d_stilgar's HTPC (title anyone?)

[d_stilgar]

So, I have some old hardware from a computer nobody would buy from me. I was probably asking too much, but it's fine with me. I'm going to make it into a HTPC running XBMC and probably livelight or something similar for my home theater setup. The existing case will be utilized but customized heavily and silenced. It will be turned on its side and the 5.25" bays will also be turned. The Griffin Powermate will be installed in the front of the case. A new front panel will be fabricated from aluminum and will be anodized black. New side and top panels will also be fabricated from aluminum.

I have this hardware:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
16Gb Ram (4x 4Gb)
Mobo of some kind . . .
2x Nvidia 9800Gt video cards
2x 2Tb hard drives
Griffin Powermate
3x Cooler Master Powermate III
Scythe Orochi CPU cooler
2x Arctic Cooling GPU cooler
60Gb OCZ Vertex SSD
Some cheap $20 case from newegg
Various Silent fans

What I need:

[ ] Silencing Material to block all noise
[ ] Fanless PSU
[ ] 3x 2Tb drives (total 5 in the end)
[ ] Metal Bending Brake
[ ] Aluminum Sheet
[ ] Slot load Blu-Ray Drive

Checklist:

[ ] Install OS and XBMC into existing hardware and get running well
[ ] Disassemble Chassis and paint everything black
[ ] Remove back plates of everything and paint black
[ ] Build Custom Front Panel
[ ] Build Supports for SSD and slot load bluray drive
[ ] Build side and top panels
[ ] Rotate 5.25" Bays 90 degrees
[ ] Rotate Case 90 degrees
[ ] Make fancy looking shrouds to cover interior wires and stuff

Today's progress:

Here's the case as it is now. Note the lack of PSU. My wife is going to kill me if I spend any money . . . we'll see how far I get on this project. The mobo, CPU, ram, and video cards are already in the case. That hard drive is old and will not be staying. It will be replaced.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5036.jpg

Front view. Note lack of optical drive. I have something somewhere, but not bluray, and not slot load.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5037.jpg

Here's some hardware:

The GPU coolers. The fans will be removed and replaced by a single 120mm at the front of both cards in the case. The cards might end up with some sort of fan shroud around them.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5038.jpg

Here's the 60Gb OCZ vertex. In this picture it is in a Silvestone HDDBOOST (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817997011). I had run out of sata ports in another computer and this was a solution I was curious to try. Runs well, but read reviews to know the risks. I don't need it anymore, so I'll sell it here for $30 free shipping (in the US) and your money will go to fund this project. Does not include 3.5" to 5.25" hard drive bay adapter.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5039.jpg

Here are the three Cooler Master Musketeer III tube amp 5.25" bay accessories. They are a little gimmicky, but I love them. With three I can do 5.1 surround through there. Again, kinda gimmicky, but they look awesome and I got them for cheap a long time ago. They're probably worth $100+ each to the right guy today.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5040.jpg

Here's the Scythe Orochi CPU cooler. A total monster that can do passive cooling if needed, but since it does require that some air is moving through the case, I'll let its massive 140mm fan be one of the fans moving air through the case as well. It's as close to silent as you can get, but I'll re-oil it before the build is finished.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5041.jpg

Here's a Griffin Powermate. These things are awesome and you can program them to do pretty much anything you want. Not sure how much practical use this will be, but I'll be able to have it speed scrub through movies or music, or navigate menus, or adjust volume. That's pretty sweet. Again, those things will probably happen on some sort of other thing, like a wireless mouse and keyboard, but it's cool, so it's going on the case.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5042.jpg

Alright, here's the result of today's work. The coolers have been installed, some fans removed and the 140mm moved to the front. Believe it or not, the side panels can just barely get back on this thing. However, the heat pipes on the cooler are most likely going to be in the way of the PSU (when I get one), so we'll just have to make some adjustments there.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5043.jpg

Tomorrow (if my 4 day late baby doesn't come) I'll disassemble the case and paint some stuff. It'll just be a first coat, and things will be cut and reassembled after so I'll do more later, but it will be some progress and will get some ideas going.

