1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:05,440 My fondest memories of building computers are when you do something like 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:10,400 take a bunch of broken computers apart and turn them into two or maybe one even 3 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:15,040 zombie computers that function quite well or when I take something that 4 00:00:12,639 --> 00:00:19,920 someone has officially declared as broken and make it awesome by either 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:25,600 using it for something else or fixing it myself. Sure,$6 to $30,000 computers are 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:29,679 fun, and when someone goes out and spends like 2 grand just on water 7 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:34,320 cooling, their build log will look downright beautiful. And props to them. 8 00:00:32,239 --> 00:00:38,800 I'm sure their rig looks great. But the build logs that will always grab my 9 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:42,559 attention are the scratch builds. And the builds where someone didn't have 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:48,640 buckets of cash, but they made something unique and awesome. That's what I'm 11 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,690 going to try to do today. 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:56,879 Intel's 13 00:00:56,879 --> 00:01:02,879 Skull Canyon Knuck features a sixth generation Core i7 processor and 14 00:01:00,719 --> 00:01:06,960 Thunderbolt 3. Learn more in the link in the video description down below. I 15 00:01:05,199 --> 00:01:11,520 generally find that off-the-shelf test benches are lousy, sacrifice 16 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:16,880 functionality for looks, not useful for what you actually want to test hardware, 17 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:22,479 or they cost way too much. We like our high-speed PC tech stations, but they're 18 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:24,400 still 70 to $120 US for these ones. A 19 00:01:22,479 --> 00:01:29,119 lot of money for essentially some admittedly staticresistant plastic and a 20 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:33,200 few screws. Even just buying a motherboard tray in order to DIY 21 00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:37,200 yourself a test bench isn't that cheap. And then you don't really have great 22 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:41,920 options in terms of component placement for drives, power supply, and more. 23 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:46,560 Sevitus, a buddy of mine and prolific Twitch streamer of much lols and many 24 00:01:44,079 --> 00:01:51,119 funds, was recently looking for a test bench of his own, and I couldn't 25 00:01:49,439 --> 00:01:56,079 recommend him anything that I truly believed was a good deal. I even tweeted 26 00:01:54,079 --> 00:02:01,119 out to the community asking what test benches they thought were a good deal, 27 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:05,680 and the response was to that question was a resounding 28 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:10,160 cardboard box. That's lame and sad. And I want one that 29 00:02:08,399 --> 00:02:14,640 I can put drives on. I want one that I can actually mount my motherboard to. I 30 00:02:12,239 --> 00:02:20,000 want one that can securely hold my expansion and graphics cards. I want one 31 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:22,400 to cost next to nothing or be free. I 32 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:27,599 want one to be unapologetically made out of scrap materials. 33 00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:32,400 So, jokes about Apple's marketing efforts aside, let's begin. First thing 34 00:02:30,239 --> 00:02:37,599 you need is a donor case. All it needs is an intact motherboard and IO tray and 35 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:42,239 an intact left or right side panel without a window. This is a spare case 36 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:47,840 from Scrapyard Wars that we have no use for and got for free. It's best to tear 37 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:52,319 down the case as cleanly as possible and with consideration for how the various 38 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:57,760 metal scraps can be repurposed. Things like mesh could be used for radiator or 39 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:01,840 fan covers or something. So, don't just go ham and risk ruining something that 40 00:02:59,599 --> 00:03:06,560 could enhance your final test bench. Begin by removing all the screws you can 41 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:11,440 first and take out anything they were holding in. Then, whip out the drill or 42 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:16,480 a punch and start removing rivets. Very few cases are made entirely with screws 43 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:20,800 these days, and those that are will probably be way too nice to be 44 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:25,440 repurposed this way, so expect to be removing a relatively large number of 45 00:03:23,519 --> 00:03:29,360 rivets. When you get up to the front, put aside the front ports, activity 46 00:03:27,519 --> 00:03:33,760 LEDs, and set of power and reset switches or even diagnostic speaker if 47 00:03:31,599 --> 00:03:38,560 your case happens to have one. These can be used to trick out your test bench or 48 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:41,519 even just stored away for future builds. Once you've mostly stripped down the 49 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:45,920 case, leaving the motherboard tray intact. And as a note here, be careful 50 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:51,519 because this required leaving a couple rivets in for me. Then it's time to whip 51 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:55,440 out the spinning wheel of death, also known as the angle grinder. There are a 52 00:03:53,840 --> 00:04:00,239 number of ways you could do this, but personally, I think this one worked out 53 00:03:57,519 --> 00:04:03,360 quite well, and sparks are cool. Decide at this point how much of the 54 00:04:01,599 --> 00:04:07,599 motherboard tray you want. It's a good idea to leave in cool stuff like 55 00:04:04,959 --> 00:04:11,840 attached hard drive mounting holes, but your case might be extended ATX when you 56 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:14,720 only need an ATX test bench or you don't want those mounting holes cuz you just 57 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:18,799 want to put your drives on the bottom. Whatever it is, this part is a judgment 58 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:24,080 call. I decided to leave the power supply mount up top for convenience. 