couldnt agree more!
my work has a water jet, but i dont think i can use it. im gonna try to make friends with the operator this week and see if he'll do a little off-the-books cutting for me sometime.
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ekuest's Mobile Desktop
- Thread starter ekuest
- Start date
couldnt agree more!
my work has a water jet, but i dont think i can use it. im gonna try to make friends with the operator this week and see if he'll do a little off-the-books cutting for me sometime.
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
- Messages
- 25,470
Without additional venting, the heat will rise to the hole in the top. The CPU fan will intake most of the hot air, re-circulate it, and very little of it will escape. The only other places the heat can escape are the slots on the back of the video card near the outputs and the aluminum in the case itself.couldnt agree more!
my work has a water jet, but i dont think i can use it. im gonna try to make friends with the operator this week and see if he'll do a little off-the-books cutting for me sometime.
If you don't want to add any fans, you could simply vent the entire side of the case near the CPU and the power supply exhaust. If I were doing it, I would make a spot for meshing near the PSU exhaust, then find somewhere to mount one silent fan (80mm-120mm) on that same side as the PSU exhaust mounted near the back corner by the CPU, PWM's and output ports. If space is a concern, you might try a slim (10mm thick) 80mm wide fan. The remaining heat from the video card and memory would be sucked out by the PSU, while the CPU, chipset, PWM, and hard drive heat would be sucked out by the other fan.
HOLY THREAD NECRO BATMAN!
well im all settled in! lol only took me a year and a half. for anyone still subscribed to this thread, you rock! to everyone else, subscribe! this will be a cool, simple sff case. if you've seen what i built last time, you would think at first glance that it would have cooling issues. well guess what? it did. it did have cooling issues. i have ran it for a year and a half with the top and one side off. i dont know anyone in hawaii who games so no LANs for me and i could just leave it open. now that i'm finally settled in though i wanted to remake this case so here it is: ekuest's MOBILE DESKTOP 2.0!
these 2 pics should show everything there is to see with the case. it is very simple like i said. the changes and my reasoning behind each for any other sff enthusiast who wants to learn from my mistakes:
1) dont exhaust the psu into your case. i had seen this on a couple lian li and other cases so thought it would be ok. they must have big intake fans right there or something cuz this just circulated hot air inside my case making it hotter and hotter.
solution: i required the psu to be on the back this time. (it can also be done exhausting out the bottom like in machupo's case, but i wanted the simplicity of the cord coming out the back and easy mounting etc.)
2) with the psu over the mobo, my AXP-140 wouldnt fit.
solution: went with a kuhler. i also got a scythe kozuti and a prolimatech samuel 17 which i will try out, but i dont expect either of them to perform anywhere close to the kuhler.
3) gpu fans are always too loud.
solution: another kuhler! thats right, this case can fit TWO kuhlers stacked. it took some figuring out how to put them together, but i think it worked really well and only voided one warranty. i will explain that later. there is also plenty of room for the stock cooler on a card up to 11" long!
4) the first case was just the right size.
solution: this case is almost exactly the same dimensions. the minimum width and height are pretty much already determined by the width of a mobo+dual-slot gpu i/o plate and the standoff+mobo+gpu+power connector height. the length could have been as short as ~7" or so if i went with the new 670, but i want to be able to use any card with this case so it is 11" long, which is plenty for basically any single-processor card. it also gives enough room for 2 kuhlers with 2 fans.
gotta get to bed now but i will try to get some component and other pics up soon. if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
EDIT: here's another with components inside. the top and left panels are hidden but theyre just straight sheet metal with no holes or anything.
well im all settled in! lol only took me a year and a half. for anyone still subscribed to this thread, you rock! to everyone else, subscribe! this will be a cool, simple sff case. if you've seen what i built last time, you would think at first glance that it would have cooling issues. well guess what? it did. it did have cooling issues. i have ran it for a year and a half with the top and one side off. i dont know anyone in hawaii who games so no LANs for me and i could just leave it open. now that i'm finally settled in though i wanted to remake this case so here it is: ekuest's MOBILE DESKTOP 2.0!
these 2 pics should show everything there is to see with the case. it is very simple like i said. the changes and my reasoning behind each for any other sff enthusiast who wants to learn from my mistakes:
1) dont exhaust the psu into your case. i had seen this on a couple lian li and other cases so thought it would be ok. they must have big intake fans right there or something cuz this just circulated hot air inside my case making it hotter and hotter.
solution: i required the psu to be on the back this time. (it can also be done exhausting out the bottom like in machupo's case, but i wanted the simplicity of the cord coming out the back and easy mounting etc.)
2) with the psu over the mobo, my AXP-140 wouldnt fit.
solution: went with a kuhler. i also got a scythe kozuti and a prolimatech samuel 17 which i will try out, but i dont expect either of them to perform anywhere close to the kuhler.
3) gpu fans are always too loud.
solution: another kuhler! thats right, this case can fit TWO kuhlers stacked. it took some figuring out how to put them together, but i think it worked really well and only voided one warranty. i will explain that later. there is also plenty of room for the stock cooler on a card up to 11" long!
4) the first case was just the right size.
solution: this case is almost exactly the same dimensions. the minimum width and height are pretty much already determined by the width of a mobo+dual-slot gpu i/o plate and the standoff+mobo+gpu+power connector height. the length could have been as short as ~7" or so if i went with the new 670, but i want to be able to use any card with this case so it is 11" long, which is plenty for basically any single-processor card. it also gives enough room for 2 kuhlers with 2 fans.
gotta get to bed now but i will try to get some component and other pics up soon. if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
EDIT: here's another with components inside. the top and left panels are hidden but theyre just straight sheet metal with no holes or anything.
