AMD Nano Project

E

Elmy

Gawd
Joined
Sep 1, 2009
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929
Hi there. I am doing a project for AMD for their new R9 Nano GPU coming out. I was contacted by them to make a custom case. They had 2 requirements... They wanted it small as possible and with the highest performance possible. I went one step further and going to try to make it light as possible using real Carbon Fiber.

So this is what I have for now in the terms of sketches. They are done in paint because frankly I don't know how to use solidworks or sketchup and I don't have the time to learn either of them right now.

For this project I am using a ASRock X99E-ITX/ac LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard with Intel 5960X chip , Silverstone SFX 600 watt power supply , Dynatron R27 CPU cooler , Kingston 500 GB M.2 PCIe , 2 sticks of Crucial Ballistix DDR4-2666 ( This mini itx board only has 2 slots ) , and 4 Noctua NF-R8-1800 80mm Case cooler.

The whole case is going to be made out of carbon fiber with just a tad of acrylic on the 2 arches for a lighting effect. The acrylic will be sandwiched by 2 pieces of 1/16 " Carbon Fiber. The case will have the RGB remote LED's that a lot of use use to edge light the acrylic. Also the NANO logo will be cut out of the front of the case and a piece of acrylic will be there and LEDS behind it to make the NANO logo also light up with LEDS.

Here is a picture of the Carbon Fiber that I will be ordering next week once I get my final dimensions drawn.

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Here is the couple sketches I have so far. These are very rough drafts.

Preliminary measurements is this thing will be 11 " X 5.5 " X 7.5" . At least the main computer housing will be. The arches on the side will measure around 9 " from the feet to the top of the arch.

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Here is a picture of the new R9 Nano. I am under NDA on this project but I am allowed by AMD to share the build with everyone and I am allowed to show pictures of the Nano card but I am not allowed to talk about performance, architecture , release date or the date my NDA is up.

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Here is me with all the components taking some measurements.


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Looking forward to seeing the final build, good luck with the build.
 
" ASRock X99E-ITX/ac LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA"
That makes no sense why not an AMD cpu?
 
stormy1 said:
" ASRock X99E-ITX/ac LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA"
That makes no sense why not an AMD cpu?
Click to expand...

I would imagine it has something to do with this line in their requirements.

Quote "They wanted it small as possible and with the highest performance possible"

:D
 
The only ITX AMD has is FM2+ and I really don't think that's a very good match with the R9
 
stormy1 said:
" ASRock X99E-ITX/ac LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA"
That makes no sense why not an AMD cpu?
Click to expand...

if you go back and look through a lot of their GPU testing/demo's over the last couple years it's mostly been done with intel CPU's. if you know your cpu's can't compete you have to swallow your pride and show your product that actually makes money in the best possible way. plus it just stops the whole "but it's being used with an AMD cpu, it's holding back the performance of the card" bullcrap in my opinion.
 
Update....Carbon Fiber will be here possibly tomorrow or Saturday but most likely it will be here Monday. Its scheduled to get CNC cut on Tues or Wed. Case will be put together on Thursday. I will update with more pictures this week.

Here are some more pictures until then.









 
I know a schedule is a schedule, but this has been like, 2 weeks of looking at mainboards and rulers.
 
My CNC guy was out of town for 10 days so I had to wait for him to get back to move forward with the project. Will be completed this weekend or sooner. I will post more pics soon.

Nano
 
So why did AMD have you make this computer for? Are you keeping it in the end or are they planning on doing something with it? Either way it is starting took look awesome.
 
Man, we went from mainboards and rulers to wow in heartbeat. I feel like someone just hit >>| on the remote control and I missed 10 scenes. Looking sharp though.
 
dcds1 said:
So why did AMD have you make this computer for? Are you keeping it in the end or are they planning on doing something with it? Either way it is starting took look awesome.
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Yes I get to keep it in the end after they are done using it for marketing. They are paying all expenses.

They have supported me on my modding for years now one way or another. I take my five monitor Eyefinity setup to about 5-6 LAN's a year and show it off. I was at AMD headquarters about 18 months ago at the ExtravaLANza event showing off my build ( I didn't go this year due to it falling on fathers day weekend ) .

They originally asked me to do this Nano mod and I kinda turned it down. I said I could do it but I could get them in contact with people that are better at modding than I am. They said why don't that person and you both do one. I said ok.....and here I am trying my best to make it happen. I did make the front cover of CPU magazine now twice. Once in Oct 2011 and once March 2015. You can go to Computer Power User and find the issues and read if you are interested.

