eelmod: G4 Cube w/ Videos worklog

[Mate94]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

Personally I'd probably go the picopsu route, because it gives you the most room in the case - and you probably will want to save as much space as you can. You can always re-locate it somewhere if you need to using one of those short 24-pin extenders to allow you to tuck it somewhere out of the way.

Do take note of the voltage rail ratings for the PicoPSUs though:

Specifications, picoPSU-160-XT, 160Watts DC-DC ATX Power Supply
Power Ratings
Volts (V) Max Load (A) Peak Load (A) Regulation %
5V 8A* 10A +/- 1.5%
5VSB 1.5A 2A +/- 1.5%
3.3V 8A* 10A +/- 1.5%
-12V 0.05A 0.1A +/- 5%
12V 8A 15A Switched input
*At max load, forced air ventilation is required. For fanless or improper ventilation operation derate the output of the 3.3 and 5V rails until PSU temperature falls below 65C. Peak load should
not exceed 60 seconds.

The 12v ratings are easy enough (as the 12v comes from the power brick - so essentially the picopsu doesn't really have to do anything). For the 5v and 3.3v it has to actually work harder.

I would definitely not advise getting a high powered CPU for this type of kit, but an i3 of the type in your wish list seems a good way to go.

Might not be a bad idea to do a power audit on all the components before you buy them: i.e, check the spec.s and note down all the likely 5v,3.3v and 12v power draws then you know what to expect and if the supply will be meaty enough.

I think the key to success is less is more. Keep power draw low, keep component count down and you will have a quiet and cool build. Fill the space up or buy things you don't really need and the space fills up + you draw more power and everything gets very hot.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info!!
Yeah I was more then likely going to run with the picopsu
I saw Neil had one set up in his Cube with a separate GPU as well. So I will definitely measure up all the wattage being used by everything.

Definitely a nice looking mod!

Make sure you get core i3 2105 or 2125, but not 2130... 2130 comes with HD2000 unless you are planning on a dedicated GPU (but I don't see it listed).

I am waiting for the Intel DH61AG board from UPS soon, and have my fingers crossed that it will load OS X with little issues.

Guess it's the 2125 lol I didn't even see that, Thanks Slowjin!!

Been running my 1366 that I still need to freshen up my 1155 knowledge lol

Thanks eelhead to accept my recommendation. I hope you won't have any problems with the HD3000. Looking forward to the Cube!

 

[eelhead]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

Yeah the HD3000 should be golden with Lion
This would make a nice little HTPC me thinks

 

[minihack]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

Not a bad idea there with the extender,

I to was thinking of removing the center of the heat sink and figuring out a better frame to support handle use.

Yes, the handle mechanism uses three parts - the heatsink sides, an internal mechanism and then the outer uprights of the frame. It's quite complex but very elegant - typical Apple stuff. But boy, that heatsink is huge and cutting it out is a major PITA. I was there for ages sawing it up!

If you throw away the handle stuff then you could free up a whole lot more room, but it is so nice that preserving it has got to be the first choice!

Trouble is that if you keep it then you limit the choice of coolers as you have to put your mobo on one side or the other of the central handle stuff. If you get rid of it then you can have a bigger cooler.

 

[neilhart]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

eelhead

Yes the 160w unit does very well for the most part.

I did overload it in my first incarnation where is was using a Zotac H55ITX-A-E, i7-860, two 500GB 2.5" Seagate HDDs, the original Optical drive on a IDE to SATA converter and a GT 240. Under my standard qual test (all threads running 100% for minimum of 30 minutes) the PSU folded back and quit. Later I took power reading and saw that in that configuration to consumed 200 watts input power.

My follow on configurations then ran without problems with an i3-540 and a i5-650 with a GS 8400 video card. As an aside, the XFX Gt 240 was unstable on the extender cable for some reason.

The current configuration is a Zotac H67ITX-C-E, i7-2600k, no GPU card, 2 500GB 2.5" Seagates, Optical drive on IDE to SATA converter, Zalman CPU cooler on low speed adapter, two pusher fans and on puller fan. The G4 Cube closed idles at 38C and reaches 70C under full load heat soak test. This is a MacPro compute class cube.



neil

 

[eelhead]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

eelhead

Yes the 160w unit does very well for the most part.

