[COMPLETED] Project Kestrel: Lian Li Q06 based all-in-one with a floating 24" LCD

Hi there OCN, thanks for taking a look at my latest OCN exclusive modding project: The Kestrel.




Project Complete: Click here to see final pics.




This project picks up where my canceled project "The Hawk" left off, it has the same purpose though: to be a somewhat portable gaming machine that has a built in monitor and runs quiet. The Hawk got canned as it was just too big, it was a full ATX machine with SLI'd video cards and multiple drives. The Kestrel will be a much smaller mITX based machine but will still pack plenty of gaming power into as small a unit as possible.

Now onto what this little guy will be made of.

Parts:

The toughest part to source would be a mITX case that would meet the following requirements

• Standard ATX PSU
• A full sized optical drive
• A 3.5" HDD and a 2.5" SSD
• A two slot wide GPU
• Almost any CPU cooler, not just puny low profile ones

I took a look at all sorts of ITX towers and desktop cases and nothing seemed just right until I stumbled across the Lian Li PCQ-06 Test Bench.
It had everything I need except a top cover, I can live with that as I'll jut make one out of acrylic

Box:


Profile:


Front:


Underside PSU air intake and filter:


Rear (with factory tape still on):


As for a motherboard, there is only really one choice: A Gigabyte H55N-USB3



This is my first mITX system ever and it really is impressively small especially when compared to a regular full size ATX board:







I'll be making some custom coolers for the board's MOSFETs (top and bottom), something a little more substantial than the little Enzo Tech MOS-C1's everyone puts on one of these boards.



And filling the CPU socket in the H55N is an Intel Core i5 750, it will offer plenty of performance and not kill my H55N. The i7 860 from the Hawk build is known for being a bit much for most if not all mITX boards to handle especially when overclocked (that's why Zotac dropped the i7's from their supported CPUs on their mITX boards).

For a GPU I am re-purposing the Gigabyte GTX 460 768Mb OC from the Hawk.



CPU cooling will be handled by a Corsair H50. And yes, I will have to fabricate some sort of attachment for the rad:


A pair of Gentle Typhoon's for the H50 (they'll get some sleeving love):


The Seasonic X 750 from the Hawk is just overkill for a build like this, so I opted for a slightly less overkill PSU: A Corsair HX 650.


The monitor is still the same, a nice new 23.6" Asus VH242H:


I will be building the internal frame and rad mount from aluminum as I have a bit on hand in my shop, I will see how close to the Lian Li finish I can get.


And all input devices will be wireless, the machine will have only one cord: Power.


Edited by Photograph - 11/12/12 at 10:35am

Lian Li PCQ-06 with the standoffs and GPU bracket installed:






Here's the Lian Li PCQ-06 with the motherboard and GPU installed:





A slight alignment issue between the expansion slot bracket and the audio ports, easily fixed by removing that side of the bracket.


All fixed:


Design sketches to follow shortly
Edited by Photograph - 2/5/11 at 6:09pm

The monitor is built into the case, all cables will be self contained within the machine