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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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


Link to original thread. (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20273)