My P3 is now entering 5 or 6 years of service, and shud be retired. I am researching on the net, and get some opinions from fellow forumers (see my sig) and finally i am attempting to build my first pc mod.

Previously I have build numerous whiteboxes from the the very first xt 8086. this build some guts to try something new.

I have a fully working LD player lying around, have no value, and no disc to play. So i decided to use it as my base for the new pc.

Firstly some measurements are taken so that it will at least fit a full height pci/pcie card. the rest falls in quite easily.

First I practiced using a old mobo to ensure it works before dumping a spanking new mobo/proc in.
I have chosen to use a uatx mobo. full size mobo will fit but the power supply will need to be pushed to the front and do some air ducting.

tools:
drill, drillbits for metal.
cutter
pliers
soldering iron

material
kenwood LD player
old atx casing (to extract the backplane)
power supply
mobo, proc, ram, etc.

will post picture once i know how to do it...

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Added on May 14, 2007, 12:41 amDesign goal:

to be a media player pc, that can do some gaming
to have minimal noise, minimal power consumption.
to look decent enough to be in living room
to have ports enough to survive another 3 years.

here is the list of stuff i am building, along with the reasons

proc: amd x2 4000 or 4400
i choose amd over intel because, intel use more power during idle time, and htpc usually stays in idle for most of the time.

mobo: biostar ta690g
best bang for the money, hdmi, 4ram slot, 4sata, decent build in graphics

ram: any 1gb 667 stick x2
not decided yet. i am leaning to mushkin and corsair

hdd: i wanted samsung, which is the quieter drive during spinning, but samsung dun have 320gb..oni 400gb which is more expensive RM/GB
second choice wd 320gb, sata2 16mb.

optical drive: panasonic sata dvd writer
got it for free from hwm, sata sommore...y not

power supply: this is the department i need help.
still undecided which to choose. budget 150 lah.
probably FSP300W or cooler master 430W.

cards to add in:
pci tv tuner card
pci wifi card

others:
usb ports. the mobo comes with 4back +6 front. will need several usb blanks.
i am building some usb parts internally, for example, bluetooth, infra red etc.
I am also thinking of doing winlirc, since the kenwood comes with the ir sensor on board, will interface it to the serial port.


may 1st pictures:
progress:
identify what to do first

1. the victim atx normal casing to be cannibalized
[attachmentid=230963]

2. the target kenwood LD player
[attachmentid=230964]

3. Kenwood topview
[attachmentid=230967]

4. Kenwood topview dismantled
[attachmentid=230968]

5. possible placement 1
[attachmentid=230969]

6. uatx just nice
[attachmentid=230970]

may 9 pictures
progress: did some cutting and fitting
notice i use paperboard (easier to cut)
the pci planes are from the donor atx.

1. fitted in the PCI planes
[attachmentid=230984]

2. decision made to fit in 1 optical drive only. and the other side to be hdd/fdd/card reader
[attachmentid=230987]

may 13 pictures
progress: drill holes and fit in the drives.
try to fit in the drives, positioning, tray hole etc.
pictures coming...

This post has been edited by lj0000: May 14 2007, 06:53 PM

mayb a bit sketch about ur work/design will help forumers
undertsanding wat u wan to do....

yeah and some pictures of the parts u already have?

Edited the title. This is not even a worklog. It's just a discussion thread.

this is a worklog.

started since 1 may 2007

near completion 14 may 2007

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Added on May 14, 2007, 6:49 pmare these psu quiet?

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Added on May 14, 2007, 6:50 pmpictures posted.
i hosted the pics somewhere but lyn dun allow to be placed in IMG

This post has been edited by lj0000: May 14 2007, 06:50 PM

Now it's a worklog. Before was just a discussion with no pix at all. Title edited.

Thanks ian. tripple problem with usb, camera battery and lyn hosting delayed the pics

Which photo host u using? Try Photobucket or Imageshack. Most worklog kakis use them.

Yes they are. Not dead quiet, but most probably quieter or at worst same as your CPU fan (I'm assuming you're not going to use any extreme fans on the CPU).

So how are you gonna mod the front? Very interested to see what you do with that..especially the monster LD tray part and the buttons.

Put the ROM smack in the middle of the LD tray. Then when eject, the whole gigantic LD tray cover pops out like a Giant UFO engulfing the CD.

I see a ventilation problem coming. With only a (quiet) PSU fan exhausting, it won't be enough to keep the ambient temp inside the casing low enough. Most likely your hdd will be at dangerous temperatures, and possibly the processor and gfx as well (though the processor is protected from heat death-if you dare, run it without the HSF to see what i mean).

Best solution would be to make a blow hole on the top/side (depending on how you're going to stand the case) and fit a quiet medium speed 80/92/120mm fan.