Last edited:
yeah i wanted very badly to put fans on the back, but there didnt end up being enough room. :/ i dont want fans on the side as im trying to keep it clean and so far that side has nothing on it. im hoping the positive pressure with a very clear airflow path and the psu fan acting as exhaust will be enough. should be i think.
thank you! what you see in the old rig is pretty similar to how the new one will be in terms of finish. the old rig was water jet cut, and the new one will be laser cut. i'm reusing the old corner brackets since i dont have the capability to make new ones right now. i was also thinking about painting the whole thing, but now im toying with just polishing the outside faces of all the panels until the whole case is a mirror. anyone think that would look cool or would it be distracting and weird?
thanks man. i really liked the original design, but it was really just a rush job so i could move my computer from seattle to hawaii without packing my old PC-K7B and as such it had a few issues. im hoping this iteration will fix all those issues, but if not then its really easy to cut a new panel or two to fix it.
no updates today because gotta spend time with the gf, but tomorrow after i get home from work there will be a little eye candy.
TheHobbyist
Hugs Hard Johnnies [H]ard
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
- Messages
- 456
Congrats on the front page mention buddy =) That radiator chimney is going to be something to see lol!
!!!!!!!!! haha i had no idea anyone was even following this thread any more other than my SFF compadres. thanks steve, and for anyone who gets here via the front page, i was REALLY hoping to get a post up of the hardware today, but life got in the way and now i'm late for racquetball. i promise to have some pictures tomorrow of the hardware (and a short how-to on how i stacked my radiators), and hopefully i will have the case panels in about 2 weeks. subscribe to the thread to see how rev 2.0 turns out!
PS: my girlfriend hates how much time i spend on [H], but she's proud of me today!
PS: my girlfriend hates how much time i spend on [H], but she's proud of me today!
ok so here's the update. its still wednesday my time (hawaii) so i consider my promise kept.
so first off here's a reminder of what it looked like for the last almost 2 years. you can see that the psu exhausted back into the case, and the air brought in through the top by the AXP-140 didnt really have anywhere to go either. i ran it like this, with the top and both side panels removed, to facilitate heat removal.
for rev 2.0, i made a couple decisions. make something that is versatile and can fit almost any video card and any cpu. have room for full water cooling if silence or overclocking is desired. place psu over cpu in order to exhaust out the back instead of into the case. have a clear flow path for air in and out of the case. make it of very simple construction so that anyone can make one with my drawing files. make it easily customizable to the user's desires. i think i accomplished all this with the design above. it took me many months of ordering parts and sitting in front of my computer playing with ventilation and components etc.
next i decided on whether for my particular build i wanted to use a custom single water loop, or all-in-one coolers, or a mix of air and water. i decided on all water for silence; air in an itx case is more often than not quite loud. then i decided to go with all-in-ones because gpu water blocks are too expensive and i plan on upgrading my gpu with the next amd generation anyway in only a few months. fortunately i stumbled across dwood's gpu brackets. the guy is awesome, and is also going to be cutting the panels out for me. if you need any custom sheet metal work, i highly recommend you contact him. my last case i made myself because i was in school and had the machines available, this time i have to outsource. :/
the main thing i am redoing for rev 2.0 is, clearly, the cooling. below are some pictures of the goodies i purchased.
i also snagged http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elect...26615&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+low+profile+ram. these things are apparently awesome from every report ive heard of, and most importantly, are super short so they wont block the airflow in the case.
and this is why i am taking pictures on my kitchen floor. yeah the gf isnt too happy about me commandeering the only table in the house. fortunately we eat at the coffee table in the living room and this table is only ever used for beer pong.
ok so thats what will be going in, in addition to the old gigabyte ga-h55n-usb, intel i7 860, silverstone st45sf, and 256GB crucial M4 ssd. this will be powering a gateway 30" monitor. the only other thing left to show right now is how i stacked my antec kuhler 620 radiators and their fans.
so first off here's a reminder of what it looked like for the last almost 2 years. you can see that the psu exhausted back into the case, and the air brought in through the top by the AXP-140 didnt really have anywhere to go either. i ran it like this, with the top and both side panels removed, to facilitate heat removal.
for rev 2.0, i made a couple decisions. make something that is versatile and can fit almost any video card and any cpu. have room for full water cooling if silence or overclocking is desired. place psu over cpu in order to exhaust out the back instead of into the case. have a clear flow path for air in and out of the case. make it of very simple construction so that anyone can make one with my drawing files. make it easily customizable to the user's desires. i think i accomplished all this with the design above. it took me many months of ordering parts and sitting in front of my computer playing with ventilation and components etc.
next i decided on whether for my particular build i wanted to use a custom single water loop, or all-in-one coolers, or a mix of air and water. i decided on all water for silence; air in an itx case is more often than not quite loud. then i decided to go with all-in-ones because gpu water blocks are too expensive and i plan on upgrading my gpu with the next amd generation anyway in only a few months. fortunately i stumbled across dwood's gpu brackets. the guy is awesome, and is also going to be cutting the panels out for me. if you need any custom sheet metal work, i highly recommend you contact him. my last case i made myself because i was in school and had the machines available, this time i have to outsource. :/
the main thing i am redoing for rev 2.0 is, clearly, the cooling. below are some pictures of the goodies i purchased.
i also snagged http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elect...26615&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+low+profile+ram. these things are apparently awesome from every report ive heard of, and most importantly, are super short so they wont block the airflow in the case.
and this is why i am taking pictures on my kitchen floor. yeah the gf isnt too happy about me commandeering the only table in the house. fortunately we eat at the coffee table in the living room and this table is only ever used for beer pong.
ok so thats what will be going in, in addition to the old gigabyte ga-h55n-usb, intel i7 860, silverstone st45sf, and 256GB crucial M4 ssd. this will be powering a gateway 30" monitor. the only other thing left to show right now is how i stacked my antec kuhler 620 radiators and their fans.