I originally contacted about 10 CNC guys to cut and help with design layout. A lot of them were not interested in cutting Carbon Fiber for whatever reasons. There were a few that could do it but couldn't get to it for 4 weeks. I did the whole design myself but I am not adverse on rendering.... The rendering that you see in the above post is done by the CNC guy. Designing a complete Carbon Fiber case from scratch takes a lot of time. The Carbon Fiber is tremendously expensive and we both don't want any screw ups.

Anyways hopefully it will be cut tomorrow and I can spend Sunday and Monday putting it together and then its getting shipped off to AMD.
 
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Elmy said:
Yes I get to keep it in the end after they are done using it for marketing. They are paying all expenses.

They have supported me on my modding for years now one way or another. I take my five monitor Eyefinity setup to about 5-6 LAN's a year and show it off. I was at AMD headquarters about 18 months ago at the ExtravaLANza event showing off my build ( I didn't go this year due to it falling on fathers day weekend ) .

They originally asked me to do this Nano mod and I kinda turned it down. I said I could do it but I could get them in contact with people that are better at modding than I am. They said why don't that person and you both do one. I said ok.....and here I am trying my best to make it happen. I did make the front cover of CPU magazine now twice. Once in Oct 2011 and once March 2015. You can go to Computer Power User and find the issues and read if you are interested.

I originally contacted about 10 CNC guys to cut and help with design layout. A lot of them were not interested in cutting Carbon Fiber for whatever reasons. There were a few that could do it but couldn't get to it for 4 weeks. I did the whole design myself but I am not adverse on rendering.... The rendering that you see in the above post is done by the CNC guy. Designing a complete Carbon Fiber case from scratch takes a lot of time. The Carbon Fiber is tremendously expensive and we both don't want any screw ups.

Anyways hopefully it will be cut tomorrow and I can spend Sunday and Monday putting it together and then its getting shipped off to AMD.
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So when will we see your creation pics? before or after AMD has their way with it :eek:
 
I'll take some pictures and post here before I ship it off.

Probably a video too.
 
Well keep up the good work and cannot wait to see the final product. It looks like it is a going to be a very sweet build.
 
Thanks for putting it back up!

New updates....

Lighting testing.... Don't know if I should polish the arch piece or keep it frosted. Any comments?



 
Elmy said:
Thanks for putting it back up!

New updates....

Lighting testing.... Don't know if I should polish the arch piece or keep it frosted. Any comments?



Click to expand...

I'd go polished would look better with the shine of the carbon, like there meant to be together :eek:
It would make the whole system look polished, clean, shiny and new
 
I vote frosted. It gives the light a more even look, as it it's a light strip instead of individual LEDs.
 
xBx6mB


If the goal was to make it as small as possible, why does it have those huge wings in the side which serve no purpose other than to increase the footprint?
 
ocellaris said:
xBx6mB


If the goal was to make it as small as possible, why does it have those huge wings in the side which serve no purpose other than to increase the footprint?
Click to expand...

I didn't want to build just a box. The arch's I put are just for aesthetics. You are right I could of made it even smaller.
 
ocellaris said:
xBx6mB


If the goal was to make it as small as possible, why does it have those huge wings in the side which serve no purpose other than to increase the footprint?
Click to expand...

Elmy said:
I didn't want to build just a box. The arch's I put are just for aesthetics. You are right I could of made it even smaller.
Click to expand...

I would agree that you seem to have made the case footprint much larger that needed. I get that you wanted to add style and not just make a box. I like what you did, it looks really good so far, as long as the point is to be more of a showcase for what you can do it works. If I was actually looking for a tiny case I would be very concerned with overall external dimensions.
 
Looks great!

Some of the CNC guys probably wanted nothing to do with CF because the dust is god awful for you. Make sure you never breathe it in. Also splinters could stay in you for months.
 
Looks awesome! Thanks for sharing, like how you did the layout and then built the case around it. Form follows function.

I am thinking of making a custom case except no cnc work, carbon fiber or magazine cover design :eek:. Backyard or kitchen table work job :D.

The goal would be for a very small footprint for whole system; monitor stand in other words but not as wide as the monitor, so the height would be rather low. Also the depth not much more than the Nano or motherboard. Meaning a riser card to rotate the Nano 90 degrees. Debating using a Pico power supply supplemented by 12v to motherboard and PCIe connection directly from the main power supply. I have a 175w Pico power supply already not being used.

It will have to be whisper quiet and as wire free as possible externally which this configuration would help in. It may allow the keyboard (right size) to fit partially or fully under with a mouse, so not solely a box but could end up as being one.

A bigger (wider design) would be with a SFF power supply. Also no case fans, design will use the CPU/GPU fans only (plus P/S fan if in the case) :D.

What would be the minimum CPU to get full capability from the Nano? I5 I would think, maybe a 65w version. I7 65w version? Maybe an I7 4790K down clocked, undervolted as needed.
 
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