LotR Tower Of Orthanc Case Build

[brwainer]

I've been planning this for a while, and now parts are coming in now, so here we go. I am going to put an Intel NUC into the Lego Lord of the Rings Tower of Orthanc (Saruman's tower).

 

Parts:

1x Intel NUC (model TBD, will probably be the latest i5 or i7 model with Iris Pro) (will have to buy a complete kit and strip the board out of the case)

2x Lego #10237 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/The-Tower-of-Orthanc-10237

1x Lego #79007 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Battle-at-the-Black-Gate-79007 (for parts)

Computer Parts TBD:

RAM (8 or 16Gb, 1866MHz preferred)

128 or 256 GB SSD (I can put a 2.5" drive on the second floor of the Tower, or an M.2 drive on the NUC) (mass storage and backups will be on the NAS and OneDrive)

 

Why do I need two of the Lego Tower of Orthanc sets? Because the set is for a 3-sided playset version, and I want to make a 4-sided tower.

 

Dimensions and choice of computer parts:
A lego brick is 8mm by 8mm by 9.6mm. The inside capacity of two Tower of Orthanc sets combined, on the first and second floors, is 12 studs by 18 studs, or 96mm by 144mm. This is pretty small, but a Intel NUC board measures 102mm by 102mm. My plan is to use the Battle at the Black Gate set as spare parts to allow me to make the available footprint be 14 by 18 studs, or 112x144mm. I looked at Gigabyte Brix units with the option of stripping them out of their case as well, but I believe they are too large, over 5" in each dimension.

 

An Intel NUC is perfect for my uses for this computer because it is going in my office and I don't want to game on my work computer at all. I will be driving two 1680x1050 monitors with it, hence the desire for the latest integrated graphics. I need a lot of RAM because my work ends up requiring hundreds of browser tabs across 3 browsers at times. Storage space is not a huge concern, I will only be using Microsoft Office, Firefox, Chrome, IE, and a few really tiny custom programs.

 

Current Progress:

The Battle at the Black Gates set arrived ages ago and I built it by the instructions because why not. The first of the two Tower of Orthanc sets arrived today, and I'm going to build it tonight or tomorrow because again, why not. The second set will arrive Tuesday or Wednesday, and when I can I will start combining them into one big tower. When I do so, I will be trying to put in ingress and egress vents for the system to breath, a spot for wires to enter and exit, and also seeing if I can make the overall tower taller and more awesome (I'm not too concerned about the end result being an accurate model).

 

Next Steps:

I need to decide on the NUC model, SSD, and RAM. If anyone knows of other systems whose main board, when removed from the case, is less than 112x144mm, I'd love to know about them.

[J.B.]

As a Dane and Tolkien fan I profusely approve of this!

[brwainer]

I determined that actually any Brix model that doesn't have dedicated graphics would fit as well. I also looked at other mini PC brands like Zotac. After doing comparisons I decided on this:

 

• Intel NUC Kit NUC5i7RYH (i7-5557U CPU, Iris 6100 graphics) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V4A5ETW/
• Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1866 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DSGLMSM/
• Samsung 850 EVO 120 GB M.2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TGIVY1G/

I may not buy everything from Amazon, they are just handy links.

 

Thinking about cooling for the NUC, I may stick in an extra 90mm fan at the side for airflow across the motherboard, RAM, and SSD (like how some BRIX PCs are built), and I wonder if I could manage some sort of liquid cooling loop for the CPU, putting the radiator up in the "second floor". Because of the design of the tower, I think I can get a 120mm radiator and fan in there, as long as the combined thickness is less than 48mm. The pump and reservoir would be more difficult, so I'm going to look at AIO coolers to see what's available. Mounting any CPU block to this will be interesting, I may end up with something really ghetto.

[Necrodead]

Put Gandalf on the top of the tower, that would be epic!

 

Can't wait to see it finished. +watch.

[brwainer]

Set #1 built and I spent about 2 hours figuring out how to merge the two together. I have a plan and all the pieces for the bottom half, but the top half is TBD.
I am also thinking that I should put the NUC on the 3rd floor initially, as that is the floor with all the windows in the set and therefore it won't overheat. Later on when I can really figure out water cooling, I can put the rad(s) and fans(s) on the 3rd floor, and the NUC on the 1st or 2nd. The open space in the 3rd floor right now is a cross, easiest expressed as overlapping rectangles:

-the horizontal rectangle is 16 studs deep by 16 studs wide, aka 128mm by 128mm

-the vertical rectangle is 26 studs deep by 6 studs wide, aka 208mm by 48mm

-the entire cross area is 12 bricks tall, aka 115.2mm

 

When I get to do some sort of water cooling loop, I can definitely get the pump/reservoir (looking at combo units to save horizontal space) and multiple 120mm radiators and fans in there, I just have to add one more row of bricks to make the vertical space tall enough. That of course is held up by finding a CPU block (I don't think it exists) or finding a way to mount one from a normal socket.

 

Set #2 is still stuck in UPS limbo - it is showing both "Delivery on Tuesday" and "Delayed by weather". I hope it arrives Tuesday or Wednesday because I'm going out of town for a few days on Thursday.

 

 

Put Gandalf on the top of the tower, that would be epic!

 

Can't wait to see it finished. +watch.

Of course! Lego even gives you a Gandalf and an Eagle with each set!

[brwainer]

Some changes, and a lot of progress. The entire tower is now built, and I realized I could actually fit an mITX motherboard into the tower. I did a test fit with a spare (actually broken, not RMA-able) Gigabyte Z97N-Wifi with the intel stock cooler and standard height ram, standing vertical and inserted into a 45 degree angle. The only clearance issue was the intel stock cooler, and I can make simple modifications to some lego bricks with a dremel to make it all OK (need to cut out a groove about 1mm deep for the corner of the fan enclosure/guard).

The new parts are:

• Asrock Z97E-ITX/ac - chose for the M.2 slot on the bottom - arrives tomorrow (Tuesday 8/18)
• Intel Core i5-4690 - arrives tomorrow (Tuesday 8/18)
• Crucial BX100 120GB - arrived today
• Crucial Ballistic Sport 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1600 - arrived today
• picoPSU-160-XT + 192W Adapter Power Kit - arrives Wednesday 8/19

Future upgrade parts:

• 120mm AIO cooler, or small custom water loop, or minimally a 120mm fan - if I can get a 120mm fan/radiator to sit above the motherboard blowing upwards, it would draw in air from the bottom of the case below the motherboard, for optimal passive cooler of all components
• Toshiba BG1 SSD - the announcement of this SSD is what made me choose the Asrock motherboard, the only mITX mobo with an M.2 slot I could find. A 2230 SSD with NVME sounds great for a purely office computer, more speed and IOPS than I should ever need.

Image #1: Entire tower built

Image #2: Bottom section with test motherboard

Image #3: Bottom section with test motherboard, from above

Image #4: Motherboard fit test closeup

Image #5: Detail on the Intel cooler

after the new parts are all installed, I'll take pictures again, this time with some of the included minifigures acting out scenes.

[iludez]

Sick!

[Necrodead]

Looks epic! Didn't think to mount the motherboard like that, good idea.

[brwainer]

Parts arrived a few days ago and I have been using the system just sitting on the motherboard box. The Asrock motherboard has the CPU socket closer to the top than the Gigabyte board did, so the CPU cooler has a much bigger clearance issue. I decided to get a Noctua NH-L9I cooler as it looks short enough to have no clearance issues. That arrives tomorrow, and I should have the final pictures shortly.