Case Mod - In Progress Bid on a Black Mini - a modified black Mac Mini. For sale July 2010

Det har jeg et godt bud på = en hel del!
Bortset fra det, dejligt at se endnu en dansker på Bit-tech


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Enough Danish, can't wait forever so just ordered the heatsink.
Hoppefully the build will be done in arround two weeks from now, let's see how well that part of the plan goes, depending on delivery times.

Nice little heatsink, hopefully there will be room, else it's time to bring out the Dremel

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Il be folowing your modd, i love mac !

 

Jah, der ser godt nok ud til at v;re mange.
Jeg blev helt overrasket da jeg oprettede mig i december.

Og Nutman, du er da vist af den gamle skole, syntes jeg kan huske dig fra en dansk modding side tilbage i 2000ca. ? !

 

M.Ø.J.: Både og. Jeg begyndte at modde i...eh... 2002, vil jeg tro. Modded bestod af et Codegen kabinet, som fik skåret hul til et rundt sidevindue og sat et par røde LED'er in i kabinettet (http://nutman.dk/pic/towerpics/towerpics.html). Sidenhen blev kabinettet malet blåt og der kom nogle røde LED'er i toppen af lågen, for at lyse ned på 5.25" enhederne (http://nutman.dk/pic/studiopics/studiopics.html).

Men det RIGTIGE modding begyndte først i 2008, da jeg fik fat i et Lian Li PC6070 og begyndte at bygge videre på det. Er først nu ved at være færdigt med det (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=159199), så det har taget lidt tid, hehe.
Jeg har dog i processen skaffet mig uhyggeligt meget værktøj, teknik- og materialekendskab og mange, mange gode kontakter i moddingverdenen. Så det er gået stærkt siden 2008.

Men ellers godt husket.

 

PUBLIC QUESTION

Would it make any difference if I did some lapping on my Meron T7200 in the Mac, and can I get a good result WITHOUT taking it out of the socket?

The heatspreader itself on such a thing is pretty tiny, so wondering if it would even make a difference:

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Been looking for it on Google but could'nt really find any who ever did lapping on a Meron

 

Because you only do lapping on cpu´s with metal cover , in desktop cpu´s , in that one the core is already exposed so you would damage the cpu , but this is only my opinion.. wait for more

 

You cant lap laptop cpus. The T7200 is a laptop cpu. Trust me on this, I have one.

 

jag har det svort och forstor danska svenska mucket letera

 

Super - thank's for the advice!

Updates so far is:

• That I just received the Airport card and extra antennas from China
• Received plastic screws from the UK
• SHOULD have received the heatsink from Germany (but something went wrong, they have send me a mail it's delivered, but I haven't received any... Further investigation is required)
• Orderderd the original NAD C165BEE metal feet from NAD's official sparepart department (should have done that in the first place, already had the contact in my portfolio but didn't think about it).

As an extra thing I think it's about time to swap my monitor for a newer model in widescreen, currently I have the Dell 1707FP 4:3 17"...
So what to do - ordering a new Dell seems to be the logical choice!
Just ordered the Dell UltraSharp 2209WA black version:

e-IPS panel, 4port USB2.0 build in hub and imo awesome clean cut design!
Read more about it here
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Further updates:

• Ordered a lapping kit for the heatsink (and by your advice NOT for the CPU itself!)
• Innovation Cooling Diamond 7 thermal paste (read more here)
• A small thermal pad to stick the thermal probe under the new heatsink with

This time though, it's ordered in a Danish shop

 

Last update for now is that I'm still waiting to receive the decal sticker I have ordered for the top case of my new Mac chassis... The printer first up promised me I would have it by the end of the week, but that was friday and nothing really happened yet.
Would be the absolutely easiest if I could do everything myself, I have spend much more time waiting than building this mod


Anyway, have a nice weekend - more updates will follow.

 

Updates 3rd feb 2010:

• Lapping kit, Innovation Cooling Diamond 7 and thermal pad received
• Original NAD plastic feet received (they misunderstood I wanted the metal feet )
• Germany shop with heatsink mistranslated the word shipped as delivered, so heatsink is still on it's way, expect it later this week
• Spoke to the printer of my decal today, it's shipped but because of heavy snow in Denmark it takes extra time by mail to arrive

 

Let's start with a BANG

*BANG!

