Steeps' Trashed, but almost silent shuttle

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 16:39

ok, this project has been going on forever! and as it is my gaming/working rig i kinda still need it, so permanently dismantling it has not been an option.

i'll edit this text and add more pics later, aswell as adding pics to the thread as i go along.

things that i have done:

salvaged a sb75g2 case to work with (spare backup one incase i kill it)
replaced northbridge cooler with a zalman
replaced ICE cooler with an xp120 and akasa amber
mutilated ice cooler to fit on graphics card
didn't like the fitting of it to my graphics card so bought a new bracket
re-mutilated ice cooler to fit
mutilated PSU to take a single 80mm fan

still need to do:
mutilate psu further for cabling
fix psu in place
fix hard disk in place
do something about venting, or find a new lid

total cost:
xp120 and fan: 35
zalman nb: 7
new bracket for gfxcard: 17
new fan for psu: 5

total cost £54
total hours on thought and doing: too many

to show that i treat shuttles cruelly this is how it used to look like

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 16:40

ok i seem to have lost some of my images, so i will start off with as far as i got in the summer

here we see in full action how BIG the xp120 is inside a shuttle

closeup of the zalman heatsink on the NB, had to dismantle the clip system from the old one to fit it, works great!

this is a pic of what i am hoping to do with the ICE, use it to cool the gfxcard

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 16:41

another view of what i'm doing to the ICE, but the base needs to be flipped round

taking apart the PSU's to see which would be easier to work with, as both are just as messy i decided to stay with the 250w

after having issues with the ICE cooler, including breaking 2 drill pieces and a few other parts, also i didn't want to play with an angle grinder, i managed to source a new block that would mount heatpipes to the card

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 16:42

ICE's are the most FUN things to take apart! (not)

old iceberq4 off, new ICE on! not pasted yet as i'm still testing its strength etc

heatpipes bent by hand... felt like i was going to snap them

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 16:44

graphics card in the shuttle, seeing how it fits

top down view

showing where the PSU will go, fan pulls air from the NB/RAM and pushes it out of the sides

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 16:48

topdown view, yes the psu looks off center, but thats because my wireless unit is in the way, will have to move it elsewhere

hard disk sitting on top of the psu, i am aware of where the power connector is, and i will need to change its location, will be doing that when i am ready to finish off the project

side view looking at the ICE and PSU, can just see the northbridge in there

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 18:22

other side view, need to get a 12v extender cable, and hack up the psu more to move wires around

case lid fits on!

almost. just have to sort out the cables and it will be fine.

Steeps · 30 Dec 2005 at 18:52

that's all i've got for now, i'm still testing layouts but as this is my main rig i've had to reassemble it to use it. any comments and suggestions are welcome, and i will try to answer any questions. hoping to get it done by easter.

when it is finished the case will have 1x 120mm amber fan running at 5 volts and one papst 80mm fan running at 7 volts (i want the psu to stay cooler) the only real noise i can hear now is the hard disk spinning, which is a samsung spinpoint. once its all enclosed it should be next to silent

Steeps · 31 Dec 2005 at 01:06

i always leave my psu's unpowered for 24hr before taking lids off, they're not dangerous as long as you don't touch anything

temps were often around 40's for the cpu (when clocked) but sitting on a 5v fan in a warm toom i'm getting about 30'c according to bios (not clocked). having the lowest temperature is not my priority, the target is to get the whole shuttle as close to silent as i can without losing performance and able to have the casing on. all i have lost from the design is the cd rom drive, however i do have space for a slimline one if i really wanted.

Steeps · 1 Jan 2006 at 01:44

nope, cpu takes half the space of where the psu goes

Steeps · 2 Jan 2006 at 19:12

i found the 250w psu just about powerful for my system, the 200w unit looks nice but i don't know how well it would perform with my P4. suppose i am only using a 9600xt when its finished.

i'm not worried about the single fan, i'd probably take it out and cut another 80mm hole in it if it fits

Steeps · 3 Jan 2006 at 01:38

it didn't seem like a good idea at first because i'm currently using my x800xt in here until i get my replacement a64 motherboard back. found one on the bay but i think i will give it some time. (saw a 300w psu on there too which was tempting)

Steeps · 3 Jan 2006 at 21:22

i struggled to get a 10% overclock on the cpu and gfxcard with the standard 250w psu, but with a 460w psu i used when taking apart the other i got 20% stable out of the cpu and graphics card. suppose i won't be overclocking it though

Steeps · 25 Jan 2006 at 07:40

i can't believe how STUPID i am!