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stacked radiators! so i decided, after many different approaches, that there is no good way to stack your radiators. the following is just one bad way, that i think is mildly acceptable. WARNING: it does include drilling out rivets and voiding the warranty on ONE of the two units. but you cant consider a build a mod until at least one warranty is voided right?
ok so start with a radiator. you can attach it to a case or not, put a fan on it first, or not. that side of the rad doesnt matter. i attached mine to a couple holes on the front of my case just to have it stay in one place; i only have two hands after all.
next put screws through one side of each of hole on one side of your middle fan. i chose these screws because the knurled head was not as wide as a philllips head, allowing me to fit it in the screw slots of these fans, and because a hex wrench is easier to fit through the holes on the other side of the fan than a screwdriver.
mate the fan to the radiator and tighten all 4 screws a couple threads at a time, rotating between screws. make sure you have your fan facing the right way! in this case i am going for intake, or pull.
skipping ahead a bit because i didnt take pictures with it disassembled, drill out these rivets on each side of the second rad.
tighten screws from the back into the threads of the rad brackets on the sides that will mate to the middle fan.
then reattach the brackets with double sided tape. i used this stuff i got at longs drugs. you can find it at most hardware stores and miscellaneous goods stores. because it is thick, it doesnt hold the brackets firmly right up against the rad.
the brackets can actually twist a little from one side to the other as shown in the next two pictures, and also spread out a little from each other. this is important.
rock the two brackets so the screws you put in are slightly closer together. this allows you to insert them into the holes of the middle fan. letting go lets them spring apart slightly, and friction between the screw threads and the fan hole plastic will hold the fan there gently. this part is easier if you orient everything horizontally, but i had it vertical because it was attached to the case front.
as you can see below, the friction isnt enough right now to hold it in securely. the top keeps separating. this is due to the brackets angling slightly in toward each other. so the solution? pull them together on the other side, forcing this side apart a little!
mounting a second fan to the back of this radiator does the trick! (yes i know it's set up blowing opposite the middle fan, but i realized that after i took this picture and i didnt want to take it apart.) alternatively, such as if you did fan>rad>fan>rad instead of rad>fan>rad>fan, you could use a finger guard or other 120mm fan grill to screw into the brackets and pull them together.
here i am holding the whole assembly upside down, and the second rad and fan are very secure with just the friction of those screws.
best part is, the whole thing can be taken apart fairly easily to clean dust out of between the fans or to change the fan direction etc. you can even still use both rads separately again if you wish. no functionality is taken away except for the ability to get warranty coverage on the second rad! ok well that's all for now, and probably until i get these panels cut out and received from dwood.
UNTIL THEN: QUESTION!!!!
should i have the panels painted black to match the fan filters i will be putting on all 3 120mm fan holes, or should i get some polishing compound and polish all the outside faces to a mirror finish? black would blend much better with the filters, but mirror finish might look totally badass. mirror finish would be a finger print magnet too, but i dont move my computer around much anyway... suggestions? thanks for looking everyone!
ok so start with a radiator. you can attach it to a case or not, put a fan on it first, or not. that side of the rad doesnt matter. i attached mine to a couple holes on the front of my case just to have it stay in one place; i only have two hands after all.
next put screws through one side of each of hole on one side of your middle fan. i chose these screws because the knurled head was not as wide as a philllips head, allowing me to fit it in the screw slots of these fans, and because a hex wrench is easier to fit through the holes on the other side of the fan than a screwdriver.
mate the fan to the radiator and tighten all 4 screws a couple threads at a time, rotating between screws. make sure you have your fan facing the right way! in this case i am going for intake, or pull.
skipping ahead a bit because i didnt take pictures with it disassembled, drill out these rivets on each side of the second rad.
tighten screws from the back into the threads of the rad brackets on the sides that will mate to the middle fan.
then reattach the brackets with double sided tape. i used this stuff i got at longs drugs. you can find it at most hardware stores and miscellaneous goods stores. because it is thick, it doesnt hold the brackets firmly right up against the rad.
the brackets can actually twist a little from one side to the other as shown in the next two pictures, and also spread out a little from each other. this is important.
rock the two brackets so the screws you put in are slightly closer together. this allows you to insert them into the holes of the middle fan. letting go lets them spring apart slightly, and friction between the screw threads and the fan hole plastic will hold the fan there gently. this part is easier if you orient everything horizontally, but i had it vertical because it was attached to the case front.
as you can see below, the friction isnt enough right now to hold it in securely. the top keeps separating. this is due to the brackets angling slightly in toward each other. so the solution? pull them together on the other side, forcing this side apart a little!
mounting a second fan to the back of this radiator does the trick! (yes i know it's set up blowing opposite the middle fan, but i realized that after i took this picture and i didnt want to take it apart.) alternatively, such as if you did fan>rad>fan>rad instead of rad>fan>rad>fan, you could use a finger guard or other 120mm fan grill to screw into the brackets and pull them together.
here i am holding the whole assembly upside down, and the second rad and fan are very secure with just the friction of those screws.
best part is, the whole thing can be taken apart fairly easily to clean dust out of between the fans or to change the fan direction etc. you can even still use both rads separately again if you wish. no functionality is taken away except for the ability to get warranty coverage on the second rad! ok well that's all for now, and probably until i get these panels cut out and received from dwood.
