ccRicers

Things are happening.
 
Only 3 prototypes down so far, but it's clear after only a couple of trial runs that it's super effective. The amount of heat coming out the controller ports when stress testing, is impressive. I can imagine that swirling around inside the case...eugh.
 

 

 

 
Modifications so far include making sure the ports are accessible, and also widening it by about 10mm, to line up with a planned new shroud for the rest of the GPU. The fins at the sides of the cooler are really choked ATM so hopefully I can open them up just a tiny bit.
 
But I'm kind of stalling on the first test for that shroud... because it's a 9 hour print 💀💀💀

Some work is still being done with this build, but progress has been slow because not a lot of new parts have been ordered yet. I did receive my laptop cooler, though, and it seems like it will work great. Its fan is the same diameter as the stock fan, but it won't be usable without an adapter, because the pins are a slightly smaller pitch. I'll probably stick with the stock fan.
 
I have measured the hole spacing of both the motherboard and laptop heatsinks, and with that I designed an adapter piece that will act as a spacer with the CPU to support the new heatsink.
 

Here's a render showing a mock placement of the parts inside a roughly shaped shell (bottom piece). The battery management board will go underneath the cooler, where the heat from the MOSFETs can be pulled away with the fan.
 

 
I also got some 4-pin Picoblade cables to use with the internal USB headers of the board.



 
One of the headers will be used for the screen. I soldered the wires to a USB micro connector as a replacement for the bulky USB cable that came with it.
And it's a success, the screen powers on with the new cable. I don't think the data wires are necessary for this screen, but for completeness I soldered them too. Now I just need to get a ribbon HDMI cable to completely reduce the clutter.
 

 
Next is the new heatsink. Here's a mockup of the heatsink placement with some very roughly placed aluminum pieces (totaling approx. 4mm in height) as a proof of concept with setting the heatsink. First with the heatsink only:
 

 
Then I slapped on the aluminum pieces with some thermal paste to line up the height to where the spacer would be.
 

 
This clearly isn't adequate for actual use. The metal is rough with a brushed finish and the heatsink isn't secured to anything. Not to mention the fan can't reach the fins to blow out the heat. But I was curious to see how well that heatpipe would draw away the heat. So I booted it up, to the BIOS.
 
Here's the actual system running with the rush job heatsink. The CPU temperature on the BIOS was 57C and climbing up to 65C. Yes it's on the hotter side but at least it works. I'm looking forward to see what actual performance temps are when I get the proper cooler setup done.
 

 
Making the spacer and getting the screws to attach everything with the cooler is my next priority. It's not clear from the pics, but the profile is indeed narrower. I have reduced it by about 5mm compared to the stock cooler 🙂

Some work is still being done with this build, but progress has been slow because not a lot of new parts have been ordered yet. I did receive my laptop cooler, though, and it seems like it will work great. Its fan is the same diameter as the stock fan, but it won't be usable without an adapter, because the pins are a slightly smaller pitch. I'll probably stick with the stock fan.
 
I have measured the hole spacing of both the motherboard and laptop heatsinks, and with that I designed an adapter piece that will act as a spacer with the CPU to support the new heatsink.
 

Here's a render showing a mock placement of the parts inside a roughly shaped shell (bottom piece). The battery management board will go underneath the cooler, where the heat from the MOSFETs can be pulled away with the fan.
 

 
I also got some 4-pin Picoblade cables to use with the internal USB headers of the board.



 
One of the headers will be used for the screen. I soldered the wires to a USB micro connector as a replacement for the bulky USB cable that came with it.
And it's a success, the screen powers on with the new cable. I don't think the data wires are necessary for this screen, but for completeness I soldered them too. Now I just need to get a ribbon HDMI cable to completely reduce the clutter.
 

 
Next is the new heatsink. Here's a mockup of the heatsink placement with some very roughly placed aluminum pieces (totaling approx. 4mm in height) as a proof of concept with setting the heatsink. First with the heatsink only:
 

 
Then I slapped on the aluminum pieces with some thermal paste to line up the height to where the spacer would be.
 

 
This clearly isn't adequate for actual use. The metal is rough with a brushed finish and the heatsink isn't secured to anything. Not to mention the fan can't reach the fins to blow out the heat. But I was curious to see how well that heatpipe would draw away the heat. So I booted it up, to the BIOS.
 
Here's the actual system running with the rush job heatsink. The CPU temperature on the BIOS was 57C and climbing up to 65C. Yes it's on the hotter side but at least it works. I'm looking forward to see what actual performance temps are when I get the proper cooler setup done.
 

