Project: MESHBOX #2 compact acrylic & mesh case

[h0w1ingM@dMurd0ck]

I didnt think I was ever gonna finish this mod but here it is!

Original SketchUp Model:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/1337clear.gif

Its an Akasa clear acrylic case that I've chopped down to the smallest possible size with only a few mm of clearance.

You can see a lot more detail on the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5IplzPqa5k

Its got an XP2500+ overclocked from 1826mhz to 2354mhz (1.9 volts) making it an XP 3600+. Cooling that is a standard silent coolermaster XP3400+ being fed air by a 120mm Delta fan. The Delta fan is running off 7v instead of 12 (molex 5v+ and 12v-) to keep it quiet. It is soooo noisy on 12v you wouldnt believe! Sitting on my chair a good 3 metres back from the PC I can feel a nice cool breeze coming from it so it is still extremely powerful and ,thankfully, quiet. It keeps the hard drives nice and cool too :)

Theres a couple of hard drives in there, total 100gb, Nvidia Geforce 6800GT (NOT overclocked as I've toasted one already:hurt: ), 512mb PC3200 memory (more wouldnt hurt), NF7-S Nforce 2 ultra motherboard, modded 500w PSU, one off chipset cooler made from an LED VGA cooler.



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/small/mleject.jpg http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/small/td.jpg http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/small/fmd.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/ld.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/fl.jpg

[Ironcat]

That's a pretty decent looking box.
I'm curious as to what sort of temps you're getting with everything so close.

Does the mesh box gather as much dust as i think it would or does it actively asist with the cooling?

[h0w1ingM@dMurd0ck]

That's a pretty decent looking box. (thanks ;) )
I'm curious as to what sort of temps you're getting with everything so close.

Does the mesh box gather as much dust as i think it would or does it actively asist with the cooling?

It doesnt go over 60°C. Even when I was testing it by running the Prime95 torture test and at the same time 3DMark05 looping for 12 hours it wouldnt go over that temp.

As for dust I guess theres just not much in my house! Its been running unfinished for at least 6 months with the front off and I barely had to clean it at all just a quick blow here and there.

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

my only question is........ how many times have u busted ur knuckles working in sucha tight space?.... heh

[h0w1ingM@dMurd0ck]

my only question is........ how many times have u busted ur knuckles working in sucha tight space?.... heh

Any side comes off apart from the right one and the back one for obvious reasons ;) Mind you, I've got too many many cuts on my hands and fingers to count and I did electrocute myself a few of times when I was testing it with the PSU open lol. Smells just like bacon :eek:

Health Warning: I dont recommend electrocuting yourself accidentally but if you have to work with PSU's make sure your left hand is in your pocket and just work with your right hand. Stops the current going down your left hand and through your heart to earth which isnt good. Even when its off the capacitors can store a lethal charge. Better still just dont do it. And be careful when your working with cold cathode inverters too those things can be lethal.

I'm not going outside anymore if it stormy, I think I just attract these things lol

[Ironcat]

60C ???
What?????
That's like 140 or 150 degrees or something.

I am overclocked, stuffed in a desk with minimal airflow and running at a constant 41-42.

Even when I am benchmarking and torturing my rig I start getting a little antsy if I hit 47 or 48.

[h0w1ingM@dMurd0ck]

60C ???
What?????

60°C is fine lol. I've sold a couple of new AMD XP PC's that had that temp as standard and I didnt hear back from them. Besides AMD say that XP's are cool :rolleyes: up to 90°C :eek:

When I had watercooling on the same chip and motherboard it was a good 20-30°C cooler so I'm thinkin about getting a big passive copper heatpipe type of cooler for it. With that Delta fan it should make it WAY cooler than it is now. Any recommendations would be great!

[USERX15]

Any side comes off apart from the right one and the back one for obvious reasons ;) Mind you, I've got too many many cuts on my hands and fingers to count and I did electrocute myself a few of times when I was testing it with the PSU open lol. Smells just like bacon :eek:

Health Warning: I dont recommend electrocuting yourself accidentally but if you have to work with PSU's make sure your left hand is in your pocket and just work with your right hand. Stops the current going down your left hand and through your heart to earth which isnt good. Even when its off the capacitors can store a lethal charge. Better still just dont do it. And be careful when your working with cold cathode inverters too those things can be lethal.

I'm not going outside anymore if it stormy, I think I just attract these things lol

Last time I was working with a PSU I wanted to take the fan out of it and use it as a case fan (it was old), and all I did was wear big rubber gloves the strethed up my forearm. Isn't it much easier to just do that?

[armadilloben]

Any side comes off apart from the right one and the back one for obvious reasons ;) Mind you, I've got too many many cuts on my hands and fingers to count and I did electrocute myself a few of times when I was testing it with the PSU open lol. Smells just like bacon :eek:

Health Warning: I dont recommend electrocuting yourself accidentally but if you have to work with PSU's make sure your left hand is in your pocket and just work with your right hand. Stops the current going down your left hand and through your heart to earth which isnt good. Even when its off the capacitors can store a lethal charge. Better still just dont do it. And be careful when your working with cold cathode inverters too those things can be lethal.

I'm not going outside anymore if it stormy, I think I just attract these things lol

i have an even better warning for all you folkes! dont screw around with psu's while there ****ing on! lol

pretty cool mod man

[derbaum]

read carefully ... arma wrote about the energie stored in the caps. these things are still dangerous even when the psu is unplugged. before i work on a psu i unplug it and switch the pc on.

[klingelton]

that prolly wouldn't discharge it fully. strange thing though, the other day when i moved my pc, i was just about to plug it in and the damn thing turned itself on... more power in those caps than we dare to imagine... either that or the ghost of my old pc is playing tricks on me!

[h0w1ingM@dMurd0ck]

I'm glad this hasn't gone off topic grrrrrrr :lick: . It is difficult to test 6" cold cathodes in the PSU without it being on :rolleyes:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blufunk/meshbox/psu.jpg

Anyway I gotta sand & polish some scratches out of it and do some wire management and yes I will wear an anti static wrist band and I will make sure its connected to earth and NOT the blue wire :eek: