luki1979 Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming ITX/AC CPU: i7-8700 Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i Black Ram: 2 x 16GB Crucial 2666 PSU: Pico PSU 250W with Dell 12v 18A Brick HDD: 1TB Intel 660p Nvme SSD WIFI/BT: BCM943224PCIEBT2 on M.2 NGFF adapter Case: Chinese "Aluminium" ITX Cost is about 1/3 of similar spec Mac mini Edit. Final look: Edit 2 Changed Led to green as Apple would do Original case: Edited April 18, 2020 by luki1979 Photo added 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) Now the modding bit: after few days of usage it become apparent that thermals is such small case are not great. CPU fan just blows hot air into aluminium top and everything becomes super hot inside. I’ve added small 60x10mm fan, which was hard to find if you like quiet one but still to warm to my taste. I just ordered perforated aluminium sheet and going to replace top cover with that. Without the top CPU idle at 30 degrees Celsius and stays under 55 under heavy load. Also added RGB strip, you got to have RGB right? Edited February 13, 2020 by luki1979 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 (edited) The top cover finished. Edited February 15, 2020 by luki1979 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoM Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Just awesome !! great device. What did you pay for all parts and housings in total ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 UK prices case £35 (eBay) motherboard £59 (eBay second hand) cpu £210 (Cex second hand) ram £90 (Cex second hand) pico PSU £12 (eBay) Dell 12v 18A PSU £8 (eBay second hand) 1TB Nvme £99 (Scan) BCM94322 £7 (eBay second hand) NGFF adapter £4 (eBay) Noctua Black Cooler £46 (Amazon) other fan, RGB strip, 8pin Atx cable £10 Total £580 Real Mac mini i7, 32gb ram, 1TB SSD £2149 Thank you, good bay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 CPU was not using Turbo mode much, I’ve added 8 pin adapter cable and now it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 Thunderbolt and Graphics are fully patched and working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanthros Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 (edited) Nice Job! Gonna start a new project myself. I know it is gonna be a handful but gonna start out with a Dune pro case..... when it gets here.... Edited March 27, 2020 by Zanthros correct picture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted April 18, 2020 Author Share Posted April 18, 2020 Green LED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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