[Build Log] Woodland Raven - Case Mod Project [WIP]

[MEC-777]

Call me old-school, but I love using paper blue-prints. Plotted these out at work. The side panel drawing is at full scale and will be used as a template to mark up the MDF. Aiming to get the side panels roughed-in tomorrow.

 

 

My hand for size reference. This sucker is going to be HEAVY.

 

[TVwazhere]

2 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

Call me old-school, but I love using paper blue-prints. Plotted these out at work. The side panel drawing is at full scale and will be used as a template to mark up the MDF. Aiming to get the side panels roughed-in tomorrow.

Spoiler

My hand for size reference. This sucker is going to be HEAVY.

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Spoiler

 

[MEC-777]

Ordered the swing-out scissor hinges for the side panels and feet for the thing to stand on. Hopefully they get here sooner than the estimated shipping time of late January to mid-February.

 

 

[MEC-777]

Just realized something... The way the IceBlade Pro cooler mounts to the motherboard will have the cooler turned on-edge when the board is rotated 90* and won't get proper airflow. So I'll have to return it and see if I can find a Neptwin V2 as originally planned, since the Neptwin will mount in the correct orientation.

[MEC-777]

Alrighty, so I was able to find another local store in the area that had the Neptwin. Made the exchange and picked up the AM4 bracket kit while I was there. All good now!

 

I must say, the Neptwin looks MUCH nicer from every angle, IMO. Build quality and QC is better as it's a newer design vs the Ice Blade Pro, and the contact surface to the CPU has a nice mirror finish. Love those naked copper pipes too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MEC-777]

Got the side panels cut. Need to get more MDF tomorrow for the font, back and top sections.

 

Glad I had a spare blade... lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WkdPaul]

I love it!!!

[MEC-777]

Progress...

 

It ain't pretty, and I am basically slapping this together to make sure it's going to work as planned. Will make the final wood pieces much more precise using the proper tools (table saw, drill press etc.), but for now, the MDF (while it kinda sucks) is doing the job for the proof of concept. 

 

Lid will need additional support to stay open, so I'm glad I got the extra support mechanism.

 

Everything else is looking like it will work as intended. Need to get a few more hardware odds and ends, but getting there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NotABigGamer]

Its looking better every post!

[MEC-777]

After much deliberation and research, decided to pull the trigger on a 2700X. I couldn't justify nearly double the cost for the 3700X for only about 10-15% performance increase in gaming and most tasks and the 3600 about matches it, but still costs a fair bit more and is only 6c/12t. Pretty happy with this deal. Will overclock it of course and it will be more than enough until after the Ryzen 4000 series launches. 

 

[WkdPaul]

not sure if you have a CanadaComputers near, but the Ryzen 2000 series is on sale for the weekend ;

 

[Zando_]

Ooooo noice! Quick tip on the 2700X though, if you want better perf in games, a manual OC is usually slower. The higher single core turbo on 1-2 cores with PBO makes more of a difference than a lower, but all-core, clock. For multicore stuff a manual OC will help though. Typical OC with safe voltages is 4.2-4.25GHz. PBO will take 1-2 cores to 4.35 or higher, depends on mobo and some other stuff (for better game perf there's ways to tweak PBO to make it boost higher for longer, I never got into that since I enjoy all core OCing more), all core to around 3.9Ghz (under something like Cinebench load).

[MEC-777]

3 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

not sure if you have a CanadaComputers near, but the Ryzen 2000 series is on sale for the weekend ;

 

Yep, I saw that. It's on sale for $220. And I was about to order from them, until I saw it's pick-up in-store only and the nearest store to me is Ottawa (3-4 hour drive away). Plus there's tax which would have put it up close to $250.

 

I used a first purchase promo code on Aliexpress, so I actually only paid $224, free shipping and no tax.

 

It's funny though, in the few minutes I was looking at CC's website, the 2700 (non-X) was also on sale for $188 and it sold out fast, lol.

