(I've been naming/numbering my VR development machines ono's after the Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7 cyberdecks. ono3 makes me confident that by the time I get to ono7, it should be worth its namesake.)
About a year ago, I built a portable workstation in a Pelican 1430 top-loader (gallery, parts list) so I could do VR development while traveling. While a bit heavier than I would have liked (fully packed, is usually about 7.7kg, or 17lb), it's comfortably personal-item/carry-on size for air travel (even able to fit under a US domestic economy seat), and I traveled with it across 4 continents, and for tens of thousands of miles without any major issues. Long story short, it did good.
That being said, with the new Vive and CB/CV1 HMDs, it's not possible to stuff them into the Pelican anymore, and truth be told, I was getting a bit tired of lugging all that weight around (the Pelican case by itself weighed 2.6kg).
Phase 1 of my new build was a simple transfer job. There were a few minor issues, but overall, it was pretty painless.
The spreadsheet has the specifics, but the highlights of the current build:
I finally published a full write-up of the backpack setup on my blog. I was meaning to get some non-janky mounting done for it, but never got around to it, so gaff tape it is, but you get the idea.
About a year ago, I built a portable workstation in a Pelican 1430 top-loader (gallery, parts list) so I could do VR development while traveling. While a bit heavier than I would have liked (fully packed, is usually about 7.7kg, or 17lb), it's comfortably personal-item/carry-on size for air travel (even able to fit under a US domestic economy seat), and I traveled with it across 4 continents, and for tens of thousands of miles without any major issues. Long story short, it did good.
That being said, with the new Vive and CB/CV1 HMDs, it's not possible to stuff them into the Pelican anymore, and truth be told, I was getting a bit tired of lugging all that weight around (the Pelican case by itself weighed 2.6kg).
Phase 1 of my new build was a simple transfer job. There were a few minor issues, but overall, it was pretty painless.
The spreadsheet has the specifics, but the highlights of the current build:
- NFC S4 Mini (#005)
- Intel Core i7-4790K (Devil's Canyon Haswell)
- Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler
- Asus ROG Maximum Impact VII
- 2 x 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600
- Plextor M6e Series 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
- GALAX GeForce GTX 970 OC
- HDPLEX 250W HiFI DC-ATX
- HP Firebird 350W Power Supply
- There are more than a couple things you'll want to take note from the S4 Mini assembly video. Be sure to watch it in full first.
- I pre-ordered before I saw any mention of HDPLEX mods - the extra predrilled hole wasn't a big deal, attaching the barrel receiver to the case with one screw was fine for me. The studs that needed to removed was a bit harder. Josh posted directions, but I still had some issues - I ended up having to remove all the nuts completely and the fastening screws to remove the aluminum fascia completely, and then rocked the studs w/ some pliers to loosen, and put some gaff on to get some grip to unscrew. It was a slightly PITA.
- The HDPLEX by default comes with a 6+8pin PCIe power, not a dual 6pin. Josh posted about rewiring them yourself but I ended up dropping HDPLEX a line, and they mailed me a 6+6. Awesome customer service. If you order directly from them, I bet you can request the appropriate PCIe cable in the first place.
- You'll need to do some major cramming for the HDPLEX wiring, but it wasn't terrible.
- The Galax GTX 970 OC isn't technically a mini-ITX sized card (it's a tiny bit longer), but it had no problem fitting (pic) - the only slighty weird thing is that even with it flush against w/ the insert slots in, there was a 4mm gap or so where the backplate screws were - not sure if this is normal, but I had to dig out some longer screws to secure the card.
- I started off with a Zalman CNPS2X and a Scythe Slip Stream 120 for cooling, but it fell a bit short for my CPU, so I switched to the Noctua NH-L9i (I'll post power and heat details next).
- As a point of reference, this system runs The Division beta at 1080p Ultra at 45-55fps (I'll probably end up doing a bit of GPU OC and turning down some settings to hit a solid 1080p60 if Nvidia driver updates don't fix things). Feel free to add me as a friend if you plan on playing: randomfoo2
I finally published a full write-up of the backpack setup on my blog. I was meaning to get some non-janky mounting done for it, but never got around to it, so gaff tape it is, but you get the idea.
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