I did overload it in my first incarnation where is was using a Zotac H55ITX-A-E, i7-860, two 500GB 2.5" Seagate HDDs, the original Optical drive on a IDE to SATA converter and a GT 240. Under my standard qual test (all threads running 100% for minimum of 30 minutes) the PSU folded back and quit. Later I took power reading and saw that in that configuration to consumed 200 watts input power.

My follow on configurations then ran without problems with an i3-540 and a i5-650 with a GS 8400 video card. As an aside, the XFX Gt 240 was unstable on the extender cable for some reason.

The current configuration is a Zotac H67ITX-C-E, i7-2600k, no GPU card, 2 500GB 2.5" Seagates, Optical drive on IDE to SATA converter, Zalman CPU cooler on low speed adapter, two pusher fans and on puller fan. The G4 Cube closed idles at 38C and reaches 70C under full load heat soak test. This is a MacPro compute class cube.



neil

Thanks for the input neilhart!
I was thinking I should be jut fine with that 160w set up. I wont have too much going on in it

And your Cube is looking sweet as poop as well!

 

[61mg73]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

I've got a similar build going with the H67N-USB3-B3 board , Pico PSU , i3 2105 , 8G memory. Wasted 2-3 weeks of evenings trying to get it to run right via installs upgrading from SL. Only way I got it working right was via a bootable stick made with a downloaded copy of 10.7.2 .. Once you get it running its fine .

I was concerned about power consumption so I put a watt meter in line between the outlet and the PSU . I wasn't trying to torture test it or anything , just get a baseline as to what to expect from normal usage ( I neither game nor overclock) . Anyway , didn't get a reading over the high 60's while doing read/writes from DVD to HD. Given this, 160 watts should be more than OK (at least for me).

I'm keeping my handle assembly and have modified the heatsink as follows :

1: Bandsawed off the fins , milled/sanded the remaining surface flat

2: Made up a piece of 1/8 acrylic to fit into the flat left when the fins were cut . Drilled the acrylic to line up with the bottom mounting holes on a HD . Countersunk the holes
so the back of the acrylic will fit flush with the heatsink. My next step will be to make
a bracket to piggyback a second HD , using the side mounts of both. The acrylic is getting mounted to the heatsink via 2 sockethead screws.

Hope this is of some value . Once I get back to work on my case ( after the holidays ) I'll post a thread of my own.

 

[eelhead]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

Yeah that awesome! That is about what I want to do, remove the vains on the heatsink and utilize it for HDD space.
But I was going to use that 2x 2.5 to 3.5 caddy in it and they Plastic sheets for a mobo tray and any caddy work needed else where.

 

[minihack]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

Yeah that awesome! That is about what I want to do, remove the vains on the heatsink and utilize it for HDD space.
But I was going to use that 2x 2.5 to 3.5 caddy in it and they Plastic sheets for a mobo tray and any caddy work needed else where.

I agree - awesome.

Another option for the HDD caddy would be to use the original HD mounts and location from the cube if you have room. As they have all the attachments in the right places already for keeping a single 3.5" drive in the cage they could be re-used for your caddy. I like the little "sled" mount (!) the cube had for that.

I guess your decision on that though will be based on how you fit your mini-ITX board into the cube cage as the dimensions are VERY tight.

 

[minihack]

Re: My Next eel Customod !
I was just thinking about the DVD drive mounting. What you could do is actually take the guts out of the optical drive that the cube came with (which is obsolete) and put a new slim drive inside it. You can then use all the original mounting parts to mount the old optical drive to the cage and it'll put the slot of the slim line new drive in just the right place. Just a thought......

 

[eelhead]

Re: My Next eel Customod !

I was just thinking about the DVD drive mounting. What you could do is actually take the guts out of the optical drive that the cube came with (which is obsolete) and put a new slim drive inside it. You can then use all the original mounting parts to mount the old optical drive to the cage and it'll put the slot of the slim line new drive in just the right place. Just a thought......

Now there is an idea! I wanted to upgrade the DVD anyways and I am able to use the DVD?HDD caddy so that might be a cool option.