5L <$200 PC build using Lenovo All in One motherboard Build Log

[Dapuma]

yea that's the one I've got alright except mine's a D not B. Got extra frequency counter on this one.

One word of caution: Don't use this to measure current more than its stated limit. My unit came with depleted battery so I had to open the whole back cover up to change it. There I found no fuse connected to the 10A measuring socket. Just a wire jumper. This thing will melt on 10A alright, possibly taking the surrounding plastic with it too.

i already had bought the ebay one unfortunately, so im probably going to have to use the aliexpress thing for something else. Theres also a drawback is that I can't buy a gift card for aliexpress with nano as far as im aware of, which is the cryptocurrency i am primarily using to fund this project.

 

[Dapuma]

According to ebay, the multimeter and flex atx psu had been delivered yesterday. However, I am on a trip rn for a few days so fingers crossed it won't be stolen from the doorstep. Anyways, I just purchased a SATA to m.2 adapter for $2.30 *ahem* $0.00 with nano, so I lied about RAM being next thing to purchase. I also realized I will need a WIFI card (~$4), and possibly a mini pcie to pcie adapter, but I want to make sure it works without a gpu before I go and invest lots of time into getting the funds for a GPU. The fact that the OEM PSU i have doesnt have a sata power cable (i think) won't be a problem, I have a ~30W PSU from a gutted apple airport router with an ssd connector. (side note, with the gutted apple router chassis I might do a thin-itx build in it with a 3200G I have on hand)

 

[Dapuma]

And I'm back. Packages weren't stolen (thankfully) but rather they were buried under 5 inches of snow. My suspicions about the m90z psu size were correct, it looks to be exactly the size of a flex atx PSU. The multimeter works, but I would rather wait until tomorrow before testing out the psu, as it was freezing out and theres condensation on it. I will go more into detail soon, but not right now.

 

[Dapuma]

I basically have everything that I need to make a design for the case. @CountNoctua was kind enough to send me an Intel stock cooler absolutely free of charge, which means That I can cut down on the volume by at least 100ml vs going with the amd wraith stealth, with another bonus being that I don't have to mod the intel stock cooler as much as I would have to mod the amd wraith stealth. With my current plans, the case will be around the size of an s4 mini, which is pretty good considering the motherboard is 175mm x 275mm, while still supporting 215mm-220mm dual slot GPUs. These are extremely preliminary designs, and I've just started to learn how to use fusion 360. I still havent tested out the PSU with the multimeter, so I will have to do that today.

 

[Windfall]

I basically have everything that I need to make a design for the case. @CountNoctua was kind enough to send me an Intel stock cooler absolutely free of charge, which means That I can cut down on the volume by at least 100ml vs going with the amd wraith stealth, with another bonus being that I don't have to mod the intel stock cooler as much as I would have to mod the amd wraith stealth. With my current plans, the case will be around the size of an s4 mini, which is pretty good considering the motherboard is 175mm x 275mm, while still supporting 215mm-220mm dual slot GPUs. These are extremely preliminary designs, and I've just started to learn how to use fusion 360. I still havent tested out the PSU with the multimeter, so I will have to do that today.

Can't wait to see it!

 

[Dapuma]

Ok, ive started to test it, but i've noticed something a bit weird. The fan on the psu is actually powered from a 4 pin thats not connected to the psu, so ill have to figure out how to power it. It has a really small 4 pin connector:

I think im just gonna cut that off and attach it to a 12v battery pack to see if it works.

For finding the pinout, I don't think that the lack of fan will have any effect on the results in the short term for just testing. Also ive never tried to find a pinout for anything before. Here's an approximate diagram:

yeah idk what anything else does. the colors align with the colors on the wires. All i know is that the purpley blue one carries 5V and the green one carries 2.8, everything else doesn't register on my multimeter. If anyone knows how to do this, that would be amazing.

(btw sorry for the shitty photos, my phone hasn't been working for a while now so I am using a laptop webcam.)

I cut off the lead of the wires for the fan... I can't get it to work for some odd reason... I might have to find a way to source a 40x20mm fan for real cheap, if not free.

I also bent a couple of those LGA pins, though i got them fixed quickly. Sucks that i don't know where my socket protector plastic thing is.

I need to find the pinout of the 6V fan header on the motherboard for when my fans come in

 

[Dapuma]

My order of purchasing things atm for the next few purchases will be:
Sata splitter ($2)
Sata to PWM fan hub ($2)
Then the big boy. the i5-4570S. $50. during this time would be a good time to finish the case design.

 

[CottonTexas]

I don't hardly know much, but I believe that some PSU's require a switch signal from the MoBo in order to send power correctly. I'm sure someone here knows what I'm talking about, and will hopefully chime in with some knowledge.

 

[Dapuma]

I don't hardly know much, but I believe that some PSU's require a switch signal from the MoBo in order to send power correctly. I'm sure someone here knows what I'm talking about, and will hopefully chime in with some knowledge.

alright, thats good to know. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Dapuma]

Measured everything out, which led me to the length, width, and height I would need with enough clearance for cable management. Assuming I am using 2mm thick PLA, the dimensions end up being 244x64x320. I multiplied those numbers together for an approximate outer volume (assuming my case will be perfect cuboid, i might want to put a few curves in it) of 4.997 Liters. How close I was to my limit really surprised me. I might be able to shorten the width slightly, as I measured it using the wraith stealth cooler in the cpu socket, which im probably not going to use. With these dimensions and assuming I am using 4mm standoffs, I would be able to have a maximum CPU cooler height of ~53-54mm, and a GPU length of 230mm, though it won't fit if the GPU cooler extends over the top of the PCIE bracket thingy. It should be able to support dual slot graphics cards, with 2.5 slot ones being a bit iffy, though it should theoretically be able to fit.]

