Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

[DAE_JA_VOO]

So, while trying to get my hands on one of VIA's Pico-ITX motherboards a few months ago, i received an email from one of VIA's reps offering me one for a project. How lucky is that! VIA offered to send me one of the boards for a mod project.

It just arrived earlier today. Here's the box:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8259.jpg



What's inside? The board, some cables, and a driver CD:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8262.jpg



The cables: DVI, USB, PS/2, Audio, ATX power adapter, COM port, IDE Cable.

And here's the little monster:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8263.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8265.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8266.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8267.jpg



Compared to a full size ATX motherboard:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8269.jpg



Compared to a notebook HDD:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8270.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/img_8271.jpg



As you can see, this thing is unbelievably tiny. I actually find it quite ridiculous how small it is. It's amazing :D

I've been lucky enough to be sponsored by another company for this project too. A great bunch over at Logic Supply (http://www.logicsupply.com/). This US based company sells an amazing variety of tiny stuffs like the Pico board that i have here. Check them out ;)

Anyway, Logic is hooking me up with a 160GB SATA notebook drive, 1GB of So-DIMM RAM, and a fantastic PSU, designed SPECIFICALLY for this motherboard. The PSU is the Serener 120W DC-DC Power Converter (http://www.logicsupply.com/products/gp_87).

http://www.logicsupply.com/images/photos/power/gp-87_big.jpg



They're also sending me a power brick for the PSU.

So i'm pretty much sorted for hardware for this mod. There's just one or two last things i want for this project. I'd REALLY like to pair it up with a 7" touchscreen, and with a small little VFD, but i'll first do some more planning.

Big BIG thanks to my sponsors for this mod, i really appreciate it guys!

http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/me6000/img/logo.gif

http://www.logicsupply.com/imgs/header/header_left.gif



Okay, so now it's on to the planning. I plan on building something REALLY tiny. I started with some rough sketches last week but i wanted to wait for the PSU to arrive before making any solid plans. The package from Logic was only shipped today, so i still can't do any solid planning, but so far, i know that i want this machine as tiny as possible, without compromising size for quality. I don't want a mod that's REALLY small, but looks crap. If it needs to be a little bigger in order to look a lot better, i'm cool with that.

I was originally planning on removing the heatsink that's on the board and having the case cool the board, but after some consideration, i've come to the conclusion that it'll just not be worth it. I might earn 3mm at most by removing the heatsink. So the heatsink stays.

I want the case to look REALLY really good here. I'm going to see if i can have it CNCed out of a block of Alu and then have that alu anodized to a nice colour; just not black. Please. Not. Black.

So that's it so far. I'm almost done putting an unboxing video together, i'll upload that soon.

Thanks for reading. I hope you like where this is going as much as i do :D

Update 20/09

First off, my goodies from Logic Supply arrived:

The HDD, RAM, PSU, and powerbrick:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8450.jpg



HDD and RAM. 160GB Seagate Disk and 1GB Transcend DDR2 667:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8452.jpg



The Serener PSU. This thing is insanely small:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8454.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8455.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8456.jpg



Another shot of the RAM:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8457.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8459.jpg



Here's a FULL PC:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8462.jpg



Compared to a Rubik's Cube:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8463.jpg



Compared to a Swiftech Storm waterblock:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8465.jpg



And lastly, the powerbrick:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8466.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8467.jpg



All hooked up and running:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/IMG_8468.jpg



Then it was down to design. I spent so much time doing this. I went from design idea to design idea, and finally settled on something unique - A Rubik's cube :D

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-1.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-3.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-2.jpg



This is how the board will sit inside the case:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-6.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-7.jpg



VIA also gave me rights to use their logo:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-5.jpg



Some colour:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/Untitled-4.jpg



A clay render:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/clay01.jpg



And two colour renders:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/render1.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/DAE_JA_VOO/pico/render2.jpg



I plan on having the cube machines out of Alu, and then having the Alu anodized black.

Please also watch these two videos i've made for the project. The first is the Pico ITX unboxing clip:

Pico ITX Unboxing Video! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4eeunscoC0)

g4eeunscoC0

And the second is a video log of what i've done so far. Part 1 :)

Pico Rubik's Cube - Video Log Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AY4Pc8Pfx4)

-AY4Pc8Pfx4
Please let me know what you guys think so far :)

[XcOM]

dude thats soooo cool, and tiny, i cant stop thinking of the applications, or of places you could hide it.

+sub

[DonT-FeaR]

i like it ill be watching and waiting

[The boy 4rm oz]

Awesome Dae. I was wondering when you would bring this over from Bit-Tech. As soon as I finish LEXA I am hoping to source one for a download box mod I am wanting to try, check it out:
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15680

[Luke122]

I think that if you were to use the colored squares on the cube for status lights, that would be INSANE. HDD activity, Power, LAN activity, etc.. maybe just have some random lighting effects too.

Very cool project!

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Dude... this is awesome. I'd be tempted to have it be "solved", but then it wouldn't be as instantly recognizable, so...

The angle/base is just too cool, as well. Planning on making it large enough to hide the power brick (which I see is a Seasonic, nice) inside?

[DonT-FeaR]

what kinda screen is that???? looks good..

[The boy 4rm oz]

Looks to be a 24" or a 30" to me. Looks like an Acer with the thin border but I am probably wrong lol.

[SXRguyinMA]

thats the smallest computer I've ever seen!