* i need to format my main shuttle (one shown in project) but trying to backup a 300gb raid is a little trickier than i thought, got 2 more identical hard disks to play with, but no s-ata ports to play with.
* need to build a media centre, already got the parts for it, just need to up an OS and install (now that i have my ram and a graphics card for it)
* need to backup my laptop so i can send it all for repair.
* still chasing motherboard for my gaming rig

so i'm stressing over all this stuff... and the obvious has JUST HIT ME after 4 months! (i'm blond, i'm allowed to be slow)

it was right in front of me too! i already have a flippin sb75 which was going to be my media centre!

new plan of action:
swap processor in main rig from 3.0 to 2.6
swap heatsink back to the ICE in main rig
swap power supply back to the standard one
hard disks can sit in caddy and stay cooler + stable

install new equipment into new shuttle
attach new hard disks
finish off 9600xt
hopefully mod PSU ready......

so what does all this mean?
it means i have been sitting here worrying about my data that i haven't been modding, and not doing my media station... and not backing up... because i wanted to get this finished but i could just install it into the new cage now and get it all over and done with!

can't do anything now until mid february but the next pics you will see will be 2 completely gutted sb75's transferring hardware.

i love this so much!!

Steeps · 1 Mar 2006 at 02:01

bit of an update, swapped over rigs and using a geforce2 with a lawnmower fan so i could have the lid back on

after reading about 140mm fans in a thread on case central i had a bit of an inspiring thought. i need to get airflow in the case, to the cpu, gpu, northbridge and PSU. the xp120 can take a large fan but needs a bit of air, cannot pull it all in itself. the gpu can use the same fan as the cpu (which was intended from the start) but it's in an awkward place. the PSU needs its own source of air too, but only about 10cfm.

all this can be done with one 140mm fan mounted in the top!

here we can see the PSU sitting on top of the xp120, with still enough flow able to get to cool it. an 80mm hole is already included, however i will make it bigger and put a non restrictive mesh over it so the PSU can get a lot of air

view from the side... lots of silver!

looking down on the top, with a 120mm fan sitting where the 140mm would. i need to cut a big hole!

Steeps · 9 Mar 2006 at 10:54

if i had the time to do it i'd have done it by now

currently trying to find the best way of cutting a rather large hole in the case which already has a 92mm hole from a previous blowhole, then all i've got left is to butcher the PSU more, extend some wires, and mount a hard drive in the mess somewhere

Steeps · 4 May 2006 at 12:27

walking through town i came across the 140mm fan in a shopwindow, checked it out and it is the right one, not a bad price either.

just got the badboy home, put it on a fan controller and i can't believe how quiet it is at stock! wish it pushed a bit more air, i won't be lowering it below 12v as i want quite a bit of air in the system

this is it sitting on top of a shuttle, fits inside fine

need to find a new hard disk, or format another so i can finish it off, still need to do the work on the psu though

Steeps · 6 May 2006 at 05:39

according to the back of the box:

54.7 CFM
1000RPM
19.6 db
at 12v

it looks like it only just turns at 5v, can still feel a bit of air, and i can't judge yet how quiet it is because the system i tested it on is around 28db at the moment

it is 20mm/30mm thick as stated above

Steeps · 24 Jun 2006 at 03:34

ITS ALIVE!!!!!

when did i buy this shuttle? about a year ago and its finally got an OS on it for the first time stable (crashed before, thought it was a dead shuttle

)

pics of it testing on my desk so far:

please excuse the mess, still in the process of sorting it all out

moved the custom made GPU cooler to my GF2 lawnmower as i needed the 9600 to play freelancer with

pic of my other shuttle and tower happily running

still to do:

* buy some ram for my gaming rig so each shuttle can have 1gb instead of sharing
* cut up psu to fit
* cut up casing for fans
* sort out what graphics card to use, so many options!