Case mod for school project

[Karbon Killa]

Well I have a requirement class called SSE (Senior Seminar Experience) Basically the overall goal of the class, is to think up an "essential question", make a product, go through a 15 minute speaking exhibition, and hope to god that you pass.
So my "essential question" is "What are the skills and steps required to make a non-traditional computer case?". I am going to be taking an aquarium and making and extension in the back, to where a computer will be in the back, water res in the middle, and a freshwater fish tank in the front. I have made a couple of drawings on paper, but made a little finalized drawing in ms paint. I only have the top view done.
Here is my basic idea:
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4650/ssecomputeraquariumlayomd6.png
It is possibly going to be a media center, so I am not 100% sure on what hardware I will be using, but to do mock-ups I am going to use some old hardware. If you have any extra ideas, please, let me know. I am very open to new ideas on anything. Not sure when this will start, but I first have to get enough money to but the starting point, a.k.a the tank.

[Eclecticos]

Looks like a fantastic Idea. +Rep

I think the easiest thing to do would be to buy an existing oval front
acrylic aquarium, they come in all shapes and sizes.
Then partition it with plexiglass, and apply sealant.
You will defiantly need to test the seal
for leaks, before installing the hardware.

Or you could build a rectangular frame out of wood, put an oval lip
on the front of it and sit the aquarium on top.

You may want to consider using a inline water filter
to keep the fish poop out of the loop. :)

[Karbon Killa]

the res would be completely different from the tank. Just a little sectioned area on where the coolant can sit. It is going to need to have a removable back, so I can do hardware changes if anything craps out on me. So what I was thinking, was to buy an oval fron aquarium, and build a new back for it. By that, meaning, make everything behind the purple line in my next drawing, removable.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5876/ssecomputeraquariumlayond0.png
There will also be some sort of hinged lcd screen that folds down and hides behind the "case". Since it will most likely be a media center PC, I won't need the monitor all the time. The tv will mostly be the monitor. Accompanied with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

[moon111]

I've seen fish tanks available on Freecycle. You can give away or request items there. Someone might have a tank they're no longer using.

[Karbon Killa]

I am trying to figure out what h/w I should get to build a decent Media Center/HTPC. Only thing I'm not 100% on is motherboard choice. I know I want a socket 775 board. Just for the fact that I have a couple of extra confidential chips that I need to use. I am also not sure on what video I want. I know I want the capability of HDMI use. But I can just use dvi-hdmi adapter. Still, any ideas guys???

[Karbon Killa]

Sorry for double post, but anyone have any suggestions for hardware???

[Eclecticos]

I would recommend a moderately priced reliable motherboard from ECS (http://www.newegg.com/Store/Brand.aspx?Brand=1414&name=ECS) Elite Group.
My experiences with there motherboards have been great.

[Xpirate]

Sorry Eclecticos, but I would not recommend ECS stuff to any one.

I had to return one, then the next one I got had some kind of weird video problem. It did not matter if you used the AGP or PCI slot. When you first power it on, you hear the beep code for a monitor problem, then you had to hit reset and it will finally work right. Then I had another one where the Ethernet connection died and I had to install an Ethernet card, which would only work in one of the PCI slots. I guess the other three slots were messed up or something.

[nevermind1534]

Everybody has their bad experiences with a board. My first one was with an ECS Elitegroup board; it wouldn't post, or really give me any kind of display, although, it was open box. I couldn't return it, because, by the time that I had got the CPU, the time that I had to return it to newegg was gone, and I never followed through with returning it to ECS. I usually won't buy something such as that only if I have more than one bad experience with them. There's also PC Chips. I used one of their motherboards in my parents' computer, and it's been fine, dirt cheap, too. I have an full size atx Foxconn motherboard that I got new for only $30, and it's been great for a cheap board.

[Karbon Killa]

I have hadboth PC Chips and ECS mobos. I have an extra ECS lying around, but I just didn't know if hardware other than video needed to be decent. I know I need storage for it aswell.

[FuzzyPlushroom]

ECS, PCChips, Amptron, and a few other brands are all under the Elitegroup corporation. They all used to be fairly close to junk, but priced accordingly, but the past few years they've improved somewhat (to the point where I'd consider an ECS-branded board myself). PCChips are just their lower-end brand.

