A1200 tower conversion

[orange]

I'm considering moving A1200 into tower, but the Escom one is too expensive. How difficult is to hack a modern ATX tower (or maybe desktop) to fit A1200 in it? Is there some recommended model?

[DrDekker]

The level of difficulty largely depends upon the size of the ATX tower and the approach taken regarding the I/O ports.

At the moment I'm around 70% completed on my DIY A600 Tower.  My approach to the I/O ports is to provide extensions (or patch cables) so that the ports are available at the slots in the backplane.

Once I've finished my A600T, I'll start on my A1200 tower conversion.  The biggest hurdle will be finding a tower big enough and at the right price.  Many cheaper towers are often too small.  I'm actually considering mounting the motherboard horizontally so that the ports will be facing upwards.  I'll be again using extensions to provide ports in the backplane.  I'm not interested in fitting a Mediator or anything, so I don't need to consider alignment.

My PC is housed in an Antec midi tower which is just big enough to accommodate the A1200 motherboard mounted horizontally (i.e. consider the depth of the case and not the height when choosing a suitable case).

Coolermaster and Thermaltake do some very nice (and roomy) cases - but some models are a bit expensive.  

[orange]

what about Chieftec ones?

interesting, A600 in a tower? why? I thought the coolest thing about A600 was its small size.

[rkauer]

 If you want to put an Amiga into a tower, look for old server towers. They are bulky, sturdy and... heavy.

 Lots of space and don't look like an ordinary peecee.

[rkauer]

orange wrote:
I'm considering moving A1200 into tower, but the Escom one is too expensive. --zip--

 Escom? Did you want to say Elbo*?

[amigakit]

We have in stock new Z4 towers:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=700

These will accomodate a Mediator 1200 busboard.

[spihunter]

@Amikit,

I've been waitng for you guys to put those up foe sale since you bought the Eyetech stock.

Now get off A.org and ship me the one I ordered today! :-D

[DrDekker]

@ orange,

Yeah the A600's small size is cool but the reasons I towered mine are as follows:

Originally intended to towerise my A500+ (only have a motherboard), but it wouldn't fit inside the cheap midi tower that I bought - so in went my spare A600.

The A600 would then become my classic gaming rig - all in one neat package (no power brick cluttering up the place).

The tower houses my rom switcher, PS2 mouse & keyboard adapter, two floppy drives, cdrom and 3.5" hardddisk.

The tower is all black with matching wireless keyboard and wired (soon to be wireless) optical mouse.

The tower will also house a scart socket and 15-pin VGA connector for hooking up to a TFT TV.

The tower also has a neat blue LED readout for temperature, time, and fan speed (not particularly necessary but nice all the same). :-)

Edit: - just had another look at my PC's tower and it's not an Antec at all - it's a Chieftec Dragon DX-01 (black).  It's very well made, solid, roomy and good looking.  In short, a good (and cheaper) alternative to Collermaster and Thermaltake.