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StripeySnake

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Everything posted by StripeySnake

  1. StripeySnake
    I could actually set up a system for that, as the keyboard and display use HDMI and USB cables, but it would add considerable complexity, thickness and cost to an already complex, thick and expensive build. I do have plans to implement a flipped GPU slot that intakes through the palmrest, and can slide out of the chassis, for support for larger cards such as they 3070, but that's about all I have on the to do list other than a possible fully custom display assembly.
  2. StripeySnake
    At that point though why not get a cheap laptop and run a vpn or something between the two?
  3. StripeySnake
    Honestly though, I don't really care that much how much attention it gets as long as anyone who wants to can access it. The main goal from start to finish of this project is and has been to make it accessible to anyone who goes looking for it, and to come out with a pretty cool laptop for myself to boot. I also have yet to actually finish the build, and I'm sure it will be more interesting to more people when I have it up and running outputting insane CPU performance with actually decent aesthetics to boot.
  4. StripeySnake
    I really like that idea, if it all works out. The main idea behind selling kits would be initially to perfect the design, as each time I print a part I make small adjustments to make things fit better, as well as to help gather basic support for the design. If it eve did end up going somewhere, then I could probably sell the kits for a bit more too, which would make it worth my while from a monetary standpoint, as I'm about to go to college, and every little bit helps after all.
  5. StripeySnake
    That's all I know of. I'm sure something else exists, but that was what was readily available. If I do end up selling kits I'd include the controller all set up for USB EDIT: I misread your question. That's the only custom PCB the project is currently using, the display controller is premade.
  6. StripeySnake
    Definitely tricky souldering, and that might be the problem with my attempt. Currently manually shorting pins gets an output, but the keys on the keyboard don't. A couple other things could also be the problem though, so i'm still working on it
  7. StripeySnake
    Yup, that's it. Pretty complex project but very versatile.
  8. StripeySnake
    Well as a matter of fact, that's exactly what I did actually. I'm using an LVDS inverter board to connect the original M17x R4 laptop display to my GPU, and it is confirmed working. It has a little side button board you can see poking through in the picture, which controls the display settings. As for the keyboard, it's a lot more complicated, but I followed a tutorial on using a custom soldered PCB alongside a teensy microcontroller to convert the original M17x R4 keyboard into a usb one, that then connects to the internal USB header on the mobo. I haven't gotten it working yet, but it's proven to be possible and I just need to do a bit of debugging. With this technique, basically any laptop keyboard can be adapted to the chassis, with minor modifications to the footprint for some.
  9. StripeySnake
    Actually, I was considering setting up some sort of "rail" system with the GPU and GPU slot, which would enable you to slide the GPU out of the side of the case for greatly improved airflow, and to allow it to vent into open air rather than into the CPU rads. I haven't worked on it in my prototype, but an alternative side panel/ right keyboard wing part set could possibly enable that. It would probably be pretty simple to connect said rail to a sensor of some sort and have it auto apply a low power profile when the GPU is internal.
  10. StripeySnake
    Actually a 3080/90 is viable from both a PSU and space standpoint, as with a modded server PSU you could pull the wattage needed, and there's enough room, the only issue is cooling. There isn't really a way to cool the cpu without the watercooling loop, and putting both cpu and gpu on it is like using a 140mm radiator for each component individually. As far as I know, most decent CPUs and GPUs would easily be able to overwhelm the cooling system, so unless you want to run some insane undervolt and downclock, cooling would be your biggest concern. That's why I'd reccomend something like a 3060 for watercooling, although this discussion is getting very theoretical, as I have yet to properly test the cooling capacity of the system.
  11. StripeySnake
    Yeah the only 3070 I found that would fit is the small dual fan zotac 3070 non TI version, and that should be able to coexist with the 600 watt flex atx PSU quite well. I would honestly recommend a 3060, because in this day and age almost any game will run extremely well and still look good on the card, and you don't really have to worry about maxing your specs for the sake of futureproofing, as in say 5 years I'm sure the 6060 or whatever is standard then should hopefully be able to just slot into the case. I'm afraid high end cards such as the "90" spec cards will only continue to get bigger and hotter, but I think Nvidia and AMD will be forced to continue to offer smaller options in their 60/70 models. Also, to use the Zotac 3070, you would need a modified version of the right (left) side panel to accommodate the fact that that card is really heckin tall. Additionally, I would suggest not using "flow through" cards in this case, as it will end up pushing hot air out of the VRAM intake on the palmrest, and that will probably make your left wrist very sweaty. Additionally, the hot air from the gpu is going to get pulled through the first CPU radiator, so a hotter GPU will also affect CPU temps some. Additionally, you might be able to get away with, say a 5600x and 3060 both being watercooled, which would increase rad performance some, not having to deal with hotter air, and make the whole system a bit lighter with more internal room. Also keep in mind for chassis clearance to always round down a bit, as the GPU is going to need a bit of room for airflow on the back, and the light tapering on the front of the case knocks 3-5mm off of that clearance right over the GPU.
