Project Laptop-2-Desktop

[SergeyB]

Hey everyone, 

 

So I decided to salvage my old laptop that turns off randomly and turn it into a desktop instead! 
I had sent it to a repair shop before and they told me that it had a problem with the cooling system, which they "fixed" and I paid for it, but it still turns off whenever it likes. Grr!

The specs aren't much at this point:
Core i7 3630QM
8GB RAM
GTX 650GT

but if I manage to find the following parts for cheap, I might have a working machine:

1. Case (preferably SFF) - The motherboard is 9" x 11", proprietary of course, so I'll have to have it custom mounted and probably even modify the case.
2. Cooler for the pipes - As you can see, I have a couple of cooling blocks joined by 2 pipes that go to the heat sink.
   I thought initially of having it water cooled instead and get rid of these blocks, but I realized I wouldn't be able to find blocks that would fit in these tight spots and some custom work for that would probably cost more than I want to spend. So I figured to just get a horizontal heat sink with a fan and attach it directly to the two pipes with some thermal compound or liquid metal. That might work since the original fan for these pipes was crap anyway.
3. SSD - I used it's original one for my desktop, cause at least I could do that!
4. USB and Ethernet panels on the back connected to the two modules in the picture - might be able to find something like that.

So that's about it. Hope not to spend on this project more money than I could pay to get a better machine than that LOL
But this can be like my own scrapyard wars project! Muhahaha

Will keep you guys posted...

Cheers!

-Sergey.