Go to ebay and search for hp e-vectra its the same model with a different name, they had loads on their when I was looking for a powersupply for mine. bAdl Keep Up the excellent work on the project so I can see what ideas I can use when I get round to modding mine (if I ever do).
A 700 cele should run passive. It'll be 180micron FAB'd, rather than the older 250. Just whack a big heatsink on it and do some stress testing, whilst keeping an eye on the temps. Im gonna try and run a 1.2Ghz Tuli, 130micron passively. Axial blowers come in *all* sorts. Try some industrial/electronics place and look up wattages etc I didnt see the power supply tbh. Where is it?
Just as Cerberus said, got to ebay. That's where I got mine. They're around 100€ for the P3 1000mhz, with 256 mb and 20gb, some even have tv out (htpc anyone?). But if you look in car-pc forums they're not too popular. They tend to take too long to boot up, you'd probably get to your destination before the systems finishes booting . But I recon they're pretty good. Might get another one when this one's finished. I'll try and run it passive see what happens, but I'd like to have some sort of cooling because it'll be running 24x7 and I won't always be around watching the temps. The psu is on board, back right corner where all the tall condensors are. are they called condensors or capacitors? I'm not sure and no one has said otherwise. Anyway, went shopping this morning and got some material, so expect an update tonight. I didn't get exactly what I was looking for as of aluminium and plexi, but I bought a 2.5" hard disk (40gb) so the case will be smaller than I expected. Just doing some sketches to see how it'll all fit in. Excited? I know I am
Yep. Mine is becoming a 24/7 server too. Im intending to run the PSU passive as well, wired into the case. Oh I see, it's a 12v DC-DC. Do you have the external PSU for it? They are capacitors. Condensors are things that condense water vapour into liquid. It's seeing other people do this that spurs me on. Sorta like competition.
I was also inspired by this project log to pickup one of those E-PCs off of ebay. I guess I lucked out finding two for $70 a peice with free shipping. Granted the specs are even lower than what you have, but it will make a nice web server for me, and a simple internet/email machine for mom. Rock on bAdI, can't wait to see it finished up and looking pretty.
Some actual work done I went shopping this morning and it was kind of frustating, I didn't find the U shaped aluminium I was looking for (with a 40mm gap), so I had to get the next best thing U shape with 20mm gap so I can stack it on top and smoked plexi which will give the box a more serious look than the other options they had in stock (UV green and orange). I also got a 2.5" hdd (40gb) which is less noisy, less power consuming and has more capacity than the old one. As Bindibagdi said it fit behind the cdrom. The motherboard cover will have to go all the way to the back of the case so I have a new plan, instead of holding the cover with the same screws as the mobo I can sandwich it between the aluminium. Some ilustrating sketches are better than words. Motherboard on the base. First slice of aluminium and plexi salami. The design of the salami will be hell. All closed up and pretty. I've already cut the aluminiumand plexi, now I only have to cut the edges of the aluminium at 45º angles. Bare in mind it's still got the protective tape on it. The smoked plexi is not as seethrough but looks better than clear one. From the side it'll look like this. Once it's mounted I'll have to do a lot of sanding to get it all flat. Hopefully I'll have one of these on my desk in a week or so. Thanks to all those supporting the project from the discussion thread.
Yeah, it's like the ones you get for laptops and such and thanks for clearing that up. Nice deal. I'm thinking about buying another one for future e-pc mods. It's cheaper than ITX and only 2cm deeper and wider. Just updated the work log with picks of the new and hopefully final design.
I'm in a bit of trouble After looking at the motheboard and the aluminium backpiece I found a BIIIIG problem. One of the 2 USBs at the back will hit on the aluminium and the parallel port will hit in the plex. I'm not to worried about the latter becuase I never use it. What I'll probably do is turn the bottom back piece around so the U is facing out, that way the ports will be closer to the outside world. Might have to leave the usb unusable. More work tomorrow.
