Post-surgery idleness has been getting to me, so today I decided to ignore the certainty of muscle cramps and pain and do something rewarding. Pretty much all I've done for the past month is watch YouTube, read books, go for walks and read every single thing on the internet. It's not bad, but it sure gets boring after a while. So today I got some work done on getting my OptiplRX 570 semi-sleeper build resurrected with its new PSU, build quality tweaks and addition of front USB. Almost at the point where I'm done cutting holes in things and start installing parts instead. I finished the heatsink for the PSU (the UHP-350-12 is only rated for full output if fitted to a 30x30cm aluminium plate, so I got a relatively large finned heatsink off AliExpress and cut it to size), so now I just need to add a ton of thermal paste and make sure I can actually install it in the case. Also finished filing the USB port holes in the front bezel today, and made a new GPU support bracket from an old aluminium 3.5" to 2.5" drive adapter (this one screws onto the case, so it actually supports the GPU!). Fingers crossed that everything actually fits - clearance between the PSU and the front USB will be minimal. I'll be really annoyed if I shortened that USB 3.0 cable for nothing - that was not a fun soldering job even if I did learn a lot from it. Also really hope my bodged-together cable hooking the UHP-350-12 to the ArchDaemon actually soldered properly - I didn't have any thick gauge wire at the time, so I ended up bundling together five 18AWG wires each for ground and 12V. Certainly thick enough, but it ain't pretty, and the joint was almost certainly cold (my iron is crap and my skills barely match it). It won't see much movement or mechanical stress though. Since then I ordered and received some thicker wire, but I'm not yet fit enough to be doing soldering (sitting hunched over in a chair for extended time periods with extreme concentration around very hot tools is not an appealing idea soon after abdominal surgery), and I don't have any more XT60 connectors, so I'd have to desolder the old one. I'll put that on the "future tweaks" list. Now "all" that remains is to assemble everything (assuming it all fits, if not tweak things until they do) + stick some temporary PVC mesh in the gaping hole in the front where the ODD and front I/O used to live.
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