Ork Fusion - SN41G2 Llano Refit

ian54

ian54

ian54

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This is a real simple project, inspired by others, put here as an reference in the hope it might help someone.

My trusty Shuttle SN41G2 was a good semi-portable gaming machine in it's day, but the ITG performance has long since whittled down to "minecraft" level, and even maxed out with an Athlon XP 2800+ and using a FX5200 AGP card (fanless), it can't cope with modern games.

I still have a yearning for ITG, looking at the Intel HD2000/3000 didn't yield much hope, but the AMD Llano range gave me an idea.

The kids love Dawn Of War, so I got the bargain package from Steam including DoW II, but haven't been able to play it on this or any of their "pocket calculator" Dell Laptops. It seems to be a power hungry monster for a simple RTS game.

So, Project Ork Fusion was born, to refit something into the ageing Shuttle, that must be (a) cheap and (b) use as many of the original parts as possible.

Purchases

1x AMD A4-3400 CPU
1x AsRock A75M-ITX Motherboard
1x SATA III 500Gb HDD
1x SATA DVD/RW
1x 20 to 24 pin power lead converter
1x 4 pin power lead extension

Using existing 2x 2Gb PC1600 OCZ RAM

So, one empty Shuttle SN41G2 chassis, now devoid of innards and 8 years of dust:
sn41g2010case1.jpg

sn41g2011case2.jpg


The PSU, not the original, but a replacement 250W silent version when the original popped one day:
sn41g2015psu.jpg


I had no intention of using the slot for a card, relying on the ITG, so I decided to use an existing riser, which meant using the trusty Dremel to saw off one riser in the way, and re-using the original CPU heatsink risers to form the other three:
sn41g2020risers.jpg


The traditional sawing off the rear panel:
sn41g2022rearcutout.jpg


The motherboard fits nice and solid:
sn41g2031mobo1.jpg


The rear is okay but very open, and the connectors have no support, got to be careful plugging things in (even the audio):
sn41g2033rear.jpg


One CPU, I am using the stock cooler which is quite low profile:
sn41g2040cpu.jpg


Now for a test, hopefully the foam is non-conductive:
sn41g2051testing1.jpg


Working!
sn41g2052testing2.jpg


The drive tray, with DVD/RW, Card Reader and HDD:
sn41g2055drivetray.jpg


The PSU was a close fit, I had to remove the cooler to slot it in, it's about 2-3mm from the RAM and the power lead converter just about folds under it, the PSU is very secure so no chance it can fall:
sn41g2061psufit.jpg


The original rear fan, in its housing, which would have held the original heatsink, could still fit, but the very short lead meant it had to be turned 90 deg to reach, it has become CPU Fan #2.
sn41g2066fans.jpg


I tried using the original internal leads, the Front Panel and Audio FP were fine but the Front USB lead was about 10mm too short!
sn41g2061usbleadshort.jpg


The original PSU had a double SATA connector but one plug was broken so I had to use a molex-SATA converter, temporarily extracted from another build.

The finished product, the nice thing about the Shuttle chassis is there are lots of routes to wire around neatly, it looks crammed but there is plenty of space:
sn41g2101finish1.jpg


The thick black wire is from the Card Reader, to the internal USB connector:
sn41g2103finish3.jpg


The rear is too exposed, part two will have to be modifying the IO shield to cover it up and provide support:
sn41g2102finish2.jpg


The rear fan is very noisy, I may replace it with a spare 120mm I have.

Installing Windows XP on this took longer than building it ! I had to slipstream SP2 into my install to get it to recognise the 500Gb HDD, and the network drivers didn't work properly, but eventually Windows XP SP3 and Steam and DoW II were running happily at 30 FPS at 1280x1050 recommended settings (which is quite high on most of them), currently held up on Games For Windows Live before I can get a game going.
 
joxang said:
Go make your own build log. OP's build actually seems neat and functional whereas I wouldn't like to run anything more taxing than a Word document on yours for fear it might catch fire :p.
Click to expand...

The OP actually posted pictures of his build in my thread first. The comment about his build being cramped does not consider the original parts in a standard non-modified Shuttle. The new build actually is less cramped due to the smaller motherboard. The standard SN41G2 is actually more cramped but these last for years.

If you want to see a fire risk then see the mods for fitting G80 based 8800GTS and 8800GTX cards into similar sized Shuttle cases!! Many of them also shoe-horned 5.25" bay supplementary PSUs into the case too!! :p At least one chap has shoe-horned a GTX590(the outside of the case was cut off too),a 250W 5.25" PSU,an i7 920 and a Velociraptor HDD into a slightly larger H7 case. There are plenty of SG05 and Q07 mods which jam pack them with components.