 
Making the spacer and getting the screws to attach everything with the cooler is my next priority. It's not clear from the pics, but the profile is indeed narrower. I have reduced it by about 5mm compared to the stock cooler 🙂

A mini 7" IPS screen for a mini project
 

 

A mini 7" IPS screen for a mini project
 

 

Lego ISS as a nice thing to display on my Desk and to fill in empty space and Samsung 860 EVO SSD for the PlayStation 3 which I'm getting for free:


@Spider Man It's building time ! 

Yeah, I think I will go that route. Turn it into a handheld mini PC like GPD Win 3 and Aya Neo. Just with older hardware. It's no Vega, but the iGPU should be able to handle most PC games around 5 years or older fairly well with 600p and 720p screen resolutions on the small screen.
 
This form factor means there's now the added challenge of integrating physical controller buttons into the case and have it be detected as a XInput device. I will achieve this with a tiny Arduino board that stays powered on with USB.

Now getting to the more fun part- coming up with a case design. That's going to be the main focus of this build. I had postponed it earlier because I did not have most of the parts yet to make accurate measurements to design the case around.

Why would we flame you?
 
It might not be the fastest PC on the planet but its still a PC, welcome to the master race 😄
 
Theoretically you could drop a 3770K in it for a pretty big performance increase.

To me the handheld systems have always been more interesting and unique. You could always still use a BT keyboard if you need to. Going that route you might want a kickstand in the back though

Reviewing the mini monitor and some graphics tests
 
I have now received the monitor. I've already used it several times just to test it out and see how to navigate on Windows and Linux on such a small screen.
 
https://imgur.com/a/fGbGMFt
 

 
The monitor really is quite thin at 9mm. It's still not a touch screen panel but adding one should not add more than 1 or 2mm to the profile.
 

 
The casing is all metal. Two pieces, one solid piece that is milled out with screw holes and openings, and a metal sheet screwed onto the back. There's one good reason it's not plastic and you'll see why.
 

 
This just needs 4 Philips screws to remove the back. Control board is on the right, with a nice, slim profile, and the monitor buttons are on the left. There is a thermal pad (top right of the speakers) that sits above the main IC of the board when closed. This IC uses the back metal side as a heatsink.
 
If I were to completely remove the monitor from its casing I will need to use a different heatsink to stick on the IC, because the monitor does get warm to the touch when in use.
 
The picture is very clear, great viewing angles given that it's an IPS panel. 1024 x 600 pixels look really crisp in a 7" screen. Just don't expect a smartphone quality panel here, it's still a LCD not a AMOLED. It was hard to take good pictures as it's so bright it just washes everything else out. While the monitor options let you change the brightness, contrast, and color balance, there doesn't seem to be a way to adjust the brightness of the backlight. It's always this intense.
 

 

 
I have gotten two Samsung 4GB RAM sticks now, so the benchmark score is with dual-channel RAM.
 
Samsung 2133 MHz DDR4 SODIMM 4GB x2 - $22
Total - $239
 
The speakers were pretty disappointing, however. When plugged into the wall, the monitor speakers didn't sound that loud even at maximum volume. Still hard to hear some things in media players where you can push its maximum past 100%. I also have plugged in the monitor's USB power to one of the USB ports of the computer. The manual doesn't suggest it, but it does power the monitor fine (I have measured 5W powering it at the wall).
 
When it's powered by USB, the speakers begin to buzz and crackle in a matter of minutes. Could be from ground loop interference. I guess this is why the manual doesn't mention plugging it to one of the USB ports of the computer.
 
I may have to unplug the speakers for this build and figure out what I'll have to do for sound. There are better speakers for small DIY projects but they can also draw more power, and I'll have to be mindful of that in a battery-powered setup.

I haven't had this computer in a while but I can upload and share the STL files to print when I have some extra time. I also gotta remember where I kept those project files 😅

Followed! This looks fascinating 

nice to see you made effort to design and build a case and system, it always nice to see what people come up with and can do.
one thing i think you could have saved a lot of space is why not go for M.2 nvme drives to save space, save cables. 
also for the screws used, if the panels were a little thicker you could have recessed them using "cap head" machine screws a little like Parvum do with there cases. 
 
apart from that looks like a nice little PC, not sure about good enough for LAN party because the space limits the high end performing components, but for sure a student going to college or university, or for office work etc with some mild gaming if needed yes it looks good. 
 
