Well, first thing you need to do is to find a computer case with a ‘Mask’. The case for this build has a Military Grade Full Polymer & Steel Mesh Front Panel mask capable of withstanding Biological ‘n Chemical leaks or attacks. Second thing, if you name your computers like me, is to come up with a ‘Gender Neutral’ name for it. Covid-19 ‘n PC ‘Grand Inquisitors’ will have you quickly ‘Burned at the Stake’ if they find you have broken their rules.
Please allow me to introduce my new *WOKE* Linux build – ‘CM130’:
The biggest expense for this build was for a lawyer that specialized in ‘Gender Neutral’ names – that was $4,000. “Cooler Master Elite 130” was one of the most difficult names the lawyer had ever worked with, especially the “Master” ‘n “Elite” words in the name.
Problem started when I went to the courthouse to get the name “Coolie” approved for my new computer’s name. The clerk took my papers ‘n started screaming that I was a “racist,” then two burly courthouse security personnel came in ‘n arrested humble me for being a “racist”!?! That cost me $1,800 for an attorney to get the charges dropped; however, in order for the charges to be dropped I had to hire an attorney that specialized in ‘Gender Neutral’ names.
- NOTE: here is the link to my computers’ names – BYOC. Will highlight them, but will see how it goes by posting a single link near the top of a post instead of so much linking during a post.
Part 1:
Pulled the AMD Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU outta a shed with the plan now to just do a new build with it, for now, instead of gutting the still fairly new ‘InWin’ Intel build. As mentioned in the GPU’s, Covid-19 ‘n Chinese GPU miners post GPU demand ‘n prices may stay high whilst the GPU supply may remain incredibly *LOW* for awhile. This Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU has Radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics ‘n it’s actually better than the Intel® UHD Graphics 630 – here’s a comparison of the Intel® Core™ i3-8100 in ‘InWin’ compared to the AMD Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU:
Here’s the Intel® Core™ i7-8700 that is now in ‘Rose‘:
Two of those tests were done back in Dec of 2019, so results would probably be a little lower for each, but not much of a drop. The Intel® Core™ i7-8700 was done 8/6/2020 and shows a tad better gaming score for the Intel® UHD Graphics 630. The APU had a 10% ‘n 9% better gaming score, 7% better ‘n a -7% worse desktop score, and 13% better ‘n -14% worse workstation score. I had done a lot of research on that Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU ‘n it’s a great little low priced desktop APU. That InWin case comes with just a 150W PSU which limits what you can do in that ‘InWin’ computer…still, that is a fairly new build ‘n stood in for ‘Rose’ quite well.
As mentioned in the 7/30/2020 post – ‘Rose‘ gettin’ Upgraded ‘n goin’ Mobile – I had converted a Drive Medical Non Tilt Top into custom sorta ‘Wagon on Wheels’ unit for ‘Rose’; however, it worked so well that I added another shelf for the ‘InWin’ computer later on.
Six months later, and even bigger changes have recently happened. As mentioned in the 1/4-7/2021 update on *Karmi’s Daily Blog Log* page, I had purchased my first ever Recliner ‘n it needed some space in my small cabin. Slide it out to watch a couple hours of a DVD series or a DVD movie, and then slide it back into its spot for the next 21-22 hours. Hard to believe it took me this long to get one of those chairs!?! Lots of changes, but ended up working out even better than before…tight spaces may require time before getting it right, especially when a fairly big chair needs added.
The ‘Wagon on Wheels’ will be home for 3 computers…’Rose’, ‘InWin’ and ‘CM130’. “Coolie” was a better name, IMHO, tho “CM130” sorta has the R2-D2 name ‘Thang going for it. 😉 I changed everything in that whole area to make storing space for that Recliner when not being used…then added a 28” wide x 25” deep x 31.5” high plywood inverted L-Unit that attaches to my main computer desk, and this inverted L-Unit slides forward and can be removed. The ‘Wagon on Wheels’ unit slides under ‘n into that new inverted L-Unit when I slide the chair out for some TV…the chair is stored next to the inverted L-Unit’s main support.
