Free (or extremely cheap) DIY PC Testbench!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,649 words · ~8 min read
0:00
My fondest memories of building computers are when you do something like
0:03
take a bunch of broken computers apart and turn them into two or maybe one even
0:08
zombie computers that function quite well or when I take something that
0:12
someone has officially declared as broken and make it awesome by either
0:17
using it for something else or fixing it myself. Sure,$6 to $30,000 computers are
0:23
fun, and when someone goes out and spends like 2 grand just on water
0:27
cooling, their build log will look downright beautiful. And props to them.
0:32
I'm sure their rig looks great. But the build logs that will always grab my
0:36
attention are the scratch builds. And the builds where someone didn't have
0:40
buckets of cash, but they made something unique and awesome. That's what I'm
0:45
going to try to do today.
0:48
Intel's
0:56
Skull Canyon Knuck features a sixth generation Core i7 processor and
1:00
Thunderbolt 3. Learn more in the link in the video description down below. I
1:05
generally find that off-the-shelf test benches are lousy, sacrifice
1:09
functionality for looks, not useful for what you actually want to test hardware,
1:14
or they cost way too much. We like our high-speed PC tech stations, but they're
1:18
still 70 to $120 US for these ones. A
1:22
lot of money for essentially some admittedly staticresistant plastic and a
1:27
few screws. Even just buying a motherboard tray in order to DIY
1:30
yourself a test bench isn't that cheap. And then you don't really have great
1:34
options in terms of component placement for drives, power supply, and more.
1:39
Sevitus, a buddy of mine and prolific Twitch streamer of much lols and many
1:44
funds, was recently looking for a test bench of his own, and I couldn't
1:49
recommend him anything that I truly believed was a good deal. I even tweeted
1:54
out to the community asking what test benches they thought were a good deal,
1:59
and the response was to that question was a resounding
2:03
cardboard box. That's lame and sad. And I want one that
2:08
I can put drives on. I want one that I can actually mount my motherboard to. I
2:12
want one that can securely hold my expansion and graphics cards. I want one
2:16
to cost next to nothing or be free. I
2:20
want one to be unapologetically made out of scrap materials.
2:25
So, jokes about Apple's marketing efforts aside, let's begin. First thing
2:30
you need is a donor case. All it needs is an intact motherboard and IO tray and
2:35
an intact left or right side panel without a window. This is a spare case
2:39
from Scrapyard Wars that we have no use for and got for free. It's best to tear
2:45
down the case as cleanly as possible and with consideration for how the various
2:49
metal scraps can be repurposed. Things like mesh could be used for radiator or
2:55
fan covers or something. So, don't just go ham and risk ruining something that
2:59
could enhance your final test bench. Begin by removing all the screws you can
3:04
first and take out anything they were holding in. Then, whip out the drill or
3:08
a punch and start removing rivets. Very few cases are made entirely with screws
3:14
these days, and those that are will probably be way too nice to be
3:18
repurposed this way, so expect to be removing a relatively large number of
3:23
rivets. When you get up to the front, put aside the front ports, activity
3:27
LEDs, and set of power and reset switches or even diagnostic speaker if
3:31
your case happens to have one. These can be used to trick out your test bench or
3:35
even just stored away for future builds. Once you've mostly stripped down the
3:40
case, leaving the motherboard tray intact. And as a note here, be careful
3:44
because this required leaving a couple rivets in for me. Then it's time to whip
3:49
out the spinning wheel of death, also known as the angle grinder. There are a
3:53
number of ways you could do this, but personally, I think this one worked out
3:57
quite well, and sparks are cool. Decide at this point how much of the
4:01
motherboard tray you want. It's a good idea to leave in cool stuff like
4:04
attached hard drive mounting holes, but your case might be extended ATX when you
4:09
only need an ATX test bench or you don't want those mounting holes cuz you just
4:13
want to put your drives on the bottom. Whatever it is, this part is a judgment
4:17
call. I decided to leave the power supply mount up top for convenience.