 

A while back I first heard about the LattePanda Alpha and it's an interesting little SoC machine that can be gaming-capable and is actually in reach for many potential buyers. While the prospect of eGPU is very interesting (some even pairing up with a Titan to truly test its bottlenecks), I find more interest adapting it into a handheld form factor. The LP Alpha is more out of my budget, and so are the GPD Wins and the OneGX1, so I want to see what I can accomplish under $400, with some decent gaming performance. This budget should include the computer itself, additional hardware, case, and power management.
 
I chose a 6th generation Intel NUC with Iris graphics. I wouldn't be the first to make a portable system out of a NUC- that was done already with Project Scout, and it serves as one of my inspirations.

The form factor is going to be a 7-to-8 inch netbook, or like those mini gaming laptops that seem to be getting more popular. That will probably be the biggest driving factor to how much I will need to DIY for the design. And when I build custom PCs I also like building custom cases. So here we are.
 
To make it a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC), it needs the following:
Built-in controls Screen Batteries A ton of handheld Pi-based systems already exist but rarely do I see ones based on a NUC so I think that would be a nice challenge to do.

Here's a render of what you can expect for the parts layout to be like inside its case.
 

 
First is the PC itself, the Intel NUC6i5SYK. Its CPU is a few generations old, but I got it because of the low price. Its iGPU is noticeably better HD integrated graphics most of its CPUs have. Maybe I will upgrade later to a Minisforum PC, Asus P50 or something like it for the Ryzen goodness. But for now this will do.
 
NUC6i5SYK - $181 after tax
 
This is probably the smallest desktop computer I've owned, as I don't buy a lot of single-board computers. The aluminum case is sturdy and makes it feel heavy for its size.
 

 
I went out to the nearest computer store to buy a DDR4 laptop DIMM in a pinch because I didn't have any. The cheapest RAM is some brand I don't recognize, Neo Forza, and the ram modules are by GoldKey. I actually took a gamble with this RAM because it's not on Intel's certified vendor list, but it did boot up properly.
 

 

First I booted with Kubuntu 20 on live USB, and quickly ran some Unigine benchmarks. Heaven is more taxing on the iGPU than Valley but I am satisfied with how well it ran on 1280x720, one of the resolutions I'm targeting. And that is just with single-channel RAM. I will replace this later with dual-channel RAM so I can get better performance.
 
For now, I think the next step is how to add battery power. Either I could go with Li-ion or Li-polymer cells. This NUC can take in a wide voltage input of 12V to 19V, so that makes power setup a bit easier.
I will go over power settings on the BIOS to see how I can make the PC more energy efficient, but in stock settings the benchmarks draw up to 35W at the wall. A 3000 mAh pack at 14.8V- a typical voltage for cell in 4-series- can theoretically last up to 44.4 watt-hours (not counting loss of efficiency). 3500 mAh would net around 50. Something like this DIY uninterrupted power supply.
 
Alternatively, I could use a lower-voltage cell and a step up converter.
 
The UPS part comes with being able to recharge with a power source and disconnecting it so it runs on battery while the barrel plug to the NUC stays connected. It's still possible to bypass the battery circuit completely to make the NUC use its own power supply as normal, though this requires turning off the unit.

Another major part for this build is the display. It needs its own small display to be a handheld unit, right? There are many 7" touch screen IPS displays mainly designed for Raspberry Pi and general purpose use. They are all similar but with subtle differences in ports and circuit layout. Lamentably, all of these are not slim enough to fit in my project. It was hard to find the thickness of these displays, but a few listed in the specs as 15mm including the ports. I settled for a non-touch display because it was at a good price ($33), and in a thinner case. Plus, it has built-in speakers!   UPerfect 7 inch IPS display - $36
Total cost - $217     The resolution is 1024x600 which is reasonable for this small size. While I could just get a bare 7" display with control board, all the boards I've seen for these displays are too bulky for my needs and take up too much room that would used better for power or cooling.

I will add a touch screen overlay later on. By this time I would work on a custom frame for the screen anyways, so that the overlay fits with the screen.  

This has been a long going design process. I began working on this years ago but haven’t come around to do it. This has had some benefits, some parts have become more SFF friendly, and by revisiting my design I have shrunk the case from 9.7 L down to 4.2 L, without losing any performance. (In theory at least). I mainly use my rig for work, which includes heavy simulations, rendering and multitasking. I like to game sometime, but when choosing between a larger case and a 3070, I chose the latter. To get this to work I need to do a couple of things that has to do with temperatures. I started out with making the assumption that most people overestimate the amount of cooling needed when water cooling. This usually makes sense, bigger radiators isn’t that much more expensive and more fans does probably help to keep the noise down if done correctly. At the same time, LTT showed us that while not satisfactory, it is possible to cool a 3090 on a 120mm radiator (66 degrees with full turbo). This got me thinking.  The 3090 has an average power consumption of 350W. The 3070 has an amazing performance at only 200W average. That would potentially leave room for a high-end CPU. The only thing I could not change size of was the motherboard, which became the starting point for about 20 iterations of different placements with different hardware.


