[kevingreenbmx]

Little Blue

This computer is for my senior design project for my Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Old Dominion University.

That's right, it is going on a boat, however, it is not just going on the boat.

It is the brain of our Autonomous Surface Vehicle for the annual RoboBoat competition.

Those pictures are of our boat in previous years. we will be using the same frame and pontoons, however we are completely re-vamping the electronics with this new computer, an Ardupilot Mega, two Arduino controllers, two new vision cameras, a new LIDAR, and new speed controllers.

previously the team had been using an old laptop in a plastic box to control everything, it was not even close to powerful enough and had severe overheating issues.

I am in charge of replacing that computer with this one that will handle all of our computer vision, state of motion, and navigation calculations. the reason for the water cooling is to dump the heat from the computer outside of the case it is going in instead of simply turning the case into an oven.

BIG catch: this will be run entirely off of a jet ski battery...

Table Of Contents:

01: Fist two orders unboxed - 09/22/2011
02: Beginning to build for dry test - 09/23/2011
03: Installing Windows with Temporary PSU - 10/02/2011
04: Power Consumption on Air - 10/06/2011
05: M4-ATX-HV Power Supply and Wifi - 10/07/2011
06: Troubleshooting the Graphics Problem - 10/07/2011
07: Getting Wet Part 1 - 10/11/2011
08: Getting Wet Part 2 - 10/11/2011
09: Booted up on water - 10/12/2011
10: Midterm Report and Presentation - 10/19/2011
11: SSD Donated By Onions has Arrived! - 10/25/2011
12: SSD Installed - 11/02/2011
13: Remote Desktop Configured w/ Video - 11/02/2011
14: Finished Computer Pictures and Fall 2011 Semester Report - 12/08/2011
15: Boat Running Autonomously - 04/24/2012

 

[kevingreenbmx]

alright, here are the main computer components for this build. Pay attention to the details and see if you can guess what is going on

this pic has one of the biggest hints in it:

the water cooling stuff is an XSPC Rasa kit:

another hint, the fans may not be used:

2.5" laptop drive, small size because no more is needed:

this MOBO is actually suprisingly sexy... I kinda want one myself now (oh, there is another hint, this computer does not actually belong to me, I am simply in charge of it):

Rasa block:

and that is all I have for you to guess from right this moment

I am SUPER stoked to be working on this project because I have wanted to do a nice SFF build for a good while. seeing this board in person REALLY makes me want one.

 

[DayoftheGreek]

You are going to try and built the entire thing inside of the processors box.

DID I WIN!?

 

[ALUCARDVPR]

I have no idea but my finger hit the sub button so hard it exploded.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

A water cooled HTPC. Am I close?

 

[kill]

I had that ram before! Its some epic stuff!
got it to 1700mhz @ 1.5v 9-9-9-24-32!
I loved it! it went to my moms rig

 

[Escatore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMDPhenomX4 A water cooled HTPC. Am I close?

Wouldn't that require significantly more HD space?

I'm honestly at a loss....

It's a high-flying, watercooled, snarly little beast that you could fit inside of a shoebox... but I have no idea what it's for o.0

 

[RaBidRaBit]

Water cooled carputer?

 

[Bouf0010]

...no psu... is this going in a vehicle? Rad cooled by ram air??

 

[CattleCorn]

You are mounting this inside or on the back of a television.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

WiFi in a carputer though?

 

[Kaged]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaBidRaBit Water cooled carputer?

^My thoughts as well^ sub'd

 

[Bouf0010]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMDPhenomX4 WiFi in a carputer though?

wifi tethering with a mobile device

 

[Indulgence]

a water cooled htpc inside a backpack! i win!

 

[kevingreenbmx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DayoftheGreek You are going to try and built the entire thing inside of the processors box. DID I WIN!?

haha, that'd be cool, but not quite.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALUCARDVPR I have no idea but my finger hit the sub button so hard it exploded.

glad you are excited, I assure you it should be worth while

I have to warn you though, the purpose of this mod is NOT to look good, so if you are expecting a second Classy Machine you will be disappointed

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMDPhenomX4 A water cooled HTPC. Am I close?

nope, not even remotely

Quote:

Originally Posted by kill I had that ram before! Its some epic stuff! got it to 1700mhz @ 1.5v 9-9-9-24-32! I loved it! it went to my moms rig

glad to hear I chose well

Quote:

Originally Posted by Escatore Wouldn't that require significantly more HD space? I'm honestly at a loss.... It's a high-flying, watercooled, snarly little beast that you could fit inside of a shoebox... but I have no idea what it's for o.0

good catch, you are correct that that would be insufficient.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaBidRaBit Water cooled carputer?

hmm... no, but

that is all I will say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bouf0010 ...no psu... is this going in a vehicle? Rad cooled by ram air??

you are starting to feel a warming sensation to your left, you are not quite getting hot yet, but...

Quote:

Originally Posted by CattleCorn You are mounting this inside or on the back of a television.

nope

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMDPhenomX4 WiFi in a carputer though?

the WIFI has multiple uses (another hint)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaged ^My thoughts as well^ sub'd

thanks for the sub

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bouf0010 wifi tethering with a mobile device

hmm, not quite

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indulgence a water cooled htpc inside a backpack! i win!

not at all

 

[Ceadderman]

An industrial water cooled digital nose picker?

Micro board and Intel i3-2200 SB and 240 tells me it's most likely a home server of sorts. ASUS board would have come with built in WiFi. Or even the Zotac model. Foxcon is okay though.

~Ceadder

 

[iCrap]

something to do with a car...

 

[Escatore]

Stormchaser?

 

[kevingreenbmx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceadderman An industrial water cooled digital nose picker? Micro board and Intel i3-2200 SB and 240 tells me it's most likely a home server of sorts. ASUS board would have come with built in WiFi. Or even the Zotac model. Foxcon is okay though. ~Ceadder

haha, no. and take a closer look at the Proc. it is NOT a 2200, and a 2200 would not be better for what this is being used for.

and I forget why I chose this board over those, but there was a reason. (speced this stuff out over a month ago)

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCrap something to do with a car...

not at all

Quote:

Originally Posted by Escatore Stormchaser?

hahaha, I like it.

 

[mx3orange]

boatputer?

or maybe bike-puter?