59 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:29,360 Then I decided to axe everything else. Sharpied off my cut lines and got to 60 00:04:26,639 --> 00:04:32,479 work. Doing this took some time, but not that much. Having a buddy to help you 61 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:35,280 would be great in terms of holding things in the right places while you're 62 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:39,360 trying to cut through stuff so it doesn't fall or bend or whatever. Safety 63 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:42,160 first. Wear your protective goggles and gloves when working with metal. There's 64 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:46,479 probably a few other things that you should do that I didn't, so do those as 65 00:04:44,479 --> 00:04:50,320 well. We did the cutting with this angle grinder, but I'd also highly recommend 66 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:53,919 having a sharp metal file on hand in order to clean up your edges of your 67 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,120 test bench so that it's actually safer work and it isn't going to cut your hand 68 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:01,120 up whenever you try to move it around because stuff like angle grinders can 69 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:05,600 leave really rough edges. Next up, you need to cut up the side panel you chose 70 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:08,880 earlier in order to make it more or less match the dimensions of your motherboard 71 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:13,199 tray. This is pretty much the same procedure we did previously. I just put 72 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:17,919 the part that I just cut out on top of the side panel. Sharpied around it, then 73 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:23,520 cut it up. Next up, I grabbed some spare 2x4 chunks from our wood scraps bin and 74 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:27,360 made a set of legs and a set of feet. I drilled pilot holes and counter sunk 75 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:31,520 them as well in order to make the feet flush against the surface of the table 76 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:35,600 and then just screwed everything together. This resulted in a virtually 77 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:40,800 free test bench that I was able to construct in under 2 hours that is 78 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:44,560 sturdy, durable, and very easy to mod due to its thin metal and wood 79 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:48,479 materials. You can improve upon it by spending like 10 bucks on some nylon 80 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:52,720 motherboard mounting hardware from something like McMaster car, painting 81 00:05:51,039 --> 00:05:57,759 it, installing additional mounts for radiators, drives, etc. Adding switches, 82 00:05:55,919 --> 00:06:03,199 USB ports, those things that you harvest earlier, and more. It's your platform 83 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:06,960 and it was free. Do whatever you want. So, this one's mine and I'm kind of a 84 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:12,400 functionality first kind of guy. So, other than maybe a few switches, this is 85 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:16,720 probably its final form, so to speak. But if you guys decide to make one of 86 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:20,160 these scratch test benches on your own, please post on the forum, the thread 87 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:25,680 that's linked in the video description down below. That would be awesome. I would love to see it. I just love that 88 00:06:23,919 --> 00:06:29,039 kind of stuff. Doesn't it seem like they've got a 89 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:33,680 subscription service for pretty much everything at this point? I mean, Blue 90 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:38,639 Apron, why would you need a monthly supply of fresh Blue Aprons? Well, you 91 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:44,000 don't because that would be stupid. What Blue Apron actually is is a way to 92 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:47,280 create delicious chefdesigned recipes at 93 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:49,360 home. They deliver not aprons, farm 94 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:52,800 fresh ingredients, everything you need right to your doorstep in exactly the 95 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:58,560 right proportions. There's no trip to the grocery store. No extra rotting food 96 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:02,400 left in your fridge because when else were you going to use, you know, the six 97 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:06,960 cloves of garlic that you had to buy because you just needed one. And they 98 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:12,319 offer a couple of different plans. There's the twoerson plan and the family 99 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:15,599 plan. Recipes are delivered in a refrigerated box, so the ingredients 100 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:19,520 will stay fresh even if you're not at home when your package arrives. And they 101 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:24,639 offer a large selection of recipes. And they're always adding new dishes to the 102 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:26,880 menu every week. There is no commitment. 103 00:07:24,639 --> 00:07:32,240 You can skip or cancel the service at any time, and each menu is between 500 104 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:37,039 to 700 calories per person. All the meals can be prepared in 40 minutes or 105 00:07:34,319 --> 00:07:41,120 less, which if you do the numbers is less than the amount of time it takes to 106 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:44,400 go to a restaurant and come back. You might as well make something better for 107 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:48,560 yourself. And it gives you an opportunity to practice your cooking 108 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:52,240 skills and learn to make new recipes. It's available in the USA and again, 109 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:56,720 it's at the link in the video description. 110 00:07:53,919 --> 00:08:00,720 And if you loved this kind of stuff, like the video, get subscribed. If you 111 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:04,639 hated it because you're like, "Don't use cases for interesting things. Don't make 112 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:08,720 things for free." Screw you. You can dislike the video. That's fair. Uh, if 113 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,400 you like our stuff in general, you can use our Amazon affiliate code to shop at 114 00:08:10,639 --> 00:08:17,039 Amazon. Buy a cool t-shirt like this one at the link in the video description below. Join the forum. Possibly become a 115 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:23,879 forum contributor, and check out this video. 116 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,879 What video is that? Uh, 117 00:08:24,479 --> 00:08:29,680 node 202 review. There we go. Just thought of one. Brandon's laughing in 118 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:33,680 the background. Don't know what that's about. Go check out that video. That'll 119 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:39,719 make Brandon laugh. The more times you watch that video, Brandon will laugh more. 100%. No lie.