Noah Yuan-Vogel
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I've been meaning to post about the Portable Workstation I built, and I got a request to show some pictures of it, so here it is. Interested to hear if anyone has suggestions of features to add etc. It is intended as a DIT station (for data wrangling, monitoring, ddr, previz) and as my own personal workstation.
The current specs are fairly modest:
Intel Core i7-860 2.8Ghz Quad Core CPU
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P Motherboard (Sata 6G, USB 3.0, Dual GigE, 2x eSata, FW)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ RAM
Intel X25-M 80GB Generation 2 2.5" SSD
SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD154UI 1.5TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Acme Portable EMP390 Workstation Case (650W Active PFC PSU, 20" UXGA LCD)
PNY XLR8 VCG98GTEE1XEB GeForce 9800 GT 1GB GPU
Ratoc Dual PC card PCI Adapter
SYBA ExpressCard to PCI-Express Conversion Card SD-PEX-EXPC - Retail
ENGENIUS TECHNOLOGIES EUB-9703 Wireless USB Adapter
SYBA PCI Low Profile 2 x port 1394B + 1 port x 1394A SD-LP-TIFWB
2.4GHz RF Wireless MCE Slim Keyboard w/ Mouse Touchpad
Total Price ~$2000
I have Windows 7 and Snow Leopard installed using tonymac86's method, and all hardware works (though I havent gotten around to playing with the dual P2 reader, and hotswap SxS does not work in OSX, only in W7). Some of the components I went with, Nvidia 9800GT for example, are probably lower end than I would've liked but are especially compatible with OSX and good for power consumption and heat control. The GPU has proved more powerful than expected, actually. Might need to drop in an upgrade for CS5 CUDA eventually. (Edit: CS5 now supports my 9800 GT with a hack and the performance is actually very impressive, no upgrade needed)
The case I got like new on ebay for $750 and it is the same one used in some of 1Beyond's Portable workstation offerings except their similar systems are ~$10k I believe. The case appears to be military grade built and goes new for $2500 by itself normally. It came with a rolling case specially made for the system that works well. Only problem I've had that you may notice in the pictures is the LCD panel is a bit rare and Windows/nvidia is very picky about EDID enforcement so I am forced to run it at 1920x1080 which I like though it is not native. If anyone has any ideas about how to remedy this I'd be interested but I've tried just about every EDID hack and driver I know of and nvidia support tried to help, I'm pretty sure the only way would be an EDID spoofer which I'm not really interested in having to power and have stick out of my workstation. OSX on the other hand runs the panel fine at its native 1600x1200.
I yanked out the standard keyboard which was a 90s style super-clicky keyboard with a nasty touchpad and put in my own low profile wireless keyboard with touchpad for quick, flexible use in the field. I also pulled out two sata hotswap bays on the left side for weight, to increase airflow and to make room for a larger CPU cooler. I do not expect to need more than 4 internal drives in most cases, but i can always put the bays back in if I need. I'm still planning to make wireless keyboard and wifi dongles internal using internal usb headers and want to eventually add a Decklink/AJA card for Direct-to-Disk Recording or (multi?)camera monitoring. Some of this depends on CS5 and some depends on whether the rig ends up getting used a lot and for what, as lately I have been DPing a lot more so it hasn't gotten taken out a lot. It is quite new and I've used it on a couple SxS jobs, though.
I've also thought about adding a 5.25" bay UPS since there is an open bay, but they are hard to find and many require a specialty power supply, so for now I have a small UPS. I believe last I checked the system uses about 150-250W depending on load.
All in all, seemed like a no brainer for me since this case is EATX and I can always pull out the components and upgrade it etc. I'd be interested to hear what anyone has to say about it, if anyone has suggestions.
Edit: Uploaded higher resolution photos
The current specs are fairly modest:
Intel Core i7-860 2.8Ghz Quad Core CPU
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P Motherboard (Sata 6G, USB 3.0, Dual GigE, 2x eSata, FW)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ RAM
Intel X25-M 80GB Generation 2 2.5" SSD
SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD154UI 1.5TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Acme Portable EMP390 Workstation Case (650W Active PFC PSU, 20" UXGA LCD)
PNY XLR8 VCG98GTEE1XEB GeForce 9800 GT 1GB GPU
Ratoc Dual PC card PCI Adapter
SYBA ExpressCard to PCI-Express Conversion Card SD-PEX-EXPC - Retail
ENGENIUS TECHNOLOGIES EUB-9703 Wireless USB Adapter
SYBA PCI Low Profile 2 x port 1394B + 1 port x 1394A SD-LP-TIFWB
2.4GHz RF Wireless MCE Slim Keyboard w/ Mouse Touchpad
Total Price ~$2000
I have Windows 7 and Snow Leopard installed using tonymac86's method, and all hardware works (though I havent gotten around to playing with the dual P2 reader, and hotswap SxS does not work in OSX, only in W7). Some of the components I went with, Nvidia 9800GT for example, are probably lower end than I would've liked but are especially compatible with OSX and good for power consumption and heat control. The GPU has proved more powerful than expected, actually. Might need to drop in an upgrade for CS5 CUDA eventually. (Edit: CS5 now supports my 9800 GT with a hack and the performance is actually very impressive, no upgrade needed)
The case I got like new on ebay for $750 and it is the same one used in some of 1Beyond's Portable workstation offerings except their similar systems are ~$10k I believe. The case appears to be military grade built and goes new for $2500 by itself normally. It came with a rolling case specially made for the system that works well. Only problem I've had that you may notice in the pictures is the LCD panel is a bit rare and Windows/nvidia is very picky about EDID enforcement so I am forced to run it at 1920x1080 which I like though it is not native. If anyone has any ideas about how to remedy this I'd be interested but I've tried just about every EDID hack and driver I know of and nvidia support tried to help, I'm pretty sure the only way would be an EDID spoofer which I'm not really interested in having to power and have stick out of my workstation. OSX on the other hand runs the panel fine at its native 1600x1200.
I yanked out the standard keyboard which was a 90s style super-clicky keyboard with a nasty touchpad and put in my own low profile wireless keyboard with touchpad for quick, flexible use in the field. I also pulled out two sata hotswap bays on the left side for weight, to increase airflow and to make room for a larger CPU cooler. I do not expect to need more than 4 internal drives in most cases, but i can always put the bays back in if I need. I'm still planning to make wireless keyboard and wifi dongles internal using internal usb headers and want to eventually add a Decklink/AJA card for Direct-to-Disk Recording or (multi?)camera monitoring. Some of this depends on CS5 and some depends on whether the rig ends up getting used a lot and for what, as lately I have been DPing a lot more so it hasn't gotten taken out a lot. It is quite new and I've used it on a couple SxS jobs, though.
I've also thought about adding a 5.25" bay UPS since there is an open bay, but they are hard to find and many require a specialty power supply, so for now I have a small UPS. I believe last I checked the system uses about 150-250W depending on load.
All in all, seemed like a no brainer for me since this case is EATX and I can always pull out the components and upgrade it etc. I'd be interested to hear what anyone has to say about it, if anyone has suggestions.
Edit: Uploaded higher resolution photos