Here's the front of the case. I'm really surprised that there are no HTPC cases (the ones that lay on their side) with three 5.25" bays stacked on each other. Seems like these companies are missing an audience somewhere. You can see how good the Musketeer bays look though.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5047.jpg

That's all for now. Let's look at some estimated costs.

Bending Brake: On sale for $40 (http://www.harborfreight.com/30-inch-bending-brake-67240.html). Someone buy something from me (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25563) quick, like the HDD boost I listed in this thread.
Fanless PSU: $130 at newegg. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151099) A goal for this might be to get the bending brake and have some good looking progress in the whole thing, then ask Seasonic to sponsor the build.
2Tb hard drives: $120 + free shipping at newegg. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148681) I've gotten a couple really cheap from TGS here, but I wouldn't want to abuse that kindness by asking again, and this might be the most frivolous of my wants for this build. I don't have that much data to be certain, but it would be nice to have lossless backups of blurays for faster and more convenient access.
Slim slot-load bluray drive: $115 at newegg. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118070)

I'll also need some aluminum, some anodizing dye and some acid and hardware for building the chassis and panels. I'll need some fancy looking feet for the case for that extra detail. I'll do some custom wire work but won't think of that cost for now. I also want to do a DIY ambilight or livelight type setup and that will have its own expense. There will surely be some misc. tool costs. What am I missing?

Wish me luck! Biggest challenge of this build . . . budget. I've got almost no money. I'll have to get really creative for this.

[Fuganater]

Looks good. I was going to let you know that the slot load BluRay player was wicked expensive.

Too bad your using all of those Musketeer III's.... I'd love to get one!

[d_stilgar]

Yeah, I know I'll be able to get a cheaper slot load bluray if I just go looking. Ebay will have something for sure.

[Fuganater]

2TB HDD for only $99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL070312&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL070312-_-EMC-070312-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22148834-L0D) with promo code "EMCNCNG42"

[d_stilgar]

Alright, it's too windy to think about painting today, and I have no PSU so I can't install software (which is actually what I would like to do most). Looking at my list of obvious expenses, however, the bending brake is the cheapest thing on my list. If it is still on sale by Friday (when I'll have a few dollars) I'll buy that and everything that it is good for can get started.

[TLHarrell]

If you get the mailers from Harbor Freight every month, there's always a 20% off coupon. If you don't get the mailers, might be worth it to sign up.

[d_stilgar]

I don't have one near me. Is this a code or an in-store coupon? If it's a code then I'll sign up for the emails.

[TLHarrell]

I think it's in-store only. I'll have to check when I see another mailer.

And they're starting to spring up all over the place lately.

[d_stilgar]

Good news here. Right after my wife and I pay off the hospital bills of having our baby, she says it's alright to get a PSU. This means that the other items are on hold, but progress will be made soon! . . . which means like . . . a month. But the Lucas Arts Adventure PC will get updates before then.

[d_stilgar]

So, I know I made promises to update the Lucas Arts Adventure PC, and I'm still going to . . . in the spring. For now, I will focus on this machine.

It's going to be less of a mod, because I really have no money, and more of what we thought of mods in the late 90s and early 2000s. I'll be doing some custom stuff here and there, but it's way less focused on making an aesthetically unified composition of hardware and more about getting various bits to all fit in one case and do what I want.

As much as I would love to make the most sexy computer ever, it's just going to have to wait.

I will be getting the PSU this week for sure. I got a nice birthday check and my wife is being nice and letting me spend a little bit of it. I've also been selling some of my assets and this is what I have to report:

1. Amazon's trade in program is great in the same way all trade in programs are great. You can get rid of a ton of stuff at once without having to do a lot of work. You don't get paid as much, but it's way more convenient.

I wrangled up as much as I could to sell from my collection of games. Most of these I now have ready for emulation, and if I'm going to go with XBMC and Hyperspin, then there's no point in keeping these old console games around. They are taking up lots of space.

