Where to get custom 1U style case made, portable displays?

[I4AT]

I'm interested in an ultra thin SFF in a 1U style case utilizing a PCI-E x16 riser or flex cable so the video card can be mounted parallel to the motherboard, face up. Due to the traditional design of video cards it would have to be a custom made reverse mount riser card or flex cable, and the bracket would have to be mounted to the front of the case, or opposite side of the motherboard's I/O. That would be the only drawback until manufacturers start making reverse PCB expansion cards, doubt that will ever happen though.

Ideally I'd like the case to be ~2.5" thick to accommodate a standard SFX power supply. Or maybe 3.5" with an ATX PSU would be more reasonable since most large fans are 30mm thick. My plan would be to have a full size single slot GPU face up, a low profile passive HSF for the CPU, and a single 180-220mm fan to cool pretty much everything by itself.

This seems like the most efficient use of space while allowing the ability to cool all the important components with a single oversized fan, but it obviously couldn't be done with off the shelf parts. If using the bare minimum for a gaming rig it could probably be 15"x3.5"x12" or smaller and accommodate even the highest end hardware.

I don't have the tools, materials, or skills to do it myself, so what would be the best place to get one custom made? Or maybe a member here with metalworking skills would be interested in prototyping one?

Also, why aren't there ultra portable displays available? Something like a tablet with video-in instead of just video-out, or 12-15" laptop style displays that can be powered by a molex/6-pin PSU cable? One that can be hinged/mounted to a thin 1U style case, like an oversized laptop without a battery.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Do you actually want to rackmount this?

 

[God Mode]

This is pointless. You'll spend less buying an Alienware than doing this custom job since you lack the tools and resources to begin with. For a monitor, you'll need a bare LCD, custom frame and some kind of LVDS controller most likely.

If you're adamant with this project, I suggest you go take a listen to what 1U server fans sound like. I have serious doubts about passively cooling any modern CPU in a 1U setting.

 

[God Mode]

Do you actually want to rackmount this?

I think he's trying to build his own All-in-one PC like a iMac or something.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I think he's trying to build his own All-in-one PC like a iMac or something.

Ah.

Any sufficiently small SFF case + VESA mount. Done.

Now, if OP wants a SFF case that will support a full size video card - that's tougher.

 

[I4AT]

lol there's no way it would cost what an Alienware would. Gaming laptops are terrible investments IMO, I wouldn't buy one.

I laid out some old lame hardware and it probably wouldn't be as difficult to do as I thought. Pretty much all video cards have holes in the PCB so I could just mount a few L brackets to support it. The custom PCI-E x16 flex cable would be the most difficult thing to obtain, but it shouldn't be too expensive considering standard ones are $5-10.

Using an ATX motherboard there's actually room for a single half-height expansion card in the last slot as long as the video card doesn't have a heatpipe/tall heatsink that extends over the top of the PCB.

With an ATX motherboard and a full ATX PSU the minimal dimensions would be around 17.5"x3.75"x11-12" depending on how much room you want for the video card. With a MATX motherboard, an SFX PSU, and a 2.5" HD it could be about 15.25"x3"x11-12".

Here are some pictures to give an idea of the basic layout.

ATX no fan
ATX with fan
SFX compare
SFX

I don't have a 2.5" HD to compare, there's a 3.5" drive in all the pictures. The fan is a 220x30mm Rosewill fan that I bought for $7 shipped. The "dead spot" where the hub is sits between the CPU and the GPU. The pictured video card is actually dual slot, so it's a little thicker, but it was all I had.

Mounting it to the back of a monitor with a custom VESA stand would be the cheapest solution and it'd still be pretty portable. It'd be nice if somebody made a super thin display that could be powered with a molex/6-pin cable so you didn't have to have 2 120V cables.

 

[Chapbass]

I just did a real quick skim of this thread, so I probably easily missed something, but just brainstorming...

How about something like this?

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/6015/SYS-6015X-8.cfm

Or maybe something on Logic Supplys website?

http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/rackmount_computers

Like I said, not trying to insult you, just in a hurry and trying to help think of ideas .

 

[SithSolo1]

I bet if you got a Wesena e5 case and mod it you could fit an sfx psu in it. However I don't know if there would be room for the mobo, drives, video card, and the psu.