Worklog: Macho Mini

[mrbean_phillip]

Hello Guys,
Pretty excited about this one.

How would you go fitting 8x hard-drives + a Crucial M4 SSD, a 140mm radiator, DDC pump, res, 450W PSU and Wade-8011 mini-itx into a Lian-Li PC-Q08?

Easy, I would reckon.

Check this space.

As a teaser, the following components have been acquired, and running in test-setup mode in the box, aircooled, with Server 2008 R2 installed:

Portwell Wade-8011 C206-based Mini-ITX board
Xeon E3 1245 (3.30hz)
2x 4GB Crucial ECC Ram
1x Crucial M4 128GB SSD (for OS)

1x Lian-Li PC-Q08(black)
Silverstone 450W SFX PSU

1x SuperMicro USAS-S8iR SAS Controller (to check operability in Server 2008)
1x HP 8x SAS SFF Drive-cage, yes, the same as in Project Blackbird
4x 74GB SAS Drives - this will make way for 8x 146GB drives in the not-so-distant future

1x DDC 3.25 Pump
1x SR1 140mm Rad
Ek Supreme LTX CPU Block
Various BP fittings
7/16" Tygon tubing

Will assemble with Watercooling components on the weekend, and post pics - won't take long on this one at all, everthing ready to assemble one mean mofo of a Xeon-based mini-itx FileServer

@ Mods: Please move to Worklogs.

[austin nguyen]

wellcome back with another worklog
me personal planing for some v35x plan
no hdd though
but with a 6970 and 2 240 rad
looking for your set up beat in small cave

[GoofyHSK]

Is the psu SFX?
Think you'll need to add some extra bracing on the corners if you remove the rom bay

[mrbean_phillip]

Originally Posted by austin nguyen

wellcome back with another worklog
me personal planing for some v35x plan
no hdd though
but with a 6970 and 2 240 rad
looking for your set up beat in small cave

Thanx Austin, this will be a quick, and very practical mod

Most of the work will be around fitting the SAS drive-cage, but nothing major though. Should get pretty close to finishing it off on the weekend -> the watercooling is going to be a breeze, especially 'fitting' the radiator.

Will keep you posted, and looking forward to your mod too!

@ GoofyHSK: Yep, SFX, edited my post to indicate the same.

[KriiV]

Originally Posted by GoofyHSK

Think you'll need to add some extra bracing on the corners if you remove the rom bay

+1. Those things are quite flimsy when you remove some of the supports.

[mrbean_phillip]

+1. Those things are quite flimsy when you remove some of the supports.

Ah, no worries, it will be stiffer/more rigid than before

Thanx for the heads-up, though, I am appreciative.

[mrbean_phillip]

Heya Everyone,
Got lots done today, and will post pictures tomorrow. Nearly midnight here, and off to bed.

Just a teaser - system up and running on water, going very well, and full-load, around 16-17 deg C better off on the cpu vs air. Not to shabby for a single 140 with fan running at 900rpm/16db.

Got the drive-cage fitted too, psu relocated, lots of fun - but more tomorrow when I post the pics.

Fun I had today

[mrbean_phillip]

Ok, as promised, quite a few progress pics of this mod.

Before we start off, a quick photo of the basic hardware under testing, I ALWAYS do this part before modding, as very often, you end up putting big effort into a specific mod, based on very specific hardware-bits, just to stumble at the last hurdle, due to a dead bit of kit.

So this setup was thoroughly tested, and, as can be expected of a system based on an industrial bit of kit, dead stable. For those that don't know Portwell, well, they're a pretty big supplier of high-quality Industrial Motherboards - one of our process-control systems are based upon them.

Here is the setup running the Wade C206 chipset-based Xeon server board - all mini-itx, with 8gb of DDR3 ECC Ram, and Crucial M4 128gb SSD:



Over the years, I have gathered a formidable arsenal of Watercooling goodies, bits of hardware from a lot of suppliers, and one of them is the well-designed (well, I thought so anyway) Apogee-Drive from Gabe at Swiftech.

This remains the only piece of hardware that I have ever been sponsored with (Thanx Swiftech!) and I decided to put it to good use. Before today, it was removed from its box only to appreciate its beauty.