The fan on the PSU is actually a maglev one, which is interesting, and 0.9W @12V, which is kinda cool considering the psu it came from is pretty much a flex ATX PSU. I think it should be quiet i guess.

Also the 3d printer at my school prints with a maximum dimension of 203mm x 203mm x 152mm. Not quite sure how I will connect the two pieces, thinking a mix of connecting them with a small metal bracket and superglue.

EDIT: the fan on the psu didn't work, even after connecting it to a 12V supply. makes me wonder if the psu is faulty too, but i think i somehow screwed it up somehow...

why the heck are 40mm fans so expensive? i got a 60mm fan for cheaper.

EDIT #2: I looked in the wrong places, I could get really cheap ebay ones, if i can't find any that are 20mm thick, i could possible settle for 2 10mm thick fans, one that rotates clockwise and the other counterclockwise

EDIT #3: due to the miniscule coolign requirements of the psu I have, I'm going to stick with 1 10mm thick fan. Hey, its better than nothing.

 

[Dapuma]

I've got the layout and dimensions of the main space taking components into Fusion 360, and started making the case around it. My skills aren't great yet, as with my handwriting especially with a mouse. (I've really only been using fusion 360 for maybe an hour at most) so forgive my messiness.

Loudest thing in the thing shoud be the GPU fan, though once this is done and if my budget allows, i may go full noctua.

 

[Windfall]

I've got the layout and dimensions of the main space taking components into Fusion 360, and started making the case around it. My skills aren't great yet, as with my handwriting especially with a mouse. (I've really only been using fusion 360 for maybe an hour at most) so forgive my messiness.

Loudest thing in the thing shoud be the GPU fan, though once this is done and if my budget allows, i may go full noctua.

Did you import all those parts as STLs from sketchup?

 

[Dapuma]

Did you import all those parts as STLs from sketchup?

not from sketchup, but yes, i imported it as an stl. I used windows builder 3d thing because their library has a bunch of things, then realized the scales for the gpu and cpu cooler were wrong so i took the fusion 360 file with the case, exported it to windows builder as a .stl, made sure everything fit in correctly, then exported that .stl back to fusion, then I took a screenshot and drew over it with windows snipping tool's pen tool.

yeah, not the most efficient process, but it only took maybe 30 minutes to do it all.

 

[Windfall]

not from sketchup, but yes, i imported it as an stl. I used windows builder 3d thing because their library has a bunch of things, then realized the scales for the gpu and cpu cooler were wrong so i took the fusion 360 file with the case, exported it to windows builder as a .stl, made sure everything fit in correctly, then exported that .stl back to fusion, then I took a screenshot and drew over it with windows snipping tool's pen tool.

yeah, not the most efficient process, but it only took maybe 30 minutes to do it all.

Look in our forum resources section, there are dozens of CAD models that work in fusion that won't take much effort to import and will be more accurate!
Just a tip!

 

[Dapuma]

Look in our forum resources section, there are dozens of CAD models that work in fusion that won't take much effort to import and will be more accurate!
Just a tip!

Oh, thanks for that! That didn't even cross my mind lol.

 

[Dapuma]

Well not only did @CountNoctua send an intel stock cooler, he also sent a 40mm noctua fan to replace the broken psu fan, I am super grateful for that. and on top of that, he covered shipping and everything else.

For the intel stock cooler, I took out the little plastic arms, because I am probably going to have to use zipties to mount it into the board. The first 2 retention arms came out without any problem, but the last two were a real pain in the ass, I had to brute force them out with scissors. I didn't take any photos for the intel stock cooler.

Even though I knew the Noctua was a 40mm, I didn't realize it was so cute ?

Anyways, I then stuck it in the power supply. I was thinking about 3d printing a spacer to go between, which i may do later, but for now, I covered that with boxing tape.

 

[Windfall]

Well not only did @CountNoctua send an intel stock cooler, he also sent a 40mm noctua fan to replace the broken psu fan, I am super grateful for that. and on top of that, he covered shipping and everything else.

For the intel stock cooler, I took out the little plastic arms, because I am probably going to have to use zipties to mount it into the board. The first 2 retention arms came out without any problem, but the last two were a real pain in the ass, I had to brute force them out with scissors. I didn't take any photos for the intel stock cooler.

Even though I knew the Noctua was a 40mm, I didn't realize it was so cute ?

Anyways, I then stuck it in the power supply. I was thinking about 3d printing a spacer to go between, which i may do later, but for now, I covered that with boxing tape.

Very nice, yes, those fans are cute!

@CountNoctua You're pretty awesome, helping out like that!

 

[CottonTexas]

@CountNoctua You're pretty awesome, helping out like that!

Wurd. ?

 

[Choidebu]

That's community for ya. Sad that I live at the other side of the world from you guys.

 

[Dapuma]

Quick update:
I got the "59mm" 5V fan (2 pin). Its a 60mm fan. I plugged it in, and damn thats a lot of airflow and not that quiet. I put a multimeter to the "6v, 2a" cpu fan header and welp, its actually a 12V fan header. Good job lenovo. Another thing is that i think the pinout may be the exact same as a normal pwm fan header, it just has a tab so that you cant put in non-oem fan things in it. but that can be easy to cut off.

another thing is that the cryptocurrency im using to fund this (nano) has gone down in price a bit since i purchased my last thing, so that may make it take even more tim before i purchase anything else.