Pelican Case Workstation Build - Need Suggestions

[henrygrins]

Hi SFFers-

I'm in the process of building a desktop-replacement portable Pelican Case-based workstation to replace my XPS 15 9550. I love my XPS, but I need moar GPU POWUH! Also, I'm looking into an...*AHEM*...alternative OS (read: hackintosh), which the XPS is not making easy in any way shape or form. The way I see it, I have two options:

Option 1 (AKA the "easy" way):
*Skull Canyon NUC with 32GB RAM, Dual 1TB M.2 SSDs
*Akitio Node, stripped to basic components
*GTX 970/980/TITAN or similar AMD-based GPU, possibly water-cooled

Option 2 (AKA the "difficult-to-fit-even-in-mini-itx-form-factor" way):
*Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi m/b
*i7-6700K (or maybe non-unlocked version, don't really need to OC), most likely water-cooled
*32GB/1TB/blah blah blah
*GTX 970/980/TITAN or similar AMD-based GPU, possibly water-cooled

Either way I've ordered a gorgeous OEM AUO 17.3" IPS UHD display with DP/HDMI driver from Aliexpress.

Option 1 is obviously pretty straightforward, with minimal fabrication necessary. Slap the NUC in the case, find a way to mount the GPU (and its rad if going water-cooled).

Option 2 is relatively harder, but is the one I'm leaning towards for forward-compatibility with a socketed CPU. I have a connection who can get me time on a CNC router (up to and including aluminum) so fabrication isn't the issue. The issue is airflow and cooling. My initial thought is to form an air path through the case from left to right under the case panel, perhaps using "scoops" to redirect the airflow 90 degrees on both ends, so the fans are taking in and pushing out clean air from panel height. I don't know how to better describe this, so I'll just have to do some renderings later.

I'm looking for suggestions re: case design and airflow, based on the following requirements:

*I don't want to blow holes in the side of the case if I can avoid it
*I want this thing to look somewhat well put together. I'm not just throwing a jumble of components and wires into a case and calling it a day. No way, no sir.
*Must be carry-on compatible. Hopefully it fits under the seat in front of me, rather than the overhead bin.

With that in mind, here are the specific cases I'm looking into:

https://www.skbcases.com/music/products/proddetail.php?f=&id=300&o=&offset=&c=151&s=147
http://www.pelican.com/us/en/product/watertight-protector-hard-cases/medium-case/laptop-case/1490/
http://www.pelican.com/us/en/pro/product/watertight-storm-hard-cases/medium-case/standard/iM2370/

I'd like to avoid going deeper (height) than those options, but will if need be.

Cheers, and thanks in advance!
Henry

 

[Kmpkt]

What I would personally consider is pairing the Skull Canyon NUC with a 1080ti using an M.2 (PCIe x4 3.0) to PCIe 16x adapter like the one from Vary Tech.

 

[henrygrins]

What I would personally consider is pairing the Skull Canyon NUC with a 1080ti using an M.2 (PCIe x4 3.0) to PCIe 16x adapter like the one from Vary Tech.

That's an interesting idea (and I was looking into a product like that in lieu of the TB3-based Node, so THANKS!) but unfortunately I want to dual-boot Win10 and Mac OS Sierra, and as of yet there are no Pascal drivers for Mac OS (so the 1080 is out, as much as I want one soooo badly).

 

[GreatestUnKnown]

What I would personally consider is pairing the Skull Canyon NUC with a 1080ti using an M.2 (PCIe x4 3.0) to PCIe 16x adapter like the one from Vary Tech.

*LIGHT BULB*

Don't mean to derail but the heavy thud of a build idea after reading your suggestion was to loud for a mere "like."

EDIT: my Google-fu is weak this morning do you have a link for that adapter by Vary Tech? @Kmpkt

 

[Kmpkt]

Any chance the Mac Drivers will work for the new Vega? Might be worth waiting.

 

[Kmpkt]

http://vary.technology/

RP44 M.2 NVMe

 

[henrygrins]

http://vary.technology/

More specifically: http://www.vary.com.tw/product/RP4y.html, but I can't seem to find a way to buy that specific adapter. As M.2 is essentially a PCIe 3.0 x4 electrically, you would think everyone and their mom would be on a solution to gaining a PCIe slot in say, an STX or Thin Mini ITX form factor. *shrug*

 

[henrygrins]

Any chance the Mac Drivers will work for the new Vega? Might be worth waiting.