When needed, I turn my main computer desk into an ‘L-shape’ desk by sliding out the ‘Wagon on Wheels’. Those 3 computers share one 27” monitor by using a 3-Port HDMI Splitter.
BC pic (aka Before Cart – also see #1 ‘n #2 posts):
ACR pic (aka After Cart ‘n Recliner): 😉
Work area w/ cart pulled out:
Blurry look of cart pulled out:
That’s ‘Rose’ and ‘InWin’ on the cart next to ‘Apevia’ under the main computer desk. ‘CM130’ will go on shelf above ‘Rose’, and ‘InWin’ will slide over to the right side of that top shelf.
Part 2:
Gutting ‘Antec Sr.’ for parts ‘n moving the carcass out to a storage shed. The case was a 2006 Antec NSK6000…still good, but was never used anymore. The MoBo, CPU ‘n memory were all from a 2016 build that were moved into ‘Antec Sr.’ when another case got a new 10/05/2019 major upgrade to it (‘Antec Jr.’).
That original 2016 build had 32GB (4x8GB) of memory in it, but I pulled 16GB (2X8GB) from it for the ‘InWin’ build. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to gut ‘Antec Sr.’ ‘n leave ‘InWin’ as is. Basically write off the Intel i5-6600K and ATX MoBo. Made a backup image (just in case) of the WIN10 Home SSD ‘n will reuse that drive for something else (Update – see $10.14 for Windows 10 Pro post for what happened to that drive). 😉 Will try to use the 500W PSU in the new build…the case specs say it handles a standard ATX PSU. New case has an exterior 5.25″ drive bay, so I will try to use the SATA Hot Swap Bay (for both HDD ‘n SSD) there…I have a bunch of 2.5 SSD SATA to 3.5 Hard Drive Adapter Internal Drive Bay Converters ‘n don’t really use the old HDD’s anymore for anything but image backups: however, this type of Hot Swap Bay allows me to work with either HDD or SSD drives when needed. It will mainly be a Linux machine, but I also like to have a WIN10 Pro for each computer, and the Hot Swap bay allows me to remove that SSD when I’m using Linux…Linux I have on USB’s except when testing installation of a Distro. Here’s a pic of a 3.0 USB 4-port hub w/ 3 Linux Distros:
‘Apevia’ computer has a setup like that w/ Puppy, CentOS ‘n Fedora on USBs. The 3 computers that will be on the ‘Wagon on Wheels’ will be sharing one of those 3.0 USB hubs w/ Puppy, Oracle ‘n Fedora on it. Plus, there is a 2.0 USB 4-port hub that has transmitters/receivers for a wireless mouse ‘n a keyboard, and also a wireless USB WiFi adapter that will also be shared by those 3 computers. As noted above, the 3 computers will also share the display. For my tests I like to have 3 computers going at once, and have found 3 displays are about as many as I want in my work area…4 was just too crowded. Also, 3 keyboards w/ 3 mouses are also manageable, especially when 2 of those displays are mounted on monitor arms – see the Reclaiming *Prime* Desktop Real Estate post. BTW, I really like the Loctek Full Motion Desk Monitor Arm more than the other one…install can be difficult, but movement is better, IMHO.
So, right now I have the Ryzen™ 5 3400G, 16GB’s memory, 500W PSU, and a Hot Swap bay, etc. Ryzen™ CPU’s and APU’s stock fans are so noisy that I may try one of liquid coolers at some point…the case has space for 120mm radiator. I have wanted to test one of those liquid coolers for some time now; however, I have used a Low-Noise Adapter with that Ryzen stock fan before ‘n got it to quiet down. See – log from 2/10/2021 on *Karmi’s Daily Blog Log* page for more info on what was happening whilst I waited for the case to arrive. That adapter worked great ‘n can barely hear it running even in the opened area of that homemade computer Test Bench. The Asus PRIME A320I-K mini-ITX board has all the components installed already, and has already been tested ‘n tweaked. Should be able to drop the assembled MoBo into the case when it arrives…supposedly on 2/15/2021, i.e. 3 more days from now.