Ah well, in for a surprise then, is it :rofl:



Taking it apart reveals it is the venerable 10W (blue-impeller) DDC pump, very easily modded to 18W unit - I won't do that for this effort though, as it is not needed/desired, as we have only a single 140mm rad, and one CPU block.



and the other side:



and a close-up of the pcb-side - if you want to convert it to the 18W-version, simply join the wire/pad on the right with the unconnected pad far-right.



For those that read my BlackBird log, you'll remember that I fitted 2x DDC-325's to the Koolance RP401X2, and modified the original pump-housings to fit in the Koolance res -> of course, I later got the Swiftech pump-heatsink kits, and removed the original 325 housings, and kept them for later use....

One would work well here, so let's dress up that pump then, shall we:



and here:



Neither the original Apogee-Drive, nor the modded 325 housing had mounting tabs, so I had to make a plan - still had one of these left:



which was a rather nice mod for the DDC-series of pumps - I will replace this in due course with the Swiftech unit, but needed to get all hardware installed to make sure I have room for all my ideas.



and



Decided to get crafty with a hacksaw and file, and fabbed some mounting-tabs, which I bolted to the heatsink:



working rather well as a make-shift mounting-mechanism:



this would be married to the EK-140 DDC top with integrated reservoir.....



and here:

[mrbean_phillip]

Next was the Gelid Wings fan, replacing the original front intake fan, and mounting the rad the the (well-designed, on purpose Lian-Li?) front bracket.

This must be by far the easiest and quickest fitment of a rad I had ever done. Painless.



and here, all nicely fitted together:

[mrbean_phillip]

Mounting the rad in its place, and playing with the pump/res, to see which orientation would suit best, and checking clearance with the original 5.25" bracket above, as this has toi be retained, as you'll see later:



and the pump at the back, against the motherboard tray:

[mrbean_phillip]

Ok, time to get nekkid, as I have to fit the HP SAS-cage in somewhere:



Did a lot of thinking on this one, many ideas where I would finally mount the cage, and, as one of my very early requirements were to keep this mod relatively simple, with the minimum fuss/cutting involved, I decided it should go where the PSU would normally go - amazingly, the opening is just about perfect to mount the cage in - I will need to fab a bezel later, but that will be pretty simplet to do.

Marking the holes for the first mounting-screws:



and test-fitting - I used 3 rivnuts on the side of the SAS-cage, in case you wondered:



looking good...



and



then, using temporary spacers, bolting the cage to the original PSU-mounting holes - had to drill 2 new holes on each mounting-tab on the SAS-cage, but that was very simple:



and here, with a total of 7 screws keeping the cage in position:

[mrbean_phillip]

Next up, drilling holes to bolt the pump down:



again, a quick test-fit to see how everything stacks up:



Next up, fitting the SFX 450W Silverstone PSU to...yeah, you guessed it, the 5.25" bracket - with this being a file-server, I won't need an optical drive, but, I can probably fit a slotload slimline drive just for kicks, the jury's still out on that one.

The PSU should go in here:



or does it....push a bit, shove it a little, a few jiggles, and yes, 4mm clearance to the top of the rails, which means it will just squeeze in under the top:



and here:



and here:

[mrbean_phillip]

PSU will be mounted with the fan pointing down, and this was done by simply using the Dremel to cut, and dressing with files, a new fan-intake:



and mounted in place:



and a couple more:

[mrbean_phillip]

With the reservoir mounted against the rear wall, and the motherboard, by original design, bolted directly to the side-cover, I had to make provision for a fill-port.

Still had one BP bulkhead fitting from Project Blackbird, which will work pretty well:



and here:



of course, I had to drill the 5.25" plate too, to allow passage through it:



The end-result is rather pleasing, and will allow quick, easy filling of the reservoir:



and

[Tazor]

Looks awesome man, we should have itx off when I've finished my goliath build which I'm eventually planning two 140 rads in. But I love builds like this, they're what inspired me to do my current build. Awesome case too, I built a watercooled I7 1156 rig in one with a single 120 rad up top. Make sure you hook the fp wires up properly, its is a fucking nightmare trying to reattach them without take the side panel off...