Log DIY Sub 4 Litre Case for Micro Workstation

[Brian McGuigan]

I am contemplating building an extremely compact DIY Case for a Micro Workstation that will fit in my briefcase.

It is efectively a Notebook substitute, with as much power as I can pack into as small a space as possible. I have had Notebooks for over 30 years, and never used them without plugging them in. I normally use my Notebook at home or in the Office with a monitor and keyboard plugged in. So why buy a replacement Notebook and pay for a Screen and Keyboard that I will never, well hardly ever use. My requirements when I'm 'Out-and-About', are more than adequately provided for, by my Samsung Tablet whilst I'm on the move, which I can then to RDP into the Workstation on arrival. Effectively my Tablet is then a wireless Monitor/Keyboard.

I am, unashamedly waiting for new technology to be released. I propose using:

• APU - AMD 8050 'Strix Halo', so I won't need a GPU, due early 2025, I believe.
• Motherboard - AM5 PCIe 5 mITX 870, to be selected when they are released.
• Air Cooler - Thermalright AXP90-X53 Full Copper low-profile air cooler.
• Thermal Sheet - Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet Thermal Pad, 33x33mm.
• Memory - 32 GB TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert DDR5 RAM - 6400MHz CL32.
• SSD - 1TB Corsair MP700 PRO with Air Cooler PCIe Gen5 x4 NVMe 2.0 M.2 SSD
• Case Fans - 2 x Noctua 80mm NF-R8 Redux Edition 1800RPM PWM
• PSU - HDPLEX 250W GaN ATX PSU
• 3.5" Front display for CPU info

Case Design:

• 3mm Aluminium Base,
• 3mm Clear Acrylic Top
• 80mm Advertising Standoffs holding them Apart
• Stainless Steel Mesh wrapped around ourside of Standoffs
• DIY Custom Cables - not enough space for anything else

Layout

• 2 x 80mm Fans to one side, beweeen standoffs
• PSU on edge, on the other side, between standoffs
• Motherboard, in between
• 3.5" Display to front
• Size 236 x 206 x 86mm

Advice and comments, would be appreciated.

 

[Gidilo]

That sounds like a cool cyberdeck but I think 3,5" is not a display size you can really do anything with. Why not make it 7" and fill the same area as the 2 80mm fans?

 

[ChinStrap]

Do you think ‘Strix Halo’ is going to come to AM5? I guess, I don’t. I could see it coming to some custom itx solution, from someone like minisforum though. The memory chips required are the outlier for me, in my thinking. If you’re looking for ideas, Youtube content creator ‘BitWit’ posted a video using a Velka 3 / AMD 7950X3D build.

 

[SFFMunkee]

I'm not convinced we'll get Halo Strix socketed, sadly. But we can hope!
That said even the 8700G is a fairly capable iGPU as long as you temper your expectations a bit.

There's a lot of options out there already for 'off-the-shelf' compatibility with FlexATX or GaN250 and ITX too.
::EDIT:: And for Strix Halo there's a good chance Minisforum or similar will produce a miniPC which will be smaller than anything you can DIY

Do you have any pictures of your design ideas?

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

How about a 1.2L sized Lenovo P3 Tiny. And place an RTX 2000 ADA or RTX 4000 SFF with n3rdware's sigle slot mod.
Be sure to upgrade the PS to at least 300w because 230w wont cut it.

 

[Brian McGuigan]

That sounds like a cool cyberdeck but I think 3,5" is not a display size you can really do anything with. Why not make it 7" and fill the same area as the 2 80mm fans?

Couldn't fix 7" in. But 5" works just fine.

 

[Gidilo]

Couldn't fix 7" in. But 5" works just fine.

A surface of 80x160mm gives you a max diagonal of 6,42“ (for 16/9) so 6" should be possible