Scratch Build – In Progress H2O-C7 June 26 Still more Rain! SUX

Ha. I knew it!

/steers thread back on track

 

Only way he could make the tiny water blocks - MAGIC - the pics are frauds. I have his address, maybe I'll go Pot O' Gold hunting. I should have sent him Guinness

 

No gold... just sugary breakfast cereal.
Cute avatar, BTW.

 

Homage to a job well done!

 

Thinking while waiting on parts

I have been playing with the $2 eeePC case while waiting for the new barbs for this to arrive, so I have a question.
Instead of using the picoPSU - why can't I just use a 20 or 24 pin extension from the motherboard to the back panel, whip up a couple female molex 4 pin connectors and just use the original PSU as an external power supply instead of the laptop brick for the picoPSU?

I have the PCI slot (unused) on one side and a vented space the same size on the other side.
The oriiginal back


This would give me more power for the LEDS and CCFL add-ons and would make the internal cables nearly disappear.

Is this a possibility?

Anybody got a link to this ever being done? I have found "DIY modular PSUs" but external?

 

Sounds like an interesting idea John. I have never tried or heard of anything like that ever being done before but I do think it is possible. The only problem I can see is that you still need the actual PSU. The fact that it is out of the case will make the finished product "untidy".

 

This is a pretty involved thought (lies! The thought is simple, the process of realisation... not.), but have you contemplated mounting the PSU below the MB? I have seen in previous pictures that you have removed the MB tray, so it isn't essential structurally that it stay where it is. It would probably involve a bit of hacking of the PSU mounting supports and fabrication of supports for the mother board tray (perhaps just 2 aluminium right angled strips down the length of the case?), but would allow you to view the board so much more easily. As a bonus, cables would be very neat...

Laz

 

You could use extension cords easily...BUT!
I thought the idea of using a pico psu and laptop converter was to get rid of the psu fan. CCFLs are overkill in a tiny case. You could power LEDs off the motherboard fan jacks easily.
@Von Lazuli - He could, but there's the problem of the tubing. He would also have to chop the back of the case out.

 

@Cheapskate - The ONLY goal of this project is to have the only Jetway C7 H2O system. I have 3 parts that I want to show, your H2O blocks, the pump/res to show that it really is H2O cooled and the 2X 40mm chrome and black radiator(every seen another one in ANY log, anywhere?). Nothing else matters - sounds like a Metallica song! Actually their song "Unforgiven" more fits my life. I've been confined to this wheeled chair for the last 3 days and haven't done much. I have some ideas for the motherboard PSU and Molex wiring that are coming together well.
I had a visit from the "Supervisor". I put the motherboard on my lady/wife Marilyn's scanner and made a copy of the bottom.



Cut out the access for the stainless bracket and screws, filipped it over and lined up the mounting holes, and marrked and taped off for the hole to cut in the motherboard tray.
Safety gear on and then "The Supervisor" showed up! Rats!


You can tell he's he Super by the clean bib overalls.

"Lads, we need to get more work done here. People on the forum want to see PROGRESS. No Progress - No completion"


@Von Lazuli - If I mounted the PSU under the motherboard it would be outside the case and I couldn't use Cheap's very nice case feet. Kinda dangle the case in the breeze on top of the PSU. I need to whip the case back together and show how really tiny it is. It fits in a messenger bag.

John

 

I never thought of scanning the bottom of the board to make a template lol. I had to measure everything before penciling it in . Good idea.

 

*cough cough*




Lol at the trolls, keep the progress coming!

 

Yeah Langer used em to water cool his PICO board lol.

 

I meant move the m/b up to accomodate the PSU underneath it but still in the case... but eh... as Cheaps said, it is a lot of work and you will likely kink your hoses...

So did that hole get cut out or were you too un-nerved by the eyes of the Supervisor? Oh! Nice safety gear too, just watch those exposed feets...

 

Aiiieeee! It's da trolls!

Nice work so far, John. There is something rather poetic about a troll-sized supervisor overseeing a small rig like that.

 

Dude, hope you start feeling better soon, must be annoying to be confined to a chair thats not been modded.

 

You can tell he's the supervisor by his clean, un-callused hands. He obviously worked his way to the position though, He's missing some fingers.
@Langer - Your build doesn't count. It has one of everything in it.
I think I'd already have a table top over the armrests if it was me. -kinda like a baby highchair. ...With a cup holder for a sippycup.

 

small steps

Got some pics to show you. When we left off we had tocut the motherboard tray for the stainless backing plate from Cheapskate and some 4-40 screw heads.


This gives me 3mm more room between themotherboard tray and the case floor.

From the bottom. Still needed dressed and filed when this pic taken.


The Super approves.
Couple other small projects today. Since I removed the optical rack from the front and the front to back rails, the little case has lost a lot of torssional strength. SO, I went to the stash closet and grabbed a piece of 8-32 all thread rod, 4 hex nuts and 4 Nyloc nuts. The case has enough holes in it already it was pretty easy to find some close to what was needed.


These are only temporary while I make the alum. corner angle pieces for the top. Like this sorta.

The one will be measured and marked for the top HDD bracket screws that were on the piece cut out. The other side will be used to make some kind of nice mount for the radiator.

I cut some of the holes out of the back panel and filed it square.


Then I made a little motherboard 20 pin cable

It goes from the motherboard header and will be attached to a female 20 pin Molex that will be where my square hole is now.


Just a simple male to female cable coming, it's shrink wrapped here to get it through the hole for pics. In the end it will be shrinked and sleeved. No excess wires and nothing to get in the way of viewing the H2O blocks.

 

Nice progress. Good move with using those threaded rods for extra structural integrity.

 

confused.

I'm confused... will you have a big cable hanging out the back? whats on the other side of the female end (ie, where's the power wire that's feeding it?) I thought you were done with the external power idea, and just gonna use a pico? unless you're plugging the pico into the female connector from the outside... oh ... that sounds like what you just said.

I like that you'll have no cables inside, to detract from from the main visual elements. I do think you should go with cheapskate's suggestion and ditch the CCFL tubes, replacing them with UV LED spotlights powered off some mobo headers. I think I'm going to do that in my case, since the one CCFL tube seems shot, and I've got a few UV LEDs to play with. In your case, it would help by getting rid of the space required by the inverter, the long wires, the hum from the inverter (or is that just my sensitive ears?), and many other good reasons... convinced yet?

 

The motherboard tray looks sharp. -I mean cut your finger off sharp!