Details Cooling: (2) 120mm Fans - Nexus Black And White Silent Case Fan - Sponsored By: AcousticPC.com (1) CPU Cooler - Scythe Ninja 2 - Sponsored By: Scythe (1) GPU Cooler - Scythe Musashi - Sponsored By: Scythe (2) HDD Cooler - Luxurae HDSS - Sponsored By: SilenX Hardware: (1) DFI LanParty JR 790GX-M2RS mATX Motherboard - Sponsored By: MotherboardPro.com (1) AMD Phenom 9950BE - Sponsored By: AMD (1) 4GB (2x2gb) DDR2-1066 - Kingston HyperX (1) ASUS HD 4850 Graphics Card - Sponsored By: FXVideoCards.com (2) 1.5TB Seagate SATA Hard Drives - Sponsored By: Seagate (1) TT Toughpower QFan 500W PSU - Sponsored By: Thermaltake (1) Slim Blu-Ray Drive - Sponsored By: Silverstone (1) Media Lab VFD Panel - Sponsored By: Thermaltake (1) Bamboo Keyboard and Bamboo Mouse - Sponsored By: Sidewinder Computers (1) Logitech Harmony 550 Remote Miscellaneous: (10) Sheets of Clear 5mm Acrylic - Sponsored By: TBA (1) 2'x1' Sheet of Steel Mesh - Sponsored By: TBA (1) AcoustiPack ULTIMATE PC Soundproofing Materials Kit - Sponsored By: QuietPCusa (3) RGB LED Strips w/ Wireless Remote (1) MicroATX Tray (?) Bamboo Mats (?) 1" Thick Bamboo Polls (?) Cherry Wood Trim (2) Bamboo Plants (2) Rectangular Water Tight Plant Containers (2) Bags of River Stones (1) Aquarium Bubble Pump (1) 6ft 1/4" Aquarium Bubble Tubing (1) 2 Gallon Container of Distilled Water (?) Acrylic Glue (?) Misc. Tools The Break Down Lets get started, so Im staring at what is currently my HTPC, its an older system but it does do the job and it is all housed in a beautiful DH 101 HTPC Case but with so many people stressing Green and the fact that I cant ever leave my Dremel alone, I decided that I too should go green too but I wanted more then just an energy efficient system well more efficient compared to some of the other rigs I have built lol, I wanted something that was unique and tranquil. So what is Tranquility, Wikipedia defines Tranquility as the quality of a calm experience in places with mainly natural features and activities, free from disturbance from man-made ones. As such it is a public good and can be seen as an indicator of environmental quality. So in simple terms something peaceful but also elegant and pleasing to look at, after all this is going to be living in my living room. Thus Tranquility HTPC was born, taking the aspects of mother earth, you have water, wind, earth, and life, sorry folks no fire lol doesnt play nice with computer hardware. Water: There is one main water elements in this case, that being the acrylic shell that surrounds the hardware. There is two acrylic shells, one on top of the other with about anywhere from a quarter inch to half an inch gap. Between the the acrylic will be filled with water and at the bottom a mood lighting system and bubble system to change the color of the fluid as well as have bubbles flow through the fluid giving a very stylish but peaceful appearance. Wind: Comes from the Fans cooling the hardware, the PSU, and the top exhaust fans. With so little fans this system should be fairly silent. Earth: is of the elements involved, everything from the hardware to the clear acrylic to the river rocks and wood trim. Life: is of course the Bamboo plants that I plan to give a home to, one placed on each side of the system. The Design Here are some close ups More to come...
alright so about half of the hardware has shown up, still waiting on the other half and then I can start mocking out the hardwares layout to design a proper frame to build off of. Here is a shot with the hardware mounted to the motherboard. almost have everything to start mocking out the frame that will hold it all.
Sweet Jeebus! Nice collection of parts. That cooler is bigger than my entire project! I like DFI. I will watch. john
ya I know its a bit overkill for an HTPC but hey I may want to play a little bit of Left 4 Dead on my HDTV ^__^
Nice project and a little question. I just purchased the same GFX-coolerfor my 4850... do those little heatsinks stick to the elements with the pre-applied double-sided tape or did you use something else there?
the only ones I have had come off are the ones cooling the power regulators, but if your looking for a long time solution I would sand them clean and use Arctic Silver Adhesive. The way I installed those was I used ArctiClean and cleaned the chips really well and then applied this way that thermal tape had the best adhesion and so far as worked out well of course except for those tiny regulators but ya.
looks good, but I would replace the bamboo with banzai trees, and maybe throw in a zen garden. still an excellent idea though, good luck modding.
well the reason I went with Bamboo is maintenance, all those babies need is water and they are good, there is very little up keep on them and I already have them as well
Well today is a gorgeous day so Im going to spend it working on my car, but I did mount some HDD heatsinks that I got from SilenX onto the two 1.5tb Seagate drives, those drives will be my Video Media drive, I will have a third 750gb Seagate drive that will be for the OS, Apps, Music and well a few games Here is a shot of the heatsinks installed onto the drives, I will be making a mounting system that will secure the drives from underneath.
