Before we get to the introduction, I would like to personally thank; my best friend Emil and colleague Mathias for building my enthusiasm to pursue computer building (I would have started much later if it weren't for them), Layne and Kiteł for advice; the members of the Cyberdeck Café, RinRAR and Techie Furs communities and my local hackerspace for mentoring me in my journey; RinRAR for helping me write my website and blog.
I've been wanting to build a cyberdeck for months, and in general a new computer. Several hours of research and consultations with my comrades (thank you everyone) I will blog my journey of building a traditional desktop, and a cyberdeck. You may wonder why I chose to cover the building of my PC and Cyberdeck in the same blog; I'm lazy! And I don't feel like writing almost the same blog twice. I will, however, build the new PC first because the cyberdeck will be using many components of my old 2017 computer.
Why did I decide to build a cyberdeck? Simple, traditional desktops lack portability and laptops lack the power of a PC (and are also flimsy). I want to build both a PC and Cyberdeck that blends into the sorroundings as any other object. With the PC I just picked the case that stands out the least, however with my cyberdeck I've decided to build it inside a breadbin.
Why the breadbin? Simple. It's a box with a door on its side, and what I'm going for is a look similar to look of those 20th century personal computers (but with a lid). Unfortunately, many breadbins are not large or sturdy enough to house PC components so I'll likely have to find something similar.
I will need to heavily modify the chassis of the breadbin to fit in all the necessary components and for now I have also been having trouble finding a volumunous one enough to fit all my computer components! I might need to resort to building my own.
| Component | Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOBO | ASUS TUF Gaming B550-PLUS WIFI II | An ATX AM4 Motherboard, Layne recommended TUF due to it's high reliability. Cereal recommended the B550 chipset due to compatibility with the CPU. | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600G | 6-core with integrated graphics, latter in case of GPU failure. | |
| CPU cooler | Noctua NH-U9DXi4 | Cereal recommended this brand due to its' efficient cooling and noisylessness. | |
| GPU | Radeon RX 6600 8GB XFX Speedster SWFT 210 | This'll be good enough for VR | |
| Memory | Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan 7 | 2x16GB DDR4-3200 CL16 | |
| Storage | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB | M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4, NVME SSD | |
| PSU | Corsair RM850x | 850W, 80 Gold, ATX | |
| Case | Aerocool CS-1103 | ATX Mid-Tower Case |
| Component | Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOBO | MSI B450M-A PRO MAX | MicroATX AM4 | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2400G | 6-core with integrated graphics, latter in case of GPU failure. | |
| CPU cooler | Undecided | ||
| GPU | Radeon RX 560 Gigabyte Gaming OC 2G | GPU from old computer, its' good enough. | |
| Memory | Corsair CMV8GX4M1A2133C15 8GB | DDR4-2133 CL15 | |
| Storage | Kingston | 250GB and 500GB drive from old PC | |
| PSU | EVGA 650 BQ | 85mm (H) x 150mm (W) x 165mm (L) | |
| Case | ? | Likely has to be built, deliberating on using acrylic. Solutions include a breadbox, lunch cooler, compost bin. | |
| Display | Waveshare 7.9'' | 400x1280 | |
| IO Dash | Tccmebius TCC-QL5E 5.25 | 6xUSB2 2xUSB3 | |
| Optical | LG MBS6276571-01 | It'll fit trust me bro. |
I've discussed with Kiteł the necessary steps I would have to take to make a stack of laptop batteries compatible with a ATC motherboard. ATX naturally draws a lot more power than a laptop motherboard, hence the parallel stacking of batteries to increase capacity, but we cannot simply wire the PSU, batteries and MoBO in series - it won't work. There needs to be a Battery Management System between the PSU, the batteries and the motherboard; the latter being supplied with power while the former is being charged. After the PSU is disconnected from the grid, the BMS has to automatically switch to the supplied power in the batteries using a picoPSU. I might attempt this at a later date as an upgrade to my Cyberdeck if it proves of practical use and the consideration of the labour put into a battery as cost effective.
The benefit of a double DIN head unit, at least the ones that come with these features, is a LCD display, DVD player and more importantly; the radio. However it would take considerable modification to make these compatible with a ATX motherboard. Auto radios also have an issue with having very terrible displays. The alternative to this is USB-DVB tuner Realtek-based SDR.