I originally posted in /r/PcBuildHelp in this thread, but was told to ask here.

I’m about to replace my 9-year old FX-8350 system with a new build:

  • CPU: Ryzen 9 5900X
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte X570S Aorus Elite AX rev1.1
  • GPU: XFX Speedster Merc 319 (Radeon 6950XT)
  • Case: GameMax Dragon Knight m902

The new case has 3 5.25 drive bays, one of which will be occupied by an optical drive.

My current rig has one of these. I initially set the fan speeds to 100% and left it like that ever since, but I’ve become accustomed to having the temperature display even though the panel only reads from its own sensor positioned between the CPU cooler and the top case fans.

There are a scant few similar options now, but I don’t like the aesthetics of their displays.

I’ve seen modern builds (especially with NZXT cases) with HDMI or USB driven screens behind the glass side panels, basically I’d like to put something like that in my unoccupied external drive bays.

The intent is to have CPU & GPU temps, CPU load, RAM usage, and other hardware stats on this display.

I’ve been through Matrix Orbital, Crystalfonts, New Haven Display, BuyDisplay, and Orient Display, and know which models will physically fit. I’m leaning toward a unit (non-touchscreen) that connects to a separate driver board with a ribbon cable to avoid space issues dealing with comparatively bulky cables coming out of the side of the module.

Then I started looking for mounting solutions. Mountain Mods makes aluminum 2x bay covers, but I lack the means to easily mod them. The easiest option seems to be getting one of these, removing the 3.5" drive tray & fan, and modifying the front bezel.

Based on the hardware I have (motherboard is backordered on NewEgg, everything else is here), a USB-driven display may be the only option… I don’t think I’ll have any internal HDMI outputs to plug this into.

Oh, and I’ll be running Ubuntu or Mint, so I might need some pointers on setting up such a display from within the OS. This new machine will only ever experience Windows in a VM, maybe.

Is this a good plan? Are there any kits or build guides out there I wasn’t able to find? Any other vendors or components I should look into?

It’s kind of surprising that manufacturers have never offered a solution… I’ve found forum posts asking about doing exactly this dating back to 2012.

  • rtrski@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    You didn’t say (that I saw) what case you have. Are you 100% fixed on it being off a 5.25 front bay? Could it be interior to the case, thru a side glass window instead?

    That’s what I did. That said, I also went wacky and had a brushed aluminum bezel with threaded posts made to my specifications, complete with engraved and ink filled markings for extra bling, and had to source drone HDMI flat ribbon cables to get the interface routed…

    The site I got my bezels made might help you out too, but you’ll have to take on the design yourself to come up with something with side ‘legs’ you can mount into a 5.25 bay. Frontpanelexpress.com , highly recommended, wonderful work, NOT inexpensive however. They can do threaded holes, inner and outer profiles, steps in the profile, slots, even threaded posts (male) and bosses (female).

    I won’t post gratuitous pics of my setup with internal screens, doesn’t seem like what you’re looking for. But if you search on my nick I’m sure you’ll find them, if you wanted to.

  • Laxian_Key@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I am doing almost this exact thing. I have the Mountain Mod 2x bay cover and plan to cut out the opening with my Dremel and grind/file down to size (I haven’t figured out the mounting yet). The screen I plan to use is an Elecrow 5 inch Raspberry Pi screen, power it off an internal USB header, feed the video via an HDMI cable to my video card, and run a system monitor on the screen via Aida 64. Wish I could update you, but I haven’t started this yet.