4:21
Then I decided to axe everything else. Sharpied off my cut lines and got to
4:26
work. Doing this took some time, but not that much. Having a buddy to help you
4:30
would be great in terms of holding things in the right places while you're
4:34
trying to cut through stuff so it doesn't fall or bend or whatever. Safety
4:37
first. Wear your protective goggles and gloves when working with metal. There's
4:40
probably a few other things that you should do that I didn't, so do those as
4:44
well. We did the cutting with this angle grinder, but I'd also highly recommend
4:48
having a sharp metal file on hand in order to clean up your edges of your
4:52
test bench so that it's actually safer work and it isn't going to cut your hand
4:55
up whenever you try to move it around because stuff like angle grinders can
4:58
leave really rough edges. Next up, you need to cut up the side panel you chose
5:03
earlier in order to make it more or less match the dimensions of your motherboard
5:07
tray. This is pretty much the same procedure we did previously. I just put
5:11
the part that I just cut out on top of the side panel. Sharpied around it, then
5:15
cut it up. Next up, I grabbed some spare 2x4 chunks from our wood scraps bin and
5:20
made a set of legs and a set of feet. I drilled pilot holes and counter sunk
5:25
them as well in order to make the feet flush against the surface of the table
5:29
and then just screwed everything together. This resulted in a virtually
5:34
free test bench that I was able to construct in under 2 hours that is
5:38
sturdy, durable, and very easy to mod due to its thin metal and wood
5:42
materials. You can improve upon it by spending like 10 bucks on some nylon
5:46
motherboard mounting hardware from something like McMaster car, painting
5:51
it, installing additional mounts for radiators, drives, etc. Adding switches,
5:55
USB ports, those things that you harvest earlier, and more. It's your platform
6:00
and it was free. Do whatever you want. So, this one's mine and I'm kind of a
6:04
functionality first kind of guy. So, other than maybe a few switches, this is
6:09
probably its final form, so to speak. But if you guys decide to make one of
6:14
these scratch test benches on your own, please post on the forum, the thread
6:18
that's linked in the video description down below. That would be awesome. I would love to see it. I just love that
6:23
kind of stuff. Doesn't it seem like they've got a
6:27
subscription service for pretty much everything at this point? I mean, Blue
6:31
Apron, why would you need a monthly supply of fresh Blue Aprons? Well, you
6:36
don't because that would be stupid. What Blue Apron actually is is a way to
6:40
create delicious chefdesigned recipes at
6:44
home. They deliver not aprons, farm
6:47
fresh ingredients, everything you need right to your doorstep in exactly the
6:51
right proportions. There's no trip to the grocery store. No extra rotting food
6:56
left in your fridge because when else were you going to use, you know, the six
7:00
cloves of garlic that you had to buy because you just needed one. And they
7:04
offer a couple of different plans. There's the twoerson plan and the family
7:10
plan. Recipes are delivered in a refrigerated box, so the ingredients
7:13
will stay fresh even if you're not at home when your package arrives. And they
7:17
offer a large selection of recipes. And they're always adding new dishes to the
7:21
menu every week. There is no commitment.
7:24
You can skip or cancel the service at any time, and each menu is between 500
7:29
to 700 calories per person. All the meals can be prepared in 40 minutes or
7:34
less, which if you do the numbers is less than the amount of time it takes to
7:39
go to a restaurant and come back. You might as well make something better for
7:42
yourself. And it gives you an opportunity to practice your cooking
7:46
skills and learn to make new recipes. It's available in the USA and again,
7:50
it's at the link in the video description.
7:53
And if you loved this kind of stuff, like the video, get subscribed. If you
7:58
hated it because you're like, "Don't use cases for interesting things. Don't make
8:02
things for free." Screw you. You can dislike the video. That's fair. Uh, if
8:07
you like our stuff in general, you can use our Amazon affiliate code to shop at
8:10
Amazon. Buy a cool t-shirt like this one at the link in the video description below. Join the forum. Possibly become a
8:15
forum contributor, and check out this video.
8:19
What video is that? Uh,
8:24
node 202 review. There we go. Just thought of one. Brandon's laughing in
8:28
the background. Don't know what that's about. Go check out that video. That'll
8:32
make Brandon laugh. The more times you watch that video, Brandon will laugh more. 100%. No lie.