Shona's Retro-Themed HTPC : Complete. All pics added to post #1

Cheers guys.

I'm hoping to get it completed tonight if I remember to bring round a drill to drill the aluminium L-shaped stuff I plan to mount the mobo with.

I have some more pics that I haven't put up yet as I always seem to leave my camera at my girlfriend's place.

I'll try to get them all up tonight if the new Bit game server doesn't swallow up my time...

 

Got everything built inside the case last night, took me until about 1:30 am.

I'm quite pleased with it now, especially my idea for HDD isolating/silencing.

Pics to follow but the card-reader on my new work laptop doesn't seem to like my card.
Cheap s***.

 

Can't wait for piccies...been reading this forum for a few months have only just signed up

Really like the idea for this mod, niceone

FinalD

 

Thanks FinalD.

You won't have long to wait for those pics, here they come!

The panel behind the door on the front housing the hidden power isolator and USB ports.


The internals of the subwoofer's connections


The mess in my GF's living room.


The slot for CDs/DVDs. black bits are marked pen which I used to hide it a little before I sanded some more.


The stealthy grille for the speakers.


The sounds system liberated from it's enclosures ready for testing.


The sub-woofer (and tweeter above) mounted to the chassis.


Tweeter on other side.


Optical drive mounted behind slot with ghetto mounting system.


Breaking into the power transformer for the speakers.


Wasn't the easiest task but dremel to the rescue once again.


Hot glue ***! now ready for mounting

 

My home-brewed mobo tray.


The underside of said tray.


Tray mounted in base of the chassis


Insulating the screws from the underside of the mobo


But still have the ability to access the screws!


Everything mounted. needs some tidying up done on the cabling etc. Note the HDD mounting system (though its a bit hard to see).


Another internals pic showing the mess inside.


The PSU, Sub and sound control circuits.


Fired it up and holy s***! It works!!


Trailer Park Boys ***!!


The place hasn't gotten any tidier. I really need a garage for this kinda thing...


So, its almost finished.
The fan mounted to the front of the chassis suckin air in through the old speaker mount is a bit loud. Not audible over TV or music etc but loud enough to piss me off so it'll get swapped.

The sound isn't as bad as I feared it might be with the speakers having no enclosures. The bass is most certainly not as full and rich as it was with the original enclosure but its good enough to keep the mrs happy (not to mention the neighbours! ).

There seems to be a quirk powering off now.
I used to hit the power button and it would just do a normal shutdown in XP.
Now, when I press it it just hangs, very strange.
May try modifying the button mapping for the remote to do something.

Speaking of remote, I was unsure of where to mount the IR reciever for it.
I found an excellent spot.
Behind the slot for the original volume slider.
Copious amounts of hot glue are currently holding it in place, but it works.

Not tested the USB ports on the front yet.
Hopefully they'll still work after me going at them with a soldering iron!

So tonight I'll tidy up the cabling, place the back cover on and let the mrs set to work on it to see how it holds up.

Almost ready to start my next project now!

 

Looking good!

Keep an eye on the temperatures though.

 

Yeah, a lot of the reason for laying things out the way I have is for cooling.
Plus, the back cover is basically a big vent so there should be plenty of space for the hot air to excape.

Only thing I'm slightly concerned about is the screen since there's no ventilation space directly above it any more.

 

Nearly there mate, great mod overall...
What else is on the To Do list?

 

Looks really good. But be carefull about that bigass magnet in the subwoofer.

 

Before you go looking for a different place to carry out your mods get new furniture. The current furniture is disgusting!

On another note the mod looks really cool. Keep it up!

 

It's ok, it isn't his, it's his missus'

Looks good...glances over at his 21" screen...

 

Why?

 

well HDD's wont like it, nor floppys

any metal device will probably become magnatised

also your watch may break

 

Thanks.

Next on the list are my own HTPC and a file server.
HTPC I have no real plans for as yet but the file server I have a plexi/acrylic case planned but with it entirely filled with flourinert for some submersive cooling goodness.

Yep, I tried to route everything as far away from it as possible.

I hear that!!
Like someone said, its my girlfriend's furniture, which was first her parent's furniture, about 20 years ago!

But she has some nice new leather sofas ordered, should be here in two weeks or sooner.

So I finally got it finished.

Here's some final pics.
They're hastily taken ones which make it look terrible due to the flash but here goes...

 

yay, a 25 year old flatscreen TV

Looks nice, still waiting for some high-res teaser shots

 

great job looks good i'd like to hear more about this htpc when you come up with what your going use for it

 

wow looks nice

 

A definite winner! Good job.

 

Thanks guys.

I think I'm gonna get a wireless NIC for it so I can get rid of the bleu cat5 cable running to it.

And try to hide the aerial cable a little just to keep it looking neater.

Also, Mediaportal is being a little flaky for some reason so I may swap it for something else.

Some small changes to make, nothing overly exciting.

I'll try to get some better (bigger) pics up on my webspace.
I've had to resize these to 25% of original size to make them fit the forum's width.

Watch this space...

 

I bet my left nut it will make no difference.


Anyway. Shona, that looks ace now its done!