Gigabyte GA-MA78-S2H passive and diy-enclosure

[ichessblumen]

hello enthusiasts,

after finishing the last project one year before and the made experiences i decided to built a new htpc.... fully passive.

here we go with the components:

mainboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, UVD for 1080p ( just ordered, expected delivery date 29th,february 2008)
RAM: 2GIG DDR 2 800 any brand
CPU: Athlon X2 BE-2400 (45 W)
GFX: Onboard
HDD: 250 GB, 2.5"
TV-card: terratec cinergy s2
Optical drive: Toshiba Hd-DVD ( bought in december) to be replaced by BR drive
PSU: 120 W
Cooler: diy
Housing: diy
display: VL-System with IR Control

cooling:
as you see, the aluminum cooler fins are used as the left "side-plate". i build the cooler from components i bought from conrad.de the right side-plate is also composed of this 0,3 mm fins. the top plate has a aluminum mesh.
due to this composition i'll have a good air vent in the housing (hope so).

as soon as i will have the motherboard i'm going to build a dummy enclosure from reinforced cardboard to get the exact measurements for the aluminum front-plate.

the vfd-display needs to get stripped. i want to hide it behind a transparent plexi.

i'll keep ya posted.
ieb

[Marcusb]

looks good, but totally passive may be asking too much. you should try and just use one very low flow fan which would be virtually silent (I know totally passive is an ideal goal though).
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing your progress.

[ichessblumen]

thanx marcus for the good words.

yes, maybe you're right. a small 80 mm "emergency-fan" would do the job. but i'd like to run the fan not permanently. just when e.g. the cpu or housing temperature is too high it should run. i think gigabyte delivers a software along with the board.

[SpiffBB]

Originally Posted by ichessblumen

thanx marcus for the good words.

yes, maybe you're right. a small 80 mm "emergency-fan" would do the job. but i'd like to run the fan not permanently. just when e.g. the cpu or housing temperature is too high it should run. i think gigabyte delivers a software along with the board.

And if not - Mcubed HFX sells a kit with a fan that goes on only aboue a specific temperature.

Good luck, looks really nice!

Regards
Oscar

[Dubyahjay]

Dead sexay

...and how much will you be selling these for? (after the prototype of course!)

[ThaClown]

Very very nice! Makes me want to design my own case!
mmm maybe over the holiday...

[SwingSultan]

i would recommend a fan too. normal pc hardware isnt meant to run passive and thats it. if you use a noctua nf-p12 (12cm) you will hear absolutely nothing if you operate it at 7 or 5v. trust me i have a watercooled pc and ears like lessie

[ichessblumen]

here we go, after receiving of the gigabyte motherboard (GA-MA78G-S2H) and other stuff.

First of all , I've "minimized" a regular backplate from a tower and assembled it on a 1,5mm thick alloy groundplate.
After fitting of the mobo by means of some plastic spacers I layed out the parts to find out the definite measurements.

I'll come up with next steps the following weekend. Then I'll have finished an auxiliary frontplate holding the vfd-display and the hd-dvd-drive.

ground plate


layout....


cu next weekend.

[ichessblumen]

well, here another pic of the progress.

this is what I've done :
- insertion of an intermediate alloy piece onto the backplate
- riveting of an alloy L-section onto the backplate slots to make sure good connection to the pci-cards
- cutting the groundplate to fit all components
- added an alloy L- section to the front. this is the fixation for the auxiliary front-plate
- cut and screwed on the auxiliary front
- cut one square tube for the optical drive

it still looks very raw but I am going to grind it before I go on with the paintwork.
next pics probably on the following weekend.

[Krisso]

really impressive! i wish i was so skilled with my hands..

cant wait to see the final product. keep em comming!