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| Loriano Pagni Launches X500Pro Case Kickstarter | |
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Vojin Vidanovic
Posts 770
21 Jan 2018 10:44
| Loriano Pagni, creator of Minimig cases, has launched his cherry keyboard based Amiga inspired case named "X500 Pro". Its intended for miniITX boards and not for Classic Amiga boards.
Its not known how well Standalone Vampire would fit it, but its near-moders paradise.
Link (Kickstarter page)
EXTERNAL LINK
Video (mp4)
EXTERNAL LINK
Video (YT)
EXTERNAL LINK
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The final X500 computer case inspired by classic machines such as the Amiga, Atari and Sinclair, but designed for modern hardware.
What is it?
The X500 Pro is the final product in a line of computer cases designed a few years back (the X500 Plus and later the Evo with a mechanical keyboard) as a tribute to the computers of the '80s and '90s (Commodore, Atari, Sinclair etc...). It's a wedge styled computer case with built-in, full size mechanical keyboard.
The X500 Pro is designed for modern hardware: mini-ITX motherboards (17cmx17cm), Flex-ATX power supplies (these can be found from 150W all the way up to 500W).
The X500 Pro has been completely created from scratch to offer users the space required to build more powerful systems. So it's mainly aimed at power users, modders and system builders and whoever wants to create something different and unique.
It's entirely made of textured plastic.
The base is 6mm thick and it now holds everything: the motherboard, the dual slot, full size graphics card (unlike the previous models, Plus and Evo which only allowed the use of a single slot, low profile card), the hidden ON/OFF switch, up to four optional (two per side) 50x50x10mm cooling fans (up to 50mm from the original 40mm ones), the SSD/HDD drive, the Flex-ATX power supply, the Power and Drive Activity LEDs.
With this new base no cables run from the cover any more making the opening/closing of the case much easier, just remove the three screws at the back, three at the front and the two on the sides (one per side).
The X500 Pro also presents bigger air vents all around (top, sides, back and bottom) and a new aperture in the cover. This lets the user install a transparent or tinted window to show off the graphics card and the motherboard in place of the existing black panel in the cover. The graphics card makes use of a flexible 16x PCI Express riser card (not included, 24 cm minimum length). The extra window can be ordered in several colours as shown in the videos and photographs or be replaced with an aluminium mesh (not included) to improve cooling further. Aluminium mesh is often used by PC modders to customise their machines and also to improve cooling and aesthetics.
The X500 Pro allows you to build your own modern, powerful computer, with your choice of components and Operating System like Windows, Linux, AmigaOS, AROS, MOS etc...
Any mini-ITX motherboard should fit from x86 to PowerPC ones such as the A-Eon/ACube boards for AmigaOS (A1222/Tabor and SAM models).
The user can now install a powerful dual slot, full size, mini-itx gaming graphics card such as the ATI Radeon 285 Compact or the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti SC Gaming 4GB as long as they don't exceed 170mm in length (slightly longer card might fit but they haven't been tested).
Remember this is still a very small enclosure so always consider power usage and cooling when planning your system. When assembling your new machine please consider the use of Solid State Drives as they are fast, silent and have no moving parts.
What is included:
The plastic case (back, front, sides and base all bonded together) plus the black replaceable window cover. The tinted and transparent windows are optional.
The LEDs window cover (already applied to the case), the tailed ON/OFF switch (already applied to the case), the tailed LEDs with LED holders (already applied to the case), 8 black M3 screws, one X500 Pro badge (not applied) and 5 rubber feet are also included.
The X500 Pro comes with new mechanical keyboard supports, and a new mechanical keyboard; Ducky's Ducky Zero Series keyboards, these come with back-lit key caps with the U.K. language layout. Above every Cherry MX switch there is an LED which shines through the letter or symbol on the key caps, this only applies to the original, black caps with the U.K. language layout which come with the keyboard. The Ducky Zero Series also offer some cool lighting effects by the use of the Fn+F11 and F10 keys, the manual will be included.
As an extra you can pledge for a full set of Amiga inspired key caps with your own language layout.
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Marlon Beijer
Posts 182
21 Jan 2018 13:08
| I get that it's inspired by the A500, but I find it quite ugly and bland.
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Mr Niding
Posts 459
21 Jan 2018 13:21
| @Marlon As you know, taste and design considerations are subjective, but I like it for the fact that it looks very functional. Ofcourse, I sound like a Borg (100% efficiency is the goal, regardless of look!).
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Captain Zalo
Posts 71
21 Jan 2018 13:34
| Marlon Beijer wrote:
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I get that it's inspired by the A500, but I find it quite ugly and bland.
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Also absurdly expensive. If the standalone vamp came in mitx form factor and atx/sfx power headers, I'd put it in a pretty case like the node 202 or a white 304. But it won't. Let's hope for itx form factor in a future board (with an asic 080).
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David Wright
Posts 373
21 Jan 2018 14:18
| Stephen Jones will soon be launching his own Amiga case project.
Looks nice.
EXTERNAL LINK
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Vojin Vidanovic
Posts 770
21 Jan 2018 16:01
| David Wright wrote:
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Stephen Jones will soon be launching his own Amiga case project.
Looks nice.
EXTERNAL LINK |
Yup, Checkmate is even closer to release, no kickstarter needed.
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Vojin Vidanovic
Posts 770
21 Jan 2018 16:12
| Mr Niding wrote:
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@Marlon
As you know, taste and design considerations are subjective, but I like it for the fact that it looks very functional. Ofcourse, I sound like a Borg (100% efficiency is the goal, regardless of look!).
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I have Ducky Zero Cherry keyboard he is using and its high quality, very durable, with backlight. Its real old school deep key feeling. Case looks nice, best a la A500 recreation, so far.
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Marlon Beijer
Posts 182
21 Jan 2018 17:26
| David Wright wrote:
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Stephen Jones will soon be launching his own Amiga case project.
Looks nice.
EXTERNAL LINK |
Yeah, I'd rather buy Stephen Jones case or a new A1200 case and modify it. :)
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Ian Parsons
Posts 230
22 Jan 2018 00:02
| The A200.net guys are also planning an A500 case project for their next kickstarter.
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Mallagan Bellator
Posts 393
22 Jan 2018 03:18
| I would much rather have a new mold infused A500 case with key replacements, like the kickstarter for the A1200 that was around for a while, and C64. Wonder if I could still get a C64 one though, since my original ones are both quite gross by now... xD
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Eric Gus
Posts 477
23 Jan 2018 07:43
| Honestly would love to see an A1000 case done in the same exact style as the A1200 kickstarter cases.. while some the ones being worked on now are good, I just think there is something inherently beautiful about the original A1000 design .. And my ideal "new" Amiga would be one of these cases+standalone vampire.
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Vojin Vidanovic
Posts 770
27 Jan 2018 21:23
| Ian Parsons wrote:
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The A200.net guys are also planning an A500 case project for their next kickstarter.
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That is very nice and would make a very compact Vampire with space for an SSD or 2.5 IDE HDD. Sadly, Lorianos KS was aborted. So mo A500 inspiried one. Funding Canceled
Funding for this project was canceled by the project creator about 10 hours ago.
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