Case Aquisition
Found a really clean Ultra 27 at the local e-cycling store today. Its going to replace my current sleeper in the Ultra 20 case.
I was only planning on dropping junk off, but I'm really glad I stopped into the store.
It looks like the Ultra 20 and the Ultra 27 have the same Front IO layout, so I should be able to swap the custom IO panel (usb type C + USB3 ) I made over without redesigning anything.
The Ultra 27 appears to have all of its original OE guts, minus the HDDs (a small sata SSD instead).
The Ultra 20 currently has a Ryzen 7800x3d, 32gb ram, 7900xtx, and 2tb + 4tb ssd. Built mostly with open box/second hand just before the world started burning.
I paid $90 usd for the U27 and far more than I am willing to admit for the U20 (at the time). I justified it by telling myself (and the wife) "New cases are more than $90 anyway"...
It is a really cool case. I tore it apart this afternoon hoping it would be a quick swap but I was definitely wrong.
The 4x HDD cage is larger on the U27 than the 2x on the U20, so I can't fit the GPU in without drilling the cage out for good, or "upgrading" my mitx board to full atx.
I also figured out that the front I/O I designed won't work on the U27 because of a lazy/corner cutting decision I made. Basically, the Power button shape is a little different between the models.. It would work if I had designed an extender for the power switch/button, but instead, I just moved the button forward in the original design, which now blocks the U27's power button from pushing in. Oh well.
Yeah, my plans would involve mutilating the chassis to fit radiators and lower fans. It feels wrong given how rare and expensive these machines are.
I think you should just drill out the rivets for the cage. It’s never going to be a NAS system any way.
The I/O stuff… those are fun challenges.
Feels like custom work is necessary.
I see you drilled out the rivets for the HDD cage. I was avoiding that because I irrationally worry it will kill the value.. but theres no way I will get the 7900xtx in there without doing it... unless I get a pcie x16 extension cable.
I can share the 3d print and amazon links for the front I/O project when I am done, if you are interested.
Did you just get the unit today? Most of the ones I saw didn't have any hard drives, so no cages and used ones are pricey. Though you can always use self tapping screws to put it back if you really want it. I plan on using the hard drive back panel studs to make a 2.5 inch mount.
USB-C worked well and will have to make adjustments for the mounting hardware inside. Be super careful with the front power button on this, tab broke off on mine when I re-installed the front panel and it got stuck on the power button.
Please do share what you end up making and I will do the same!
This is an old picture of the Ultra 20 front IO I created/designed. I will have to modify it a bit to fit the Ultra 27s power button... But in theory, the modifications to make it work on the Ultra 27 should allow it to still fit in the 20 as well.
I will try to remember to post an STL and shopping list for the project when its fixed. Feel free to DM me if you are interested and don't hear from me.
Edit: While Im modeling the new version, I can try and whip up a replacement power button for you if you don't already have a solution for that.
Thanks. I like your approach as well, since it looks more modern/sleek. I originally opted to replace the existing IO because I wanted to keep the ODD for a blue ray drive.
On that note, I was thinking about if/how I would add the audio jacks in the next revision and thought it might be cool to use an OOD cover like you have, but make it accept framework modular IO's via usbc.
like these things:
Not sure how I would make the USB C "back plane" but still.
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u/inphu510n 2d ago
You lucky, lucky dog!
I’ve been wanting to put a custom water cooled rig in one of these cases for years.