  12. StripeySnake
    I hadn't actually seen that before, and that's probably the closest project I've seen to mine so far. Mine should be much smaller though, coming in a full .6 inches thinner or so at 2.7 instead of 3.34 inches thick, as well as my footprint is also about 2.8 inches less wide horizontally, but around .6 inches longer front to back because of the jet engine rear on my design. I can say that I should have roughly 2x the cpu cooling as he used 1x 40mm triple rad and I'm using two of them. Additionally, as long as I can cable manage it, my design has the components a lot more tightly packed together in order to make it as small as possible. I can also safely say that my project should be visually considerably smaller and more polished than this one, I actually put a couple hundred hours into modelling in the past year for that reason, although weight should either be a bit less or the same. I also used a premade proprietary display from the m17x R4 instead of dealing with building my own which should help aesthetics and functionality quite a bit at the cost of making it a bit harder to find and work with. Someday I might design my own display assembly for the project but for now I'm going to stay with that. To emphasize the actual scale of this project, here's a picture of it alongside my m17x R4 (It's really just propped up parts rn, I'm only halfway through the 3d printing) As you can see, she isn't exactly thin or small, but she's a far cry from a giant brick of materials either. I haven't fit the outer panels or keyboard or dsiplay on properly, that's all just a mock up, so expect it to look a lot nicer when finished of course, but that's about how large it'll be.
  13. StripeySnake
    I did consider thin mini ITX and such, but the issue is that performance and compatibility are very limited, as thin min itx boards are rare, lack PCIE 16x, and often use laptop CPUs. At the cost of thickness, I decided to go with standard mini itx for compatibility's sake, as well as to keep the ability to use a good GPU.
  14. StripeySnake
    I'm thinking I will make a kit as long as I can find a way to get access to a 3d printer. I've been able to borrow one of my school's ultimakers for the prototype, but I'd probably have to find some way to rent one to do all the printing I need, as ordering prints is very expensive. P.S. here's some kind of early concept art that might shed some light on the final aesthetic I'm going for.
  15. StripeySnake
    Briefcase builds are dope, and something that definitely inspired me some, but I have yet to encounter one with all that good cooling or part compatibility. The main goal with this build is to achieve something as close to an actual laptop as possible, with as much cooling as possible, and very good part compatibility. That briefcase PC is very cool, but lacks in integrated keyboard, and the CPU cooling looks a bit mediocre, which is a common problem in small form factor. I definitely got here by studying such custom builds like that one, but I'm trying to create something someone else could feasibly create and even modify, sort of the like Caliburn project by Captain Slug.
  16. StripeySnake
    Ah, I get your question now. To start things off, any standard MINI-ITX motherboard should fit comfortably. By extension, any CPU that can be socketed in mini ITX should work as well. Ram is limited to low profile DIMMS, such as my Corsair Vengeance LPX. From there, it should fit any GPU that is roughly 230 MM or less long, and that occupies 2 slots or less. (2.3 slot coolers are too large). The power supply uses the Flex-ATX standard, which comes in up to 600 watts, although has potential to be modified for 1U server PSUs as well. Since the chassis has a bit more room than a 1U server, 1u waterblocks, pumps and so forth should all fit no problem. One known issue so far is that my GPU slot will not fit gpus that are very "tall", in that they extend beyond the top of their 2 slot i/o panel vertically. Currently the case supports around 10/15mm of that verticality, but to use the only 3070 I could find that should fit, I would have to make a modified GPU slot with a bit more room, which I plan to do down the road. The case is designed in such a way that the GPU can draw it's own air and use it's own stock cooler. If a gpu was watercooled, it could fit up to a 3090 theoretically, with the caveat that I have no idea how you would cool it or supply it with enough power. That said, the CPU is basically limited to watercooling only, based off of the shape of the test. You could get away with some low profile cpu coolers possibly, but cooling capacity would be absolutely terrible. So all in all, it has as good if not better compatibility and most very small mini ITX cases, and should support the latest CPUs for years to come, as well as GPUs as long as they do not continue to all get bigger. As for your final question, my prototype will not have speakers for now as I always use hadphones, but it wouldn't be hard to whip up a modified front panel and palmrest design for integrated vertical and front firing speakers similar to an old alienware. If you use an HDMI to LVDS/eDP controller as I did, you can siphon off the HDMI's audio output for an internal jack, and connect your speakers there.
