20mm screws, plastic washer and nuts since the original screws on Dynatron K199 and the push pins on T459 are too high).

IMG_20170404_130620710.jpg IMG_20170404_130940226.jpg
 
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tyeh, How is it working for you? I am trying to do this now. Were you able to fit it inside the case with the dynatron t459?
 
Sorry for the late reply since I don't get back to check this thread. Yes, I did use Dynatron t459 heatsink but you can't use the original lock screws and CPU cooling fan. I cut a 1/4" case acrylic sheet with Dremel rounding tool to be the back cover. At the same time, I put two 60x60mm fans on the back cover.
IMG_20170515_160819523.jpg
 
Just did a simple design with Thinkercad for the bottom cover. My son used Soildwork to design the backplate of motherboard and I printed them with CR-10 printer. Might change to internal bower fans and redesign the bottom cover.

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So I have been off the site for awhile but hoping to jump back into the hackintosh world after the disappointment that was the 2018 Mac mini (Great machine but overpriced and non upgradable storage).

I hope to update my Mac Mini build with new internals using the new STX form factor and the thermaltake engine 17 cooler. My hope is that this will solve some of the thermal issues I had with the previous build. Proposed specs are as follows....

Core i5 8400 (power managed to control heat if needed)
ASRock Deskmini 310 STX Motherboard
32Gb DDR 4
1Tb SSD
Possible eGPU support through m.2 port (M.2 is essentially PCIe x4 Gen 3 and should perform better then a thunderbolt 3 eGPU)

All in the same Mac Mini housing (or 2018 space grey housing if I can get my hands on one)

Oh and I hope to fit the actual Mac Mini internal 85 watt PSU as well.... That is If I can figure out the pinout/operation (the existence of any sense circuit to turn the PSU on) of the damn thing.
 
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Yes, I agree with you. The internal SSD soldered inside the 2018 Mac Mini kills my desire to buy it. I knew you can use TB3 external SSD to run OSX. But a dead SSD might stop the system from boot (Happed on my Asus H170i-Pro/CSM with a dead SATA M.2 SSD) then you have to ask Apple to fix it.

Two issues with SFX motherboard. The first, their backplate I/O ports are too high to fit into Mac mini. The second, they use H110 or H310 chipset that only support PCIe x2. I replaced my H110T/CSM with H310T/CSM and put a i3 8100T that has a HD 630 like the 2018 Mac mini. With H310T/CSM, I can install a NVME M.2 2280 SSD but the max read/write speeds are around 1500MB/sec at most.

Here are the pictures of my latest mod. Got a metal frame and plastic back plate with opening. I used CR-10 to print a I/O backplate. At the same time, I got a mesh bottom cover from the same vendor in China.
 

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hello @tyeh and @zackmd1 , I have a question for you: what kind of PSU are you using to power your thin ITX builds? Maybe a 120W 12V or similar power brick? Do you think I can also use a Standard ATX PSU and in some way connect it to the internal 2 pins?
2pins.jpeg


In my case I have plenty of space; I bought this thin ITX mobo just because I needed a replacement for my 2 Ethernet nic H170 ITX mobo that unfortunately broke last week!
Awaiting you kind answer, thanks.

Oz
 
I use some regular HP laptop power adapters that work great. But the power adapters only supports 45W-65W as I remember. I have a i3 8100t that has TDP 35W and the 45W-65W power adapters are good for me. Yes, the H310T/CSM mother boars itself has a 12V/19V power connector but I never use it to power up my board. If you need a 90W adapter, I got one from Amazon and now I use it for my Lenovo T450s and HP EliteBook 740 G2. By the way, I only paid $10 to get the HP 65W Power adapter from eBay.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0132ST35Y/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
 

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I use some regular HP laptop power adapters that work great. But the power adapters only supports 45W-65W as I remember. I have a i3 8100t that has TDP 35W and the 45W-65W power adapters are good for me. Yes, the H310T/CSM mother boars itself has a 12V/19V power connector but I never use it to power up my board. If you need a 90W adapter, I got one from Amazon and now I use it for my Lenovo T450s and HP EliteBook 740 G2. By the way, I only paid $10 to get the HP 65W Power adapter from eBay.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0132ST35Y/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

yes well @tyeh thanks a lot for you fast reply and the pictures, but for me the easiest and cheapest thing at the moment would be to reuse my existing corsair VS350 350W ATX PSU that is already IN the system and that powered the now dead gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI mobo. So the question is: do you know if it is POSSIBLE to reuse a regular ATX PSU and connect it to the mobo through the internal pins? My CPU is a i3-6100 and its a desktop unit that has a TDP of 65 W and a stock intel fan and heatsink. As you may know standard ATX PSU have 24 pin connectors + 4 pins for the CPU so I'm bit confused right now, I don't really know how to do this of if it is even possible.
any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Oz
 
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