BLLDoesTech

Given Linus' love for all tiny cases and weird purchases from Taobao as well as inspiration from yesterday's Dr. Zaber Sentry 2.0 stream, I figured I'd share my sub 10L Hackintosh build in a Taobao acrylic case. Oh and all the RGB/LED lighting found on the components in this case are disabled, save for the blue LED ring on the power button.
 

 
I wanted a macOS based workstation for development but the 2018 Mac Mini with the configuration I wanted was retailing over $2000 and lacks a dedicated GPU. For the component selection, I opted to choose parts that most closely matches a vanilla Mac computer for maximum compatibility and minimum third-party kexts required to make a vanilla macOS Mojave install work with regular OTA updates.
 
Working macOS features:
macOS Mojave and OTA updates WIFI, Bluetooth, Handoff & Continuity iMessage + FaceTime APFS + Filevault + Time Machine backups Thunderbolt 3 (without hotswap) I'm not going to include a not working section because I don't actually find any features lacking. Some other hackintoshers weren't able to get sleep, Thunderbolt 3, or wifi/bluetooth (enabling handoff/airdrop/continuity) working with this board but I was able to get all of those three working (albeit Thunderbolt 3 without hotswap, meaning the computer must be booted up with the device plugged in, but that's due to the TB3 controller used on this mobo).
 
Build log and pictures:
 
The Geeek A50 is constructed with aluminum extrusions and acrylic panels, not too dissimilar from the acrylic test bench featured in one of the recent LTT videos. However, I find that when fully build the case itself feels quite sturdy since I don't plan to travel with this case. The internal layout is a sandwich structure similar to the Dan Case A4-SFX / Louqe Ghost S1 with hexagonal perforations on each side panel for ventilation. For cooling, a standard 92mm case fan can fit on the bottom for intake duties and two slim 92mm case fans fit at the top for exhaust.
 
For my purposes, I initially chose the i5-8400 for its ability to stay cool in a case like this but decided to opt for the more powerful i7-8700 when I discovered that the Noctua L12 could fit without the top fan mounted. For the motherboard I chose AsRock's Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX (which is also featured in my desktop gaming pc) for its excellent VRM heatsinks, two m.2 slots, and a native Thunderbolt 3 port. The graphics are driven by an RX 570 due to native macOS support with the iGPU enabled and set to headless mode for hardware h.264 acceleration.

The only hardware "hack" that was required to make this Hackintosh work completely is a replacement of the Intel-based m.2 wifi card with a Broadcom card. For wifi duties, I chose the BCM94360CD as it is a 4 antenna lead wifi card found in recent iMacs. The included Intel card offered only two antenna leads, as pictured here.
 
 
 
 
To fill the other two antenna leads in order to get the best possible wifi and bluetooth performance without drilling any holes for additional antennas, I decided to gut the included bulky AsRock wifi module and removed the bare antenna leads inside.
 

 
I then hot glued the antennas to the inside of the case just above the I/O shield so that the 4 antennas would be located in roughly the same area.
 

 

 
The rest of the build was fairly straight forward so I'll spare the details. Here's a few shots of the build as it stood after "completing" the build.
 

 

 
At this point, I was actually quite satisfied with the build. The only thing that bugged me was the "zero rpm" feature on the Asus ROG Strix RX 570. The GPU would be passively cooled for a few minutes before the fans spun up briefly to wick away the accumulated heat. The effect was minor but it bugged me enough for me to look into solutions. What I probably should have done was do a bios mod so that the fans always spun at a fixed low RPM, but.. I went for a more complicated solution that ended up working out much better than anticipated.
 
Upon looking through my parts bin and doing many careful measurements, I figured that an Arctic Accelero IV *MIGHT* fit without the fan shroud and the backplate. With a lot of effort and partial disassembly of the case, I was able to achieve an entirely passively cooled RX 570 without any noticeable performance loss at all.
 

 
It turned out to be an exact fit. If you look closely on the right side of the cooler in the photo above, the fins are a hair's width away from the aluminum extrusion beam. If the GPU die was offset just a smidge further to the right, I would've had to trim off a few fins to get it to fit, and any further the cooler wouldn't fit at all since the heat pipes would be touching the front panel.
 
