My Shoe-Horning is about to reach new levels as I attempt to cram my next mainrig upgrade into an ever shrinking space. I've chosen the smallest, lightest, quietest case imaginable. It will be a huge, and, uh, small improvement upon my current machine. As seen here... Before Athlon XP 1900+ AGOGA MSI KT333 512mb PC2700 Geforce 4 Ti4200 60gb HDD Dimensions: 21" x 19" x 6.5" Weight: 24lb 28 dBa proposed Pentium 4 2.4C Intel 845GV 512mb PC2700 Onboard Intel Extreme graphics (for now) 40gb laptop Hdd 8x laptop DVD-ROM w/ window Dimensions: 8" x 8" x 4" weight: 4lb-6lb? 25dBa and here's the case that's going to make it possible. (click for big) Casetronic Travla C138 - Review Planned mods - Chrome Bomberman plaquard - Custom heatsink (DC1207BM-X modified to accept 80mm fans) - Window above DVD-ROM - Side windows or mesh venting - 5 feet of red EL wire - temporary Slot cooler in only PCI slot for improved cooling - Upgrade to PCI Geforce FX5200 (IF I'm unhappy with the onboard graphics. I'm not a big gamer lately) It will be as powerful as a desktop, yet as portable as a gamecube. At some future point in time I will even be working on a removable LCD monitor lid for it. I'm excited.
The new case presented some cooling challenges. Specifically the annoying 40mm exhaust fan that's included, and the shear compactness of it's design. After some epiphanous conclusions I came up with a solution. Instead of trying to add another fan and blowhole (which there's not space for anyways) I decided to use the most important fan in the case for two purposes. I spent a little while tearing apart an old slot cooler, then attached a Vinyl Dryer Hose duct onto it with floral wire and masking tape. It was pretty ugly, but it worked. So I set it aside and spent a long night making a more efective model out of sheet aluminum, ABS plastic, and another dryer hose. Exhibit A The 80mm fan will exhaust through the custom slot-duct while mounted onto the CPU HSF. This will pull fresh air into the case through all of the venting holes. And will make the cooling a direct-path solution, which also reduces overall system noise. Oh, and it will look really really cool wrapped in Red EL wire.
hey like the project so far - keep it up man. I'll be sure to keep watch of this post for more pics and any other great ideas you come up with.
It's a Skyhawk IPC-4080 aluminum 4U rackmount case with the drives oriented the "wrong way". They no longer stock it in aluminum, but I purchased it from electroseller a year ago. It's extremely sturdy and has served me well. But once I get my new tiny machine setup it's being sold to a friend. Definitely. The reason I'm building this machine now instead of later is because I managed to buy a 2.4C for $100 on another forum. Then the impatience set in... Here's the keyboard I'll be using with this machine. Fellowes Stowaway USB aluminum keyboard. (tablet PC not included) when folded it's a little smaller than a floppy drive. Perfect for a coat or cargo pants pocket.
I ran into a few problems with my previous plans for the cooling setup that required some extra thinking. Problems 1. After noting the location of the CPU location on the motherboard and the PCI slot of the case, they do not over-lap enough for the duct to be feasible. A second design accounting for the offset would work, but would be tedious. 2. The duct inlet size restricts airflow too much and acts as a resonating chamber. Even if I got it setup properly the performance would probably be moderate at best 3. The fact that I may want to upgrade to a fast PCI video card later would force me to remove the duct anyways So, after playing around with different fans at various voltage I had another useful idea that should prove most effective. The Heatsink I have was made for 70mm fans, but the looped retention brackets are the right spacing to hold a 92mm fan. So @7V I could get a great rating 19dba - 30CFM This fan also has a good pressure level. That gave me an idea. If I don't have enough space for a duct, but I still want to prevent the CPU fan from recycling air, I just seperate the case into two different hemispheres. I'll use some cardstock (or colored mylar), cut it to size with the fan hole in the right spot and some pass-through holes where needed, and attach it to the 92mm fan with the fan grill and screws. This Diaphragm will make the top half of the case a negative pressure zone, and the lower part of the case a positive pressure zone. And since the case is riddled with entilation holes there will be no need for any extra intakes or exhausts. Weird, but it should prove effective. It's not going to make this case any more fun to take apart, but it won't require any additional weight or noise. I'm happy again.
I had some cooling difficulties in the past week. Now that I'll be using wireless headphones this machine won't need to be dead silent. I'm currently waiting for a 44-pin hard drive cable and some EL cable. Everything else is wired up properly and I had to fix the front audio connections. I have a few odd jobs I can work on at the moment with my new soldering iron. Hopefully I have some more pics next week. I have plans laid out for the following additions to the case. - Case slide-lid with window (will need to be machined to replace stock lid) - clear\aluminum keyboard to match desk and 15" monitor - LCD lid assembly - New case faceplate with hologram insert Suprisingly in it's current configuration and using the onboard graphics, this motherboard can play Unreal Tournament in 1024 x 768 @ 40fps.
Looks interesting Got anymore pics of the case you will be useing?? like of the inside?? Attauly more pics in general would be nice Good luck tho!
Commell LV670LVDS 6.7" square Intel 845G motherboard and drives Case in pieces And new project. A keyless keyboard that will be less than a quarter of an inch tall and a key-travel of .02 inches. More on that later My room after extreme cleaning/reorganizing on Jan. 1st
Monday seems to be my night for power tools so I managed to get some work done. The window is now smoothly cut and ready for mounting of the polycarbonate sheet. And here's the keyboard I plan to use with this machine. A Fellowes Stowaway USB keyboard. It's pricy due to the independant scissor-arm suspension underneath each key and the emaculately made aluminum shell. And my case even matches my mp3 player. More to come soon.
I am interested to see what you do with your keyboard....hope you put some cool LEDs in this case or at least a cathode....cool light is a must for most moddage computer's. Good work so far~!!!!