UNTIL THEN: QUESTION!!!!
should i have the panels painted black to match the fan filters i will be putting on all 3 120mm fan holes, or should i get some polishing compound and polish all the outside faces to a mirror finish? black would blend much better with the filters, but mirror finish might look totally badass. mirror finish would be a finger print magnet too, but i dont move my computer around much anyway... suggestions? thanks for looking everyone!
voklskier4452
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
- Messages
- 2,112
Would definitely like to see how this turns out. This sounds like pretty much my ideal rig since I would love to get at least an AIO cooler on my GTX 670. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
yeah i really like this design because you can use a single AIO, or two, or all air and have space for some 3.5" drives, or whatever. its a pretty flexible case except for limiting you to itx and a short air cooler or water. im placing the order for the panels tonight so i should get them sometime next week hopefully.
maxxkillaz
n00b
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2003
- Messages
- 40
I would paint it black, for some reason a mirror finish slaughterbox doesn't sound right.
i actually just put in the order for the panels last night. all painted black. i think it might look cool with a mirror finish, but since im going to have black fan covers/filters i think it would look weird if it wasnt black. i cant wait to get them! also got a new gpu bracket for my 620 thats painted black to match since the one i have is bare aluminum.
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2004
- Messages
- 6,224
ekuest -- looking great! I love the radiator stack, exactly what I'm doing as well on my 670. I'm just working on finding a place that will do bending/welding (I've got a brake, but it's a cheapo manual one that can't handle 2mm aluminum).
I'm still working on doing the bottom/back as a single piece and the other sides as a second/welded piece, simply for the swapability/customizability aspect. Not to mention, if you can take the shell off without moving any wires/components, that makes tinkering with the system so much easier! In this theory, you can mount the chimney on standoffs from two of the motherboard standoff posts (I've used 35mm standoffs which screw directly into the motherboard standoffs, this clears the RAM / Kuhler / IO ports) and two of the cpu socket holes on top of a 1mm aluminum plate with a 120mm/140mm hole in it.
I'll throw the plans for sled v2 up in the thread in SFF up this week
I'm still working on doing the bottom/back as a single piece and the other sides as a second/welded piece, simply for the swapability/customizability aspect. Not to mention, if you can take the shell off without moving any wires/components, that makes tinkering with the system so much easier! In this theory, you can mount the chimney on standoffs from two of the motherboard standoff posts (I've used 35mm standoffs which screw directly into the motherboard standoffs, this clears the RAM / Kuhler / IO ports) and two of the cpu socket holes on top of a 1mm aluminum plate with a 120mm/140mm hole in it.
I'll throw the plans for sled v2 up in the thread in SFF up this week
ekuest -- looking great! I love the radiator stack, exactly what I'm doing as well on my 670. I'm just working on finding a place that will do bending/welding (I've got a brake, but it's a cheapo manual one that can't handle 2mm aluminum).
I'm still working on doing the bottom/back as a single piece and the other sides as a second/welded piece, simply for the swapability/customizability aspect. Not to mention, if you can take the shell off without moving any wires/components, that makes tinkering with the system so much easier! In this theory, you can mount the chimney on standoffs from two of the motherboard standoff posts (I've used 35mm standoffs which screw directly into the motherboard standoffs, this clears the RAM / Kuhler / IO ports) and two of the cpu socket holes on top of a 1mm aluminum plate with a 120mm/140mm hole in it.
I'll throw the plans for sled v2 up in the thread in SFF up this week
interesting. id like to see it. with my psu in the typical position over the motherboard i dont need something like that. my new build should be easily disassembled to where its just the front, back, and bottom. the only issue would be i have to unplug the hdd since it will be double sided taped to the side panel. im also considering taping it to a backplate on the back of my gpu. the top comes off super easy though.
OK IM BACK!
sorry for the extreme build log neglect, hopefully one or two people are still following this build. my girlfriend moved out here in july and i went from all free time to almost no free time. i did complete the build though and it has been chugging along just great. i have an upgrade planned for later this year with an 8XXX series gpu hopefully as well as a new processor and motherboard if a new itx board comes out that interests me. for now, here are the completed build pics along with some pics of getting the panels and putting everything together. enjoy!
package!
this is what my "workspace" looked like. it is my kitchen. hence why my gf was bugging me to get this crap put together so we could have our beer pong table back!
heres a closeup and showing some of the parts.
this is how dwood packages in case anyone is considering ordering from him. nicely packed in a box with airbags on top and a piece of paper between each piece to keep them from scratching each other.
here they are all layed out.
i attach the panels together with these screws and brackets, with a washer on each screw to protect the paint.
this is what's left of the old case "sled" almost completely taken apart.
here's the "sled" of the new case. much nicer!
trusty old 5870 next to its kuhler 620.
parts are starting to go in!
main parts and water coolers installed, along with some inventive tube routing.
top view.
barely clears! well actually it hits the fan, but only because the tube there pushes it out a little bit.
psu going in. gonna be fun trying to get all those wires in and somewhat neat.
