M17x-R2 mSATA and cooling suggestion

This was meant to be made by me at some point (my next project). After seeing where grIntel takes its mobile business I decided to not give them any of my money anymore. Anyway, I think that there are at least two owners that would be interested and already have their takes on the cooling. So, here's my take:



mSATA - Since you've ditched the DVD (who's using it, right?), its lines can be used for an mSATA drive (I <3 storage). Since there are no schematics for this awesome machine (another reason to drop the project), you might want to isolate the PCIe related pins (where the new SATA lines are going) somehow, since I don't know if they are wired or not and it would be a mess (PCIe and SATA signals... right). Same goes for the power line though. If it happens to not have (you can check with multimeter the neighbor BT and WiFi power lines if rings with this empty slot), you can always borrow juice from the neighbors. How to wire the slot? I hope that my guide would help you. It seems that this empty slot is reversed though, so take that in mind.

A LOT of grinding and hand work is involved, if you follow the project, like I've thought it.

GPUs - You'll have to use 100W M18x heat-sinks in order to be able to fit 3 pipes each. The pipes - you have to buy them and bend them accordingly. Get round pipes with proper length, bend then flatten them. Use your stock GPU radiators for the opposite side extensions - the right side GPU radiator goes to the left extension, and the other way around. The 2 GPU mounting screws prevent getting another fan in there (because there's no other fan like this). Might be worth trying though, with a heat-sink like this I doubt that the GPU would ever move LOL. Also note the fan's direction, it IS important. Either way, you'll have to cut open the sides of the fans, so that they'll blow through the extended radiators as well. Due to the board that's on the right, there wont be much space for the full radiator, so you might want to get a longer pipe and extend it to the second CPU radiator. The secondary GPU usually runs cooler, so it might not be needed. If you do happen to do it this way, don't glue/solder it, or you'll have to take both (CPU and secondary GPU) heat-sinks together. Just use a thermal pad or paste. Also in order to get as much "meat" out of the stock M18x radiators (they wont fit, need to be grind-down), I suggest to grind some of the chassis. It sounds crazy, but that's THE MOST massively overbuild system I've ever seen (not even M18x comes close), so it wont hurt it. The most of the radiator you'll be able to preserve - the better.

CPU - The right pipe (red) goes above the left (orange) and they dive under the board. You'll have to find suitable radiator, ~10mm tall, since you need another ~3mm for the pipes totaling at 12.7mm - that much is the clearance. The magnesium bracket, that sits on top and holds the keyboard and the palm rest would need some grinding around the CPU (where the new pipes make their way to the ODD/cooling bay). You might want to enlarge the DVD insert slot, so it would flow better. It would be ugly though.

Fan - The largest 5V fan I've ever came across is the ZBook 17's fan, this thing is meant to cool in excess of 150W. You might swap the main CPU fan with it as well. How to wire the second fan? There was a CEG guide in the M18x sub-forum that takes off the main fan and both run at the same speed. You might want to look into it. The other way is with a (manual) fan controller.

With this mod, you'll definitely be able to take advantage of some voltage increase.

Happy record breaking and stay 16:10