 
When looking through cooling options I first opted out of water cooling because of the extra parts that would take up space. I began looking at it again after realizing the thickness of the GPU is critical as it is hard to place somewhere where it fits. After opting in to water cooling again, I began looking for radiators which is as large as the motherboard, but not larger. A 140mm radiator would be suitable here. When this was figured out I had to find a suitable GPU. The 3070 FE was really the only alternative. No other latest-gen GPU has a PCB below 170mm. Finding a 3070 FE is hard enough (I am yet to get my hands on one). Finding a block for it is even harder. The blocks for the 3080/3090 FE versions are rather large and I would assume the 3070 blocks would be of equal size. I decided I must make my own GPU-block to make this viable.
 
Specs:
- X570 of some sort, the flatter the better.
- 5900X / 5950X (Same TDP, can't really defend the extra cost for 5950X but would be cool for performance)
- 3070 FE
- 64 GB, 3600MHz RAM of some kind, probably Vengeance low-profile.
- 500-700W Flex ATX - PSU (been looking at a few options, but most are on sites I do not know the language of).
- CPU block/Pump/res combo, been looking at the Alphacool LT Solo, might be too thick.
- Some slim fan, probably a NF 12x15.
- A 140mm radiator.
- Case, SMOL, by me.
 
ToDo:
Order components for practical measurements
Tubing size test with 10mm ID and 6mm ID for differences in tempertaure and flow.
Fan test for radiator with regards to temperature
Get hold of a 3070 FE...
Design waterblock for 3070 FE.
 
Challanges:
Make sure 140mm radiator that is heavily covered by CPU block will be enough for cooling high-end CPU + GPU
Fitting it all in 4.2L and below, this number might rise or fall depending on any last minute design progress.
Making a block that will be slim and cool sufficiently with zero air flow.
I would love your input, whether it is ideas or something I've missed. I'm also aware of that 4.2L might be overconfident, but I need something to drive innovative thinking.

I'm moving my current build to a custom case that is mostly made out of 3D printed parts but will have some acrylic panels as well. Right now I'm still waiting for the print shop to get more parts done since I don't have a 3D printer in house. This is a small case at 7.5 liters, with a layout like the DAN case A4 including support for a front 92mm fan, CPU coolers up to 48mm tall and GPUs up to 304mm long.
 
Here is a render of the "Mark 1" design.
 

 
This is what I'm currently working with:
 
CPU - Intel i5-6600K Motherboard - Gigabyte H170N-Wifi RAM - 2x4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400 GPU - Asus Strix R9 390X Storage - 250GB Samsung 840 EVO CPU cooler - Scythe SCKZT-1000 PSU - SFX, model to be determined  
Currently the case is just 40-50% assembled but it holds up well for plastic. This is ABS plastic so there should be no risk of parts deforming from load temperatures.
 

 

 

 
Like the DAN case, the motherboard connects the GPU with a riser cable. The cable is hanging freely in this version of the case but I already have an improved design in the works for a more user-friendly experience building in the case.
 
The production version of the case will have two slots to allow the riser to freely slide vertically with about 1cm of movement.
 

 
As with most FDM prints there are imperfections with the quality of the case. While the parts do fit together, some of the holes for screw standoffs are a bit too small. They are printed along the vertical Z axis instead of just the XY axis.
 
Next is a view of the top end of the case tray. Instead of a continuous "spine" piece from front to back, it stops at the motherboard tray, and supports for PSU mounting will be added later. But it shows how rigid the frame pieces are, even with only half of the case assembled.
 

 
The motherboard tray has two tabs in the rear that will friction fit inside the back I/O piece. This allows some additional slack to install big cards by making the top end move away, but with the top piece attached, it will all hold in place.

Next up, I'm buying some screws and accessory parts to help round out the look of the case. Black countersunk hex screws to replace the silver ones, and case feet. I bought the following rubber feet which will raise the case by 10mm so a bottom fan gets enough intake air. I actually don't know how big the holes for the feet are (I sized the case holes for M3) but if they are larger I will enlarge the case holes with a drill.
 

 
I do not know which I will receive first- the remaining case panels or the feet. The next update will be whatever I assemble next.