under the psu.
i purposely put the rads right at the top of the case so i had this space underneath them for hiding wires.
as you can see, there's plenty of room for air to flow over the gpu, and with that hole there it's pretty much open to the outside. i had to remove a washer from next to each hose barb to get the hoses to lay flat like that. definitely a must if you plan on using a kuhler 620 in a double slot cooler space.
here's the "sled" again, but with the wires all connected. i routed the pcie power, fan wires, sata power, and molex wires all under the radiators to keep things somewhat neat.
top down with wiring and the ssd taped to the psu. as you can see, the only things blocking airflow from the rads to the psu/exhaust slits are the cpu kuhler tubes and the 24-pin power cable. it is actually surprisingly uncluttered in the main part of the case.
looks somewhat cluttered from this angle, but you can see that underneath the psu it's still pretty clear. you can also see the fan controller that i use to keep things quiet since this goes in my room. i have to take off the top or side to adjust fans, but that's not a big deal since i just set them to where i get a good balance of noise vs temps and leave them. my computer sleeps when im not using it anyway as my server/torrent box (on 24/7) is downstairs.
and the final case piece. since i wanted to avoid any bends and just make all panels lay completely flat, i had to make this in order to hold the gpu bracket in tightly.
ok that will be it for the first post of this epic conclusion. i have about 30 pictures to go but not all of them will go up. just testing and final assembly left! please feel free to comment or ask questions!
sorry for the extreme build log neglect, hopefully one or two people are still following this build.
my girlfriend moved out here in july and i went from all free time to almost no free time. i did complete the build though and it has been chugging along just great. i have an upgrade planned for later this year with an 8XXX series gpu hopefully as well as a new processor and motherboard if a new itx board comes out that interests me. for now, here are the completed build pics along with some pics of getting the panels and putting everything together. enjoy!package!
this is what my "workspace" looked like. it is my kitchen. hence why my gf was bugging me to get this crap put together so we could have our beer pong table back!
heres a closeup and showing some of the parts.
this is how dwood packages in case anyone is considering ordering from him. nicely packed in a box with airbags on top and a piece of paper between each piece to keep them from scratching each other.
here they are all layed out.
i attach the panels together with these screws and brackets, with a washer on each screw to protect the paint.
this is what's left of the old case "sled" almost completely taken apart.
here's the "sled" of the new case. much nicer!
trusty old 5870 next to its kuhler 620.
parts are starting to go in!
main parts and water coolers installed, along with some inventive tube routing.
top view.
barely clears! well actually it hits the fan, but only because the tube there pushes it out a little bit.
psu going in. gonna be fun trying to get all those wires in and somewhat neat.
under the psu.
i purposely put the rads right at the top of the case so i had this space underneath them for hiding wires.
as you can see, there's plenty of room for air to flow over the gpu, and with that hole there it's pretty much open to the outside. i had to remove a washer from next to each hose barb to get the hoses to lay flat like that. definitely a must if you plan on using a kuhler 620 in a double slot cooler space.
here's the "sled" again, but with the wires all connected. i routed the pcie power, fan wires, sata power, and molex wires all under the radiators to keep things somewhat neat.
top down with wiring and the ssd taped to the psu. as you can see, the only things blocking airflow from the rads to the psu/exhaust slits are the cpu kuhler tubes and the 24-pin power cable. it is actually surprisingly uncluttered in the main part of the case.
looks somewhat cluttered from this angle, but you can see that underneath the psu it's still pretty clear. you can also see the fan controller that i use to keep things quiet since this goes in my room. i have to take off the top or side to adjust fans, but that's not a big deal since i just set them to where i get a good balance of noise vs temps and leave them. my computer sleeps when im not using it anyway as my server/torrent box (on 24/7) is downstairs.
and the final case piece. since i wanted to avoid any bends and just make all panels lay completely flat, i had to make this in order to hold the gpu bracket in tightly.
ok that will be it for the first post of this epic conclusion. i have about 30 pictures to go but not all of them will go up. just testing and final assembly left! please feel free to comment or ask questions!
ok here we go again. first up is me doing some stress testing. i put on a simulated side panel while leaving room for the fan controller knobs so i could get the fans set right where i want them.
here are some more view of everything most of the way put together.
just to the left of the top of the dvi plug you can see the discreet power button. no reset, no lights: STEALTH MACHINE.
i actually had to take this panel off and lengthen the holes for one of the fans. normal 120mm rad spacing puts the fans right next to each other, but if you do that then there isn't room for these fan filters. a rad will never go here but i didnt know i needed more room for the filters.
AND THE BIG REVEAL!
and here it is all fired up and working!
i dont know if this is clear enough to read, but with furmark and prime95 both running i get 71-74C on the cpu cores and 52C on the gpu. i figured in gaming the gpu will be loaded more than the cpu so i put its rad first, making it much cooler when both are being stressed. im not sure what those numbers are when gaming.
and here is the final piece of the case, close up. almost forgot to take a pic of it! you can see it smashes the top of the pci bracket down nice and tight: it doesn't move at all.
ok well that is it! thanks for following along, i finally have the computer i want after about 3 years. this definitely won't be the last iteration of this design. i've already talked to dwood about making one out of plexi, with recessed screws or possibly even snap together. i also am looking into getting a closed loop cooler with both cpu and gpu blocks on the same loop so i dont have to stack rads. there is one out there, i just need to track it down and decide if it's worth taking this thing apart.
i may post some more pics of it on my desk to show my whole setup, but don't wait up, at my update pace it may take a while. if anyone wants the plans for this case or help building their own similar or not-similar sff case, i would be more than happy to share my knowledge and experiences.
also, if you are unaware of it, check out this awesome sff case currently in the works from wahaha360 and necere. they are great guys making a great case, and you may be interested in getting in once it's available for preorder. it is quite a bit bigger than mine though.
cheers!
here are some more view of everything most of the way put together.
just to the left of the top of the dvi plug you can see the discreet power button. no reset, no lights: STEALTH MACHINE.
i actually had to take this panel off and lengthen the holes for one of the fans. normal 120mm rad spacing puts the fans right next to each other, but if you do that then there isn't room for these fan filters. a rad will never go here but i didnt know i needed more room for the filters.
