[Build Log] Rustic Wooden PC [in progress]

[MEC-777]

 

Rustic Wooden PC

(I'll think of a better name later  )

 

 

The Theme:

Been wanting to do a build like this for quite some time now. The idea was to create something modern out of something very old while retaining the naturally aged and rusted look. Sort of like a cross between a ‘rat rod’ and a vintage antique. As a secondary goal, I wanted this to be able to sit on a desk or be mounted to a wall with multiple orientation possibilities.

 

As with most of my project builds as of late, I had to piece this together on a shoestring budget. So if you were expecting an i7-8700k with a 1080Ti, you’ll have to look elsewhere. The CPU may be from late 2010, but it’s still capable even today and is kind of a unique part, which you’ll find out why later.

 

Specs:

AMD Phenom II x4 960T quad-core - FX 8350 Black Edition @4.6GHz

Deepcool Gammaxx 400 with GF120 fan

MSI 970A-G43 Plus - MSI 970 Gaming

8GB (2x 4GB) Patriot 1866mhz RAM - 8GB (2x 4GB) AData 1333mhz RAM @1600mhz 

160GB Seagate 7200rpm HDD - (will be switching to a 120GB SSD + 2x 1TB Seagates for the final reveal).

MSI GTX 760 2GB OC with modified cooler

CoolerMaster V650 Gold semi-modular

Chassis - Old wooden hardware crate + motherboard tray from old Dell desktop

 

The Build:

Found quite a few old wooden crates in the basement and garage when we moved to my grandfather’s farm about 2 years ago. Not sure how old they are, but some of them looked like they’ve been through a lot, to say the least. After some test fitting, eventually found one that was just the right size and appearance.

 

Established an internal layout I was happy with and began the fabrication work on the motherboard tray. Mounted that to the crate and made the appropriate cutouts to the “worst” side of the crate. My OCD had me wanting to make the cuts straight as possible, but with the theme in mind, I decided to leave it more rough. Most things made of wood that have survived as long as this crate are far from perfect after so many years of use and abuse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up next on the agenda is to figure out how to fasten the PSU in place and start working on how to design the cable management. Being a semi-modular unit, I can’t remove the EPS, PCIe and 24-pin cables, but I definitely want to cover them up with some kind of conduit or sleeving.

 

Oh and also, every metal part in this build is going to receive some ‘special treatment’. More on that later…

 

Thanks for looking.

 

(Sorry for the poor quality pics. My new phone's camera isn't half as good as my old one. Will take better pics with my old phone going forward.)

[DildorTheDecent]

What's the plan for the GPU?

[MEC-777]

3 hours ago, DildorTheDecent said:

What's the plan for the GPU?

Still in the process of figuring that out. Won't be using the original shroud and fans though.  

[mr.squishy]

Subbed!

[MEC-777]

Added the RAM to the spec list. Picking that up today. 

 

Will be able to test it out now and see how it runs.

[Tech_Dreamer]

Nice concept. But that wood looks kinda moist , like it holds a bit of moisture inside. i'm worried about mold forming in it with the warm components overtime after it's used for a while.

[MEC-777]

22 minutes ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

Nice concept. But that wood looks kinda moist , like it holds a bit of moisture inside. i'm worried about mold forming in it with the warm components overtime after it's used for a while.

Thanks.  

 

Oh trust me, it's dry. It's just very old and has been through who knows what, lol. With this build being an open air system, I'm not really worried about any of the components running hot and causing any issues with the wood either.   

[Christophe Corazza]

On 28/5/2018 at 3:04 PM, MEC-777 said:

Oh and also, every metal part in this build is going to receive some ‘special treatment’. More on that later…

 

I was just going to make a comment on the only thing that did not really fit the theme of the build: the grey metal of the cut-up case. But you already got plans for that :-)

 

I really like the whole idea of enclosing modern contemporary technology with antique objects. Very neatly done!

I can’t wait for the final result.

[MEC-777]

Made some small brackets to hold the PSU in place. Also been working on figuring out where to mount some other components, like the front USB/audio ports. Will be working on the storage drive mounting hardware today. Need it to be able to hold 1x 2.5" SSD + 2x 3.5" HDDs. Planning on finishing up the custom GTX 760 cooler today as well, if I have time (don't worry, that fan is not going to remain blue/grey ). Lots of spare metal to work with from that old case I cut up. Has come in quite handy. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Christophe Corazza]

17 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Made some small brackets to hold the PSU in place. Also been working on figuring out where to mount some other components, like the front USB/audio ports. Will be working on the storage drive mounting hardware today. Need it to be able to hold 1x 2.5" SSD + 2x 3.5" HDDs. Planning on finishing up the custom GTX 760 cooler today as well, if I have time (don't worry, that fan is not going to remain blue/grey ). Lots of spare metal to work with from that old case I cut up. Has come in quite handy. 

 

Love the ghetto GPU cooler design :-D

[MEC-777]

3 hours ago, Christophe Corazza said:

 

Love the ghetto GPU cooler design :-D

Thanks.

2 hours ago, Pangea2017 said:

Are you sure the Deepcool uf140 is good enough? My experince with those stock GPU cooler is that they need more then 1200rpm.

