How To Build a Water Cooled Mini-ITX SFF PC w/ Ivy Bridge & Kepler

AFT Pro-37U USB 3.0 Media Card Reader

With all the digital content that is being created each day we wanted to have a media card reader that would be able to handle a wide variety of memory formats without the need of adapters. We originally wanted to run a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 media card reader, but the ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe Mini ITX motherboard has just one internal USB 3.0 header and we were using that for the two USB 3.0 ports on the front of the Cubitek Mini ICE computer case. There aren’t many 3.5″ internal USB 3.0 enclosures on the market, but we ran across the Atech Flash Technology (AFT) PRO-37U on Newegg and it looked like it would work even though our internal USB 3.0 ports were filled.

The AFT Pro-37U comes with the media card reader, two USB 3.0 cables, mounting screws and a USB 3.0 20-pin adapter. The adapter converts two regular USB 3.0 ports to USB 3.0 20-pin internal headers. Our idea with this kit is to install it in our 5.25″ adapter and run the cables out the back of the case through the water cooling ports and in the rear I/O panel. This isn’t what we would normally do, but we really want USB 3.0 support on the media card reader!

The AFT Pro-37U fit perfectly in the StarTech Slim Optical & 3.5-inch Bay adapter!

The one thing that didn’t fit was the USB 3.0 cabled that attached to the media card reader as they were hitting the 140mm fan on our water cooler. We used a razor blade and sliced off a bit of the connector and they then fit fine.

Check that out! We have managed to fit a DVD Burner and a USB 3.0 media card reader into a single 5.25″ drive bay!

We routed the two USB 3.0 wires through the Cubitek Mini ICE and out one of the water cooling line holes and then plugged them into a pair of the USB 3.0 ports. The extra cable was pulled out and cable tied off to keep things nice and tidy.