I'm actually extremely pleased with the end result. Both sides have the massive heatsink aesthetic and it looks fantastic in my opinion.
 

 

 

 
Case link: https://www.geeekstore.com/shop/a50-mini-itx-case/
PCPartPicker build minus case: 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant Type Item Price CPU Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor $309.99 @ B&H CPU Cooler Noctua - NH-L12 37.79 CFM CPU Cooler   Motherboard ASRock - Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard $183.88 @ OutletPC Memory Corsair - Vengeance LED 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory $207.99 @ Newegg Storage Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $77.77 @ Amazon Storage Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $77.77 @ Amazon Storage HP - EX920 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $76.99 @ Newegg Video Card Asus - Radeon RX 570 4 GB ROG STRIX Video Card $174.85 @ OutletPC Power Supply Corsair - SF 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply $78.88 @ OutletPC   Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts     Total (before mail-in rebates) $1253.12   Mail-in rebates -$65.00   Total $1188.12   Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-09 07:32 EST-0500    

They where all the rage back then....
 
Badum-tish.... ? ?

It's not bad to wipe out old drivers if they're still present on the system, but otherwise you should be just fine.

Pink lemonade unless it's the Chick-fil-a lemonade. That shit slaps.

ITS GONE

no, the SSD doesn't have anything to do with performance

Cool stuff!

The doctors chose the top for the graphic sector, INNO3D GeForce RTX 2080 TWIN X2, to be able to manage their experiments department!
As they usually do, they always check the material properly giving their approval!
 

Details...
 

Thank you guys, I don't have time for aluminim 3D CNC etc, becouse that I go to SLS print, the results are satisfying   I made this 3D part with SLS 3D printing technology,           now I go to paint and assembling         Also I have plan to put some edditional electronics in there    

sexy! make it out of unobtainium, aluminum is fine too.

This is first time to have opportunity to modify laptop. "Mod Master Challenge" event has brought us 5 moders and gave us the task to modify the laptop Acer PREDATOR Helios 500. More information about the event you have here:   https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/mod-master-challenge-helios-500     My idea was originally based on making an "exoskeleton". The laptop is phenomenally designed and the only way to improve it is in the form of armor that will strengthen its work and improve the good looks. With the help of 3D software and the existing file showing the 3D model of the PREDATOR HELISO 500 laptop started its realization!     Exoskeleton has a task to strengthen the laptop's external look and to give it some new functions.     Inspired by the PREDATOR movie, I decided to implement some of the details in the design, and in the end I made this:     Now I go to realize this in real life 

Original PC spec.
Core 2 Duo E4700
2GB DDR2 667mhz
HD 7450
 
I did a video of that machines performance but with a spare C2Q Q6600 because C2D could not even handle MSI AB recording.
It is .... strange, the video turned out all shaky, don't ask.
 
 
The bits arrived today and the PC went from looking like this..
 

 
To this...
 

 
Still awaiting the memory kit i ordered, they are wonder ram.
 
The cooler is not meant to fit like that, i had to get creative and decided to man handle it instead and it looks in my opinion very stylish whilst also allowing it to function without hitting the video card.
 
The build process was difficult, large hands in such a tiny space and a bunch of cuts later...
 
But this is the final spec.
 
Core i5 3550 (with 3.7ghz OC)
8GB 1600mhz CL8 Hynix modules (do 2133mhz CL11)
Sapphire Nitro + RX 570
512GB Crucial M4 SSD
600GB WD Caviar Black HDD
Gigabyte H61N-USB3.0
Noctua NH-L12 Cooler hand bent to fit
Noctua NF P12 PWM Fan
Noctua NF B9 exhaust case fan
 
Total cost. £160

there is no such thing as too much RGB

Thanks for the amazing Support ASUS Republic of Gamers ❤️

You can do that, just make sure the 4GB sticks are on one side, 8GB stick on the other

This can actually useful for some purposes out there that isn’t malicious, I still don’t understand why they massed it t ope-source, something like this with the wrong hands could be bad.
This is actually pretty smart if they are using it to recruit people. There’s plenty of people with unused talent out there, this maybe their chance to prove themselves.
 