As far as your sketchuping goes, highlight those rough curved edge lines, right click and select "smooth"; great way to remove those ugly lines and turn it into one smooth surface. This project is looking good EDIT: As far as your port issues, you can always be a bit ambitious and pull a malfoleo by desoldering and relocating the suckers
Thanks for the tip, but I gave up on sketchup, I prefer Autocad. The reason they are so rough is because it's a screencap not a render, when you render you can turn the antialiasing up and you get rid of roughness. Desoldering and resoldering came to mind, but then again so did cutting it . We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
I was thinking about this, and came to the conclusion that this may be a curse wrapped in a gift, because if and when you want to upgrade the RAM in the future, you'll be stuck trying to find more of this mini-ram. I think you should leave just enough room to stick in a normal sized stick of RAM, unless its too late and you've already made the pieces.
Pieces are made with enough room for the original ram I wasn't thinking about upgrades, just keeping the original hp stuff.
Little Update to show my back problem Showed some pics of the problems I'm gonna have at the back with a USB and parallel port. Here are some more, and a partial solution. The bottom piece at the back is turned around so it's close to the i/os, I'll just have to drill the holes so they can be accessed. I put rubber standoffs for the motherboard and a plex cutoff between the aluminium to make it look as "real" as possible. The parallel port will rise into the second piece of aluminium, it won't be usable (not that I use it much) but I won't have to desolder it. The USB port doesn't fit in the aluminium and it's in the way of the plex. What I'll do is cut only the holes for the bottom piece and either grind down the plex so the usb fits in or cut the plex where there's contact. On the opposite side of the case is the ram which fits in nicely in the U shape with a lot of clearance below and a couple of cm on top.
Just updated the worklog with the solution matthegamer - You can see in the last pic that the hp ram fits in, I'll be able to upgrade to 256 or 512 when I get a chance. Bindibadgi - I'm not too good at soldering so desoldering is out off the question. I think my partial solution will do the trick. I'll get ir all cut a 45º angles and get to work on the back piece. I've only got 2 spare pieces one 26cm long for the sides and a 25 cm piece for the back/front, so if I screw up too many times I'll have to go shopping again.
Put a piece of plexi underneath ALL the metal sides. That way you get a) more ram clearance b) necessary usb clearance c) the possibility of adding LEDs into it for some cool circular lighting. Underneath both of the metal "U"s, a 3-5mm piece of clear plexi should do nicely. Or, what's that in between them both? Cant that go at the bottom instead? FYI: Your board will only take a 512meg stick, max.
... Underneath both of the metal "U"s, a 3-5mm piece of clear plexi should do nicely. Or, what's that in between them both? Cant that go at the bottom instead?[/QUOTE] That piece of plexi is just a cutoff, in the future it will be the "patented" motherboard/drive holder. If it doesn't work out my way I'll take your idea for good. On the other hand I'll loose the symmetry and might look ackward if I put it upright unless I do the same on the top off the case. I don't think I'll be upgrading anytime soon, but it's good to know I'd waste my money if I bought 1gb. Thanks.
That's true about the symmetry. But at least then you'd have a 3 layered "cake" rather than just a single one in the middle. Shame it's not an alu base, then it would be metal(base)-plexi(gap maker)-metal(U)-plexi(patented tray)-metal(U)-plexi-(gap)-metal(top)
If my eyes are right your bottom U channel aluminum is positon so the U faces the outside, but on the ram edge the U is facing inward. In order to keep the base uniform would it be possible to flip the I/O side with the U facing inward and use a USB header off of the motherboard to give you USB capabilities? If your soldering skills aren't enough to desolder the USB device off of the motherboard, would it be possible to just solder the correct wires to the bottom and the board and string a USB header out to the front? It looks like you have an available spot for 2 USB ports next to your CD drive. Let me know if its possible. That Alu + Plexi + Alu sammich looks mighty tasty. Bindibadgi's idea of lighting the sandwichded plexi would make it look like a lil UFO.
z4114 I see your point on the base not being uniform (front and sides inward, back outward), I'm working around that with some clever cutting on the back piece so it'll "look" uniform. If I turn the back U around there's 2cm from the ports to the outside and that would look bad aswell as making the ports hard to access. I've thought about using a USB header wired to the top port and put it at the front, next to the cdrom as you say or under (next to the ram) but what i'll probably do is leave just one usb and if I ever need anotherone just use a USB hub. Bindibadgi You're full of great ideas , but as far as I know aluminium isn't transparent so if the top and bottom layer are aluminium I won't be able to see inside. Overall I see people are being helpful and have a lot of ideas. Are we going to see a e-pc modding avalanche? It'd be nice.
