-
Save 15% on ALL SFF Network merch, until Dec 31st! Use code SFF2024 at checkout. Click here!
Io - Logic Supply MC600 modded into portable gaming case. (In progress - Galax GTX 1070 Mini)
- Thread starter zovc
- Start date
Go CPU side, if you can. Huge difference in thermals between a 65W TDP CPU and a 180W GPU. You can feel it. CPU side will be slightly warm. GPU side will be hot to touch.
@Josh | NFC yeah, I'm not sure if it'd be able to fit. Its 'height' is pretty much the same as the MC600 and its 'depth' is almost 1.5".
We could still try, though... for science?
We could still try, though... for science?
And if science doesn't work a sledgehammer and some John Henry might.
Sorry I've been so quiet! I've been dealing with a lot of stuff in work and life. The other day I slept for like three hours and then drove for nine hours total... just to do like three hours of work.
I haven't made much headway with this project because of how things are panning out. I need to get tools and stuff to wire my power supply and I keep either hesitating to buy because I don't want to accidentally get something janky, or I look at my savings and guilt trip myself into putting the funds away. I'm gonna set a savings goal for some tools and should have them within a few weeks!
In the meantime, the HDPLEX 300W DC-ATX seems like it's been out of stock FOREVER... so I decided to try poking around. I found this DC-ATX power supply on amazon that looks pretty promising. I would be concerned about coil whine, but I doubt my 250W power supply is going to press that 300W power supply further than intended. (Though maybe the draw will sit in an unlucky spot... there's no real knowing...)
It can supposedly take the 24V input from my Artesyn AC-DC, and it's over its power budget. It has Molex connectors included that'll help me test things out before using my own cables. (Which I might mess up on!) And on top of that, if I'm reading its diagram correctly it's pretty darn small! 160mm long vs the HDPLEX's 200mm, and the 45mm compared to 52mm(?). Do you folks think it's a winner?
Edit: The HDPLEX 300W DC-ATX is 150mm compared to this' 160mm, so this one is actually a little longer.
I haven't made much headway with this project because of how things are panning out. I need to get tools and stuff to wire my power supply and I keep either hesitating to buy because I don't want to accidentally get something janky, or I look at my savings and guilt trip myself into putting the funds away. I'm gonna set a savings goal for some tools and should have them within a few weeks!
In the meantime, the HDPLEX 300W DC-ATX seems like it's been out of stock FOREVER... so I decided to try poking around. I found this DC-ATX power supply on amazon that looks pretty promising. I would be concerned about coil whine, but I doubt my 250W power supply is going to press that 300W power supply further than intended. (Though maybe the draw will sit in an unlucky spot... there's no real knowing...)
It can supposedly take the 24V input from my Artesyn AC-DC, and it's over its power budget. It has Molex connectors included that'll help me test things out before using my own cables. (Which I might mess up on!) And on top of that, if I'm reading its diagram correctly it's pretty darn small! 160mm long vs the HDPLEX's 200mm, and the 45mm compared to 52mm(?). Do you folks think it's a winner?
Edit: The HDPLEX 300W DC-ATX is 150mm compared to this' 160mm, so this one is actually a little longer.
Last edited:
Oh! I also wanted to ask for suggestions on places to shop for screws. I looked through McMaster-Carr and was able to find the right kind (not that 3M screws are rare) and a large variety, but it seemed like I needed to order thousands of them to get any. Is there anywhere I can shop a similar variety but maybe only need to buy ~10 or so screws at a time?
Also, if someone could find 3M thumb screws that were about 7/8"-1" long you'd be my best friend.
Also, if someone could find 3M thumb screws that were about 7/8"-1" long you'd be my best friend.
I've never heard of Fastenal before, but there's one here. I'll get up early tomorrow and stop by before work! Thanks.
I actually 3D printed some thumb-grips for my M3 screws.... Not sure what the longest one screw with M3 thread I have is.
What about Harbor Freight? I have one of those near me and they has screws that matched even the countersunk S4 mini chassis screws I was looking for.
They were able to get some hex screws that should be the right size and length. The guy at the counter wasn't able to find thumb screws like I was hoping for on the back. That's not too important for now, though.
With these screws (which will be in Wednesday at the latest), I can start working on affixing the wooden front panel and making sure I get that square.
The closest harbor freight to me is an hour and a half away.
With these screws (which will be in Wednesday at the latest), I can start working on affixing the wooden front panel and making sure I get that square.
The closest harbor freight to me is an hour and a half away.
Just a small, quick and dirty inspiration from my side:
Inspired by @zovc your suggestions, I added "Plexiglas LED" acrylic (cut into "O" shape) to my MC600, so there is now 30mm more space in front of MoBo and for GPU or internal PSU.
