Project: Frame Box Media Center

[TheGreatSatan]

I've had this box with glass on the front for a couple of years now and I've always wanted to make a computer out of it. The problem is: I've never had a reason. That has changed. I would like to have a basic Media Center down in my modding area for when I'm modding and want to hear music or glance at TBCS inbetween cuts.

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040874.jpg

I also have this Intel Atom 330/Mini ITX combo that would be perfect for such a mudane task as playing music

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040891.jpg

I removed the shelves with a hammer

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040877.jpg

And put in the board

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040879.jpg

Then I cut the holes for the motherboard and PSU

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040884.jpg

I'll have 2GB of RAM and an 80GB Seagate hard drive too. I'm still not sure how I'm going to mount the drive though

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040890.jpg

I'm going to be adding this to my wall of motherboards

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040885.jpg

Like this

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040887.jpg

[billygoat333]

gonna look sick up there among your MBs! lol what you gonna do for speakers? would be cool to make a circuit board covered speaker box to put up there!

[DonT-FeaR]

looking good mate!

[TheGreatSatan]

gonna look sick up there among your MBs! lol what you gonna do for speakers? would be cool to make a circuit board covered speaker box to put up there!


If I knew how:think:

[billygoat333]

what I would do would be to make a box outta wood and then just glue circuit board to it. or bolt it to it, whatever floats your boat. you could just do that to pre existing speakers as well...

[Luke122]

I'd put a couple of exhaust fans at the top of that thing too. :)

As for mounting the hdd, do you mean positioning is giving you grief, or the mechanical solution?

[Mark_Hardware]

Looks cool, man. Very neat idea. Nice wall! Wish I had a wall like that!!

[TheGreatSatan]

I'd put a couple of exhaust fans at the top of that thing too. :)

As for mounting the hdd, do you mean positioning is giving you grief, or the mechanical solution?

Positioning. I think I'll just drill in an old HD cage and then slide the drive in. I think I may remove the glass frame part and replace it with this:

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/clear1.jpg

[SXRguyinMA]

nice idea TGS!

as far as HDD Mounting, look into these puppies I used in this thread (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19799). I used them to mount my drain valve for my LCS, but the pins fit right into the screw hols on the HDD, and they may work just how you need, and they're cheap enough :up:

[TheGreatSatan]

I had this old hard drive cage laying around

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040892.jpg

So I cut it for this project

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040893.jpg

And then just drilled the hard drive into place

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040894.jpg

As you can see I removed the glass frame

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040897.jpg

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040898.jpg

I'll be using this instead. It was the cover to El Diablo that I did years ago

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040900.jpg

I got it all connected and booted into the BIOS

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040905.jpg

There's a single screw holding the box into place at the top

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040906.jpg

And two braces at the bottom

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040907.jpg

I temporarily connected a DVD drive to the board to install Windows. If I need to use one in the future I have an external one

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040908.jpg

I LOVE Vista, but went with XP because it's just going to be for Media. A dual Core Atom and 2GB of RAM should fly. It will not be on a network or connected to the internet. I won't need anti-virus or a firewall of any kind either. The less, the better, the faster

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040910.jpg

Next, I'll be working on lighting, exhausting, and mounting the LCD

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Much +rep for the WallPC and its surroundings. I'm slowly growing a similar wall of my own! Got plenty of dead/obsolete 'boards; just have to decide where/how to hang 'em...

[TheGreatSatan]

I have more than I have room to hang 'em. I think I want to take the all down to paint the wall behind them 'motherboard green' then rehang them

[TheGreatSatan]

I added the power button today. I used Gorilla glue to lock it in, thus the white foam

I just went with something ghetto. It's going to be behind the top piece so it's not like it's going to be seen

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040913.jpg

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040914.jpg

I did the same thing with the top screw. I add Gorilla glue to the screw and as it dries it expands and makes a far superior hold

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040915.jpg

I got my old El Diablo cover cleaned up

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040916.jpg

And mounted it

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040918.jpg

There's still more to do

[Mark_Hardware]

Man I am totally in love with that panel! That black and red.... :drool: oops dangit got drool on my keyboard.

lol you=gorilla glue is like me=JB weld :up:

[TheGreatSatan]

The panel was orginally made to look like "Cooling Lava". It turned out really well for my first real paint job

[TheGreatSatan]

If you compare this pic and the last one you'll see that I removed some motherboards and pushed others closer together

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040925.jpg

The monitor is 19 inches (Regular, not Wide) and has a handy carry handle on the back

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040926.jpg

I added two hooks to my wall

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040927.jpg

Then mounted the LCD and ran the VGA cable down the side

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040933.jpg

Looks pretty cool

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040934.jpg

Since the IO area isn't the easiest to access, I ran a USB extension cord down and tied it into my wall of shame

Now it'll be easier to quickly plug in a flash drive

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040936.jpg

I'll be leaving the cut out exposed to allow for the best airflow

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040919.jpg

I thought it woulld be cool if I signed the panel before I clear coated it

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040940.jpg

[DonT-FeaR]

very cool. nice signature!

[gntlkilr]

very cool. nice signature!

Is there a Dr. in the house?

[Mark_Hardware]

lol. my signature is literally just a squiggly line. Courtesy of the US Army.

[slaveofconvention]

Yeah, mine isn't much better, courtesy of a local govt job I had in auditing where everything had to be signed in and out - probably around 150 sigs a day on average...

[TheGreatSatan]

I bought this cool power y-cable (http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=12696) to finish off my mod.

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040991.jpg

And I accidently chipped the paint on the top of my face plate :(

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040992.jpg

And there we go

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1050001.jpg

I am finished

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040996.jpg

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1040998.jpg
It's not connected to the internet either so no Windows updates, No Service packs, no Anti-Virus or firewall. just a superfast PC. Final Specs are;

Intel Atom Dual Core 330
2GB DDR2-800
320GB Seagate
450 Watt PSU
XP Pro SP2

[Mark_Hardware]

Looks cool man. +rep for a good job and a kickass wall!

[DonT-FeaR]

/\ yeah looks great

[TheGreatSatan]

Thanks guys. Let's see, what's next.......

Maybe Iron Man War Machine

[OvRiDe]

Cool stuff! Fits in nicely with its surroundings.

SO now I think it is definitely time to start Iron Man War Machine! :D

[TheGreatSatan]

Or Thinner ATX 2.0, I'm still thinking about it

[DonT-FeaR]

iron man

[TheGreatSatan]

Thanks for making all those hard decisions for me. :up:

[DonT-FeaR]

no probs mate :P

[KiLLERMAN21]

I think Iron Maiden would be better, but still, cool idea, and the case looks great!

[TheGreatSatan]

I'm not a Metal fan and would just get bored of it like my Cardinals case

[Mark_Hardware]

lol hey what ever happened to that? nuthin?

[TheGreatSatan]

I hate the Cardinals so I'm not motivated to complete it. I'd be as entertained if I did a Hemorrhoids mod.