Introduction

I took an old SPARCstation IPX (almost the right name already!) for which specs can be found at http://www.obsolyte.com/sun_ipx/ if you are interested. The case is very well suited to conversion, as it has a top-mounted bracket which can take a 3.5" hard drive and floppy - the Sun had an auto-eject floppy, so I've installed an LS-120 drive so that I didn't have to cut a hole in the case for the eject button.

The LS-120 can be software-ejected, and the emergency-eject hole lines up perfectly with the Sparc case. The top bracket also clamps the micro-ATX power supply, which fits perfectly.

In the base, I've mounted the mobo on stand-offs and added a power and reset button to the rear, and 2 blue LEDs to the front for power and hard-drive (the Sun originally had only a single LED). The rear of the case still needs a little tidying, but it's nearly there.

To make all of this fit, I had to sand away around 1mm of the internal plastic case moulding under the power supply and remove a couple of jutting-out brackets, but everything else was a perfect fit. At the rear of the case, the ports on the mobo fitted perfectly to the side of the original fan housing, so it doesn't look too untidy! I came across the power supply by pure luck after buying one of these cases to make a PC out of - it only cost £21 at the time. The power supply model number is MXF-150TF but has no makers mark on it. It seems to be a no-name generic PSU that is supplied by various Far Eastern companies - one manufacturer lists their version here. It was actually about 1.5mm too tall, but I sanded the vanes off the top of the case inside to leave a smooth surface, and it was then able to clamp perfectly underneath the drive frame.

I've been using my SPARCstation ITX (as it now really ought to be called) as an Unreal Tournament server, and it served this purpose perfectly. I've found the case to be an excellent size (9.5" wide x 10.5" deep x 4.5" high) as it slots in small spaces and can also be run on its side in thin gaps. The case is very sturdy (it will take a monitor on top) and easy to get into - a clip on either side locks the lid, which then hinges open and comes off.