  17. StripeySnake
    This is very rough, but let's say with all brand new parts: $130 motherboard $350 5800x $70 16gb DDR4-3200 $80 Waterblock/pump combo $35 fittings $15 Tubing $100- 1tb SSD that's $780 total, lets round up to 900 to account for tax and such. Add the roughly 700 dollars for the case and that's $1600 without the GPU. Counting Awful GPU prices, let's add the Zotac 3070 that should be able to fit the case with some slight alteration, which goes for $900 brand new these days. Now we're up to $2500, plus 100 more for the additional price of getting a bigger psu in the case, so a final cost of roughly $2600. That should get you similar performance to a laptop with a 12900HK and an RTX 3080 Ti. (laptop 30 series cards are very weak compared to their desktop counterparts) For comparison, a brand new AW x17 R2 equipped with 12900HK, 3080 Ti, 16gb ram and 1tb SSD will run you $3550 without tax. The 12900HK has a small leg up in terms of performance on the 5800x, but that it's very possible cooling discrepancies could make up that gap. We'll have to see how well the watercooling handles my 2600x and further more powerful CPUs. Final comparison, the roughly max spec Janktop costs a nearly $1000 less than and Alienware equivalent using new parts. The only major discrepancy I can find between performance of the two is I didn't spec the Janktop with a high refresh rate display, whereas the Alienware comes with a nice 300+ hz refresh rate. In terms of ergonomics/usability, the x17 is obviously going to be much thinner, lighter, and actually have a battery. I'll have to see, but the Janktop has a potential to 1 up it in raw cooling capacity however. The Janktop is designed for very thick old traditional keyboards, like the M17x R4 keyboard for example, which definitely gives it an ergonomics head up there, although the height of the palmrest due to thickness may be somewhat uncomfortable/ need some sort of pad. The x17 will also certainly be much sturdier proportionate to it's size, although the Janktop has the benifit that every single part is completely replaceable, and all the cosmetic 3d printed parts can be replaced and reconfigured very easily and cheaply. Both options are pretty expensive, but I am pretty happy with how my project holds up. I might also suggest going with a 3060 and 5600x or so, and then upgrade the whole thing a few years in the future. P.S.My prototype build cost around $1300, but it's specs are very barebones and core components are used. I hope this helps.
  18. StripeySnake
    I'm planning to release all the CAD files for free so that anyone with access to the right machines or enough money can build their own, but I would definitely consider putting together kits if it all goes well. Such a kit would include basically every universal part in the machine, meaning not only the structure, but the dual 40mm radiators, display, keyboard, fans and power supply such. This would probably end up costing around $700 (rough estimate), but keep in mind that would be 80% of the build and all you would need additionally would be A motherboard, CPU, RAM, storage and a GPU, as well as waterblock pump and tubing of your choosing. While that's a lot for a desktop build, it could add up to being pretty cheap for a laptop, especially when GPU prices go back down. The watercooling should be especially nice, as you can use any mini ITX board with it regardless of socket type or orientation, which would be a problem if I used a custom air cooler. Additionally, it should be taken into account that the case uses Flex-ATX power supplies that come in 350 watts and 500 watts, although some specific server psus with some custom breakout boards could also be used, skyrocketing potential wattage up to 1100 or more. The GPU slot should be able to fit a max of a 3070 provided you find a very small one, and the CPU cooling should be enough for a ryzen 5 bare minium, and maybe even good enough to handle as much as a ryzen 9, with fans on full blast.
  19. StripeySnake
    Actually structural integrity shouldn't be too bad when it's done. The 60% infill 3d printed parts are very ridgid and strong, and many of them fall perpindicular to the more flexible polycarb. Additionally, polycarbonate, although flexible is extremely durable. here's a sneak peek at the chassis with about half of the printed segments. Keep in mind this picture is from a bad angle and lighting so looks much worse that it would normally.