AND THE BIG REVEAL!
and here it is all fired up and working!
i dont know if this is clear enough to read, but with furmark and prime95 both running i get 71-74C on the cpu cores and 52C on the gpu. i figured in gaming the gpu will be loaded more than the cpu so i put its rad first, making it much cooler when both are being stressed. im not sure what those numbers are when gaming.
and here is the final piece of the case, close up. almost forgot to take a pic of it! you can see it smashes the top of the pci bracket down nice and tight: it doesn't move at all.
ok well that is it! thanks for following along, i finally have the computer i want after about 3 years.
this definitely won't be the last iteration of this design. i've already talked to dwood about making one out of plexi, with recessed screws or possibly even snap together. i also am looking into getting a closed loop cooler with both cpu and gpu blocks on the same loop so i dont have to stack rads. there is one out there, i just need to track it down and decide if it's worth taking this thing apart.i may post some more pics of it on my desk to show my whole setup, but don't wait up, at my update pace it may take a while. if anyone wants the plans for this case or help building their own similar or not-similar sff case, i would be more than happy to share my knowledge and experiences.
also, if you are unaware of it, check out this awesome sff case currently in the works from wahaha360 and necere. they are great guys making a great case, and you may be interested in getting in once it's available for preorder. it is quite a bit bigger than mine though.
cheers!
jojo69
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2009
- Messages
- 11,432
tight
A tad bigger but same concept...and far less work!
What are your temps? My CPU (2500k @ 4.5ghz) maxes at around 65C and my GPU (GTX 580 @ 1ghz) maxes around 70C (stress testing...gaming is around 65C). This is using some stock cheap ass fans though...plan to upgrade rather soon and hopefully make it quieter and cooler!
Either way, excellent work...love my little ITX water cooled system. Aren't they just the coolest?!
What are your temps? My CPU (2500k @ 4.5ghz) maxes at around 65C and my GPU (GTX 580 @ 1ghz) maxes around 70C (stress testing...gaming is around 65C). This is using some stock cheap ass fans though...plan to upgrade rather soon and hopefully make it quieter and cooler!
Either way, excellent work...love my little ITX water cooled system. Aren't they just the coolest?!
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dieseldog49
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2011
- Messages
- 1,132
Very nice man, I have been playing with the idea of a super small system for a while and I really like how you executed the concept.
well put. thanks!
A tad bigger but same concept...and far less work!
What are your temps? My CPU (2500k @ 4.5ghz) maxes at around 65C and my GPU (GTX 580 @ 1ghz) maxes around 70C (stress testing...gaming is around 65C). This is using some stock cheap ass fans though...plan to upgrade rather soon and hopefully make it quieter and cooler!
Either way, excellent work...love my little ITX water cooled system. Aren't they just the coolest?!
well probably 90% of the time was spent designing it in solidworks while watching tv, and its something i enjoy. putting it together once i got the panels took about 10 minutes. the size is about 8.6L measuring panel to panel, but jumps all the way to about 10.4L if you count the fan filters and the screw heads that each stick out almost 1/4". i would have liked to go smaller but to fit a high-end air-cooled gpu in an itx board pretty much makes the case these dimensions at a minimum. then i just fit everything else into the leftover space. i like this design because you can easily go all air, all water, or a mixture of both.
i posted a screenshot of the temps above when stress testing: 71-74C cpu and 52 gpu. i have not checked temps while gaming. i think the most demanding game i have installed right now is dead space 2 so not sure about gaming temps. i will check later and let you know. the scythe gentle typhoons are great, i recommend them for radiators. they just feel so much more solid than other fans and perform great. sff is definitely the coolest, i will never go back to a full tower.
thank you! i think this is the best layout for a tiny sff case no question. the only other option is to put the psu in the front and put the rad over the mobo but then you can only fit one rad and you have to route the power cable through the case which wastes space. if you ever want some help or advice or want to use my drawings just let me know.
thanks a ton! its been a long time coming, and it feels great to have it all put together and looking super sexy on my desk.
She loved E
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2012
- Messages
- 130
Nice job man! The new panels look great. Judging from the pics you are definitely at the inner size limit for watercooling.
I don't know if you're planning on it already but some little, tallish case feet would look really nice & get it up off the table. I think that would be a nice finishing touch to complement the exposed screws.
SLE
I don't know if you're planning on it already but some little, tallish case feet would look really nice & get it up off the table. I think that would be a nice finishing touch to complement the exposed screws.
SLE
Nice job man! The new panels look great. Judging from the pics you are definitely at the inner size limit for watercooling.
I don't know if you're planning on it already but some little, tallish case feet would look really nice & get it up off the table. I think that would be a nice finishing touch to complement the exposed screws.
