[oliverw92]

Intro

Well I'm back again with another mod! I've caught the bug

This time I am going small! My inspiration came from seeing someone on here make a tiny mITX case with a Zotac mITX MoBo. It looked so awesome I wanted one! So I researched hardware and found you could get really nice mITX socket 775 motherboards for not a huge amount of money, including a PCI-E x16 slot. With that in mind, I came onto the problem of cooling. To do any substantial cooling would make the case quite large. The low profile coolers normally do not give amazing temperatures, and making the case fit one of the giant HFS's would remove the point of the small case. It was then i saw an all-in-one liquid cooling system from SwifTech. And the idea clicked!

Build the world's smallest watercooled computer!

Components

Sponsors

I am delighted to introduct my first sponsor, AquaTuning.co.uk! They will be sponsoring me with my watercooling equipment.

Their website can be found here

Ebuyer are also sponsoring me with a motherboard, processor and graphics card!

Their website can be found here: http://www.ebuyer.com

I would like to introduce my 3rd sponsor for this project, MNPCTech!

They will be sponsoring me with 1 of these:


http://www.mnpctech.com/Computer_Billet_Fan_Grills.html

and a set of these:


http://www.mnpctech.com/Aluminum_Com...Case_Feet.html

Thanks very much to Bill

I would like to introduce AC Ryan! They will be sponsoring me with some materials like Aluminium sheet and CCFL's and such things. Thanks Guys!

WatercoolingUK will not be supplying me with watercooling equipment, they will be laser cutting metal and powdercoating for me! Thankyou to marcus there in particular!

Enermax will be sponsoring me with 2 fans and a keyboard! Thankyou!

Roccat will be sponsoring me with gaming equipment such as the Roccat Kone! Thanks!

Case Plans

The case will measure 20x20x20cm with everything inside, including radiator, fans etc. The case will be made out of a powdercoated steel frame with smoked acrylic filling the holes for the sides and top, and the front and back will be made out of powdercoated mesh. I am going for a blue and purple colour scheme inside (wiring, coolant, tubing etc). The metal will be cut on the CNC router at my school (it's tiny, about 30x30cm cutting area!). The plastic will be laser cut also at my school, and sponsor logos will be laser etched on during this process. All the cables will be sleeved in black and white sleeving.

Final Photos

Thanks for reading.

 

[oliverw92]

Post Log

#1 - 30/6/09 - First SketchUp Drawings
#2 - 1/7/09 - V2 Drawn Up
#3 - 2/7/09 - V3 Drawn Up - Now everything completley inside the case!
#4 - 31/7/09 - First price list made in excel
#5 - 20/8/09 - Sponsorship stuff arrives from eBuyer!
#6 - 30/08/09 - Final sketchup complete!
#7 - 1/09/09 - First PCB design for PWM fan controller
#8 - 9/09/09 - More sponsorship arrives! Toys arrive. Acrylic cubes/sheet tests. First CAD drawings complete. Second PCB design complete.
#9 - 21/09/09 - More stuff arrives, more cad drawings, more pcb designs, and a waterblock!
#10 - 7/10/09 - Acrylic laser cutting done! Laser etching done! Hard drive bay tested. Custom waterblock arrives along with other stuff
#11 - 8/10/09 - Watercooling sponsorship arrives! Mounted waterblocks on motherboard. Test fitted plastic + rad + fan + fan grills etc.
#12 - 10/10/09 - First circuit boards fabricated and soldered up! Acrylic capillary bonded and test fitted with hard drives, entire drive bay assembled with CD drive.
#13 - 18/10/09 - Second PCB made (first one destroyed). It works! First aluminium panel cut and mounted with acrylic. Test fit with motherboard tray and motherboard, gpu etc.
#14 - 21/10/09 - Overclock.net logo, black oxide screws arrive, sleeving arrives from MDPC, sleeving and modding of the PSU galore!
#15 - 27/10/09 - Fittings arrive, test fit of everything, WatercoolingUK sponsors announced!
#16 - 3/11/09 - Video update of everything so far, Enermax announced as sponsors, updated price list!
#17 - 15/11/09 - Enermax stuff arrived, new acrylic cubes with LEDs in
#18 - 12/12/09 - Some acrylic done, new sponsor!
#19 - 15/12/09 - Shell complete! Epic photos using new photography lighting toy
#20 - 22/01/10 - Leaks, successes, epic photos, crazy lighting - the best update so far!
#21 - 13/03/2010 - No i'm not dead!
#22 - 20/03/2010 - The beginning of the end!
#23 - 22/03/2010 - Project Complete!

 

[oliverw92]

Update #1 - 31/06/09

Did a sketchup of the case. This was my first time using sketchup. Quite a few of the components I got off the database of models but i made several. The whole thing is precisely to scale (to the millimeter) so i can take measurements etc off it.

Front

Back

Front

Side

Empty Case

WC'ing loop

Components

Hope this gives you a good idea of what it is going to look like!

 

[Thedark1337]

nice, subbed

 

[Hammerdin]

Very cool! cant wait to see this.

 

[CattleRustler]

this outta be cool, just one question, how do you know its the world's smallect wc pc?

 

[M1 Abrams]

Now thats a killer rig!!

 

[oliverw92]

I don't for sure, but I have spent 2 weeks searching for one, and i can't even find anyone trying to make a mini watercooled pc

 

[Thedark1337]

M itx = smallest computer you can build

 

[Havegooda]

Some tight bends in that loop. Good luck dude

~Gooda~

 

[CattleRustler]

either way this looks like fun I will def be watching

 

[oliverw92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Havegooda Some tight bends in that loop. Good luck dude ~Gooda~

Yeh i may need some 90 degree fittings to get it round near the pump.

Thanks for the comments guys

 

[TikiMan098]

looks cool. i used 3/8" masterkleer in a watercooled microatx build of mine, it can handle crazy bends, so you should be okay in that regard. Also swiftech made a cpu block with a pump integrated into it. Its a variant of the apogee i believe. You might be interested.

Also since you are only doing a cpu in the loop, an 80mm radiator would probably be sufficient and take up less space.

But just imo i think you should try to mount the radiator internally. Esp if you are going to custom fab the case - It could go on the roof of this case for instance. Idk but im against radiators sitting in the breeze. just my

 

[HardwaterH4ck3r]

Very cool, but how do you get a sponser...lol

 

[rpm666]

Looks like a fun build, I've been wanting to do something like this for my HTPC for a long time.

 

[oliverw92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardwaterH4ck3r Very cool, but how do you get a sponser...lol

Secret

Nah, you just have to ask. I've asked maybe 10 watercooling companies. At least half of them didn't reply

Thanks for the info guys, and i didn't know you could get 80mm rads :O i will look into it.

Does anyone know what the swiftech pump+block is called?

 

[Weedvender]

Have you locked at this guy? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...i%20mini%20itx

 

[oliverw92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weedvender Have you locked at this guy? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...i%20mini%20itx

What about it?

It's bigger than the one i am making.

 

[Nostrano]

If you are building a case 20x20x20 then that is no where near the smallest mITX case... check out duniek's work for the smallest mITX case

 

[oliverw92]

I never said it was the smallest mITX case. Please read. I said it will be the smallest watercooled case. And it is also 20x20x17.