Like I said, photos and work is quite quick and dirty but since I decided not modding my MC600 any further I just wanted to show you going the acrylic way could look nice too.
Inspired by @zovc your suggestions, I added "Plexiglas LED" acrylic (cut into "O" shape) to my MC600, so there is now 30mm more space in front of MoBo and for GPU or internal PSU.
Like I said, photos and work is quite quick and dirty but since I decided not modding my MC600 any further I just wanted to show you going the acrylic way could look nice too.
Hi zovc, I'm interested in your build and I've gathered 80% of the build and the MC600 case is on its way! I'm undecided on the PSU - have you considered the G-Unique? I also hear that HDPlex is going to come out with a 400W PSU with a footprint 1 cm longer than their current 300W board (apparently mid May) but Im not sure it will fit horizontally against the thin edge...
Heck yeah! Good luck.
Being completely honest, I'm still undecided on PSU as well. I'm still holding out hope that I can make the Artesyn AC-DC PSU work, but the more I consider it the less likely that seems. At this point, it seems like I'll need to incorporate extra fans into the build, having them intake air near the PSU. I'll also need to have the Artesyn PSU near the motherboard rather than near the GPU like I originally planned.
According to its documentation, I can only expect 250W from it and I'm not sure what happens when you draw over that. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep my build drawing less than that and so far--according to my limited testing--my 1070 doesn't seem to spike very drastically over its average load. At least, according to HWiNFO64. If the Artesyn PSU goes at all over 50C it supposedly starts sharply putting out less power.
Before I get the chance to fool around with the Artesyn unit, I'm trying to get my finances in order. I set some pretty aggressive savings goals this year and am struggling to keep up with them. It's put my fun funds on hold and has stressed me out a good bit, so I might end up dialing it back, but either way I need to get together the up-front cost of all the tools I need to make cables and solders and crimps and a power supply tester...
I don't know if it's possible to fit the 300W HDPLEX AC-DC, but if I had to guess it is impossible to fit a larger unit, IIRC the 300W is 62mm tall and the Logic Supply MC600 is 63mm tall.
A few times I have tried looking into the G-Uinque units but couldn't quite make heads or tails of what I was looking at. If they've got a similar footprint to a HDPLEX 160W, but are ~300+(?) units, they would be a great DC-DC solution but the issue currently is finding a sizable, high-wattage AC-DC unit. Does G-Unique have a AC-DC unit?
Speaking of DC-DC units, @Kmpkt's units are starting to materialize and they look promising!
Being completely honest, I'm still undecided on PSU as well. I'm still holding out hope that I can make the Artesyn AC-DC PSU work, but the more I consider it the less likely that seems. At this point, it seems like I'll need to incorporate extra fans into the build, having them intake air near the PSU. I'll also need to have the Artesyn PSU near the motherboard rather than near the GPU like I originally planned.
According to its documentation, I can only expect 250W from it and I'm not sure what happens when you draw over that. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep my build drawing less than that and so far--according to my limited testing--my 1070 doesn't seem to spike very drastically over its average load. At least, according to HWiNFO64. If the Artesyn PSU goes at all over 50C it supposedly starts sharply putting out less power.
Before I get the chance to fool around with the Artesyn unit, I'm trying to get my finances in order. I set some pretty aggressive savings goals this year and am struggling to keep up with them. It's put my fun funds on hold and has stressed me out a good bit, so I might end up dialing it back, but either way I need to get together the up-front cost of all the tools I need to make cables and solders and crimps and a power supply tester...
I don't know if it's possible to fit the 300W HDPLEX AC-DC, but if I had to guess it is impossible to fit a larger unit, IIRC the 300W is 62mm tall and the Logic Supply MC600 is 63mm tall.
A few times I have tried looking into the G-Uinque units but couldn't quite make heads or tails of what I was looking at. If they've got a similar footprint to a HDPLEX 160W, but are ~300+(?) units, they would be a great DC-DC solution but the issue currently is finding a sizable, high-wattage AC-DC unit. Does G-Unique have a AC-DC unit?
Speaking of DC-DC units, @Kmpkt's units are starting to materialize and they look promising!
The G-Unique units only take 12V input, so they are capable of much higher wattages since they basically just pass on the 12V from the AC-DC.
You can also buy a Dell 12V brick from him that he's modified to be capable of even 400W.
Just note that the power connector for the high-output bricks will be 12+-pin Mini-Fit Jr. to handle the high current.
Okay, here's a small update and me fishing for some suggestions.
