Austen
A Compaq Renaissance
I needed to look back to discover what was next. It occurred to me that I could possibly devise a modern compromise between desktop power and Laptop mobility. After a quick google for "portable PC" and finding this excellent build on reddit, I was hooked on the idea.
I had an old MacBook that I was keeping around for parts and realized that I could employ its screen and power button, and after finding a display driver for the screen from Ali Express I gained a little confidence that I could make it work. I researched the other parts, comparing measurements, as I shopped for the smallest rugged hard-shell case I thought would fit them, but not give me too much trouble with space. It still came down to millimeters with almost every part and its placement, but overall, I was fortunately close enough with my estimations.
I sketched up several iterations of designs, of how I could mount the hardware in the case, with the criteria of making everything easy to remove and replace for future upgrades and repairs.
I fashioned L shaped brackets for mounting the PSU and the motherboard out of a steel bar, and painstakingly bent wood-framing ties for the display mounts.
The entire build can be disassembled in about 15 minutes, as it is solely comprised of wing nuts and Phillips heads bolts.
The build started in March of 2021, and I quickly realized the state of the GPU market. I gave Twitter bots a go for a while, but realized that it was going to be unprofitable in terms of time, but I still always tried at the online Best Buy drops.
I initially assembled the build without the GPU. The Intel UHD Graphics 630 was plenty sufficient for driving the three-display setup that I use at IntelliTect, and software development is pretty much solely a CPU process. The GPU would be a personal addition for digital video and photo work that I enjoy.
Setting up the workstation!
A few months later, I saw that Best Buy was doing in-store drops. I asked my wife if she wanted to have a Best Buy date night with me, and to my pleasant surprise she said yes. We brought are double sleeping bag and pad and managed to get a few hours of sleep, after chatting with other members of the line about games and their GPU buying horror stories (dare I say KWEST). I was stoked to get the RTX 3070 that I had be hoping for as per my design specs!
Fellow line members.
Our accommodations for the night in front of our Thermo King camper.
With the 3070 in hand, I took more precise measurements and designed a mount for the card in Fusion360. A coworker printed the parts for me with excellent print quality. I chose PETG, which I figured its glass transition phase of 80 °C would be just high enough to withstand the GPU's heat.
The GPU mount. A 20cm riser cable is used to connect the GPU.
After several versions of the mounts, a final design was reached, and the card went in with minimal trouble to complete the build!
At the office (had a lot of computers on my desk that day)
At a hotel.
The PC performs well and handles large software projects well as I hoped....
Read more »
Gregory Sanders
Markus
Valrum
jason.gullickson
I really like your approach!
Please allow one question: Does apple put a serial number sticker on its displays like all the others or was finding the driver board harder than with displays from other manufacturers?