samcrut

TL;DR: Build a ballin' Hackintosh in a dolly toolbox stack for me to use on feature film sets.   I recently saw a "Sleeper PC" ep of LTT cramming a wicked PC into an old beige vintage case. How about a series cramming wicked PC parts in non-traditional cases? I bring it up because I want/need to stick a Hackintosh in a dolly toolbox tower.   I frequently work in film as a Digital Image Technician (DIT). The job is mostly copying files to multiple destinations to protect the footage, but there's a lot of video processing and transcoding that goes with it as well, and portability is a must. I need to be able to pack up and move in a few minutes, and it needs to be quiet, rugged, and able to operate in adverse conditions, like dust storms, and of course it needs to keep the data safe.    I got an idea to put a Hackintosh into a Craftsman Versastack tower, or a Milwaukee Packout. Rigid and DeWalt have their own versions of these dolly toolbox towers.  
 
 
The gist of them is that the boxes latch together so they become one unit you can move around with ease and then you can take them apart when you need to get into them.    I want a Hackintosh for DaVinci Resolve and Adobe's CC suite and Avid. I'm thinking about an i9 with a good AMD GPU (since Apple is ghosting Nvidia). I do crank a lot of h.264 files, so Intel Quick Sync is a big help. I don't think I want the whole IO shield exposed, unless it has a cover to protect the ports from the elements. I need externally accessible USB3-A, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C (bonus if GPU is injected), HDMI, and Ethernet. In my head I'm seeing a small wall plate that would have the necessary ports that are connected to the mobo as a pass through the toolbox wall.     I have a backplate for 8 drives that I'm thinking about incorporating, so I can hook up 8 internal drives in the box on which the film footage will be copied. I have to have a minimum of 3 drives for triplicate backups, but additional drives become necessary as long shoots roll over onto multiple drive sets. It's from a SuperMicro server that should allow me to hook up 8 drives. it's basically just a way to not have to deal with a mess of cables to hook up drives. https://www.ebay.com/itm/324021507787   Getting the heat out is going to be a major issue, so I really want a water cooled system that passes all of the heat out to an external radiator. If you do quick connects, you can have one toolbox that's just for blowing out BTUs. That toolbox would also have quick connects on it and be full of radiators and fans. Airflow will need a filter of some sort, even if it's just a magnetic square to hold foam in place. When you shoot in the desert, dust gets everywhere so it needs to be designed to keep the insides clean when the outside is attacking.   I haven't figured out how to do the monitor(s) yet. The smaller toolbox has a 19" diagonal lid that might hold an 17-18" display. I'd rather not have a slick Dolly Mac and then the display is tucked up under my arm with a cable wrapped around my neck. If the monitor can be integrated with the design, that would be fantastic.   Oh, and safe electrical power too. Right now I use a 300W CPAP portable power unit to make sure my drives don't lose power in the event somebody unplugs something. It's a 280Wh Lithium Ion battery with a charger and inverter. Essentially a double conversion power system in a box. It cleans sketchy power and keeps me running when the gaffer trips a breaker. Right now I use a MacBook Pro on set, so it has its own battery, but this would need enough power for the computer and the drives with enough juice to give me like 5 minutes to restore power or shut down.   I think it will need a 3D printed floor that the mobo will attach to. Also a 3D tray that goes into the toolbox to sit on the lip that the tool tray usually sits on that would hold the drives and possibly channel some airflow if it's not all water cooled.    It's a pretty stealthy concept, so not much chance to do a bunch of RGB. I know how y'all love your RGB. I would like to have status lights that show outside what's happening inside. Drive access lights for individual drives, networking, maybe a thermal display, ooh, and power displays would be sweet. I don't tend to need much audio while I work on set, but some small speakers would be nice just for basic sound playback. Something like a small sound bar integrated into the toolbox wall. Of course, Craftsman also has this beast of a worksite radio system that snaps into their system, so maybe use it.    https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-VersaStack-Water-Resistant-Cordless-Jobsite-Radio/1000595395   So that's the gist. Dolly toolbox form factor. Good bit of processing power. Liquid cooling to get the heat out. 8 internal 3.5" drive slots. If the bottom toolbox could be reserved for actually being used as a toolbox for the rest of my gear, that would be great, but I can always add more boxes to make a taller stack.   I know this is a super ambitious build, and if I had an Alex Clark with all of LTT's wonderful shop toys available to me, I'd do it myself, but I don't, so I'm reaching out hoping this is an LTT worthy project.    PS: Somewhere in the build, I really must insist that one or more of this sort of safety switch be incorporated. I mean look at it! That takes it to 11!     PS: We have Micro Center here in Dallas. I know you like them. ?