Project: The Midget Rig (another x-qpack mod)

[rekojenasni_787]

Day 1:
i have seen votey's qpack mod and his work inspired me. just like votey, i hate to give up my dfi nf4 ultra-d. this rig will almost be similiar to votey's qpack. but what's different is that i want to be able to use two harddrives on my hd rack. according to votey's modded qpack, a portion of the hd rack needs to be cut in order for the video card to fit nicely. my plan is to reverse the mobo tray so the I/O faceplate faces to the right of the case. as i visualize this, it seems it would be much easier if done this way.

i plan to cut the support beam below the hd rack in order to fit my video card. also with a little bit trimming of the support beam and the mobo tray, i can make it rest on the metal part above the I/O plate. this way the hdd rack will have something to hold on to.

i will be using a zalman 7700cu to cool my cpu so height clearance is not a problem.

Day 2:
getting the motherboard to fit was alot easier than i thought!

i am looking to buy the enermax liberty 500w psu. smaller than the ocz and its modular for less cabling.

Day 3:
not much done today cause i had errands to do. changed pci brackets and added rear window.

 

[Ozone77]

Cool, another X-Qpac mod, only this time the ports are on the other side of the case.

I rather like these mods, I have a mATX board in the X-Qpac and it feels HUGE, slapping a full-sized ATX board is a better use of this case.

Reko, when you change the PSU, take some pix of the case without a PSU so we can see better how the mobo fits in there, thanks!

 

[Borgschulze]

The Powerstream is a bitch to hide the cables isn't it? Even in my Chieftec Matrix (Dragon with a different bezel) it's hard to hide them all...

 

[rekojenasni_787]

Cool, another X-Qpac mod, only this time the ports are on the other side of the case.

I rather like these mods, I have a mATX board in the X-Qpac and it feels HUGE, slapping a full-sized ATX board is a better use of this case.

Reko, when you change the PSU, take some pix of the case without a PSU so we can see better how the mobo fits in there, thanks!

here you go.

The Powerstream is a bitch to hide the cables isn't it? Even in my Chieftec Matrix (Dragon with a different bezel) it's hard to hide them all...

lol yea big time.

Day 4:
i/o port and pci bracket revision. taken from a full tower case and it fits nicely. i bolted it down to the chassis. now the chassis feels stiff and strong!

^i plan on adding 80mm fan in the front so my cpu will get all the cooling it needs!

 

[rekojenasni_787]

Day 5:
I cut out holes on the right side of the case cover for access to the i/o and the brackets.

Zalman 7700cu heatsink came today. Unfortunately it's not stable at 3ghz. Load temp is hitting 50+ celsius and thats without the case cover. I'm guessing the zalman is getting some heat from the hard drives. i will have to create a duct from the front to the cpu..

 

[Mr. Stryker]

Keep 'em coming.

Hope air conditioning at the dorms would help the temps. Oh, and winter.

 

[(cf)Eclipse]

Day 5:
I cut out holes on the right side of the case cover for access to the i/o and the brackets.

that plastic on the plexiglass? it looks kinda weird

stryker, mind my asking where you are this year?
2nd floor of bell for me

 

[rekojenasni_787]

Keep 'em coming.

Hope air conditioning at the dorms would help the temps. Oh, and winter.

thanks.

that plastic on the plexiglass? it looks kinda weird

stryker, mind my asking where you are this year?
2nd floor of bell for me

its to keep the plexi scratch free!

UPDATE: 3ghz @ 1.46v stable! Now i need to figure out the air circulation to bring my temps down.

Another update... typical blonde moment: the zalman fan was using the 5v line for quietness. now it is using the 12v line for full speed! load temp: 48-49c avg. not too bad.

 

[Votey]

Yes... YES!!!

Excellent work.

I think once you get the case cover put on, your temps will go down; that thing will be like a wind tunnel.

 

[rekojenasni_787]

Yes... YES!!!

Excellent work.

I think once you get the case cover put on, your temps will go down; that thing will be like a wind tunnel.

hahaha wind tunnel... i sure hope the temps will go down! the enermax liberty psu will arrive here monday or tuesday.

 

[rekojenasni_787]

Final Day:
the psu arrived! cable management is a difficult task in this one! one of these day i will have to shorten the length of the wires.

The Midget Rig Specifications:
Enermax Liberty 500w
DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D
AMD Opteron 146 - 3.0ghz @ 1.46v w/ Zalman 7700cu
G.Skill 2x1gb DDR500
eVGA 7800GT 256mb w/ Zalman vf700
SB Audigy 2 ZS
250gb WD 2500KS
300gb Maxtor MaxLine III
Samsung DVD Writer

Idle:

Load: