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Maybe Another Cube Project - just and idea at this point

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neilhart

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May 25, 2010
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Motherboard
ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming - ITX/ac
CPU
i7-7700T
Graphics
GTX960
Mac
  1. MacBook
  2. MacBook Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
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Edit: 01/26/2015 - I have shutdown this project and put the G4 Cube acrylic cover back on the shelf to wait for another day.

The reason is that I encountered random unexplained boot hang issues when running the motherboard with the GPU on any of several PCIe riser cables.

I am more interested in running the i7-4790K with the Asus Maximus VII Impact and the MSI GTX 760 ITX as a system.

To resolve the boot hang I am sure that I would need to swap our one of the three key components and I do not want to do that.

I may open a thread in the “Retail Cases” section to share my alternative case hack that is almost complete.

Good modding,
neil
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Humm… well I am stuck with this idea in my head and can not shake it. The idea is a “Red Hot Momma” of a racey looking cube mod. The red is from the red on the components that I would like to use.

At this point this is just an unformed concept as I do not own any of the parts other the one full G4 Cube and parts from a second cube. And my existing G4 Cube hack remains intact.

I read the bit-tech review of the Gigabyte GA-Z97N-Gaming 5 followed by ASUS Maximus VII Impact and came away wanting to do a project with the Maximus. Check it out: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2014/11/03/asus-maximus-vii-impact-review/1

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And then I got distracted by the Corsair Graphite Series 380T Mini-ITX Portable Case in black.

0A7533D0C57B41AC8AF1268FC8242894.ashx


And maybe the black painted red as there are white and yellow variants on the Corsair web site.
This case is about 15.6” x 11.6” x 14.1” so it is a little wider then a Prodigy… hummm… I wonder if I could put a Micro ATX in to it? Well that would be another project such as my White Prodigy project.

Well it is a bad time of the year to start a new project with Christmas shopping expense ahead.

Good modding,
neil
 
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Good modding,
neil

edit 12-14-14 - add


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edit 12-15-14 - add on the bench board bring-up with 16GB memory and i7-4770t

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Note this is the highest that I have seen this CPU benchmark ever!
 
Hi neilhart

Will you mount this board in the Cube on the first pic? What are the makrolon pieces intended for?

Good luck with this new project!

MacTester
 
Hi neilhart

Will you mount this board in the Cube on the first pic? What are the makrolon pieces intended for?

Good luck with this new project!

MacTester

Well per my usual way of doing a project, something sets me off; In this case the bit-tech review of this motherboard. I had to have it.

Then albertodlh's project http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-...g4-cube-mod-i5-gtx-750ti-3tb-3-5-hd-cube.html gave me pause. Some good ideas there.

And then my recent builds have been done with too much aluminum and I need a change. In my head I have a "see all the detail" vision and my current thinking is to drop the acrylic cube shell over this thing.

Not shown in the photos so far is the used MSI GTX 760 ITX that arrived yesterday.

I have one hard drive, 16GB memory, the i7-4770T (45w) and the GTX 760 and I am seeing 225 watts on the input AC line when I run Prime95 Torture Test running Mavericks 10.9.5. And I am wanting a i7-4970K which will need even more watts.

I am debating trying a Samsung XP941 (M.2) for a system/boot drive. Well I am about spent out for now so that one can wait.

More to follow,

Good modding,
neil
 
An update.

I am proceeding with this project. The question remains of where the project log should be located. This is not your classic G4 Cube conversion project and maybe the thread should be moved to the “Others” section.

I am using an orphaned G4 Cube acrylic cover and as seen here it is being modded.

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I am using a Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W power supply.

R8.jpg


So I started cutting the mounting plates for the layers and supports.

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I have some parts ordered from Hong Kong and a CPU from Amazon so this project can slow roll for some time.

Good modding,
neil
 
Hi Neil

Looks good, as always. :thumbup: You're the case king!

MacTester
 
A quick update:

I have had the system running Mavericks 10.9.5 for several days with the i7-4790k CPU and the MSI GTX 760 ITX version.

I was un-happy because my favorite video benchmarks would hang the process but not the system when the GPU was on my extender cable. So I had included an extender cable in my order from Hong Kong. And the extender cable would also cause the video hang… very unhappy.

I was thinking about ganging a 1” vertical riser card with a approximately 3” riser card but was put off by the expense of those cards. However I saw RIF6 reseller on Amazon and ordered yet another flex riser card. And I was greatly pleased when this 8” riser card worked.

The is the Amazon add:

RIF6.jpg


And here are the video benchmarks:

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So I am now back on the case hack.

I can start testing to see if I can keep the i7-4790K cool enough in this hack.

Good modding
neil
 
An work log update.

I have the system running with the three layer stack; bottom is PSU and two 2.5” hard drives, center stack is the motherboard and the top stack is the GPU card.

With the cube acrylic cover in place the system idles about 10 degrees higher then it should seen here.

temps1.jpg


In this configuration the Prime95 Torture Test quickly sends the temps way too high way too fast: a fail in my book.

In one iteration I added a PWM 120mm fan to inside top of the acrylic cover with little improvement.

One option that maybe my fall back solution is to go back and use the i7-4770T (45W) instead of my new i7-4790K (88W).

However before doing that, I intend to build another stack up with the top stack being the motherboard with the provision of an intake fan directly above the MB. The polycarbonate sheets are inexpensive and easy to cut with a jig saw.

I have toyed with the idea of going with a custom water loop.

More to follow.

Good modding,
neil
 
If you go with a water cool you should call it the ice cube

Humm... water cooling would be a solution. However I am not ready for the adventure that minihack had with his water cooled cube.

I have had the new system running with the motherboard on the top layer with the GPU just below. And I saw some improvement in the temps (also adjusted the fan/temp ramp in the BIOS) but I am not really happy with the cooling (yet).

I have found that there is some sort of issue that exhibits its self as a hang on boot with a displayed error of 15 when I have the GPU on the extender cable. I have been able to boot with repeated attempts. This has to be resolved.

In an attempt to "get better", I updated to BIOS to the latest available, v2105 if I recall correctly. I do not see any functional difference with the new BIOS load.

I will continue to work with this system and try to sort out the boot hang and cooling issues.

More to follow,
neil
 
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