Potential mini-itx build

[Ap1thy]

It has been a long time goal of mine to try out a mini itx board since about july of last year, so when a nice one showed up on ebay, I didnt think twice. However the prices of some mini-itx cases did make me think twice and since I would like to try to get into modding, this would probably be a good starting point, as it wont be my main rig and its more of a test to see what I can do with the tools i have rather than a showpiece. That being said, i would like it to look nice, not just a bunch random stuff taped together like it is now.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_P1010032.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/P1010032.jpg)http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_P1010031.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/P1010031.jpg)http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_P1010030.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/P1010030.jpg)

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_P1010029.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/P1010029.jpg)http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_P1010028.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/P1010028.jpg)http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_P1010027.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/P1010027.jpg)

The dimensions will end up being 26x18x14 (cm). Everything is screwed in on the outside, that doesnt really need to change for the final build, I dont reall want to go into complex mounting soultions and honestly its probably also slimmer than making brakets and mounts. I was thinking of ordering some blue uv plexi from perofrmance-pc's along with an ac ryan blackfire uv led fan to light it up as opposed to some ccfl's. would acylic be an appropriate choice for a beginner like me? i have a scroll saw in the basement, and i think thats about it, the main reason i chose it for the build material was the pocket knife idea already used in another mini scratch build successfully. sorry for the long read, but thats my idea for now

edit: heres a sketch, wouldve used sketccup but Im still learning houw to make the correct dimensions

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/th_img001-1.jpg (http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o318/SLP_Firehawk/itx_build/img001-1.jpg)

[Xpirate]

I've wanted to do something similar ever since I have seen a mini-itx board. Nice mock-up with the cardboard box

[mtekk]

I've wanted to do something similar ever since I have seen a mini-itx board. Nice mock-up with the cardboard box

You're not alone on this one. It's too bad that all the better boards are more expensive than most high end desktop boards. Hopefully this year will see a drastic drop in mini ITX prices.

If cardboard is holding together right now, the acrylic should work structurally. Workability wise, most things will cut acrylic, just keep the RPM down on the scroll saw so that the blade cuts the acrylic instead of building up a ton of heat and melting the acrylic. I've had problems when trying to uniformly bend acrylic (attempted to just use a few 2x4s and a vice plus a heat gun to bend a straight line) but that's because I tried to get away with as little setup as possible. Just practice a bit and I'm sure it has a fairly gentle learning curve. The non-conductive properties of Acrylic are a double edged sward, bad for static electricity, good for preventing unwanted ground shorts.

[Greco101]

I honestly don't see the point in a mini-itx rig yet with the current processor speeds besides it being a fun micro build. but once it's built... what use is it? I suppose a portable wireless media center but you could probably mod a laptop for that for cheaper and you'd have a built in screen and wouldn't have to haul around a mouse, keyboard and power cord.

I'm sure there are people that could use these, but for your average joe? meh...

/.02

[Ap1thy]

thanks for the input, just have to get a few things squared away financially and ill hopefullly get the materials ordered

@greco101, I use mine for a portable tv tuner and internet access point, my house has a wireless router and only one computer hooked to it besides this in a house of 4 lol. for a total build cost of about $100 i think it wasnt too bad of an investment

[.Maleficus.]

I honestly don't see the point in a mini-itx rig yet with the current processor speeds besides it being a fun micro build. but once it's built... what use is it? I suppose a portable wireless media center but you could probably mod a laptop for that for cheaper and you'd have a built in screen and wouldn't have to haul around a mouse, keyboard and power cord.

I'm sure there are people that could use these, but for your average joe? meh...

/.02
Car PCs. That's what they're mostly used for.

I bought mine for a cheap server solution. As for processor speed... You just need the right stuff. Of course you aren't going to want XP on it, but there are TONS of Linux distros that will perform great on a 1GHz processor. Here's how I think of it.

Mini-ITX board and processor - ~$120
350W PSU - ~$30
512MB RAM - ~$30
250GB Hard drive - $60
DVD burner - $30

For a grand total of about $270, you have a completely capable PC that can run modern Linux, burn DVDs, has nice storage, and free software. Once you buy the parts, you don't need to buy an OS, or programs for the OS. Flat fee of $270. Plus, it's SFF.

[Ap1thy]

just a small update... I ordered a sheet of 3mm black plexi as well as a bulgin switch for power on (to keep the front clean looking instead of that old mount from a previous case) some rubber feet and a meshx fangrill. hopefully a worklog will be up by this weekend or so

edit: seeing linux was brought up... i have that 1.5ghz pentium and only 256mb of ram and xubuntu runs fantastic, great for an internet/work pc

[Raz1r]

I love Mini-ITX so much. Seriously, I think I'm gonna replace my old PC that I use to websurf/server with a Mini-ITX build. I got to play with my uncle's new Jetway board and those things are so cool!

A great board just got really cheap, the D201GLY (http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/D201GLY/index.htm). If you don't have a problem with using older hardware (IDE, DDR2 533) then it should suit your needs just fine. I plan on getting one very soon. It's a really good way to go green!

[widefault]

I use a mini-ITX board with a 1.46GHz Celeron-M as the base for my Windows Home Server. Two 500GB drives, 1GB ram, quiet, pulls about 50 watts under full load, and all fits in a ~9" cube.

I like working with ITX just because I can keep my builds small. I had full towers for years, but I've been going smaller and smaller for the last year or so. They generally use less power, and can more easily be made quiet without resorting to water cooling.

Lower performance, I guess, but I've got a mini-ITX board in my project queue that's running a Xeon X3210 quadcore. Not cheap, obviously, but you can get some serious horsepower in a small size these days.