SLE
SLE! glad to see you finally found your way to hardforum, my home.
i dont think i ever congratulated you on MOTM, so CONGRATS ON MOTM YOU BADASS MOFO YOU. hows compact splash running? (for anyone who hasnt seen, if you like SFF [or even if you dont] you need to check out his build here. it is awesome.)and thanks! yeah i think it turned out really well. i just couldnt go any smaller. if i made it a half inch shorter i wouldnt be able to get a card with the power on top, and if i made it any less deep i would have to give up the second radiator fan and would limit myself to video cards less than 11" (10.5" with the plugs on the end.) i wanted this to be as versatile as possible. i thought about case feet, but then decided i liked it how it is. feet would add a lot to the overall size of the case, and they arent necessary since this isnt going on carpet (its so small it fits on any desk) and there arent any air holes on the bottom that need more space. i ended up just putting tiny felt pads on one screw head on each corner on the bottom and those keep it from scratching my desk. i might switch them to rubber though to keep it from sliding so easily.
jojo69
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2009
- Messages
- 11,432
SLE
love the pic with the whole thing sitting inside a case
awesome!
love the pic with the whole thing sitting inside a case
awesome!
She loved E
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2012
- Messages
- 130
@ekuest - yeah i agree with you about keeping it as small as possible. Desktop's belong on the desk!
TY for the kind words... I've been using Compact Splash since the MOTM build and its working great. I'm not gonna stop tuning til I hit 5.0GHz! In the meantime its a really fun rig to work on, and since it's on the DESKTOP I can admire its beauty every day.
@ jojo - thank you too! ekuest's machine might fit inside mine lol.
TY for the kind words... I've been using Compact Splash since the MOTM build and its working great. I'm not gonna stop tuning til I hit 5.0GHz! In the meantime its a really fun rig to work on, and since it's on the DESKTOP I can admire its beauty every day.
@ jojo - thank you too! ekuest's machine might fit inside mine lol.
Brilliant build, as I've no modding tools, let alone experience with them, I was gonna go with the easy way out and just buy a SG05, but it's threads like yours that give me inspiration to build my own rig.
Only problem is that I'm a student on a gap year, so time, money - everything is very limited! I love how small your case was and it's basically the SG05 done right (I hope silverstone doesn't mind me saying that!).
I've spent roughly 2 evenings on reading worklogs and planning now and that stage sure is hard work! I love your idea of the rectangular blocks to connect the side panels up, I'm still thinking up ideas on what would be the best in terms of rigidity/case structure, minimum screw requirement as well as easiness to implement but of course first I have to design on a form factor! I've thought of doing the classic SG05 (what you did here), a horizontal tower (PSU on the side rather than on top of motherboard) and the Alienware X51 design but I just can't decide on which one as I've gotten them all pretty close volume wise!
Anyway, enough rambling, I'm glad your build turned out amazing in v2 and I'm sure your gf and you are glad to enjoy the beer pong table again.
Only problem is that I'm a student on a gap year, so time, money - everything is very limited! I love how small your case was and it's basically the SG05 done right (I hope silverstone doesn't mind me saying that!).
I've spent roughly 2 evenings on reading worklogs and planning now and that stage sure is hard work! I love your idea of the rectangular blocks to connect the side panels up, I'm still thinking up ideas on what would be the best in terms of rigidity/case structure, minimum screw requirement as well as easiness to implement but of course first I have to design on a form factor! I've thought of doing the classic SG05 (what you did here), a horizontal tower (PSU on the side rather than on top of motherboard) and the Alienware X51 design but I just can't decide on which one as I've gotten them all pretty close volume wise!
Anyway, enough rambling, I'm glad your build turned out amazing in v2 and I'm sure your gf and you are glad to enjoy the beer pong table again.
@ekuest - yeah i agree with you about keeping it as small as possible. Desktop's belong on the desk!
TY for the kind words... I've been using Compact Splash since the MOTM build and its working great. I'm not gonna stop tuning til I hit 5.0GHz! In the meantime its a really fun rig to work on, and since it's on the DESKTOP I can admire its beauty every day.
@ jojo - thank you too! ekuest's machine might fit inside mine lol.
yeah i used to overclock... it was a lot of fun until i got out of college and started making more money and having less free time. now i feel like the rewards for all that time spent fine tuning are higher power draw, more noise, higher cost/more space for cooling and less stability for a minor performance gain. now i prefer to just set a simple OC at stock voltage for my gaming rig, and an undervolt at stock clocks on my htpc/server. that said, i really want you to hit 5GHz! how close are you?
Brilliant build, as I've no modding tools, let alone experience with them, I was gonna go with the easy way out and just buy a SG05, but it's threads like yours that give me inspiration to build my own rig.
Only problem is that I'm a student on a gap year, so time, money - everything is very limited! I love how small your case was and it's basically the SG05 done right (I hope silverstone doesn't mind me saying that!).
I've spent roughly 2 evenings on reading worklogs and planning now and that stage sure is hard work! I love your idea of the rectangular blocks to connect the side panels up, I'm still thinking up ideas on what would be the best in terms of rigidity/case structure, minimum screw requirement as well as easiness to implement but of course first I have to design on a form factor! I've thought of doing the classic SG05 (what you did here), a horizontal tower (PSU on the side rather than on top of motherboard) and the Alienware X51 design but I just can't decide on which one as I've gotten them all pretty close volume wise!
