array of custom mini itx cases

Show off your quiet rig.

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soultaker
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Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 9:33 pm

Post by soultaker » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:10 pm

Appreciate your help. :)

MtnHermit
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Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:25 am
Location: Colorado

Nice

Post by MtnHermit » Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:02 am

ntavlas wrote:and after:
Image
Very impressive!!!

I like the understated design, quite elegant.

ntavlas
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Post by ntavlas » Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:56 pm

Thanks man!

Understated is my moto...

SteveRCE
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Location: Detroit, MI

Post by SteveRCE » Sat Jan 16, 2010 11:26 am

Should you want to enjoy hardware video acceleration with that specific motherboard, you can pick up a cheap Broadcom Crystal HD Decoder mini-PCIe card for around $25 USD. Model number is BCM70012. There is a similar part number, BCM970012, however that is the HP OEM model (I think.) A recent version of Adobe Flash supports this chipset for flash acceleration as well, just FYI.

Related articles:
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Consum ... s/BCM70012
http://www.broadcom.com/products/featur ... tal_hd.php
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3701


btw, nice design!

ntavlas
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Post by ntavlas » Sat Jan 16, 2010 11:34 am

That broadcom device is a nifty little thing, unfortunately my board only takes 3x5cm mini pcie cards. It`s a big bummer, since I also wanted to use one of those mini pcie ssd`s.

SteveRCE
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Location: Detroit, MI

Post by SteveRCE » Sat Jan 16, 2010 11:37 am

I believe the card is full-length mini-PCIe, so it should work. I'll be using one for an HTPC once I get the right metal working equipment in my shop.

ntavlas
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Post by ntavlas » Sat May 08, 2010 11:59 am

bump : alternative version in walnut almost complete :)

Fayd
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Location: San Diego

Post by Fayd » Sat May 08, 2010 1:06 pm

ntavlas wrote:bump : alternative version in walnut almost complete :)
walnut is definitely one of my favorite woods. (maple just barely beats it out.)

c.ruel
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Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 7:51 am
Location: England

Post by c.ruel » Tue May 11, 2010 8:14 am

Really like the white version, looks very ipodish.

impaire
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Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 11:57 am
Location: France

Re: My custom nettop case, now in wood!

Post by impaire » Fri Sep 03, 2010 2:15 am

ntavlas wrote:Taking a brake from lapping, I tried to improve the cooling of the motherboard. The northbridge/igp has the highest TDP at 5 watts so it gets a bigger heatsink. The stock one was moved to the southbridge (3 watts TDP). I also added some small heatsinks on the power transistors.

Image
I had a similar need, with a board on which stock heat sinks where just to small, with a loud 5cm fan on the CPU. I found big Pentium 3 heat sinks which I used to cut bigger ones. I mounted them using the original springs, and parts of AAA battery holders (to lock the spring in place, inside the heatsink, you will notice it on the picture).

Now I can run it like your own board, with a much bigger and quieter fan:

Image

mentawl
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Location: Glasgow, UK

Post by mentawl » Fri Sep 03, 2010 5:31 am

ntavlas wrote:That broadcom device is a nifty little thing, unfortunately my board only takes 3x5cm mini pcie cards. It`s a big bummer, since I also wanted to use one of those mini pcie ssd`s.
I realise it's maybe a little bit late now, but you can get 50mm Mini-PCIe SATA SSDs now. The ones I've found are kinda expensive (available in 32gb, 64gb and 128gb)

http://www.memoryc.com/products/descrip ... index.html

I'm sorely tempted to get one for my laptop too, as it'd then let me use the internal 2.5" bay for a high capacity storage drive, but meh...I don't *need* it :P

jafflen
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 12:47 am

Re: My custom nettop case, now in wood!

Post by jafflen » Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:28 am

like the white version, but the one with black stripes is really coooooooooool))
look forward to all your posts! Keep up the outstanding work!
Last edited by jafflen on Thu May 10, 2012 10:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

ntavlas
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Re: My custom mini itx cases

Post by ntavlas » Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:46 pm

An update adding an aluminium version and a alternative, larger instance attempting to build a viable gaming pc with the smallest footprint possible.

ntavlas
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Re: My custom mini itx cases

Post by ntavlas » Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:23 pm

Somehow I missed the last posts. Eventually I settled for a thin Skythe fan @ 1000 rpm and returned to the stock heatsink. The fan is pretty much inaudible and I`m not particularly annoyed by the hard drive either but truth be told, among other members here, I`m not particularly sensitive to noise. So far, this machine has been used mostly as a test subject , it doesn`t need to be particularly refined. The availability of thinner sandy bridge boards opens up more possibilities though. As for mini pcie ssds, it`s good to have the option in a HTPC/server config though a 2,5 inch ssd is also an option, especially in a desktop configuration.

publicENEMY
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:49 pm

Re: array of custom mini itx cases

Post by publicENEMY » Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:13 pm

that was amazing.

ntavlas
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Re: array of custom mini itx cases

Post by ntavlas » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:13 am

Thanks :)

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