Anyway,I had tidied up the inside a bit more soon after that(actually bothered to re-route the cabling and attach the SSD properly). A Core i3 2100 and HD5850 1GB do not run hot and consume much power. Under sustained load all the parts were within safe temperatures and that was at a LAN for a couple of days.
 
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ian54 said:
The rear fan is very noisy, I may replace it with a spare 120mm I have.
Click to expand...

A 120MM fan will fit inside a G5 case barely with a reasonable amount of cutting:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/7995/img2081b.jpg

The stock 80MM fan is very noisy and I remember replacing it with a Panaflo unit and it was isolated using a rubber gasket and screws. I would look at replacing the 80MM fan with a decent unit using ball bearings. Some people cut out the mesh at the back to enable better airflow for the ICE fan.

An alternative is to ditch the shroud entirely and consider modding the case to fit a 92MM rear fan. The Shuttle G5 used a 92MM fan.

You mentioned the stock fan was quite loud too. It might be worth considering the Scythe Shuriken,Scythe Shuriken BIG coolers or Scythe Kozuti. However,this tower cooler might fit:

http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?...coolers&type_sub=Retail cooler&model=AK-920-2

Here is a review:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2069&page=4
 
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Thanks for kind comments, so far I've had way more problems getting DoW2 and it's cr*ppy GfWL running than the hardware side.

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
What height is the cooler??
Click to expand...

Stock cooler is about 40mm high off the CPU.

shamzzz said:
Looks like a really tight squeeze! How come theres no I/O plate?
Click to expand...

It was tight between the PSU and the RAM beneath, and the cooler beside it, just pot luck they all fitted. I was going to use the IO shield but it would interfere with the case screws and PSU plug socket.

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
An alternative is to ditch the shroud entirely and consider modding the case to fit a 92MM rear fan.
Click to expand...

Too right, I found a 92mm fan as well and it would probably fit a lot better, the shroud just takes up unnecessary room. I just need some of those little rubber gromits.

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
You mentioned the stock fan was quite loud too. It might be worth considering the Scythe Shuriken,Scythe Shuriken BIG coolers or Scythe Kozuti. However,this tower cooler might fit
Click to expand...

I lied, the stock fan isn't too bad, it's the rear fan making all the noise. Nevertheless I'd like to replace the stock cooler as well but the example you've given faces sideways, I'd assume I'd ideally need a fan "in series" with the rear.

I stripped a Dell desktop the other day and found it uses a plastic shroud connecting the rear fan to the CPU heatsink, maybe a similar arrangement for a rear facing fan and build a little "wind tunnel" to the back grille ?
 
ian54 said:
Stock cooler is about 40mm high off the CPU.
Click to expand...

Thanks.That is very useful information. It means the A4 cooler will fit in many cases.

ian54 said:
I lied, the stock fan isn't too bad, it's the rear fan making all the noise. Nevertheless I'd like to replace the stock cooler as well but the example you've given faces sideways, I'd assume I'd ideally need a fan "in series" with the rear.

I stripped a Dell desktop the other day and found it uses a plastic shroud connecting the rear fan to the CPU heatsink, maybe a similar arrangement for a rear facing fan and build a little "wind tunnel" to the back grille ?
Click to expand...

It is posssible that the vertical cooler I suggest could be employed in the same fashion as the ICE fan if it fits. However,if you configure the fan on the Shuriken or the Shuriken BIG to blow upwards it might work better in your case. The Kozuti fan cannot be reversed due to its design.
 
Eventually got GfWL working, but now I have an issue with certain games locking up after a few minutes play, I suspect it is the RAM, so that may need to be changed, which means disassembling half the system again :(
 
Changed memory to some Kingston HyperX 1600 which are even closer fit, and changed the fan to a 92mm, more space inside, also got hold of some internal USB connectors which has enabled the front panel sockets.

sn41g2202fan2.jpg


Problem is despite the memory on the compatibility list for the mobo, I still get in game lock ups, and I've tried all the Catalyst driver from 11.6 onwards to no avail. Perhaps Windows XP is just too old for this setup and I am now thinking of Windows 7.

The system runs really nice and cool at 34.
 
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Windows 7 Professional 64-bit seems to have done the trick, obviously the Catalyst drivers for Windows XP are not sufficient. Now running all the games I need and at good quality, albeit on a 1280x1024 resolution. Dawn of War II is alive, Project Ork Fusion is finally a success !
 
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