Recent content by Hippopeteamus

Backpackable? Tick. Cool and quiet? I’m very happy with the revised version. Idles well under 30 dB 1m away, sitting on my desktop next to my monitor. The Noctua fans also make a silky-smooth sound, without a hint of whine. Lovely. Both the CPU and GPU idle at about 35 degrees C, with three...

And here we are, with new front-plate installed – I just used a bit of aluminium propeller plate I had lying around. I like the gleaming faux-industrial vibe. The cooler fan sucks air straight in through a 90mm hole in the cover plate and vents it out the top of the case. You can’t see it in...

HDD tray installed: Mesh in place in front of the case fans, which I’ve set back a bit with rubber washers:

Simple bespoke HDD tray – the cantilevered ‘legs’ fit around the upper case fan, and bend so the whole thing just clicks into place. Please ignore the thermal tape detritus on the HDDs……

Now looking from the rear, with the graphics card installed. Life is made a lot easier by the fact that the GPU is a low-profile, one-slot unit. The PCI-e ribbon riser is a rather unsatisfactory 20cm one, which is seen here rolled up, but which I ultimately folded in half and slipped between the...

With the HdPlex DC-ATX converter in place on the motherboard, case fans installed, and most of the cable management done. I had to move the front-panel power button and USB ports, since the HdPlex sat where they were initially. This meant making a new front-plate (we’ll get to that). In the...

Here's the case with not much in it (I actually removed some things). Front view: When stood on its end tower-style, the HdPlex AC-DC adapter (left) is in the very bottom of the case. The SSD you can see sits under the GPU. Since it requires little babying, it is simply stuck to the floor of...

The brief: I’m a research scientist / engineer/ lecturer at a large university. I needed a compact, powerful workstation that I could stick in a backpack (i.e. brickless) and take between home and the office every day. It was intended for private as well as work tasks. Work tasks included...