Modding PC in DVD player box idea.

I am toying with the idea of trying to put a pc into an old DVD case.

Anyone done something like this at all or somethign similar?

any help or suggestions would be great.

Chris

 

that is a small box to fit a PC in!

 

i was thinking about one of the older larger DVD cases.

Anyone recommend a small form factor Motherboard that has everything built in. (lan, usb2, vga, sound)

Also does anyone know where to get a small PSU?

Chris

 

Go for a Via Epia mobo or any other kind of mATX should be fine.

 

i was thinks small as in hight, will there be enough room for graphics cards etc?

 

i am going for the all in motherboard. Not lookign to run anything serious on it other than XP Media Edition for the Living room.

I am a bit concerned about getting a wireless network card in though.
I did hear that you can get PCI converters that move the pci slot 90Degs.

My plan so far is to put an IR Keyboard Receiver in where the display used to go. Luckily i have an old IR keyboard mouse kicking about.

I have most of the stuff just a suitable case, mobo and PSU

 

Im unsure whether you can get XP Media Center separate (i think its only sold bundled with hardware but i might be wrong)

And yes you can get PCI adaptors to send the wireless nic 90 degrees

 

Not sure about The media Center Op system myself.

I found a Mobo that has a Pcmcia reader built in and i do have a spare WIFI card for a laptop.
http://www.mini-itx.com/

you can see some serious mods there.

One even has a PC in a gingerbread house

 

I did this a couple of years ago with a Sony CD seperate, using an original nForce board (Abit NF7-M). You should do it easy. Especially with these new mITX boards if you go that road. Even with mATX, you should still be fine. Get yourself a small PSU, unhoused, slim DVD, and you're sorted.

 

Mini-itx.com is a good page to get some inspiration....

 

iirc xp media edition is only available pre-installed on incredibly overpriced microsoft media pcs.

i'd reccomend MyHTPC as a nice front end which just runs over xp. It's free, so worth a try

http://myhtpc.net/

 

We used to make rack mountable servers at work, and there were in very slimline cases, we used the PCI raises which are 90 degrees to the board, they used slimline everything like RAM, CPU heatsinks and fans, round IDE cables even CD drives, I'll try and get some pics and post them

Scott

 

well you can fit a lot in a small box, the htpc that im running at the moment is in one of these.

to give you some idea of size its only 6cm high, thats with a epia800 board a 150w psu and 2 80g hard drives.
it doesn't have a cdrom in it as i found i never really used one, so it was a waste of space.
but if your putting it in a DVD drive then you need one really

 

Hmmm. It's been done before, but not a bad idea. I've got a DVD player at home that seems to have snuffed it. It's a rather largish sized one, so plenty of room it would seem. The darned thing won't even spin up a disc. I was pondering what to do with it. Trying to build a PC into it might be fun. Turn it into a media player.

Anybody know if the TV out on the EPIAs is any count? Better yet, do any of them support TiVo type functionality?

 

ask at www.viaarena.com because it's primarily mini-itx users there

 

Check out my project VIA Project log here http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=47156

thats 5cm tall and same size as an old DVD player

you should be able to get it all in

AW3K

 

I like the idea. Been to maplin and ordered some stuff.

How did you find cutting the Aluminium? I am not going for anythign like the window but i am looking to try and put in a Text LCD in the front.

What did you find the easiest way to fix to the base?

Chris

 

It's easy to cut with a hacksaw or dremal and just file it down smooth.

do you mean fixing the motherboard to the case etc?

if so i drilled holes through the base , countersunk them and used countersunk m3 screws and plastic spacers to raise the board, and secured it with a m3 nylock nut.

Later
AW3K

 

Thanks Aw3k

I have just found an old DVD case on Ebay and getting that odered too. I dont know how it will work out but i will try with the Alu case first since i thin i can flog that on if it works.

Chris

 

sounds good -the mini-itx boards are really nice, nothing is higher (on the epia5000 anyway) than the backplate, and the single pci slot supports a dual slot 90* PCI riser (also plugs into a header on the mobo)

1.8 MHz? that's a little slow for a xp2100!