  20. StripeySnake
    You're right. I was thinking you could go directly, but I just noticed the hinge mount in the way. It might still be possible, but would likely require replacing the first heatpipe with a longer one and that's very complex and difficult to do.
  21. StripeySnake
    I'm not sure you would need more CPU cooling, but after some shenanigan's I did with an m17x R2, I can't help but notice that third GPU heatsink slot could be filled with a heatsink and linked to the CPU cooler fairly easily, and with HWINFO you could bind that second GPU fan to the CPU temps. I'm sure that kind of cooling would be more than a little overkill, but you could probably handle clocks close to 5 ghz with that kind of cooling on a 3940.
  22. StripeySnake
    It has almost exactly the same footprint as an M17x, except for the extended rear end which adds an inch or 2 to the back. Thickness will be a little under 3 inches, counting the display. Internal chassis clearance is slightly above 50mm, which leaves room to comfortably fit both 1u and mini ITX components. 16.5 long x 14.5 wide x about 2.75 thick I'm not sure on weight, but I'd estimate in the 20 pound range. Keep in mind that it has an integrated PSU however, and many bulky laptops require several additional pounds of AC adapter to be lugged around, while this only requires a basic desktop pc power cable.
  23. StripeySnake
    I should have it done within 2 weeks to less as of now. A big focus in this build was compatibility, that's why I went with dual fan and slot GPUS, and softline watercooling, as both systems require little to no modification to upgrade and swap out. I'll be releasing all of my STL files when the project is done as well, so if anyone wants to build their own that's pretty awesome. The only part that's basically completely proprietary is the M17x R3/4 Display assembly, but I might make further revisions to support different assemblies if people want me to. Even so, you should be able to mount whatever display you want with a little modification to the assembly, and the backlight powered alien head logo is a plus, as you can cut it out and replace it with whatever you want. I've currently gotten all systems tested and working exept the keyboard controller and i'm still printing the structure itself. When I'm done printing and assembling, the project will be complete. P.S. This is what the chassis would look like on it's own (For the most part this image is old) from a bottom view.
  24. StripeySnake
    *The purpose of this inital post is just to tease a project that will be done in the next couple of weeks, I will make a much more extensive post when It's all finished* I figured I'd share a project with y'all that I've been working on for nearly a year now. It's a "laptop" that uses standard full size Mini-ITX, a dual slot 230mm GPU (meaning 2 fans), Softline watercooling, and integrated peripherals. (screen and keyboard from M17x R4) The downsides of this machine is that it will have no battery, and be very large and heavy. (although when you take the lack of a power brick into account its not too much heavier than say an M18x) Additionally, it does not have a trackpad, although it would be fairly easy to add, as I did not see the value in doing such for a machine that will always be used with a mouse anyway. The main chassis is constructed from one lasercut sheet of Polycarbonate, with 3d printed parts bolted to it. This should give it decently high durability, and if you need to replace a chassis element it is very modular, leaving room to even do as much as design custom chassis elements, such as a front panel with room for a full set of speakers. Additionally, it shouldn't be too hard to modify the original M17x R4 display assembly to fit more modern displays, and with an HDMI controller board, they should be able to be used too. (Yay high referesh rate) This is the current/ final part layout, flipped upside down. As you can see I'm still printing most of the large Pieces. Based off of rough , calculations, it should have roughly the radiator capacity of 2.5 x a single 120mm rad, and about 33 CFM of airflow, just for the CPU. The GPU will use it's own stock cooler. P.S. Yes, I know it's going to be a nightmare to cable manage. EDIT: The prototype is completed and running. You can find info on it on page 4/5
  25. StripeySnake
    A couple tips: You need fairly long heatpipes, always bend the heatpipes with them pressed up against a flat surface, yes it is very had to do but results are much better. Finally, if a heatpipe develops a crack while bending, it won't swell up when you soulder it to the heatsink, and then it won't work. So you wanna make sure your heatpipe has no cracks and ideally swells up a bit. The way I attached mine was by putting it where I wanted it on the heatsink with a bit of soulder on either side, and a ton of flux, then I wrapped wire around the whole thing to hold it in place and just used a heatgun to melt the soulder. The best way to check if it worked is to carefully check if the far end of the heatpipe is hot after you soulder to it, as it will barely be warm if the heatpipe is broken, but very hot if it isn't. My first time attempting this I actually got much cleaner bends, but my heatpipe was broken so I had to restart.
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