My MicroFly build log...

[madmat]

Very cool. I like the hidden PSU, that's just freaking awesome!

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by madmat

Very cool. I like the hidden PSU, that's just freaking awesome!

Thanks!

It's cool the reaction it gets even in it's unfinished state. Because you can't see the PSU, there's no hard drives and there's only the one fan (CPU), people see it as an unfinished build... but then you fire it up and it boots into XP and you play Q4 on it and I always get the "WHAAAA???????" look. Then people say I'm crazy.

Originally Posted by Bbq

Good job on the build. How much computer stuff do you have around anyways?

Not that much to be honest. More like scraps. Most of the stuff on my desk isn't mine. Like those to GTX cards in the pic? Nope. Not mine. Got to put it in a build for someone some time this month.

The thing I can never seem to have enough of is CPU's. Never an extra CPU. I think I have about three or four mobo's w/ no CPU's to put in them.

[MrTank]

That would be neat to do that with a board like this.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Palm-...rd-48241.shtml
I love the build, looking forward to seeing it completed.

Daniel

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by MrTank

That would be neat to do that with a board like this.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Palm-...rd-48241.shtml
I love the build, looking forward to seeing it completed.

Daniel

Yeah... everyone's telling me "you're just doing ITX... that's just ITX... why not use an ITX board????"

I'm not going for SIZE. So I certainly don't need or want a smaller board with limited potential. That Albatron doesn't even have a PCI-e slot! Seriously, you have to see it in action. I have this box with no PSU and no hard drive pulling 6K scores in 3DM'06 with a single 7950 card. It's pretty sweet.... and very quiet!

[jonnyGURU]

Ok... I know you guys aren't sick of this stuff yet.

Actually, I'm doing this not to brag, but I think there's good info here....

Like...

1. You can run a gamin PC off of a 5.25" bay PSU and a small DC to DC PSU.

2. Flash drives do have a use!

And now 3....

You can use USB bus power for +5V peripherals requiring a Molex!

Just take all but the +5V and Ground wires out of a USB cable (pic 1.)

Then take the other end and cut all but the +5V and Ground wires (pic 2) and crimp on a Molex (pic 3.) I used this to power my drives and the front LCD for all but an hour... but then the extra visible wire was bugging my OCD and I went back to routing the power cable underneath the motherboard (pic 4.)

[jonnyGURU]

Another "power connector trick" I used, in addition to +5V from an available USB header, is to tap +12V from an available fan header. Below (pic 1) is a pic of my "2nd PSU relay" (as originally seen here: http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1683) with a fan header connector on it. Now, when the motherboard is live, the relay switches on. In my other thread, I mention using this to turn on a second PSU by connecting the green and black leads from the second PSU to the switched terminals of the relay.

Today, I'm going to show you what I'm using it for and why I cut the PCI-e connector cables off of my PSU....

When I turn on my 5.25" bay PSU, +12V begins to course through the motherboard via the PCI-e slot. The CPU fan spins and everything even though the PC is "off." I don't want the PC to come to life until I hit the front power button that tells the picoPSU through the motherboard to turn on. So, the relay keeps the circuit of +12V to the PCI-e card open until the motherboard is live. The relay closes the circuit once it gets juice from the fan header and the PCI-e card then begins to get it's juice from the modified 6-pin connector (pic 2.)

Despite the innovation of this, I scrapped this idea too for the same reason I dumped the +5V USB tap. Yet another wire running across the motherboard. So the +12V for the relay is now run under the motherboard as well. But feel free to use this idea if you don't mind using up a fan header to turn something on via a relay.

[jonnyGURU]

I did some more cutting today.

First pic, I hacked off one of the guides for the HDD tray. I have no plans to use it, so I figured the extra material was just wasting space.

The second pic shows where I cut the support brace on the VGA side of the case in half from the 5.25" bays back.

The third shot is a close up of where I started the cut and worked my way back.

Now I just have to sand it a bit and then I'll paint it black.

[Steeeeve]

Cool project.....why the Micro Fly case?

[jonnyGURU]

Why not the MicroFly case?

It was as small as I needed and has windows so people can see the work.

[Steeeeve]

fair enough

I wonder if you could make small power supplies for each component or type of component....and then have it go to a single hub and then to the wall. That would be cool and save space