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Added on May 14, 2007, 8:08 pmcensored comment


This post has been edited by lohwenli: May 14 2007, 08:08 PM

I think so too. but my existing dell is much smaller, and have no problem with the heating. so i am going forward to have only 1 exhaust fan at the power supply.

will put a fan internally to circulate air internally though.
I am reluctant to put a hole on the top or side, as i think it destroys the looks, and defies the purpose for a htpc. maybe when i add a 8600 to it then will open some holes.

I have provision for the holes on top of the mobo brackets, so when time comes, i can also add a twin fan with air ducting to blow air out from the cpu and another for hdd. I can also use the notebook type fan.

[quote=lohwenli,May 14 2007, 08:07 PM]
I see a ventilation problem coming. With only a (quiet) PSU fan exhausting, it won't be enough to keep the ambient temp inside the casing low enough. Most likely your hdd will be at dangerous temperatures, and possibly the processor and gfx as well (though the processor is protected from heat death-if you dare, run it without the HSF to see what i mean).

Best solution would be to make a blow hole on the top/side (depending on how you're going to stand the case) and fit a quiet medium speed 80/92/120mm fan.

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Added on May 14, 2007, 8:33 pm[quote=ianho,May 14 2007, 08:06 PM]
Put the ROM smack in the middle of the LD tray. Then when eject, the whole gigantic LD tray cover pops out like a Giant UFO engulfing the CD.

[/quote]


hahah. thought of re-using the giant tray. but i dont want to mess with the internals of the dvd writer.

I did some experimentation on using spring to hold the tray closed, and pushed open by the dvd tray. I found that rubber bands works best.

however, i also find that I can't open the tray using the push button, and drilling a hole at the tray wont look good, and wont open well.

so as a compromise, i used magnets to hold the door closed. no more spring action.
the door will pop open when the dvd eject, and can be opened by finger and stick a stick to press the eject button. also this way, i can have access to the fdd or memcard reader on the side.

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Added on May 14, 2007, 8:35 pm[quote=ianho,May 14 2007, 07:49 PM]
Which photo host u using? Try Photobucket or Imageshack. Most worklog kakis use them.

[/quote]

i know my mistake liao.. lyn must have an attachment that ends with jpg. otherwise will give an error something like dynamic link not allowed.

attachment in lyn worked

This post has been edited by lj0000: May 14 2007, 08:35 PM

No need the eject button 1. Just make a shortcut of the DVD drive on ur Desktop. Right click, Eject.

hmm.. will be using stock cpu fan. probably the hdd will be noisier kua..
k lah.. will decide either one, depending on fan size. the bigger fan size wins, since it will the sole exhaust.

the buttons mapping:
power button=power button
side a + side B both press = reset
will take 2 leds for power and hdd activity

also thinking of cannibalize an old keyboard, take the parts then make it work for the 1-10, play pause etc buttons.

have 2x large mic jack, 1 mini headphone jack, 4x vol control. sweet
so the 2 hp jack will remain as mic jack (ta690gmobo got mic in, and advanced echo cancelisation) mini hp jack will be hp jack, maybe later build a hp amp. the hp jack shud have jack sensing, so when hp is plugged in, the speakers are off.

2x 8segment LED.. dunno yet.. maybe temp display?

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Added on May 14, 2007, 9:36 pmthought of that as well. but say, you need to boot up a ubuntu live cd or even the windows installation cd. will need to insert cd before the windows boot up.

also, the door will provide access to other than cd. namely usb ports


another tip i got from a colleague on noise silencing. get those anti-slip mat used in cars, stick them all over the place. will try that once everyting is up.

This post has been edited by lj0000: May 14 2007, 09:36 PM

You will need the additional fans when you add the 8600. Its not a very cool-running card. Alternative is to mod the PSU with a better fan, but will mean voiding the warranty and most likely the noise level will go up. Lucky for you you're using a AM2, or else it would be hell keeping the thing cool enough.

The anti-slip mats will provide sound insulation, and unfortunately thermal insulation as well. With so little exhaust airflow your system will probably be running 40C+ -that was what I got for a poorly ventilated system which I built with similar idle and load power consumption to yours.

Your ideas of the front panel are interesting though. Waiting to see how it turns out.

noted with thanks.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... ROFL~ as insane as it sounds, i bet it is 1 unique feature dat ppl gonna look at wor~

that involves re-engineering the tray for the dvd ler... i already got an idea on how to proceed with this idea though.

the way is to cut a hole in the LD tray to fit the dvd tray.
when eject, the dvd push the ld tray along
when coming in, the dvd tray pull along, but leave the ld tray external of the dvdrom drive.

but this means sacrificing the space for everything else! including the mobo and psu. as the tray is 90% of the total size of the whole dvd player. perhaps my next ldplayerpc lor.

anyone want to start ver2?

Wao... cool man... very creative idea, able to recycle material... mind to show some construction pic of the Rom tray?