[n00d]: the Caseless PC Project

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:50

Don't know if this is the right forum to post a mod project, but anyway... here's a 'rough as guts' ghetto mod that I threw together over the past few days just for fun.

MDF motherboard tray with wall plugs for standoffs:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:50

Thumbscrews to hold it in place while I worked:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:51

Scruffy lapping job, only 45 minutes' work:

Have to smooth it properly some day, but that'll do for now:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:51

Not much room for the HDDs here:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:51

Improvised shelf:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:52

HDDs hang from coat hooks on flip side of motherboard tray; red tape indicates system drive:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:53

Added card reader & DVD ROM with velcro tape:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 02:53

Squeezed in another 120mm Noctua to finish the job:

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 04:52

Lekti said:
I cringed at the thought of what will happen if that DVD ROM Un-velcro's itself >_<

Heheh, no fear of that, I've used this stuff before and you could swing an elephant from it.

Nice project tho! ^^

Thanks. My case is a Lian Li PC-A05B. Lovely piece of kit but an absolute dust magnet. I'm hoping this setup won't have the same problem. I know it looks right shonky, but it's very strong and the shelf is perfectly level.

Jegethy said:
Should probably be posted here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=126

Cheers.

Mods, feel free to move this thread.

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 05:32

TigerUK said:
dude, why???

Mainly for fun, but also to see if it'll pick up less dust than my Lian Li case. And if I ever get serious enough to do it properly, I will have had a bit of practice.

When I clicked on the thread I was imagining a nice passive build with mega large heatsinks, that would keep the components cool and open air allow fresh cool air to disapitate the heat

Good grief no, this is a 2-day ghetto job for teh lulz. I just threw together some stuffs I had lying about the place.

This case reminds me of a "silent" diy case I once saw where the guy built his own trolly case made from wood and padded with insulating foam inside.

It must've be like an oven inside with all the heat insulating material inside.

The wood in there is going to insulate the heat. You need metal.

Fair point, but I only had MDF at the time. What would you recommend? Maybe a piece of 3mm aluminium?

TigerUK said:
need to improe your carpentering skills

Tell me something I don't know.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article237-page1.html

Very impressive, but I notice that was 7 years ago! He'd be hard pressed to get those temps with a modern rig.

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 08:48

ZZZAC said:
wait.... i see a icute psu
this is a magical moment...
hows it treating you?
i had one and people kept telling me it was a firework not a psu, but its still running strong and has seen gtx 280 sli on its 850watts

Well spotted!

700W model (AP-700AS). Bought it at [UK PC hardware vendor] about 3 and a half years ago while waiting for an RMA on my 3 month old 520W Corsair, how ironic is that? :rolleyes:

Installed the new Corsair when it arrived, but swapped the iCute back in again about a year ago to experiment with a dual gfx setup (GTX 460 with 9800 GTX+ for PhysX) because I thought I might need more power.

Changed my mind about dual gfx, but the iCute has been rock solid since day one so I kept it in and haven't looked back. Cable management is better than Corsair and the cables not only look better (proper braiding!) but feel better as well. Corsair's cables seem cheap and plasticky by comparison, and I keep expecting them to break when they're folded.

So yeah, the iCute has been very good to me. Surprisingly quiet, too.

PC is currently idling at 35°C. Reaches 45 under modest load. Would exceed 50°C under stress. I think this is fairly reasonable considering it's the middle of summer and my room doesn't have aircon, so I am at the mercy of ambient temperature.

Sankari · 24 Jan 2012 at 23:08

It's not so bad, my bedroom is directly opposite this one and it has a great reverse cycle aircon, so if I need cool air I turn it on and open both doors.

Sankari · 28 Jan 2012 at 13:24

iCute gets a lot of flack for not being a high profile brand, but I reckon that's more to do with sticker envy than anything else. IMHO you'd be hard pressed to find any critic who has actually bought an iCute that failed.

I have seen some good reviews for them. They're obviously not in the same league as Enermax or Corsair, but I wouldn't call them a yumcha brand either. In my experience they score well on performance, build quality and general reliability. You can remove all the cables from a modular iCute (unlike my 520W modular Corsair) and the lifetime warranty is a big drawcard.

Put it this way, I would sooner buy an iCute than a Hiper!