That was just an attention grabber, any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to try something I have never heard of anyone doing before. Every pc gamer knows true laptops are crap for gaming unless you have a lot of money to burn (greater than 5k) and even then they still won't compare to a desktop. I just would like a general idea for how hard it would be for me to make my gaming pc into a laptop. I don't want it as slim as a real laptop, just as small as possible with my 22inch widescreen monitor attached to it(and preferably all metal). I am not really looking for it to be watercooled either unless that is absolutely necessary.
the reason i want this is because I am in the Navy, and will soon be going back out on deployments. What little free time i will have I would like to be able to watch movies and play games with as little problem as possible. The reason it needs to be portable is so that i can lock it in my locker to be as safe as possible from theft. (yes, sailors steal from others, sad as it may be). This was a huge investment for me..It would suck to have to leave it at home next deployment.
Intel quad extreme qx9650 yorkfield
4 gigs ocz pc2 6400
Nvidia geforce 8800 ultra
raptor 160gb
WD 500gb
edit/ Razer AC-1 Sound card and the Razer 5.1 surround headphones
I am relatively sure that what I want is not possible, or will end up costing me more money than it is worth, but I figured I would ask the experts.
Thanks in advance.
What could Ben do with 3500$ of computer parts?
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metalfan1982
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metalfan1982
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the only idea i had that would make it quite a bit thinner was some kind of 90 degree pciEx16 adapter for my video card that allowed me to lie it flat. thanks for the reply..(holding out hope that somebody else has more ideas) Do you know of any place/person that does custom work like this for money? like say a custom case made out of my monitor and pc that combines them both? Preferably someone reputable that would have the ability to replace any componets that broke(some kind of guarantee?)
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metalfan1982
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The problem with this is going to be cooling, going with watercooling may be needed. The air heatsink on most high-end graphic cards is nearly as wide as the card is tall, so flipping it sideways won't get you much more extra room.
Anyways, something to check out, though much lower end, is the mini-ITX laptop build: http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/itx-laptop/?p
Anyways, something to check out, though much lower end, is the mini-ITX laptop build: http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/itx-laptop/?p
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Electric Rain
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A mini-ITX board would definitely cut down on size, but it completely defeats the purpose as a decent laptop would end up being much more powerful.
The fact of the matter is, you need a mobo with a LGA 775 socket and support for Intel's Core 2, and currently, there are no such mobos smaller than Micro ATX. This is one of your biggest limitations, as the case will obviously have to be at least the size of the mobo.
The dual HDDs don't help anything. I know you probably love your Raptor 'cause they're sinfully fast, but if you really want to cut down on size, you'd be better off using only your 500GB or maybe bumping up to a 750GB or 1TB drive.
That soundcard might be great, but it won't do you any good with those headphones. Unless you're using a set of Z-5500's or even something better, onboard sound wouldn't probably sound too much different. It's probably worth taking out that card just to cut down on space a bit more.
Other than that, there's little you can do other than use risers. This powerful of a system will need a good cooling system, which will take up a good amount of space too...
Oh, and by the way, I really hope you don't think you're gonna be able to run this thing off of batteries. 
Maybe if you use a few of these... 
The fact of the matter is, you need a mobo with a LGA 775 socket and support for Intel's Core 2, and currently, there are no such mobos smaller than Micro ATX. This is one of your biggest limitations, as the case will obviously have to be at least the size of the mobo.
The dual HDDs don't help anything. I know you probably love your Raptor 'cause they're sinfully fast, but if you really want to cut down on size, you'd be better off using only your 500GB or maybe bumping up to a 750GB or 1TB drive.
That soundcard might be great, but it won't do you any good with those headphones. Unless you're using a set of Z-5500's or even something better, onboard sound wouldn't probably sound too much different. It's probably worth taking out that card just to cut down on space a bit more.
Other than that, there's little you can do other than use risers. This powerful of a system will need a good cooling system, which will take up a good amount of space too...
Oh, and by the way, I really hope you don't think you're gonna be able to run this thing off of batteries. Maybe if you use a few of these... 
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metalfan1982
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Thank you for the long well thought out post. That sound card is designed to work with these headphones though, so i believe your information to be a little off in that regard. They use a special port that looks very much like a DVI port to connect to the soundcard, and the soundcard gives much more accurate representation of the location of sounds, IE grenades in COD4. I highly recomend it to any avid gamer. I don't know how many times I have heard a sound in game, far off or near, and was able to turn around and focus on the EXACT location of the sound instantly. This card is amazing. The headphones are as well, Ive never heard better quality. I'm thinking you may be mistaken on the sound quality of the headphone, and may want to try them out.
