High Voltage HTPC (update 4-30-05)

Well here is another project log from me. THis time I decided to build a htpc.
I had a compaq deskpro pc siting around the house so I decided to make that into a htpc but powerwise it was lacking as a pentium 2 333mhz chip wasent going to cut it and me being that I like compaq oem cases from the past. I decided to build this machine up to a decent htpc spec.

The specs are:
Abit bp6 mobo.
dual celeron 533@600 (soon dual p3 1ghz)
384mb of ecc crucial ram (curtesy of my good buddy raj)
Fx5200 modified (pics on this thread)
100mb lan nic
possibly soundblaster live 5.1
hard drive is undecided as curently i have tested a segate 10gb hdd
optical drive will probably be a dvd -rom drive or a cd-burner (havent decided but not both)

and now on with the case

The original case



Now the newface lift on it.



Got rid of the floppy drive holes.



The new mobo and back plate.



this is the fx5200 that I have modified with the old compaq p2 heatsink and spare ram sinks I had laying around.





Here is a shot of the dualies and the new chipset heatsink I put on. Even tho the original heatsink was extremly small and the new one is huge compared to it, the chipset still gets very hot. This was a big isue with the original bp6.



Here is a shot of my tiny 120W matx psu and the dual chips. Note the psu is mounted directly to the back exaust fan and the fan is mounted to the case. Thats how the psu stays on there. (I will be geting somekind of mesh to cover the large holes I cut on the psu) (also the psu has been sanded and painted black)



And a back shot of the case now.



This is the old mobo tray and backplate in one.


The old pci slots.



I restyled the plain grill



here is a shot of the new chipset sink on there with arctic silver paste.



and the dualies again



the modified cage so the mobo could fit


and the cage in its place



And the old mobo







will update the next cuple of days

 

such old hardware! a daughterboard omg :O

 

thats the old compaq mobo I wont be using. Its a proprieteray mobo made for compaq especialy.

So I went with something less old and a bp6 was just the right thing. I had the mobo laying around for a year now and never used it, so i decided to use it.

 

good use for some dualie 533's HTPCS dont require much power, and those will be just enough me think.

 

For the moment its going to be a dual 533celerys but in a lil while she will have dual 1ghz p3's with apropriate convertors.

im also debating if i should get a really quiet samsung hdd for it. But time will tell.

 

nice dual celerons but argh the carpet!!!

 

even worse... looks like his bed...

 

ROFL @ carpet and bed.

Wll the last pics are of my work pants. (I am a part time contractor and it is messy work)

And my bed cover is very soft and I rather like it.

Will update soon

--Ta Ta

 

i dont see the carpet :| i see a wood floor....

but yeah, lmao at the bed.

 

oh man i like all that old hardware
it looks good. are you planning to put lamps in it? maybe uv fans would give a good effect.
willy

 

UPDATE.

Well i finaly finished my psu. After cuting the psu grill out and then cuting a side hole for case ventilation I was left with a bare psu and dangerus holes. So I decided to put a grill on there that was very litle restrictive. And so I cut the grill and glued it on and painted. Well enough talk im going to show pics.

The psu in pices and the left over mesh.


The mesh painted and glued on the psu covers.


A shot of the mesh.


The coolermaster fan I am using. Its a decently silent 80mm fan.


The psu 1/2 asembled.


The psu asembled.



The psu in place.


The back shot of the psu.

 

i like how the psu came out not sure about the modded fangrill, but hey its your mod .

 

i like the fan grill.. it looks quite funky really

good looking mod... keep it up

 

Well I painted some stuff. Note non are on final coat.

The cd-rw drive. My precious tdk 50x.


The top of the case. Not the final coat on it btw. She needs some wet snading.



The front on its second coat but it needs some hardcore snading where the floppy drive used to be.

 

Nice - I have one of those PC's as my smoothwall machine. It could do with some sprucing

 

I highly recomend "sprucing" it up. These old machines are realy built tough s nails and I rather think they look good after a coat of paint and some minor modding.

 

3rd update

Ok guys im updating this one. havent worked on it for a while and its been eating at me to work on it. So today I made some right angled moldexes. Yes I actualy transformed regular moldexes to right angled ones.

Here are the pics.

Here I just striped an old dead psu for its moldexes.



I drilled through the moldex.





Here is the moldex soldered in and right angled.





Test fited moldex.





The second moldex in



Closer shot



In the case but not finished.





the 3rd moldex.



Inside the moldex



The finished product



This too roughly 30min to do and it saved me a fiew bucks, and literaly cost me nothing.

Till next time.

 

That looks like an effective way to get right angle plugs- I might have to do that! Keep up the good work

 

Nice idea!!

I'm definitely going to copy that!

Heheh

 

I might have to steal that idea too

Nice work so far, front cover's looking good.

Just a performance-related question, does having dual-CPUs have much advantage in an HTPC do you know?

-Sam