How to MicroATX a propietary IBM Aptiva 2176

[Carcenomy]

A few months back I inherited a selection of ancient IBMs. Now none of them were really worth saving as far as technology went - they were all Pentium II 400s or lower. But one did catch my eye - an Aptiva 2176. Natively it's a Pentium 166, with a severely propietary IBM design involving a riser which ran parallel to the actual motherboard, which was slightly narrower than a MicroATX motherboard.

The case looked reasonably pretty though, and for its age was bristling with excess vents, has an inbuilt carry handle, and a lovely door on rails that drops down with a geared mechanism that slowly lowers it.

So, I converted it to MicroATX. Enjoy.


The interior of the IBM before I got stuck in...


Rear panel of the IBM - note the non-standard layout.


The donor MicroATX case.


Comparing dimensions...


More comparing... nice and close.


VIOLENCE!


MORE VIOLENCE!


MicroATX section sitting in IBM frame.


Measuring up where the board tray sits relative to the existing mounting points, I screwed some standard motherboard stands in to bring the height up to 12mm, to support the tray.


And it's in!


Sneaky rivets...


I had to give up the top hard drive brackets as they fouled the PSU. Note how buckled the cheap, flimsy motherboard tray is...


Old HP motherboard and a PSU fitted. Looks alright to me... The motherboard needs some new capacitors before I can test-fire it.


Looks all good from behind... even has room to cut an 80mm exhaust fan hole if needs be.


Outer housing fitted perfectly first hit, and the rivets are all covered... very sneaky.


Party piece. Now I just need to reinstall switches, drives and blanking plates...

And so there you have it - how to convert a stupidly propietary case into a standard MicroATX with nothing more than old junk cases, a 4" angle grinder, a drill and some pop rivets.

[tkpenalty]

Very nice... now give the panels a paint job and make a HDD suspension system.