-=SpH!Nx³=- Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hey guys! This is my first ever scratch build project that I made last May 2014, I named this project "DotaBox". Inspired by the Nvidia Ion Cube by Cheapskate and Bill Owen. This project serves as a HTPC type system with a little Dota 2 gaming intended. This project is a combination of a little bit of creativity and passion for the game. I am a avid fan of Dota and Dota 2. I have been playing the game for almost 8 years now (although I am still a noob, I only play to have fun, not to make a career out of it). The DotaBox is just basically a cube with a Mini ITX system inside. I chose the green color because when this idea came in my head, I was watching TI3. The color scheme for TI3 was green. And green is one of my favorite color. Here are the specs of the Mini ITX system inside DotaBox: Processor: AMD A10-7850k Motherboard: Gigabyte F2A88XN-wifi Memory: Kingston HyperX PnP 8GB 1866Mhz Storage: ADATA XPG SX900 128GB SSD Cooling: Corsair H80i (with custom pump/block cover) Power Supply: Silverstone SFX 450w Fully modular Case Fans: 3x CoolerMaster JetFlo 120mm Blue, 1x 200mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro, 1x Scythe SlipStream 120mm DotaBox is basically made out of wood, 1/4" MDF. Again, since this was my very first project, I wanted to have a material that is easy to work with instead of going full aluminum. This was the first rendered concept that I made. After confirming the dimensions of all the components that I need, I then went ahead and started shopping for the materials for the case. I ended up grabbing 1 24"x 48"x 1/4" mdf wood. The Dota 2 logo is made out of 3/4" pine wood and behind it is a 1/8" UV Green Acrylic sheet. As soon as I got everything I needed, I then proceeded to our backyard/garage and started murdering the sheets of woods that I bought. My main tools of choice (well, this is all the tools that I have at that time) were a jigsaw, Dremel wireless (which was kinda disappointing because the battery drains quick when using in this kind of job but it was portable enough to move around since it was wireless),hack saw, sand paper and a set of hand file. This was a very obvious mistake in my part. Initially, I thought the "defective part" of the pine wood could be easily get fixed with sane paper to even it out, but I was wrong. But I still proceeded anyways. The BitFenix 200mm fan will go on the top panel of the case. I needed to make a fan hole big enough to accommodate the 200mm fan, and by doing that, the fan will be visible underneath the logo, so I decided to put another sheet of wood underneath the logo that will go on top of the case. This way it could cover up the fan a little bit. Time to cut the acrylic sheet! The jigsaw was fun to use in this at first, but after making the 2nd cutout for the logo, I found out that a coping saw might have been a bit better to use for this kind of job. After I finished doing the cutting out the acrylic sheet, it was time to make the wall of the case. Since it was sunny, I decided to do a little bit of painting for the wall of the case. The forecast on that day said it will be rainy and wind the next day, so why not do the first coat of paint today? After confirming that the dimensions of the case we're correct, I started making the other 3 logos for the case. Pine wood and UV Green Acrylic sheet never looked "delicious" before. Dota 2 sandwich? anyone? Glow test! After doing all the cutouts that I needed, the components came in. But I still needed to do some more measurements for the motherboard IO shield cutout . Initially my plan was to do air cooling on this build, but since I wanted something special inside the case, I decided to go with a 120mm radiator and do something special to it. Success! The motherboard tray is made out of acrylic sheet. I needed to have at least an inch of space between the motherboard tray and the power supply since that was the only reasonable spot for the SSD. Time to do a test fit for the 120mm radiator. The rad will go right in front of the power supply. I was thinking of mounting it vertically for a push/pull configuration, but it didn't fit very well. This is how close the radiator is to the front panel of the case. I then went ahead and did a test fit for all the components that will go inside. I ended up using a Bitspower Fan HUB on this project since there were only 2 fan headers on the board and I have 5 fans. Overkill with fans? Neh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-=SpH!Nx³=- Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 This was how I modded the cover of the H80i. The cover is being held by 2 screws and magnet to the block. After pulling out the cover, I then started sanding the inside of the cover to remove the paint and logo. I should have used a paint remover, but it was already too late when I realized it. I then printed out the 2"x 2" Dota 2 logo, cut the pattern of the logo out of the paper, and cut the pattern in the middle part of the logo. Using a double sided tape, I mounted the paper cutout of the logo inside of the cover and started to paint it. And voila! I am not sure if the pump cover of other AiO's can be easily removed, but all I know was the cover for the Corsair H80i was easy to work with. After confirming that all of the components fits perfectly inside, it's time to disassemble the whole case and do the final paint job! Right when I was about to start paint, it rained. HARD. And it got windy. Since that was Sunday, I didn't want to wait for another 5 days to get the paint job done (I could only work with this project every weekends), I tried to make a small paint booth made out of, well... But it worked! After waiting for the paint to cure, assembly time! Here are the final photos for the build. I will apologize again for the quality of all the photos. Thank you so much for taking your time to read through my build log. Again I apologize for the quality of the photos. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to drop a comment! Keep on modding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinx818 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Great work! I love the attention to detail Sph!nx, the way that you modded your cpu block is unique and I like that the sides are all wood! Best of luck for the competition!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-=SpH!Nx=- Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Great work! I love the attention to detail Sph!nx, the way that you modded your cpu block is unique and I like that the sides are all wood! Best of luck for the competition!!! Thanks man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Wow this is wicked! Themed Dota box! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-=SpH!Nx=- Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Wow this is wicked! Themed Dota box! Good luck! thanks man! Good luck to you too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcis Modz Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 dotabox.. aylabet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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