Let us know down below what you think, is this a good thing or not? What could this be used for?
 
SOURCE

EKWB fitings and backplate for GPU ROGastic
 

It couldn’t miss the processor powered by Intel !
 

Sold my old PC, as I don't game as much anymore, and I helped out a friend, and 1080p is fine for me. I however do enjoy building PCs, and so I will slowly upgrade this, untils its really good, then sell it and start over. The theme will be B/W, with minimal RGB. Value is a big focus here, though I might splurge on fans. (I'm looking at you, 28$ Noiseblocker fans)
 
PCPP Link: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/LPWD4D
 
Copypaste of parts and stuff from the pcpp list
 
Current upgrade goals:
 
Pictures:
 
sorry for bad photos, these were taken from my phone, w/ no editing.
 
Will edit as I add stuff, and Suggestions are welcome!

Hi there.

Thought I would share a really low cost build that I did with some spare parts and a free Dell Core i7-4770s I got.

Turned it into a gamer for my kid. A decent high 1080p gaming rig. If anyone has a good tip for an aftermarket CPU cooler I'm all ears. the XE2 sounds like a fighterjet under load.
 
Part list: (with free I mean lying around the house not used)
Dell XE2 MT with 16GB RAM and I7-4770s - Price Free
Corsair RM650X modular PSU - ($ 90)
1 PWM 140mm fan (roughly $20)
Diverse Dell adapters for PSU and fans ($30)
RGB lighting from Ali Express ($ 15) - Just for shit and giggles. not necessary (I have no photos yet)
AMD R9 290X Windforce - Free (Pensioned from my gaming rig)
120 GB SSD drive - Free
240 GB SSD drive - Free
 
Part 1: The glorius machine itself.
 

 
Part 2.
 
Well. Guess something doesn't fit. Time to start up the tools.
 

 
Part 3. - Inside view before the destruction begins
 

 
Part 4 - Fit check - I took out 2 rivets in the back that was not necessary. So lesson learned. The HDD cage is riveted to a backplate, not the bottom back.
GPU fits nicely, but what about storage.. hmm. more about that later.
 

 
Part 5. R9 290x runs hot like hell. Time to take out the big guns.
 

 
Part 6 - Airflow secured
 

 
Part 7 - SSD Storage placement - I took a cheapo 3.5" to 2,5" converter and chopped it down. Drilled a hole in the bracket below 5,25" and used a screw. Worked like a charm
 

 
Part 8 - Done. Just some cablemanagement left and the RGB I added later. Notice the insane clearance for the PSU and the latch for the sidepanel. Not 1 mm to spare. Due note that the PSU needs to go in without the motherboard inside. I was barely able to squeeze it inside.
 

 

This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVWQthb-20&list=LLn2K_CIOpAmKNVfv93VUiHw&index=60&t=115s
 
Probably the most concise and simple way to explain it, but I'll do my best to help:
- Motherboard: think of it like the hub of your PC. EVERYTHING will in one way connect to the motherboard. As such, a better motherboard (mobo) doesn't really mean better performance. A better motherboard correlates to quality, longevity, safety of components, other bells and whistles you'll never use, etc.
- CPU: it's the brain of your computer. Every click, command, whatever is controlled by the CPU. It will handle most tasks and tells other components what to do. Any AMD Ryzen 5 or an Intel i5 will do everything you want.
- Memory/Ram: if the CPU makes commands and sends those commands around the computer, it needs a funnel or roads to send those commands. This is your RAM. It's gigabyte storage designed to handle chunks of commands in the short term. More RAM = more space for commands (but you really only need 16 gb).
- GPU: everything you see on the screen comes from the GPU. Any visual effect or render will be crunched by the GPU. If you want performance, spend most of your budget.
 
I'm bored, I won't finish for every component but these are the major ones so you get the idea. Watch the video

OBS is from Streamlabs...

Started painting all the parts... the metal part for the top, the backplate, the plate with the project name and the part where the SSD will sit...           After two days of headache after each painting session I realized I had to buy one of these...     So now it was no issues with headaches and all pieces could be finalized...           Now it's just to put them where they're supposed to be. The final pieces will arrive this week so this project is not far off now

Details...