You are absolutely right about losing the sound card for space management, If I were looking to make this as small as humanly possible. I'm afraid I would have to replace my 1100 watt power supply as well(I had planned to run SLI, and still do, eventually). I am thinking on a bit more realistic terms now however, with both my skills and resources, I'm thinking that some sort of horizontal Desktop case, modded for much better cooling(most of these cases seem to suck in that regard) and my screen attached somehow, with much shorter DVI cable, somehow also modding my power supply to run my lcd, so i only have to use one plug for power, and can cut down on cables.
I however, after more research, am not sure if even this can be accomplished with what little resources I have. Money is not one of the resources I am lacking however. Do you know any kind of reputable company or person that I may be able to talk to? I have tried to google some information on the subject, and I'm sure you can imagine the pages of crap I don't need that I pulled up... also, time is a bit of an issue as well.
And, for the record, I never had any intention of trying to run this off a battery. Somehow I think the battery that would be required would be bigger and more expensive than my project
One more thing....not many 775 socket motherboards work for this proccessor, Ive got an extra mobo sitting in my bedroom that was the first I bought for this pc, and it does not support the new yorkfield. I think it may support wolfsdale CPU however. Thats what you get when you buy brand new technology i guess. Has something to do with it being 45nm and only 2 cores will run on a lot of mobos. Unless you underclock...and I have no desire to do that.
Summary: I'm not looking to make this really small, nor impossibly portable. I just want a horizontal desktop with my screen modded to open and close on top of it like a laptop, and said screen working off my current powersupply would be best. If anyone knows a site/company/person that is very reputable and willing to do this sort of thing please let me know, as google has given me no results I can use.
You are absolutely right about losing the sound card for space management, If I were looking to make this as small as humanly possible. I'm afraid I would have to replace my 1100 watt power supply as well(I had planned to run SLI, and still do, eventually). I am thinking on a bit more realistic terms now however, with both my skills and resources, I'm thinking that some sort of horizontal Desktop case, modded for much better cooling(most of these cases seem to suck in that regard) and my screen attached somehow, with much shorter DVI cable, somehow also modding my power supply to run my lcd, so i only have to use one plug for power, and can cut down on cables.
I however, after more research, am not sure if even this can be accomplished with what little resources I have. Money is not one of the resources I am lacking however. Do you know any kind of reputable company or person that I may be able to talk to? I have tried to google some information on the subject, and I'm sure you can imagine the pages of crap I don't need that I pulled up... also, time is a bit of an issue as well.
And, for the record, I never had any intention of trying to run this off a battery. Somehow I think the battery that would be required would be bigger and more expensive than my project
One more thing....not many 775 socket motherboards work for this proccessor, Ive got an extra mobo sitting in my bedroom that was the first I bought for this pc, and it does not support the new yorkfield. I think it may support wolfsdale CPU however. Thats what you get when you buy brand new technology i guess. Has something to do with it being 45nm and only 2 cores will run on a lot of mobos. Unless you underclock...and I have no desire to do that.
Summary: I'm not looking to make this really small, nor impossibly portable. I just want a horizontal desktop with my screen modded to open and close on top of it like a laptop, and said screen working off my current powersupply would be best. If anyone knows a site/company/person that is very reputable and willing to do this sort of thing please let me know, as google has given me no results I can use.
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Sharp Sapphire
- Portablizer
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metalfan1982
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I'm inclined to agree with you. I saw a mod that looks doable for me however i may have to buy a whole new case for it...The guy built his screen into his tower, like a window.
/edit
I have thought seriously about the whole watercooling idea, and I think there is too much risk involved for me to do it on my own, for the first time, with my own rather expensive tower. Something tells me a leak could reduce my 1100$ CPU to a 50 cent piece of silicone. and then of course the warranty would be void due to not using the factory provided cooler. Also I have heard that non factory sealed watercooling systems have to be flushed every so often, and that seems like too much of a pain in the ass for me, especially when noise/fans don't bother me a bit, and I do not overclock.
/edit again
Haha for the heck of it was looking up watercooling systems and stumbled across this...Can you imagine the crap the guys would give me if i lugged this on the boat?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?s ... t1.jpg&1=1
/edit
I have thought seriously about the whole watercooling idea, and I think there is too much risk involved for me to do it on my own, for the first time, with my own rather expensive tower. Something tells me a leak could reduce my 1100$ CPU to a 50 cent piece of silicone. and then of course the warranty would be void due to not using the factory provided cooler. Also I have heard that non factory sealed watercooling systems have to be flushed every so often, and that seems like too much of a pain in the ass for me, especially when noise/fans don't bother me a bit, and I do not overclock.
/edit again
Haha for the heck of it was looking up watercooling systems and stumbled across this...Can you imagine the crap the guys would give me if i lugged this on the boat?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?s ... t1.jpg&1=1
