Basket case! (Techbench).
Well, it all started when I was told by a couple of sites that the new tech station (techbench) I wanted to buy would not be in stock for a month or so. I wanted a techbench as a change of case to make life easier in accessing components and wasn't going to be 'hampered' by them not being available. I decided to make my own and it turned out to be a real 'picnic'. Anyway, enough beating about the 'bushel' :) Here's the story...
I felt like a real 'basket case' as I rooted around the junk in the garage. Tossing an old Christmas hamper aside, so the spiders wouldn't crawl up my arms, the lightbulb in my head lit up with the idea of using it in the project. I've seen plenty of ghetto mods in the past. I'd seen a clotheshorse and a housefly, but I couldn't remember seeing a PC in a basket. Hmm.. nothing ventured, nothing gained.
One hosedown, a blowdry and fifty evicted spiders later... I got to work;
Modding was simple, I just chopped away what I didn't need to make a hole for the component of choice. The fans just suck and blow air through the gaps in the wicker, no holes required for them. I modded a couple of extra usb ports to the front left, above the reservoir with a pure silver kill coil in (that's a mini-torch you see on charge in the usb port, next to the wireless dongle, always handy). Threaded the BIOS speaker and temp sensor wires into the case in strategic positions that Everest displays to me onscreen. Got to keep an eye on temps as I'm pretty sure basket burns well. Hopefully the pipes will burst and the vodka in them will put the flames out :). Just in 'case' though, I stood everything that heats up, within the hamper, on old metal heatsinks.
The two 360 Thermochill radiators usually go behind the chest of drawers under the draft from the open window. It's my 'remote cooling station'. Keeps me from going deaf listening to the fans and does a grand cooling job. The Laing pump, as you can see by the flow, has no trouble coping with long hoses. Added an L.E.D usb light with fan and some blue L.E.D lights and fans I wasn't using because they bugged me. They now all turn off when required and anyway the PC is behind me. So, it's not an issue when they're on.
Cable management, a retired Seasonic non-modular PSU inclusive, was achieved by simply pushing wires through the basket. The 10mm watercooled northbridge is now aircooled for the sake of better flow rates. The two 120mm fans laying air over the chipsets are synched to run dynamically with temperature increases. So, they run at a quiet 60% generally, keeping the mosfet chips between 37c and 44c. I live in England, it's not likely to burn up on re-entry :).
For those of you that must know;- the motherboard is an ROG (Republic of Gamers) Asus Maximus Extreme with QX9650 cpu and a 4870x2 gpu. I'll upgrade when it can no longer cope with ultra high settings. Or, just simply dies on me through years of sustained overclocking and abuse. It still does 4ghz with ease and the dust I cleaned off no longer 'posies' a threat.
Well, this project kept me tinkering happily for a couple of days and, as much as I would like to say that it cost me nothing. I cannot lie to you... It saved me about £130 GBP on a two shelf techbench that I will no longer be needing ;). Hoping to get some enthusiastic comments when the wife pulls the sandwiches out of this thing at the lakeside picnics this summer. I'm awarding myself three points for this basket \o/ No 'punnet' intended :). It kept me busy for a while and that's what counts and is quite a novelty. Now, on to 'weave' some new ideas.. omg lol, hope you like it ;).
LeighPing's Ghetto Techbench.
Here's the Youtube Movie of the Techbench.
Movie 2 - Plasma Ball Mod.
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Here's the Youtube Movie of the Techbench.