1 hour ago, Zando Bob said:

Ooooo noice! Quick tip on the 2700X though, if you want better perf in games, a manual OC is usually slower. The higher single core turbo on 1-2 cores with PBO makes more of a difference than a lower, but all-core, clock. For multicore stuff a manual OC will help though. Typical OC with safe voltages is 4.2-4.25GHz. PBO will take 1-2 cores to 4.35 or higher, depends on mobo and some other stuff (for better game perf there's ways to tweak PBO to make it boost higher for longer, I never got into that since I enjoy all core OCing more), all core to around 3.9Ghz (under something like Cinebench load).

Thanks. It will primarily be used for gaming, so I'll go for the higher, fewer core boost clocks. I'm also going to bump the ram frequency up and tighten the timings as much as possible too.

[Guest]

o0o... pants are getting tighter.

[MEC-777]

Ram glam shot.

 

[MEC-777]

The big swing-hinges arrived!!!

 

Packaging was atrocious, but everything was there and [mostly] undamaged. Might need a fresh coat of paint to hide some scratches, but meh. 

The strength of the gas shocks are perfect for the weight of the side panels, so I think these will work great. They don't quite stay in the closed position, so I might have to use magnets or something to keep them closed.

 

 

 

[MEC-777]

Brief update:

 

Been waiting on the feet to arrive so I can continue mocking up the chassis. Kinda stuck for the time being without them. The Ryzen 2700X is on-route and should be here within a week.

 

Our dishwasher decided to die (it's only 4 years old, but of course, out of warranty), so we've had to buy a new one. That's put a hold on funds for obtaining the SSD, PSU and wood for the final build... Sucks, but such is life.

 

 

[MEC-777]

Alright, the feet have arrived (will post pics later). Should be able to finish assembly of the MDF prototype build this weekend. The 2700X is clearing customs as I type this, so hoping to get my hands on that very soon. Once that arrives, I'll be able to test-boot into the BIOS and make sure all the main hardware is working. Although, I don't have a spare PSU that I trust to power this at the moment.

[MEC-777]

Well, this was a little unexpected. Was at my local Canada Computers last night and happened to see the PSU I've been looking for. I knew it wasn't in stock at this location so was kinda surprised. It's an open box item, so 10% off, but there's nothing wrong with it and it still retains the 5-year manufacturer's warranty. Snatched that up quick.

 

Also, the 2700X arrived yesterday. Couldn't resist, hooked everything up and booted to a live Linux USB. Man this is snappy, even running off a USb stick. Everything seems to be working, except it didn't like running the ram at the 3600mhz it should run at, so will have to look into that. Ran at 3200 just fine.

 

Anyways, time for some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WkdPaul]

20 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Well, this was a little unexpected. Was at my local Canada Computers last night and happened to see the PSU I've been looking for. I knew it wasn't in stock at this location so was kinda surprised. It's an open box item, so 10% off

Love when that happens!

 

That pretty much how I got my 16GB of DDR3 for one of my previous build, paid less than $80 CAD for DDR3-2400 back in 2015-2016 ? (though I was never able to use it at this speed, it wasn't stable above 2133, and wouldn't boot pass 2333).

 

Nice purchase!

[Meganter]

I can't wait to see it intel inside

[MEC-777]

After making the MDF mock-up side panels, I got looking at them and decided I'm not too crazy about that design. So I'm experimenting with some different designs. Thinking of going with something more of an industrial look... Thoughts?

 

[Meganter]

It reminds me of boxes from Sci-Fi stuff

 

So I approve

[MEC-777]

Was able to successfully test out running Windows in a VM with PCIe passthrough on an old HDD. Super stoked I got it working, especially after running into a few snags. Means this will be the final OS configuration (no dual-booting) once I get the 2x NVMe SSD's installed.

 

Some more hardware shots... Looks weird with a GTX 650Ti boost next to an RX 570, lol. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MEC-777]

Ordered a set of hidden barrel hinges to try out for the lid because I don't like how much free-play there is in the soft-close hinges I picked up a while back. They're just not a sturdy and a bit too bulky to work as I expected. Hopefully these little guys work better.