Timpelay - Organizer

[Timpelay]

As a custom PC designer and casemodder I got alot of questions from people at my work (structural engineer), whether I can build a PC out of anything.

I haven't failed yet so I always answer yes to that one.

 

Well about time to prove it ones again. But this time, I'll give them a little suprise.

 

Idea:

Transform a desk organizer into a custom watercooled gaming PC. A true sleeper.

 

Hardware:

• Mobo - Asus ROG Strix Z490-I Gaming 
• CPU - Intel Core i7 10700k
• RAM - 16GB DDR4 With EK Nickel Monarch modules on
• SSD - Samsung M.2 Nvme 512 GB
• PSU - Corsair SF750
• GPU - Nvidia 2080Ti Founders Edition
• Fans - 4x Cooler Master MasterFan 120 mm

 

Water cooling:

• EK Lignum GPU Waterblock
• EK Lignum CPU Waterblock
• EK Kinetic DDC Pump/Res combo
• 2x EK Coolstream 240SE Radiators
• EK Lignum HDC12 
• EK Torque Black
• EK ZMT 12/16

 

Mods:

• Modified desk organizer (only removed material)
• 10 extra screws
• No added materials
• No paint, putty or other surface treatment
• Minimal use of electric tools, jiggsaw and drill.

 

Sponsors:

None - Only reused hardware from prevoius projects

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Timpelay

[Timpelay]

Let me introduce, an old IKEA FIRA/MOPPE or whatever it was called.

Got it from my mother a while back who got it from her old work. Don't really know when this was on sale but pretty damn timeless.

I've kept fittings stored in it and when this idea came to me it was time for another purpose.

 

Made out of birch plywood and hard board.

 

 

 

So this scratch build will be something I like to call found object mod. Which suits the re-use theme perfect.

The final PC aims to be great in performance, easy to maintain and should not show itself unless I want it to.

 

Birch trees are common in Sweden and IKEA claims that today, 98% of the tree material used in their products are FSC-certified or reused.

This organizer is made a while back so there's no guarantee the tree was harvested in a sustainable way, allthough it's of course is natural.

I think I'll make up for that uncertanty by reusing this organizer once again.

 

Masterfan for size.

 

 

 

 

 

[Timpelay]

To complicate this build, or perhaps you can call it to make it genuine, I will keep the drawers and spread out my hardware between them.

This means I have to go with cables and cooling pipes from drawer to drawer somehow. I got a plan for it.

 

Top drawer will keep the radiators and fans. The drawer is perfect in size to squeeze in two 240 mm slim radiators with just enough space left for tubing and fittings at one end.

 

 

 

 

I used a circular saw to make clean holes in the hard board. Going for round holes instead of jiggsawing a larger rectangular hole will keep the stability in the board.

 

 

 

 

[Timpelay]

Middle drawer will be home for graphics card and pump/res combo.

As the grahics card is too long to fit on the "short end" without having the I/O ugly sitting on the outside I will place the entire card in the drawer and just route the Hdmi cable out to the screen through a hole instead.

 

Pump/res in the front of the drawer and GPU at the back.

Riser going to mobo through a hidden hole under GPU.

 

 

Top drawer got holes for water (at the top right corner of the picture) to and from radiators.

Middle drawer got two holes aswell.

 

Perfect use of the 90 degree addon when drilling from the inside.

 

 

Drilling from both sides gives clean holes. Allthough I'll use pass-through fittings for all water holes.

 

 

Mobo and PSU will sit at the bottom drawer with I/O and connectors in cut-outs

 

 

Now I'm getting somewhere!

 

I've removed the back board which acts as a stop for the drawers. I will actually mount all drawers from this backside keeping the separating planes at the front. 

Giving it the total original look. The planes will also give me gaps between drawers, which will (according to my experience) provide large enough area for sufficient air flow.

 

[Timpelay]

Bottom drawer - Mobo and PSU

 

Placed the motherboard where I wanted it, marked holes and mounted it with spacers and screws.

As the hardware is reused from a previous project, CPU, RAM, SSD and waterblock was already mounted.

So I just removed the CPU-block and replaced the termal paste with new fresh one.

 

 

Black rotary fittings, black ZMT tube and black Torque STC 12/16 soft tube fittings.

Looks perfect together with Lignum block.

 

 

PSU installed. Sits perfect next to the mobo and the shorter cables provided with this SFX is spot on in length.

It's a bit tight at the back of this drawer and I had to place the pass-throughs between the hardware.

By using a longer tube for the lower port I will give acces for the riser to the PCI-e slot.

 

 

[Timpelay]

Middle drawer - Pump/res combo and Graphics card

 

This pump/res combo is a super tight fit but clears just about perfect.

It's not the best way to have it laying down but with quite a large tank and filling ability through radiators way above it there should not be a problem with air.

 

Got the large hole hidden under the GPU for riser pass through and power cables.

 

 

That Lignum block on the RTX 2080Ti FE is just gorgeous!

Mounted it with bolted riser at the back of the drawer and enough space to connect display cables at the far end.

Using shims under the fittings to support the weight and hold the GPU in place.

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Timpelay

[Timpelay]

Top drawer - Cooling unit

 

Dual 240 mm slim radiators and x4 120 mm Cooler Master Masterfan. Fulling air through the rads.

 

 

 

Added an extra pass through to get a fill port from the outside even when the system is installed in the organizer frame.

Will probably make filling alot easier as I'll have limited access to the hardware later on.

 

 

The drawers rest on shelves inside the frame which does not cover the entire area.

However, I modified for better airflow and easier routing of cables, especially the riser coming from bottom to middle drawer.

 

[Timpelay]

Another benefit with reusing hardware or as in this case, an entire system.

Just power up and Windows is ready (except some updates due to months of downtime..)

 

All I have to do with software is updates and tune in the fan controller for my new pump and fan setup. 

Wonderful with only a couple of days left to deadline!

 

Super easy to test the PC outside the organizer frame before mounting the drawers.

 

 

Final assembly may seem a bit tricky but coming from the back I can just make a tower with everything connected. 

Then carfully sliding all drawers into place. 

 

Took at most 10 minutes to wire the drawers and get them in.

 

 

Final work is to do some external tube routing. Sweet to work with that with alot of space!

 

 

One sneaky...

 

[Timpelay]

Hello there my little friend!

 

The drawers can of obvious reasons not be pulled out one at the time from the front side of the organizer.

But slack in cables makes it possible to get them out a bit. Middle drawer with the pump/res combo located in the front is reachable.

This means I can fill from here if nessesary allthough my plan is to use the dedicated port at the top connected to the radiators.

 

 

Soft tubes in smoth radius bends is appealing but also key to keep the drawers movable

 

 

 

 

 

You can't even tell from an angle like this that it's a gaming PC hidden inside. Incredible!

 

Lets fill it up and get it running some games to try how sufficient the cooling actually is!

 

[Timpelay]

Finished!

 

Final words.

 

This has been so much fun to build!

Other than hardware and water cooling, I've added a total of 10 screws and with that I've created a desktop sleeper/killer gaming PC.

Only by removing material at key places, this organizer is transformed and will live a new life serving happy gaming experiences.

I've built "found object mods" before but never like this. Beeing able to focus completely on reuse and to try my very best not to add any extra material has been awesome.

 

I hope you like it, my collegues will probably think I'm fooling them with just a bunch of PC parts stuffed away.