Project Ryzen in a Box Mk II

[mkonld]

Exciting
Do you have concrete plans for the panels?
The connecting plates do look cool indeed, they might however prove to be a hassle when covering the case with panels?
I think you still have the extrustion profile groove all around the outside parts so you could put plates in there and fill it up from the inside with a rubber gasket, I’ve done that a lot when parts ended up not fully square after measuring once and cutting twice

We’ve also used a lot of 2020 3 way corner joint pieces in the past I think they offer a nice finish as well.

[MazeFrame]

@mkonld

I think you still have the extrustion profile groove all around the outside parts so you could put plates in there and fill it up from the inside with a rubber gasket

There are plastic inserts for the grooves specifically made to hold panels. I am going to use those for most panels except in the top where the fans sit (that will be screwed in) and on the monitor side (probably a hinged door of sorts?).

@mkonld

they might however prove to be a hassle when covering the case with panels?

As assembled, the top and bottom frame can be removed and panels slid in from the top and bottom.

The biggest hassle will be the panel covering the computer side since it will need large holes for the components to pull air for cooling.

[MazeFrame]

Update

Minor change and not much else to show


After lots of hand filing and lots of swearing, the GPU now has a mounting spot.

The PSU should be a nice counter weight.

Next steps:

• Buy a new (and slightly longer) PCIe riser cable
• Order another 120mm fan-grill
• Take measurements for all the panels now that component location is finalized
• figure out how to mount the mainboard tray
• Tap M6 threads into the corner pieces of the frame for the feet
• Cable routing…

[MazeFrame]

Update

PSU kinda-sorta installed…

To keep the PSU in place, it will be sitting between two aluminium extrusions to which it will also be screwed using the normal mounting holes in the back.

To get the nuts into the slots, I had to remove the center column, which wasn’t fun.

PSU in the bracket, not yet screwed in though:

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More bits and pieces:

@MazeFrame

Slightly longer PCIe-riser. A crimp tool and some rubber-frames for fans.

RGBW LED-strips (and a controller) and a white LED-Strip.

Next Steps:

• Buy a new (and slightly longer) PCIe riser cable
  Does anyone need a 24 cm once half-used PCIe Gen4 riser?

• Order another 120mm fan-grill

• figure out how to mount the mainboard tray:
  My dad had a brilliant idea for this, I am waiting on some 10mm stand-offs to see if this is going to work as intended.

• Tap M6 threads into the corner pieces of the frame for the feet
  Feet can be seen on the photos above

• **Find a mounting spot for the power-socket
  I had almost forgotten about the thing, only found it when I was looking through parts of the Mk I

• Find a switch for the white LED-strip that is going to live above the peripherals-drawer

[MazeFrame]

Update

More Parts

Nuts, Bolts, Spacers, Cables, extension Cables, Switch, big Potentiometer, Keystone module, Panel-mount connector

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Edit:
Completed the very-simple LED-dimmer. It will sit above the peripherals drawer.
Consists of a three-position switch (On-Off-On) and a 4W rated potentiometer powered from SATA.

Minimum power: 0.06W
Maximum power (hurts to look at): 2.5W

[MazeFrame]

Update

Even More Parts & Build Progress

Detachable hinges and latches:

Plates (with rounded corners):

Testfit of one of the many cover plates:

The drawer is now an actual drawer, not just a frame:

Is also a fingerprint magnet:

Yes, I know the good side is facing down, will fix that later!

Minor stuff (not shown/done yet):

• Threads tapped to “stuff” top corner holes
• T-Plates added and Corner plates moved down on the sides
• Holes drilled for top cover plate

[MazeFrame]

Update

Overambitious assembly plan meets time contraints

Side I/O Panels assembled:
Ports left side: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-C 10Gbit
Ports right side: HDMI out, RJ45 (Cat 6a), USB 3.2 Gen 1

Peripheral lighting ready for installation:

Top cover ready for installation:

ToDo:

• Install motherboard tray
• assemble front cover
• Mount PSU
• install side I/O panels
• install lower-front cover
• prepare power-inlet panel
• overhaul electrical distribution (needs a right-angle into the PSU)
• prepare door panels (and install them)
• make cutouts into the mid-wall for “internal” I/O (USB for keyboard, mouse, etc. and power button)
• Cable management

Edit:
Found an issue… I need to notch out some corners to make a “Can’t fit” into a “nicely fits”…

[MazeFrame]

Update

So much more to do…

While test fitting the top cover, I hit a major snag with clearance between the mainboard rear-I/O (now internal top I/O). This resulted in a lot of preventable work including lowering the cross-member that holds all the computer components

PSU ready for installation:

Top-Side covers ready for assembly and installation:

Mainboard is mounted! 8mm riser screws from the tray to the mainboard, 2x M6 and 1x M4 Screws holding the tray to the frame.

ToDo:
A LOT OF THINGS!

[MazeFrame]

Update

Getting all things done

Last time (5 Days ago), I had prepared the PSU for installation. Now, comes ALL of the rest. Simple things are hard, hard things are almost impossible. Wednesday to Friday morning, when I needed the thing to be complete and ready to run for a lan-party.

Let there be CPU:

And CPU in mainboard (only had to undo the Cooler-Brackets once ):

First time all computer parts being in the system:

Mainboard installed, all cables plugged in, cooler dry-fit, front plate in place.
…and, it is a snug fit, like, CPU cooler resting against plate snug, which, is not great.

And the rear-view with none of the cables plugged in yet:

Midplate ready for assembly:

Assembly required sliding the freaking thing into place between computer and peripherals compartment, then fishing around in the dark for ten minutes trying to screw the headphone jack into place.

Lower side covers installed:

At this point, I just put the camera down and went for it for 3 hours. Had to think hard about cable routing since space is limited and I wanted a somewhat clean interior.

End of Wednesday progress

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New day, more progress!
…none of which was documented, aside from this:

Front cover ready for installation:

BIOS settings down, fan curves adjusted, OS installed:

Lots of strong language, lots of pinched fingers, more swearing, sawing, filing, test-fits, more pinched fingers…

Poof!

Works, is quiet, is faster than the previous version.

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Features:
External Ports:

• 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
• 1x USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2
• 1x HDMI
• 1x 2.5Gbit RJ45

Internal Ports:

• 1x USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2
• 2x USB 2.0
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1

Yes, I am taking the regarding the USB-Consortium’s naming scheme

Miscellaneous:

• RGBW-Lighting
• dimmable white LED peripheral lighting
• peripherals drawer

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Total cost is TBD, all I can say is that 50 M4-type screws went into this thing.
One thing I know for sure, the gained compactness over Mk I had a price . Unless something breaks, I am not going to touch this thing hardware wise ever again!

[MazeFrame]

Done!

Well, has been done last week too, but now with some better photos:

Transport configuration:

Doors unlatched:

Fully deployed:

And the computing-side of the machine:

Some idiot left the protective film on the GPU!

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Minor To-Do:

• Add a second SSD, the 1TB in it now will get me by, but maybe another data-grave could not hurt

• Get shorter screws for the door, as is, the hinges in the doors collide with each other, which keeps them from folding away neatly

• internal headphone jack is completely covered by the monitor, so I need to get a 90° jack to stick in there