[Project] MiniMe - World's Smallest Watercooled PC - Scratch Built Alu/Acrylic Case - Page 11 - Overclock.net

DesertRat · 08-06-09

On your power woes:
Have you thought about using an Xbox 360 MS branded power brick? They output 200W+(edit: the 16.5A Xenon and Zephyr use ~203W power bricks) on the older models IIRC. It has a 5v line on it, but it's really low power. You could probably hook a resistor to it @ the plug inside your MiniMe and there should be enough airflow to keep it cool since the 5v rail is pretty low power as I previously mentioned.

As far as your DC-DC converters...
Have you looked @ the M4-ATX? Or is that too large?

I remember a discussion about GPUs awhile ago. ECS has a low-power variant 9800GT that's almost 1 slot and is pretty short too. Dunno if you can get that in the UK tho.

edit:
UK DC-DC PSUs:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/200W-DC-DC-12v...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/200W-DC-DC-12v...QQcmdZViewItem

UK AC-DC brick:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Xbox-360-PSU-P...QQcmdZViewItem

UK GPU:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...56&subcat=1009

oliverw92 · 08-06-09

I think that 9800 is too long. also i would imagine the 4670 with 1gb gddr3 might outperform that. thanks though!

and wow i hadn't though of an xbox brick! does it have a 12v line though? and why would i need a resistor?

thanks for the M4-ATX idea! I havn't seen that! Only problem is, its about £90!

I just found this: http://www.cartft.com/catalog/il/431 much more affordable, still need a 200w brick for it though, which i can't seem to find yet!

Thanks DesertRat, +rep to you!

DesertRat · 08-06-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliverw92

I think that 9800 is too long. also i would imagine the 4670 with 1gb gddr3 might outperform that. thanks though!

and wow i hadn't though of an xbox brick! does it have a 12v line though? and why would i need a resistor?

thanks for the M4-ATX idea! I havn't seen that! Only problem is, its about £90!

I just found this: http://www.cartft.com/catalog/il/431 much more affordable, still need a 200w brick for it though, which i can't seem to find yet!

Thanks DesertRat, +rep to you!

The 9800's core is a fair bit more powerful. Memory capacity < Core power generally. 4670's about on par w/ the 3870, and the 3870 was about on par w/ a 9600GT, which is beaten by a 9800GT.

4670 ~/< 3870 ~/< 9600GT < 9800GT.

The vast majority of the output from the brick is 12VDC.
The reason you'd need the resistor would be to put a little load on the +5v rail on the brick. AC-DC power supplies need a little load on every rail IIRC. It'll probably work fine w/o putting a load on the +5v, but it might not last really long.

oliverw92 · 08-07-09

hmmmmm i will have to see if the 9800 will fit. It can't be longer than 19cm. Do you know the length of that card?

Thanks for the info on the brick. I will contact Syr and see what he says, he is an electronics guru!

blitz6804 · 08-07-09

Many games prefer nVidia anyway, so you might be better served with the 9800. The only disadvantage is that nVidia's true view (or whatever its called) cannot hold a candle to ATi's AVIVO. If you are using this as an HTPC/server primarily, go ATi. If you are using this as a gamer primarily, go nVidia.

Ice Dingo · 08-07-09

The 9800 I have is longer than the width of my board which is 30.5 cm x 19.3 cm. So that means it's longer than 19 cm. I'm not sure if all brands are the same size or not though so you might be able to get one that's shorter.

Here's a pic of board and card.
And size from ASUS site:
Form Factor ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 7.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 19.3 cm )

blitz6804 · 08-07-09

Based solely on its picture on Newegg, I would estimate the length of the card to be 205mm. The reasoning is: DVI ports are 24mm wide. On the picture, the DVI ports are 64px tall. The card is 525px wide. (525px * 25mm) / 64px = 205mm. For confirmation, the distance between the middle of the two set screws is 33mm and 84px on that diagram. (525mm * 33px)/84mm = 196 mm. Either way, we are over the required 190mm.

oliverw92 · 08-07-09

yeh i just spent ages searching for dimensions and found its 25cm long

so 4670 it is im afraid.

blitz6804 · 08-07-09

Yeah, doing more research seems to put most cards at 20 cm. I suppose it is not possible to slightly modify the case design to permit another centimeter?

oliverw92 · 08-07-09

not really, see most cards need auxilary power too, which is then going to put too much strain on the psu, even though i have found a 200w one. and even if i take some power direct from the power brick outside the case, that brick is only rated at 200w. i would rather have an excellent cpu and an above average gpu rather than an average cpu and an above average gpu

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[Project] MiniMe - World's Smallest Watercooled PC - Scratch Built Alu/Acrylic Case

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