Hi all, figured I would share my first SFF build with you all ? This whole ordeal started around a year and a half ago; there were long pauses waiting on components... not knowing what the hell I was doing... trial... error, and a sprinkling of 'losing faith', but we got there in the end.
One of my Dreamcasts died, and with an increasing interest in SFF I decided to give one a go. A Dreamcast is quite diminutive of a system, with a rough volume of 2.8 liters. I'd say once you take into account the curves, undercuts, and general design features, you're actually looking at less than that. I was also determined to build a system that wasn't APU, so a dedicated graphics card needed to be crammed inside too. There's a long thread over on the LinusTechTips forum documenting the trials and tribulations of the build process, but this is just a summary really;
Specs
Processor - i7-6700T
Motherboard - Asus H110S2
Memory - 2x4gb Corsair sodimm
Graphics - 4gb Zotac gtx1650 mini
Storage - 250gb Samsung 840evo ssd
Power - KMPKT 'Mini' pico-psu w/ external brick
-- The case was entirely hollowed out, and the motherboard faces downwards using the lowest profile cooler I could find, a Silverstone NT-07. There's an intake cut into the bottom of the case, and slightly thicker feet, so the sleeper aesthetic remains intact.
-- STX format motherboards don't have a PCIe slot, so the graphics card is running off of an M.2 adapter, and is bolted directly to the back of the motherboard, facing upwards. In fact, this also uses a Silverstone NT-07 cooler, albeit heavily modified, because the card had to be slimmed down to fit. It's just over a single-slot in height.
-- The KMPKT Mini sits nicely in the corner of the case where the Dreamcast's modem would have been. This conveniently means after reducing the length of the wires, all the power supply cables are tucked behind the modem cover, which can still be popped off for maintenance. It powers the graphics card and ssd, and is triggered to power on/off using the fan header on the motherboard.
-- Unfortunately due to the limited M.2 slots on this board, I couldn't run a ssd that way, so I removed a Samsung Evo from it's casing, and hard mounted it to the floor. using the worlds cutest, shortest Sata cable??? it's like...6cm or something silly.
-- Cooling is handled...surprisingly well. The back is completely opened up, and there's a 3D printed bracket available online to fit a 40mm Noctua in the space of the original Dreamcast fan. It behaves itself surprisingly well for content consumption, but it gets quite toasty gaming so the lid does have to come off for that. It's held on by magnets so it's a breeze to clip on and off, pun intended...I'm investigating the idea of 3D printed ducting, to make the controller ports functional exhaust.
-- Special shout out to everyone in this thread for their help...a combination of my lack of experience in SFF/custom electronics, compounded by a voltage typo in the manual of my motherboard made the power setup a very frustrating learn. Without your help this would have never been finished, so big props are in order.
-- Buttons and lights are functional; POWER is still power, OPEN is now reset, and the appropriate orange led is present. Because assembly/disassembly is so fiddly, I added quick disconnects for these. Unfortunately a lot of the front I/O of the motherboard is obscured, but I have a wireless keyboard/mouse dongle hidden in there. I could add USB and Audio ports beneath the controller ports, but undecided if I need them enough to spoil the aesthetic.
happy to answer any questions you may have!
Thanks for looking!
One of my Dreamcasts died, and with an increasing interest in SFF I decided to give one a go. A Dreamcast is quite diminutive of a system, with a rough volume of 2.8 liters. I'd say once you take into account the curves, undercuts, and general design features, you're actually looking at less than that. I was also determined to build a system that wasn't APU, so a dedicated graphics card needed to be crammed inside too. There's a long thread over on the LinusTechTips forum documenting the trials and tribulations of the build process, but this is just a summary really;
Specs
Processor - i7-6700T
Motherboard - Asus H110S2
Memory - 2x4gb Corsair sodimm
Graphics - 4gb Zotac gtx1650 mini
Storage - 250gb Samsung 840evo ssd
Power - KMPKT 'Mini' pico-psu w/ external brick
-- The case was entirely hollowed out, and the motherboard faces downwards using the lowest profile cooler I could find, a Silverstone NT-07. There's an intake cut into the bottom of the case, and slightly thicker feet, so the sleeper aesthetic remains intact.
-- STX format motherboards don't have a PCIe slot, so the graphics card is running off of an M.2 adapter, and is bolted directly to the back of the motherboard, facing upwards. In fact, this also uses a Silverstone NT-07 cooler, albeit heavily modified, because the card had to be slimmed down to fit. It's just over a single-slot in height.
-- The KMPKT Mini sits nicely in the corner of the case where the Dreamcast's modem would have been. This conveniently means after reducing the length of the wires, all the power supply cables are tucked behind the modem cover, which can still be popped off for maintenance. It powers the graphics card and ssd, and is triggered to power on/off using the fan header on the motherboard.
-- Unfortunately due to the limited M.2 slots on this board, I couldn't run a ssd that way, so I removed a Samsung Evo from it's casing, and hard mounted it to the floor. using the worlds cutest, shortest Sata cable??? it's like...6cm or something silly.
-- Cooling is handled...surprisingly well. The back is completely opened up, and there's a 3D printed bracket available online to fit a 40mm Noctua in the space of the original Dreamcast fan. It behaves itself surprisingly well for content consumption, but it gets quite toasty gaming so the lid does have to come off for that. It's held on by magnets so it's a breeze to clip on and off, pun intended...I'm investigating the idea of 3D printed ducting, to make the controller ports functional exhaust.
-- Special shout out to everyone in this thread for their help...a combination of my lack of experience in SFF/custom electronics, compounded by a voltage typo in the manual of my motherboard made the power setup a very frustrating learn. Without your help this would have never been finished, so big props are in order.
-- Buttons and lights are functional; POWER is still power, OPEN is now reset, and the appropriate orange led is present. Because assembly/disassembly is so fiddly, I added quick disconnects for these. Unfortunately a lot of the front I/O of the motherboard is obscured, but I have a wireless keyboard/mouse dongle hidden in there. I could add USB and Audio ports beneath the controller ports, but undecided if I need them enough to spoil the aesthetic.
happy to answer any questions you may have!
Thanks for looking!
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