*edit: whoops, don't know what i'm talking about*

It's highly likely that AMD will release natively compatible drivers, yes. Doesn't seem like Apple's in any hurry to jump back in bed with Nvidia (much to my chagrin).

 

[henrygrins]

Another option: this new ASRock m/b!!! I've found a seemingly unlimited source of MXM GPUs, and I'm not afraid to use them. Only problem would be liquid-cooling these proprietary MXM daughtercards...

 

[Kmpkt]

The problem with these sorts of builds is not the PCIe connection, but the power system. I am having a custom DC-DC board dubbed the Dynamo that should make these sorts of builds as uncomplicated to do as any other. I am planning to use this solution to do two builds, one using a standard mITX + Zotac 1080 mini and another using the H110 STX from Zotac. Both builds will use the same 7700K chip to standardize. What I am hoping is to implement the STX build with < 2% performance loss. I should have the prototype of the board by the end of March.

 

[henrygrins]

The problem with these sorts of builds is not the PCIe connection, but the power system. I am having a custom DC-DC board dubbed the Dynamo that should make these sorts of builds as uncomplicated to do as any other. I am planning to use this solution to do two builds, one using a standard mITX + Zotac 1080 mini and another using the H110 STX from Zotac. Both builds will use the same 7700K chip to standardize. What I am hoping is to implement the STX build with < 2% performance loss. I should have the prototype of the board by the end of March.

Very interesting...
As of right now, I was planning on using an off-the-shelf SFX-L 500W affair from Silverstone, but I hadn't considered DC-DC. Not sure I like the idea of multiple huge power bricks in this thing. Have to think on that though...

 

[Kmpkt]

If you're a little patient you won't have to. If you get the Dynamo (120mm x 47mm x 26mm) and HDPlex's soon to be released 300W internal AC-DC converter (150mm x 62mm x 41mm) you'd be able to power a NUC or Mini STX board at 19V as well as your GPU at 12V off the same system.

 

[henrygrins]

If you're a little patient you won't have to. If you get the Dynamo (120mm x 47mm x 26mm) and HDPlex's soon to be released 300W internal AC-DC converter (150mm x 62mm x 41mm) you'd be able to power a NUC or Mini STX board at 19V as well as your GPU at 12V off the same system.

Oooh! I didn't realize they had a 300W AC-DC coming out. That is very exciting news indeed.

 

[henrygrins]

For now, I've decided to go NUC/eGPU/homebuilt portable monitor. I still intend to house it in a Pelican case of some sort, but I'll likely build a true inbuilt ITX-based workstation in addition to this:

 

[Ceros_X]

For now, I've decided to go NUC/eGPU/homebuilt portable monitor. I still intend to house it in a Pelican case of some sort, but I'll likely build a true inbuilt ITX-based workstation in addition to this:

Looking good! I like your 'monitor' frame - how much did it cost if you don't mind? Also can you post exactly where you ordered it from?

 

[henrygrins]

Hey, thanks m'man. I bought all the parts from Misumi, which is a huge supplier for engineering firms, contractors, etc. They have production facilities all over. Their ordering system isn't really for the weak of heart and takes some getting used to, but they'll cut aluminum profile to the half millimeter, mill custom parts for you, you name it. Pretty awesome stuff. I think these parts netted out to around $60 with shipping.

When I was looking at the engineering specs for the panel itself, I ran into a problem however. They gave the height dimension as a full 15mm shorter than it actually is, and the width as nearly 2cm shorter. So I ended up with really janky corners. Thankfully the corner covers provided helped smooth the finished product out a bit.

Measure once, cut twi...wait, hang on...

 

[henrygrins]

I've got a whole slew of other goodies arriving today and tomorrow, including a few sheets of UHMW in both black and white, nylon standoffs, project boxes, DC-DC step-down buck boards, DC barrel panel mount connectors, etc. My next move is to build a standalone box that will step down the 19V that the NUC's power supply provides to 12V so I can run the monitor from that, and also to buy an eGPU enclosure, either a GTX 980ti or 1070 and of course a Pelican case to house it all.