The stock fans that come on this card are tiny. Only like 90mm and really thin blades. That's why they have to spin so fast to move enough air. This is what the card looks like stock: 

 

 

The UF140 fan moves WAAAAY more air (and has more static pressure) very easily and at much slower speeds. The card will probably run cooler and quieter with this fan.  

[MEC-777]

Finished mounting the new fan to the GPU cooler yesterday. (And again; that fan is not going to remain blue/grey). Now working on HDD mounting and cable management - which is going to be tricky with the limited space. Challenge accepted!  Also planning on mounting an 80mm fan to blow down on the motherboard VRMs as this board doesn't come with a heatsink there. Planning to unlock and OC the CPU, so will need to keep it cool. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MEC-777]

Got a lot of work done yesterday. Getting close to having the fabrication work complete, but still nowhere near finished with the whole project. Was able to use part of the old Dell chassis to make a 2-slot HDD mounting bracket and a small bracket to hold the 80mm fan over the motherboard VRMs. Also made a shroud/cover out of the wood I cut out of the back of the crate earlier to cover the cables just behind the PSU for a cleaner look. Did some more work on cable management/routing and mounted the front I/O (headphone/mic + 4x USB ports). 

 

Also I uh.... had a bit of a mishap with the CPU sticking to the cooler when I was removing it, which I didn't know until it was too late and bent some of the pins. After 5 minutes with tweezers and a mechanical pencil, it was good as new again! *sigh of relief. lol. Glad those pins are pretty resilient. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DildorTheDecent]

might want to find the rest of your motherboard heatsinks.

 

Or maybe there's a plan somewhere?

[MEC-777]

3 minutes ago, DildorTheDecent said:

might want to find the rest of your motherboard heatsinks.

 

Or maybe there's a plan somewhere?

I removed them and set them aside for now.  There's a plan for all the metal pieces in this build. 

[MEC-777]

Might have an FX 8350 for this project. Need to wait for it to arrive and see if I can fix it. If it works, that would be awesome. Only paid $15 for it. lol

 

*fingers crossed...

[TekRed]

14 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

Might have an FX 8350 for this project. Need to wait for it to arrive and see if I can fix it. If it works, that would be awesome. Only paid $15 for it. lol

 

*fingers crossed...

Decent chip, and pretty good at overclocking... I ran mine stable at 4.2 for years, had it up to 4.4 stable as well. if it doesn't work let me know. I have an extra... Just pay shipping

[cluelessgenius]

looks awesome but how about watercooling it with the new wood grain finished ek blocks?

[Christophe Corazza]

4 minutes ago, cluelessgenius said:

looks awesome but how about watercooling it with the new wood grain finishd k blocks?

 

 

Those water bocks indeed look very nice. However, they might not reallt suit the rustic appearance of @MEC-777's build.

[DildorTheDecent]

19 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

Might have an FX 8350 for this project. Need to wait for it to arrive and see if I can fix it. If it works, that would be awesome. Only paid $15 for it. lol

 

*fingers crossed...

You're in for a good time if it's a pre FX-9590 chip...

[Lady Fitzgerald]

 

On 6/10/2018 at 9:51 AM, DildorTheDecent said:

might want to find the rest of your motherboard heatsinks.

 

Or maybe there's a plan somewhere?

 

When air cooling, those heatsinks have a way of getting in the way while working. He was smart to wait before installing them until after most of the work on or around the MOBO was finished.

7 hours ago, cluelessgenius said:

looks awesome but how about watercooling it with the new wood grain finished ek blocks?

If I ever were to water cool a machine of mine, I would defintely be lusting after those. I even considered using wood veneer for the back plate I made recently.

[MEC-777]

8 hours ago, cluelessgenius said:

looks awesome but how about watercooling it with the new wood grain finished ek blocks?

Yeah, I saw those from the computex coverage. They look gorgeous!

 

Unfortunately, water cooling is very far from my budget and doesn't really fit in with the theme. 

3 hours ago, DildorTheDecent said:

You're in for a good time if it's a pre FX-9590 chip...

Why's that?

 

8 hours ago, TekRed said:

Decent chip, and pretty good at overclocking... I ran mine stable at 4.2 for years, had it up to 4.4 stable as well. if it doesn't work let me know. I have an extra... Just pay shipping

Thanks!  Will keep you posted. 

[Christophe Corazza]

2 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Yeah, I saw those from the computex coverage. They look gorgeous!

 

Unfortunately, water cooling is very far from my budget and doesn't really fit in with the theme. 

 

But don't these blocks llok too "new" compared to your weathered wooden crate?

Don't get me wrong, they truly look incredible though.

[MEC-777]

11 minutes ago, Christophe Corazza said:

 

But don't these blocks llok too "new" compared to your weathered wooden crate?

Don't get me wrong, they truly look incredible though.

Sorry, I guess my wording wasn't clear. I meant that water cooling and these wooden blocks don't really fit the theme of my build. So yes, you're right.  

[DildorTheDecent]

20 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

Why's that?

Because the pre-9590 chips OC better, maybe even exceeding what FX-9590s could do past 5GHz. A good 8350 was something to hold on to since the $900 FX-9590 probably didn't attract a lot of buyers.

 

9590 = binned 8350.

8350s after the 9590 = generally garbage in comparison.

pre 9590 8350s = now you're talking.

 

Even if you're not planning to OC (like really, really fast), it's nice to know.