I got a Ryzen 3 2200G so it's almost time to upgrade again. All-AMD build coming soon, just need a new motherboard.
 

Surprise! Time for an upgrade!
 
But first here is the Dynamo Mini 200W installed in the case. It's shown alongside the 240 watt power brick for a size comparison. They almost share the same size footprint.
 

 
The Dynamo Mini is just a little too tall for a side panel to properly fit on the right side, but this is due to my mistake on making the case 2mm narrower than I intended.
 

 

 
And now, for the real upgrade. I swapped out the R9 285 for a RX 570. The mini Sapphire Pulse looks great and it should not get as hot as the old card (I have yet to test it out)!
 

 

 

 
 

I'm currently waiting for power components, as this is the only thing that's keeping me from fully running the test build. But the case isn't fully complete.
 
However, here's another photo showing how and where the SSD is installed. It might be possible to install another one in front of the motherboard but it'll make cable management harder (and there's already little room as it is).
 

I received the other piece for the motherboard tray, and fits much better than the last, which was made too big to fit. The motherboard now can be mounted straight. Here's a view of the motherboard side. It's best to remove the top before installing.
 

 
When I installed it the first time, the PCIe riser cable fit in very well. The length is just right for the case, with just enough extra length for moving it in place when installing. But it was much tougher to remove it. Either one end could be pulled up, or the other, but I had to pry it a bit with a long tool to get both sides to come out easily. I think the best way is to move the motherboard slightly towards the bottom before screwing it in, then it'll be easier to wrap the cable around.

Here is what the top view of the case looks like.
 

 
The components fit straight, but you may notice the tray piece flexes a bit. That's to be expected with this material, many areas (especially the top case side) are flexible. But it all feels very sturdy when the parts are installed.

I also believe the standoffs offset the motherboard a bit too far towards the side of the case by 1mm. May cause imperfect alignment with the I/O shield (which I don't have for this board). A motherboard tray where the screw holes are recessed by 1mm would solve this, and won't make a big difference in the sturdiness of the standoffs.

I'm building another small form factor PC, this time in a 4.2 liter case that can fit a short GPU.
 
This case was 3D printed by a third party supplier, using Markforged One printer and Onyx filament. This filament is more expensive than most FDM filament, but it's also a bit tougher than ABS plastic with some more flex to the material. The motherboard tray is in two parts due to print area limits of the printer. Not sure yet whether to stick with that or use acrylic for the tray. Top and side vented panels will be made of acrylic.
 

 

 

 
Full album:
https://imgur.com/a/70Ple3U
 
You can see that the top piece of the motherboard tray is still missing. Once I get this piece in the right dimensions I could add all the main components to the case. Afterwards, I can get the side panels made and finish the build.
 
Here are the specs of the case:
Material: Onyx (vinyl with carbon fiber) and 3mm acrylic Dimensions: 199mm x 200mm x 105mm (4.18L) Motherboard: Mini ITX GPU: max length 175mm, dual slot SSD support: m.2 plus 1x 2.5" (on the bottom) CPU cooler: max height 39mm PSU: Internal DC-DC only, or Meanwell 200w

Omg this is so small I love it. Always wanted to build something like this. And the 3d printing just makes it that much cooler. Nice job man

It finally happened.

That's some pretty great progress for the Dreamcast mods. I also have had no problems with PCIe cables being sandwiched between the boards. I'm a bit wary about the connection being x1 speed though... even the GTX 1050 might bottleneck somewhat with that, when x4 should be fine. Does the m.2 slot support x4 PCIe speed?

I'm building another small form factor PC, this time in a 4.2 liter case that can fit a short GPU.
 
This case was 3D printed by a third party supplier, using Markforged One printer and Onyx filament. This filament is more expensive than most FDM filament, but it's also a bit tougher than ABS plastic with some more flex to the material. The motherboard tray is in two parts due to print area limits of the printer. Not sure yet whether to stick with that or use acrylic for the tray. Top and side vented panels will be made of acrylic.
 

 

 

 
Full album:
https://imgur.com/a/70Ple3U
 
You can see that the top piece of the motherboard tray is still missing. Once I get this piece in the right dimensions I could add all the main components to the case. Afterwards, I can get the side panels made and finish the build.
 
Here are the specs of the case:
Material: Onyx (vinyl with carbon fiber) and 3mm acrylic Dimensions: 199mm x 200mm x 105mm (4.18L) Motherboard: Mini ITX GPU: max length 175mm, dual slot SSD support: m.2 plus 1x 2.5" (on the bottom) CPU cooler: max height 39mm PSU: Internal DC-DC only, or Meanwell 200w