6100 in a ATX Case Modification
A couple of years ago I was suddenly struck with the idea of putting a
6100 motherboard in a ATX case. Don't ask me why, I just came up with
the idea.
Its not my fault. I had a 6100 motherboard, ROM and PDS card sitting
around so I decided if I could get this to work.
Step 1:
I ordered a baby-ATX case.
Step 2:
The first order was to figure out how to get the motherboard mounted to
the chassis. The mounting holes did not match up (no surprise there), so I
bought a small sheet of Plexiglas (or Lexan, I cant recall). I cut the
sheet to larger than the motherboard size, and proceeded to tap holes out
for both the motherboard and the chassis mounting panel.
Step 3:
To Plexiglas sheet is mounted between the motherboard and the chassis.
One set of screws is mounted on one side, and golding the motherboard
down. The other set of screws is mounted in the opposite direction
through the plexi sheet to the chassis.
Step 4:
Now you have to figure out how the motherboard ports (SCSI, video, etc)
will poke outside the back of the case. I had to Dremel out part of
the back case to get the ports out.
Step 5:
The power supply - The ATX power supply that came with the case will not
work with the 6100 obviously, so I decided to use the 6100 oversupply.
Now, the 6100 PS uses a manual switch to turn it on, which makes it kind
of hard to use in a ATX case. So, I opened up the power supply
(Danger ! Careful !) and de-soldered off the switch that was mounted on
the PS circuit board. It is place soldered on 4 wires that I later
used to reconnect the switch to (all I really did was interpose about 15"
or wire between the PS and the switch).
Step 6:
Now I had to figure out how to mount the PS to the chassis. I drilled out
2 small holed in the PS case so I could use the holes to use mounting
screws.
Step 7:
I soldered the switch back to the wires I added in step 5, and used a
small wooden block to mount the switch in (to hold it in place. The
wooden block had 3 small screw holed so I could mount it to the front of
the chassis so the power switch would work.
Step 8:
Add drives - I added a CD ROM and a HD, and the 6100 cables worked to get
everything hooked together. I also added a small fan cooler near the CPU
for when I get around to overclocking.
At this point I still have to add a back panel to cover up some of the
empty space over the power supply.
A picture of the back:
one more shot:
Yes, not very pretty but it was my first try.
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