My water cooled NUC with 3D printed case

[wywywywy]

It's nearly but not quite finished yet.

This is a Gigabyte Brix Pro, using a desktop-class Core i7-4770R. Because this is a desktop-class rather than laptop-class CPU like other NUCs, the original cooling was extremely inadequate and would throttle at every opportunity.

And in the process of improving the cooling, I also had to print out a new case to house all that junk.

In a very un-SFF fashion, the size has increased from the original 0.79L to now ~2.9L.

Spec
- Gigabyte GB-BXi7-4770R
- Alphacool Eisberg pump/block
- Magicool 92mm radiator
- EK fittings, 16/10 tubing
- Noctua NF-A9 fan
- mSATA 256GB + SATA 512GB
- 16GB DDR3 SODIMM

My full experiment log with pics here -
http://www.wywywywy.com/wyblog/?cat=10
http://www.overclock.net/t/1609570/...oling-experiments-eventually-custom-enclosure

The front cover isn't done yet. Anyone got any suggestions to make it look interesting please?

Imgur album
For full descriptions please see the log.

 

[VegetableStu]

AAAAAH IT'S SO CUTE

 

[Phuncz]

That's quite something ! I thought I was mad increasing my NUC's volume by using a passive case

 

[jtd871]

I don't know why you need it to look "interesting" - it already is!

 

[wywywywy]

Because I "designed" this front cover, and actually have it printed out, but it just looks quite bland really

 

[jtd871]

Dress it up with custom artwork, then? Looks like a blank canvas just waiting for an artist to have their way with it.

 

[wywywywy]

Yes I was thinking about doing a Voronoi Diagram on the cover as well, but too much of the same thing isn't really interesting.

So right now I'm considering doing a sticker bomb. Bonus is that it's cheap and easy.

What do you think?

 

[jtd871]

Don't ask me to pick - this is your call. If you get a removeable cling (don't know how well that works with 3D plastic) you should be able to change it out if you don't like it. The ideal (and likely expensive and impractical) solution is to use a flexible screen (e-ink?) and be able to change the artwork digitally, but that's just my crazy dumb idea!

 

[wywywywy]

Thanks I've already picked a black and white sticky bomb. Only a few quids it's no big loss if it doesn't turn out well.

 

[NRG]

That's really cool dude, love your work!

 

[VegetableStu]

@wywywywy Nice!

 

[wywywywy]

Whoops thanks for reminding me. Forgot to post the last 2 logs here.

So I "designed" a cover for the NUC in Fusion 360. It really is nothing more than a cover with holes for USB etc.



It looked pretty bland and uninteresting to be honest. So I decided to give it some graphics, and sticker-bombed it.




I quite like how it turned out. The good thing is that if I change my mind, I can easily remove them all and start again.

The stickers could do with flattening a bit though

One thing I found is that the printed bracket to hold heatsink down is a bit inconsistent. To solve this issue, I had the bracket laser cut in mild steel. It's then spray painted with grey primer and matt black for protection. The nuts to hold it down is now Nyloc so they won't lose tension unexpectedly.



At the same time I also opened everything up to clean & flush all the bits because there was some plasticiser in the old tubing. The chrome elbows were replaced with black ones - just look a bit better really. The soldering on the LED & power switch was also reworked to make them stronger.




As for the cover, I was given the idea of using a transparent vinyl film over it so it stays nice and flat Which is just what I did, with a matt texture one to avoid the glossy look!




There's some air bubbles in the pictures but I have since had most of them flattened.

I think that's pretty much it for this project now. Because unfortunately something unexpected happened (loss of my supplemental job!) and I don't really have a use for this machine any more So it'll probably just sit in a corner as a spare in case of my main PC goes down.

 

[ChairmanDev]

Hey! Love how you created something awesome out of a mundane NUC.

I was looking at picking up that Alphacool pump/res/block combo for my own project. Any thoughts you could share on it? How do you like it?

 

[wywywywy]

Thanks.

Yes I do have a few thoughts.

1. It's noisier than an Asetek AIO. Not by much, but it definitely is.

2. It's very hard to bleed, as reported by many users.

3. Having a small res is really very helpful.

4. I had to disassemble it to clean out the plasticiser because of bad tubing I originally used, and it was very simple and easy to clean the copper block. The pump however cannot be disassembled.

5. The clear window isn't actually very clear, at least on mine.

I'll write more when I can think of more.

 

[mike390]

Do you have the STL file? Id like to try to print my own to fix my broken Gigabyte case

 

[wywywywy]

Yes I do. But do you have the exact model? Because the case only fits this exact model, not any other Brix.

If the answer is yes I can send you the source code (Fusion 360) so you can have a play around with.

 

[mike390]

Yes I do. But do you have the exact model? Because the case only fits this exact model, not any other Brix.

If the answer is yes I can send you the source code (Fusion 360) so you can have a play around with.

Yup I have the exact model as you actually . Thanks, itll help me out alot!

 

[wywywywy]

Check your email please!