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What is THAT?! ...you might think with good reason
This is a VM Acoustic S4 Hi-Fi furniture build by glass and powder coated iron.
A very neat structure when it's assembled, but the problem is you have to assemble it yourself...
Not usually a problem for me - except when the holes the screws are supposed to go trough are the wrong diameter and I keep on pushing it in there until the whole thing explodes right under my fingers.
Already arranged I just go back to the shop and pick up a new shelf within warranty on the furniture, so no problem there beside that it can not be assembled fully now I have the time for it.

When it's assembled it look's something like this:


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Only a teaser picture, you see the whole thing when it's all done.
The meaning is that both the Mac (and eventually a DAC when I have the money), the NAD C165 (when it arrives) and my headphones are supposed to be on it.
When ever I get the need I even have space for a power amplifier!

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The actual product picture from VM is like this:

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Beside building furniture when I wait for packages I also received my new monitor today.

Compared to the size of a Mac Mini it is HUGE:



First up comparison of my old TN panel Dell 1707FP:



With the sparkling new calibrated e-IPS panel Dell 2209WA:



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For me there is absoluttely NO doubt, the 2209WA is THE best monitor I ever had!
It makes you want to feel the picture, to feel if it is a picture or a painting, and if the paint is still wet - it's SO alive in the colors compared to the 1707, much more 3D like to look at.

 

Not just upfront is it a better picture, but also when looked at from different angles:




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The colors themselves are better in any way, but the coating is not as matte as it is on the old one and makes it look a bit shinny from odd angles, not an issue just something I noticed.

But how much bigger is the 2209WA than the 1707FP?

THIS much bigger:

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My Firefox used to be maximized on the 1707FP but now there is a lot of spare room on the new monitor before I make it fill out the screen as usual.
The webpage by the way that are displayed on the screenshot is PRAD's review of the new buy, the Dell 2209WA

Some might have noticed I mentioned the new screen as calibrated, I didn't do it my self but have used the same values as the guy reviewing it here and that just looks awesome

I let you guys know when something new happens on the actual build.​

 

The final touches

It is over, it is done - it is the worlds first modded black mac mini right here on Bit-Tech!

What am I talking about?
I'm talking about I have finished the building project, only things I miss is the actual reasson why I did it - a proper stereo system (but the NAD C165 is on it's way in the pibeline followed by a heavy arsenal of interconnects, speakers, power and DAC).
Enough talk about my biggest passion, the music, let's talk modding!

 

pics or the post is worthless

 

First the disasters - then the solutions

First up is the disaster number one, my logo - it went wrong one more time.
When thinking about putting your own logo on the top of a Mac it sounds amazingly cool but when you then actually try it out you most likely realize the same as me - unless you keep the top white a colored logo will leave a annoying white line behind at the very edge.

Look at this what I mean:

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But no disaster is as bad it's not good for something, when I tried taking pictures of it and forgot the flash on my cam I got a new idea - witch you will see on the final "product"

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A new problem that showed up is the fact that the feet I have found to put underneath have this annoying tip, that would make room for air/light in between the bottom of the case and the feet, looks pretty stupid imo. So it had to go!
But without a Dremel you need more DIY like solutions:

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I put gaffatape on some parts of the hacksaw as a precaution for not cutting the whole edge of the feet up.

Before:

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After:

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After that trick with the hacksaw the feet went on a loooot more smoothly

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Feet mounted with the plastic screws I bought in UK

 

I'm sorry it takes some time to put up pictures and text, but I like to tease a little before I let it all up
Just you wait, there is a lot to come tonight.

 

The chopping don't stop here

I finally got this from Germany:

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The Nexus PSM-2500 heatsink for Intel Socket M!


But as soon I unpacked I could spot a problem, not time yet to put away the hack saw.
(btw, the thing right next to the heatsink is the super slim Apple alu remote)

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It is too freaking tall!!!


What to do in lack of a Dremel, of course - chop it up DIY!

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It now fit's in that tight spot there is in a mini


But it don't stop here either, because as every mod'er knows a heatsink is never good enough before it's getting lapped!

Before:

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After:

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