[Karbon Killa]

So a little update. I have found a 680i board to use in my current setup, which means I will be using my Intel D945GPm board in this system. Trying to find a decent, yet cheap video card though.

[Xpirate]

Like this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121259

It has HDMI for building your HTPC.

[nevermind1534]

How decent does it need to be? I still have my 7300LE, but don't really plan on selling it. I paid $30 for it after a rebate, and it isn't worth much of anything.

[The_Crippler]

Sorry I'm late to the party. My main question (which leads to sub-questions) on hardware for you is: What is the system going to be doing?

Is it going to be just a primary frontend with the hard work handled by a remote backend on the network - or is it going to be doing all the heavy lifting as well? Do you plan to be watching/recording live TV with it, or is it just for DL'd movies and music? These are things that can drastically change your hardware setup.

My front end, connected to my TV is just play-back...so I'm using very out of date and basic (cheap) equipment on it...however, my backend that I use for storage, distribution, ripping, encoding, recording and other day-to-day tasks has much better task-crunching ability.

[AMD Killa]

crippler, what speed is your network? 100/1000 cat5e/6 UTP? Or 802.11n?

I'm getting used to this terminology now. I guess I should be, as I'm taking a networking course XD

[The_Crippler]

Every thing is running standard 10/100 cards (well, technically the server has on board 10/100/1000Mbps), so that's where the bottlenecks are on the network.

[Karbon Killa]

Basically, I want a system that has the capabilities of DLing movies, and saving tv shows to watch them later. I have a parts list, I'll edit to show what I'm thinking, tell me what you think after I edit.

EDIT:
Parts list:

Intel Desktop Board D945GPM
Intel Pentium D 830 Engineering Sample 3.0GHz
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2x1GB) 800mhz
2x1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDDs
SolyTech 550W PSU
WinTV TV Tuner pci card
Sapphire Radeon x1650PRO 512mb PCI-e
Lite-On 4x Blu Ray ROM
Logitech LX310 usb wireless keyboard/mouse combo

[Eclecticos]

Those all look like great choices for the system you are trying to build,
except for the motherboard, and processor.
You might as well get the Pentium D 940 or Higher.

I would recommend this motherboard instead.
I have purchased several of them myself, and they
are perfect for a basic computer system.

Foxconn (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186070) 945P7aa
http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/1885/image023no0.jpg

[nevermind1534]

Look at the one that I have in my "my system". I got it dirt cheap. It's the full-size version. Only $30 retail.

[Karbon Killa]

I have a Pentium D 940 in my system now. I also have a P4 3.4GHz HT. But what is wrong with the mainboard???

[The_Crippler]

I have a Pentium D 940 in my system now. I also have a P4 3.4GHz HT. But what is wrong with the mainboard???

Not sure what they are referring to, and I don't know much about that particular board.

I will say that the rest of your equipment looks good. I'm fairly certain that the new WinTV cards have digital tuners - but make sure! A lot of people are off loading the old ones now, and (by law) they are required to make it clear if they are only analog...but not everyone is honest. Remember, the change-over happens in a few months, and you don't want to be caught off guard.

2GB of RAM should be passable - but I'd go for at least three if you can afford it. I'm not sure how much of a hog Windows media center software is, but HD content on it's own sucks up a lot. Better to have too much and not need it than the other way around. 3.0 ghz is also a good place for the processor to be.

[Karbon Killa]

Well right now I have only 2gb lying around. Yea, I am going to need a new TV tuner, forgot about the digital change, lol.

[nevermind1534]

You could always just use a converter box

[The_Crippler]

You could always just use a converter box

Also, most cable services take care of it...but if you're buying a card, might as well get what's the current format.

[nevermind1534]

but if you're buying a card, might as well get what's the current format.

yes, I agree with that. A converter box will make an existing tuner useful for longer, though.

[Karbon Killa]

Here is a basic design I came up with last night for it. Tell me what you all think.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8822/render16032835ym3.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/173/render26035173dc8.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4569/render36036392uw5.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6937/render46038947il7.jpg
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4435/render56040870gr6.jpg
As you can see, it has a hangover bracket as for easy removability. I'm not yet sure on whether one side of it I want hinges, but I'll figure that out when the time comes.