Yeah, I’ve actually been working on this post for 2-3 days now ‘n it’s already close to 3 pages, plus its Friday night – 2/12/2021. I just checked the tracking info ‘n looks like it may be delivered tomorrow (2/13/2021) instead of this Monday (15th). Was debating on whether to make this a ‘Two-parter’ post if the case wasn’t going to arrive until Monday or Tuesday, but I may stick to the ‘One-parter’ IF it arrives tomorrow ‘n IF no problems show up.
Part 3:
Case was priced roughly from $53.72 to $79.98 w/ free shipping, and there were several similar brands that seemed to have what I was looking for:
- 1) Supports standard full sized ATX PSU up to 180mm / 7.1inch
2) Supports long VGAs up to 343mm / 13.5 inch
3) Front 120mm fan included (removable)
4) Support a 120mm radiator in front
5) Side 80mm fan included (removable)
6) 1 exterior 5.25” drive bay
7) Dimensions (H x W x D) 8.20″ x 9.40″ x 15.70″
The InWin case is just too small for any expansion plans I might have. Of course I had no idea about small form factor builds when I started that one, so some experience was ‘n is still needed in that SFF area. InWin case has a dinky 150W PSU ‘n I wanted a case that can handle standard ATX PSUs. Also wanted an option to add a full size GPU for when I moved the ‘Apevia’ test computer’s Ryzen 9 3900X into this ‘CM130’ build. Included case fans would be a plus, especially if I didn’t see anything mentioned about them being RGB fans!!! Am waiting for the case to arrive to see if those fans are for actual cooling or some kind of ‘Light Show’. Definitely had to have an exterior/external 5.25” drive bay since it will be a test computer w/o any drives inside. Small enough footprint to fit onto the ‘Wagon on Wheels’ space for another computer. Oh, and some kind of easy “support” for a radiator/liquid cooler in case I ever decide to try one…they still require fan/s so am not sure what their point is. Certainly look good if you have a ‘fuking’ glass window or two to look into the case, ‘n Ditto on that “Oh” – I was looking for a case with no glass!!! 😉
‘Whars my case! Hate to waste my blog’s Media Library space, but this bugs me:
Today is the 13th ‘n case is on the “FedEx vehicle for delivery”; however, the actual scheduled delivery is listed as Monday the 15th. I find that confusing, and sometimes they have delivered ‘n sometimes not. The online store says it’s “Out for Delivery” when I check there. It might be a weekend thing w/ FedEx, because I know they have listed “Out for Delivery” during weekdays. Anyway, not complaining ‘n will be delighted if it arrives earlier than scheduled! 😉
OK…it arrived moments after I finished typing that last paragraph! 😉
Everything is in the case ‘n working. Anyone interested in a case like this be sure to check out their two videos on the Cooler Master Elite 130. I found it interesting enough to scan thru them both.
Easy case to work in and I didn’t remove all the framing ‘n panels. The PSU sits over about ½ the Wraith Spire stock fan/cooler…about 3/16” clearance over half the fan. Staying cool so far, and quiet.
Have lots of tweaking to do after I add the Ryzen™ Master Utility and the ASUS MoBo tweaking utility…if I recall correctly, those only work on WIN10. Right now, it been running cool for about an hour, with some basic benchmark tests.
Normally there is a MoBo speaker ‘ThAnGiE’ with the case or MoBo, but I didn’t find one. Threw away old 2006 ‘n 2009 boards the other day ‘n one of those maybe had one…geez. I’ll check ‘Antec Sr.’ for one later or go thru my boxes of computer junk. They beep for BIOS ‘n posting ‘n if there are problems, so I like to have one hooked up. Everything else seems fine…oh, the fans are not RGB ‘n both are silent! ** NOTE: Went to shed ‘n took ‘Retired‘ Antec case’s MoBo speaker so ‘CM130‘ is now set. Most cases I have gotten have those installed in case w/ a long jumper for the MoBo; however, some MoBo’s also provide a short jumper wire w/ speaker.**
Will add this to my Buy Low or BYOC – ‘Build Your Own Computer’ page shortly…
LINUX IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES – you never know what you’re gonna get!
Linux Newbie - since 1996 