Portability: Adding a fan to fanless case; for 'digital nomads'

[Caius Filimon]

Hey everyone,

 

I have been lugging my 14 liter mini itx around the world for multiple years, but every time it is simply too much of a gamble in terms of the hand luggage weight, because of portable monitor, speakers, Oculus, mech keyboard, etc. Never have I ever had even my massive backpack weighed, but the stress before a flight, and of course the possible financial ramifications, are just too much, especially with this cursed pandemic.

 

And so I've long dreamt of having the option to 'cut up' my setup if need be, for transportation purposes. 

 

https://www.quietpc.com/st-fc8-alpha

 

Would this be able to take care of an underclocked 1700x if I slap a fan or two on the outside of the case? For example I currently have a single industrial 3000 RPM noctua fan, and it makes my 2070 XC Ultra at 120% power limit sit at 55 celsius max in the Mantis Plus case. Extremely noisy, but I'm only after portability and good temps. The case is rated for 65W, and they say it should be able to do 90W too. What if you add two 120CFM+ fans to the outside of the case though? I know the aluminium fins are thick and few, but yeah.

 

The reason for this is that the case weight is 2.5kg, and it also acts as a heatsink, which is great in terms of saving weight. 

 

This also means that when travelling, I can feel completely safe knowing I have nothing of value left back at the appartment/hotel/etc, as I can just lug the GPU and 6 liter case with me if need be, and leave the PSU/gpu dock at home.

 

I'd then either buy a cheap GT710, or not, and just use the GDC EXC Beast for m.2 egpu, or even just direct PCIE connection with an external PSU (will buy a dell laptop brick if I go the m.2 egpu route).

 

This would essentially cut down on almost 4kg of weight. And with the imbecilic 7kg limits now implemented by many airlines, that would be huge. 

 

Any thoughts or am I nuts?

[Radium_Angel]

Have you considered something like a Lunchbox PC?

Best of both worlds. Desktop upgradability with laptop portability.

https://www.theportablepc.com/

 

[Caius Filimon]

9 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Have you considered something like a Lunchbox PC?

Best of both worlds. Desktop upgradability with laptop portability.

https://www.theportablepc.com/

 

How... the hell have I never heard of this? This is brilliant, thank you! But there must be a catch I assume; I'm having a look now though, thank you!

 

EDIT: After a quick look, well, clearly they're much larger than they have to be and space usage isn't as efficient. And probably heavier than they ought to be. But this is suuuper interesting; thanks a lot for sharing!

[Radium_Angel]

They aren't cheap...because they are kind of small niche...

[Caius Filimon]

6 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

They aren't cheap...because they are kind of small niche...

And that too, a bit of an issue. The reason for lugging the mini itx is upgradability and repairability (and thus, cheaper)

 

EDIT: And just checked again, indeed really quite heavy too. They're not ideal given the price.

[Radium_Angel]

Understood. If you are handy in CAD and woodworking, you could build your own....

[Caius Filimon]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Understood. If you are handy in CAD and woodworking, you could build your own....

True enough; unfortunately I'm not and know no one who is hahah. Always dreamt of a custom case of the sort, but in the end, I think weight-wise a passively cooled case would be best as the mandatory weight that goes into the case weight also acts as a capable heatsink. My current case just by itself is 2.5kg, and it does nothing but just.. encloses the components. Doesn't act as a heatsink at all, unfortunately.

[thrasher_565]

so im a bit lost you put your monitor, keyboard, mouse, Oculus, SPESKERS, gpu, and your pc case as luggage? i mean i would think a laptop would be WAY better....

 

what is the real problem?

[Yaxir]

7 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

so im a bit lost you put your monitor, keyboard, mouse, Oculus, SPESKERS, gpu, and your pc case as luggage? i mean i would think a laptop would be WAY better....

 

what is the real problem?

I also need help with this

 

I would like something portable afterwards, until i settle down somewhere