Anyway, enough rambling, I'm glad your build turned out amazing in v2 and I'm sure your gf and you are glad to enjoy the beer pong table again.
yeah man do it! if you want a cheap AND easy way to build your case, talk to dwood on OCN. he thought of a cool way to do it if you can figure out a design that uses an external frame like mine. his idea was to ditch the corner brackets and just use 1/4" thick plexi on all sides. with 1/4" thick panels you can drill and tap the panels and screw the screws right into them. since my panels were only 1.7mm thick, they would have stripped if i would have tried to tap them. im not sure how expensive plexi is, but youd basically just have to pay for the material (a couple sq ft) and the laser cutting (a few minutes) and shipping. you can also choose from a multitude of colors with plexi instead of having to paint it, including clear/translucent panels. anyway send him a PM if youre interested and see what he can do and how much it would cost. he's also been working on snap together panels that dont even need screws!
also thanks for the compliment.
I'm working on a slim case similar in layout to the X51 completely out of aluminum. And I'm also looking at a flattened cube-style case like a chopped down SG05. I can make you one in junction with developing my prototypes if you're interested. They should be cool cases.Brilliant build, as I've no modding tools, let alone experience with them, I was gonna go with the easy way out and just buy a SG05, but it's threads like yours that give me inspiration to build my own rig.
Only problem is that I'm a student on a gap year, so time, money - everything is very limited! I love how small your case was and it's basically the SG05 done right (I hope silverstone doesn't mind me saying that!).
I've spent roughly 2 evenings on reading worklogs and planning now and that stage sure is hard work! I love your idea of the rectangular blocks to connect the side panels up, I'm still thinking up ideas on what would be the best in terms of rigidity/case structure, minimum screw requirement as well as easiness to implement but of course first I have to design on a form factor! I've thought of doing the classic SG05 (what you did here), a horizontal tower (PSU on the side rather than on top of motherboard) and the Alienware X51 design but I just can't decide on which one as I've gotten them all pretty close volume wise!
Anyway, enough rambling, I'm glad your build turned out amazing in v2 and I'm sure your gf and you are glad to enjoy the beer pong table again.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2002
- Messages
- 1,553
sick!!
yeah man do it! if you want a cheap AND easy way to build your case, talk to dwood on OCN. he thought of a cool way to do it if you can figure out a design that uses an external frame like mine. his idea was to ditch the corner brackets and just use 1/4" thick plexi on all sides. with 1/4" thick panels you can drill and tap the panels and screw the screws right into them. since my panels were only 1.7mm thick, they would have stripped if i would have tried to tap them. im not sure how expensive plexi is, but youd basically just have to pay for the material (a couple sq ft) and the laser cutting (a few minutes) and shipping. you can also choose from a multitude of colors with plexi instead of having to paint it, including clear/translucent panels. anyway send him a PM if youre interested and see what he can do and how much it would cost. he's also been working on snap together panels that dont even need screws!
also thanks for the compliment.
Eeek, it's already been one month!
That's an awesome idea that he thought of, that would definitely be much easier than the conventional case structures. I've settled on a slimline tower like thing (basically the X51 but less wasted space. Hoping to get it within 300mm height, 80mm width and 250mm depth which brings it exactly to 6L.
I'd be very interested in the first idea but I'm not sure I'm prepared to splash out for a custom made case.
I've seen an asetek cpu/gpu closed loop water cooler for $69+ shipping and any applicable sales tax, for Me that would be $87.19 delivered. But it's only technically for the GTX470/480/570/580 gpus Here and not for an AMD card, but considering You have a mount already that seems to work, I'd use the existing mount, good luck, nice looking case.ok here we go again. first up is me doing some stress testing. i put on a simulated side panel while leaving room for the fan controller knobs so i could get the fans set right where i want them.
[snip]
just to the left of the top of the dvi plug you can see the discreet power button. no reset, no lights: STEALTH MACHINE.
[snip]
i actually had to take this panel off and lengthen the holes for one of the fans. normal 120mm rad spacing puts the fans right next to each other, but if you do that then there isn't room for these fan filters. a rad will never go here but I didn't know i needed more room for the filters.
AND THE BIG REVEAL!
[snip]
i dont know if this is clear enough to read, but with furmark and prime95 both running i get 71-74C on the cpu cores and 52C on the gpu. i figured in gaming the gpu will be loaded more than the cpu so i put its rad first, making it much cooler when both are being stressed. im not sure what those numbers are when gaming.
and here is the final piece of the case, close up. almost forgot to take a pic of it! you can see it smashes the top of the pci bracket down nice and tight: it doesn't move at all.
ok well that is it! thanks for following along, i finally have the computer i want after about 3 years.
I may post some more pics of it on my desk to show my whole setup, but don't wait up, at my update pace it may take a while. If anyone wants the plans for this case or help building their own similar or not-similar sff case, i would be more than happy to share my knowledge and experiences.
Also, if you are unaware of it, check out this awesome sff case currently in the works from wahaha360 and necere. they are great guys making a great case, and you may be interested in getting in once it's available for preorder. it is quite a bit bigger than mine though.
cheers!
Last edited:
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hows this guy coming along? you have a build log or anything?
thank you, i agree! i gotta say this thing looks real good up there above my desk. funny thing is its about 1/4 the size of my sub that sits right next to it.
cool, got any drawings or 3D models of it yet?
thats the one! just bought one, gonna see how it stacks up against my rad sandwich. gonna be a pain in the ass to take everything apart and put it all back together, but i havent had this computer open for like a month and that just feels wrong. thanks!
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