Concept Brickless sub 3l desktop Ryzen APU ITX system in wooden Voronoi pattern case

23571113

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Feb 27, 2018
16
16
Hi everyone,

I would like to share and discuss my idea of a brickless sub 3l wooden case perforated with a voronoi pattern. It shares some similarities with Windfall's concept, but can house a desktop ryzen APU on an AM4 Mini-ITX mainboard equipped with a proper cooler & fan combo.

My goal is to build a tiny pc that works as quietly and energy efficient as possible while still being powerful enough to flawlessly run esports games, high quality video material and 50+ browser tabs. The OS will be the linux distro Antergos.

The hardware I selected for this build is:
  • AMD Ryzen 3 2200G
  • ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac
  • G.Skill RipJaws V DIMM Kit 16GB DDR4-3200 CL16-18-18-38 (F4-3200C16D-16GVKB)
  • Kingston A1000 240GB, M.2 SSD (SA1000M8/240G)
  • HDPlex 160W AC-DC & DC-ATX combo
  • Noctua NH-L9a-AM4
  • AOC G2590PX
I have access to a local maker space and plan on creating the case from 5 mm plywood utilizing a laser cutter. A friend who is a carpenter will help me to assemble it.
Some of you might not know what kind of pattern I am referring to when talking of Voronoi, so I hope the following link is helpful. In my opinion it's a fascinating and beautiful organic pattern that can be found in lots of natural organisms and processes which for me, as a huge supporter of bionics/biomimicry, makes it even more appealing.
In the end the side and back pannels, base, lid and potentially even the front are supposed to look something like this, this or this. Besides offering a look that I like, I hope the widely perforated case will offer lots of fresh air to the components of the system and therefore show temperatures not too different from an open bench setup.

In this regard I would love to learn if anybody has ever experimented with a perforated base plate alongside permeable side panels. Has it increased or worsend the airflow and the experienced temperatures?

In a very quick and dirty first ever use of Fusion 360 and without a mouse I tried to indicate at the dimensions and arrangement of the parts and would like to hear your opinions and concerns.

For clearances/tolerances I gave myself 2-4 mm per direction. For a lack of better knowledge I assumed the backside mounted M2 SSD, heat sink back plate, PCB and CPU socket resulted in an overall height of the mainboard of 8 mm (which probably gives me greater head clearance since the RAM was placed on top of the 8 mm block representing the mainboard). The RAM I assumed to have a thickness of 6 mm including the factory heatsinks.
I also hope to be able to mount the NH-L9a-AM4 in the way described by NFC so that the A9x14 unimpededly from the RAM can suck in fresh or push out hot air. Does anybody already own the fairly new ASRock board and can share their knowledge?
In case temperatures would ask for RPM of the fan >= 1000 I would be willing to delid the APU and replace both the TIM betwwen chip and heatspreader as well as between heatspreader and base of heatsink with liquid metal. If this project becomes reality and is functional I would gladly share the STEPs with you guys.

Since sadly imgur doesn't work for me you can find the very rudimentary snapshots of the 261x182x62 mm = 2.95l case under the following links:
https://abload.de/img/1audlv.png
https://abload.de/img/29tegg.png
https://abload.de/img/3kxd0c.png
https://abload.de/img/42idkj.png
 
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