GT1 Ultimate "Open Air" physical mod project

[mechaone]

Hello all.
In the midst of complaining about Beelink's hardware revisions to the GT1 line, I was also ordering bits and pieces on **** to modify the one I own to my liking. Most of the components necessary have slowly trickled in and the other night I threw together some parts to get it started. So far, I'm not discouraged by the results. I still have to solder the WiFi pigtail, but surprisingly it streams Netflix without any antenna at all, six feet from router. Additionally, the acrylic cuts for sidewalls are in need to buffing to remove scratches, so try to see beyond them (haha). Although it's bulky, it's wide stance is to keep it upright against the will of cables and allow free air flow when placed adjacent other objects.

Note the copper shim sandwiched between the SOC and it's heatsink. This acts as a spreader plate, transfering heat to the perimeter of the aluminum sink. I polished the metal faces immediately before joining them. 3M 8810 tape was used throughout.

I used a small square of green masking tape darkened by black permanent marker to dim the front status LED.


- Mechhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...16d06fdfcb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4d8bd459c6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...76fa13fa0b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a6ff686471.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7be8f61c34.jpg

[gefattern]

Hi ,

really nice , looks interesting , i always thought about a Water cooled PCB , you can find it

on YT with bigger PCBs from PCs , or similar , would be nice to see more of this Mods .

greetings / gefattern

[mechaone]

If the firmware and SOC were capable of overclocking, a water cooled block would be a decent fit. With my present implementation the heatsink is doing a great job. When warm weather returns I will do what I did with my modded MK802IV, and use a tiny fan to pull air past a polished granite plate and over the cooling sinks. This remains effective until the hottest days of summer.


*EDIT* Thank you, Gefattern. *

[Gus]

Hi,

nice construction.
Can you show us about wifi antenna, what parts did you used?
Wifi is very crap on that box.

[gefattern]

Hi,

nice construction.
Can you show us about wifi antenna, what parts did you used?
Wifi is very crap on that box.

Hi ,

you can buy this spare parts on the big Bay , you only have to look for ,

U.FL IPX to RP SMA female / Wifi Cable , dont know if this PCB has a

plug or is soldered , but thats the Way , of course you need a Antenna

too , good luck ,

greetings / gefattern

[superceleron]

Very nice work, i like it

[Gus]

Thank you.

I will check this out bevause wifi signal
Is very dissapointed.

[mechaone]

Thanks, guys. The project isn't finished yet, either. More pics will be posted as this evolves over time.

.. I normally leave it to other users to source their own parts because there are so many factors we base our choices on but I feel some are worth sharing.. The antennas are dual band and were bought as a 2x pack, with the IPX / SMA pigtails included. I paid $3.65 CAD, and it shipped from China to Canada in only two weeks as opposed to the usual two months. I consider that noteworthy, so search for "2x 6dBi 2.4GHz 5GHz Dual Band WiFi RP-SMA Antenna + 2x 35cm U.fl IPEX Cable" to see if it's a fit for your needs.
The factory antenna was sad enough that the soldered pigtail gave better signal throughput than stock antenna and that was without the new arial even attached.
The antenna mod boosted signal strength from ~ -46dB to ~ -24dB. The long +6dB antenna is overkill, but a great choice if you need to talk through walls and obstructions. I am presently using a shorter length antenna, as the GT1 is in same room as my network access point.


*EDIT* The antenna lead isn't socket secured to board. It's a two point soldered connection. The toughest part of the fix was unbraiding the exterior conductor of coax without destroying it's fragile filaments before twisting them back together. If you do this, start with plenty of length to practice with, take your time and use something with a fine point like a sharp thumbtack to slowly undo the braid. Alternately, the braid can also be soldered easily without the fuss I went through; the inner "antenna" conductor is often PTFE or something else heat resistant. Choice is yours.

[P.X]

Nice Mod


Veritable objet d'art.