(Yes, that's a S4 Mini on the right. @Josh | NFC said it's the weirdest S4 Mini build he's ever heard of. BTW, that PCIe Riser I ordered is FINALLY supposed to come in tomorrow so we can see if it works.)
I fooled around with the few major pieces I have so far and I'm starting to get a little concerned about the Artesyn AC-DC unit working out. The original plan of seating it in the 3/4" plywood front panel seems like it'll work according to me playing around with fitment just now. (Though, I can only 'eyeball' it at the moment.) There's pretty clearly enough space between the unit and the area where the motherboard will be. The issue with putting it here is that the AC-in needs to make it to the unit, then the DC-Out needs to make it to my HDPLEX 300W or whatever other DC-ATX solution I'm using. That's gonna be a ton of clutter no matter how elegantly I manage to make everything fit in there. With the Artesyn AC-DC in this location (near the motherboard), pretty much any normal motherboard will have it's 24-Pin connector right there and then the RAM slots behind that...
In my head, I started playing with the idea of fitting a fan either "above" the Artesyn unit or "in front" of it. That is, a fan mounted more or less to the top of the wooden spacer/case or a fan mounted flush to the unit between it and the motherboard. The idea was to either push or pull, respectively, air across the unit to hopefully keep it below the 50C where its output starts to drop off.
Thing is, while that idea in theory might get the job done there's no way there's enough room for even a 40mm fan in either of those orientations. Especially not after I start putting components and cables in here. The only real solution I can think of is to increase the size of the wooden piece in the front even more. We're practically talking another whole piece of 3/4" plywood to accommodate the height of most fans, 15mm is more than 1/2". (Roughly .59") The advantage of doing this--though we'd be adding a lot more relative volume to the case at this point--is that there would be even more room to manage all the cables that are going to be running around this thing.
There's the 24-pin connector, the 8-pin connector for my GPU, theoretically power and SATA for a opened-up 2.5" SSD, and the AC-in (2 to 3 wires) and DC-out (6 wires) for the Artesyn PSU.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions for keeping this thing brickless? Does anyone know how many Watts the HDPLEX 160W can push? Does it have any thermal limitations, or could it work if it was next to my toasty GPU?
(Yes, that's a S4 Mini on the right.
@Josh | NFC said it's the weirdest S4 Mini build he's ever heard of. BTW, that PCIe Riser I ordered is FINALLY supposed to come in tomorrow so we can see if it works.)I fooled around with the few major pieces I have so far and I'm starting to get a little concerned about the Artesyn AC-DC unit working out. The original plan of seating it in the 3/4" plywood front panel seems like it'll work according to me playing around with fitment just now. (Though, I can only 'eyeball' it at the moment.) There's pretty clearly enough space between the unit and the area where the motherboard will be. The issue with putting it here is that the AC-in needs to make it to the unit, then the DC-Out needs to make it to my HDPLEX 300W or whatever other DC-ATX solution I'm using. That's gonna be a ton of clutter no matter how elegantly I manage to make everything fit in there. With the Artesyn AC-DC in this location (near the motherboard), pretty much any normal motherboard will have it's 24-Pin connector right there and then the RAM slots behind that...
In my head, I started playing with the idea of fitting a fan either "above" the Artesyn unit or "in front" of it. That is, a fan mounted more or less to the top of the wooden spacer/case or a fan mounted flush to the unit between it and the motherboard. The idea was to either push or pull, respectively, air across the unit to hopefully keep it below the 50C where its output starts to drop off.
Thing is, while that idea in theory might get the job done there's no way there's enough room for even a 40mm fan in either of those orientations. Especially not after I start putting components and cables in here. The only real solution I can think of is to increase the size of the wooden piece in the front even more. We're practically talking another whole piece of 3/4" plywood to accommodate the height of most fans, 15mm is more than 1/2". (Roughly .59") The advantage of doing this--though we'd be adding a lot more relative volume to the case at this point--is that there would be even more room to manage all the cables that are going to be running around this thing.
There's the 24-pin connector, the 8-pin connector for my GPU, theoretically power and SATA for a opened-up 2.5" SSD, and the AC-in (2 to 3 wires) and DC-out (6 wires) for the Artesyn PSU.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions for keeping this thing brickless? Does anyone know how many Watts the HDPLEX 160W can push? Does it have any thermal limitations, or could it work if it was next to my toasty GPU?
Im really excited for your build! I've also thought about the HDplex 160. The max wattage is 200W I believe but I wasn't confident running a 1070 in combination with a 7600K. I am going to go for the incoming (unannounced) HDPLEX 400W. I hope your build works out since I hope to take some inspiration out of all this. Kind regards