Each of these two piles of games represents ~$50. The highest priced games I listed individually so I can get the most for my effort. Those games aren't in these piles.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_5765.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_5763.jpg

There's a great mix of Gamecube, SNES, Nintendo DS, GBA, N64, and other Gameboy games. It kinda hurts to see it go. I spent a lot of time and money collecting those. But . . . I haven't touched them in years. A computer to emulate them will make it much more convenient to play, and now that I'm selling them it can help fund the mod. So the above represents the first $100 I made tonight.

2. I listed the things either not eligible for trade in, or which I thought were more valuable to list myself, after going through everything else. I priced some of these above the asking price of other people, but for the most part I just undercut the cheapest guy by a penny.

The GBA SP is a special edition version that is NES themed. I listed it for $78, but it sold in the first hour because I noted the upgraded battery I put in it.

The Zelda game was $36. I just put it a penny below the other guy. It also sold within one hour. I've never had this happen before.

So, the below picture represents the 2nd $100 I made tonight.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_5766.jpg

Finally, this build has recently gotten a nice gift from TGS. You should all go give him some rep. He gave away three SSDs (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29977) to members of the forum here for free! Not even shipping. I got a 90Gb version and it will become the primary drive for this build.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_5761.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_5762.jpg

Yep, more updates to come.

[d_stilgar]

Okay, so it was October of last year when this started and I had no money, but a lot of desire to get it done . . . and then I had no money and and a lot of school work so it was put on hold.

But this is a good thing because where this project is now is a lot better.

So, I started this thread (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26628&highlight=credenza) showing off my credenza conversion, which I never finished updating, but was completed . . . enough to use for a year or so.

Well, it's now where my HTPC will be housed. I'm also building speakers back into it, which is a good thing because I've been using the speakers on my 55" HDTV for pretty much the entire time I've had it.

So, without further ado, I'll just recap everything and get us up to speed on where this is as of tonight.

A few years ago I bought a 1960s record cabinet for $25 from a guy off craigslist. My wife and I knew we were going to get a new TV that I could mount to the wall, so we knew we were going to get rid of our giant oak media cabinet.

My wife mentioned wanting to sand it and re-stain the record cabinet to match our bookshelf we had stripped and re-stained.

I did a lot of early work, ripping out the speakers in the side cabinets and removing the turn table, radio tuner, and amp. Sadly, I took no before or early progress pictures, but it was a fairly handsome piece and real sturdy. Here’s the earliest picture I have, with the doors and top sanded. I have since mounted the TV to the wall and sold the giant speakers I had as well.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3155_800x600.jpg

I really don’t have any images of the early progress. I ripped out a lot of stuff. I knew I wanted to make the center part of cabinet open up. I needed to make it into a door. The sides of the cabinet have doors that slide to open, revealing speakers. The center portion was for the never-to-be-seen amp, and the top door which hinged up to reveal the turn table and radio.

The front of the cabinet was never meant to be a door and took forever to remove. I spent at least four hours removing screws and taking a chisel to pieces of wood glued in to hold the whole thing together. Eventually I got the front off.

After that I sanded and stained everything. I won’t go into details on that. It really isn’t that interesting and there’s plenty of places online that will tell you how to do it better than I did. Here’s a picture of the newly stained and sealed credenza with the front panel off.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3535_800x600.jpg

The first major change is the addition of an IR repeater. The cabinet originally had a little light bulb in it that would light up on the outside of the cabinet to indicate that it was on. I decided that placing the IR receiver there would be the most inconspicuous. I ordered a repeater from monoprice.com (awesome site for all your AV cable needs) and got to work.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3538_800x600.jpg

Close up of a little piece of plastic that brought the light from the inside of the case to the front. The bulb sat behind piece of translucent yellow plastic and in the case.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3537_800x600.jpg

The IR receiver
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3539_800x600.jpg

The closest bit I had was 7/8 of an inch.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3540_800x600.jpg

After drilling I chiseled out the rest. It was fine tuned with a dremel and sanding bit. Then I took the dremel to the IR receiver to cut some unnecessary bits off it as well.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3541_800x600.jpg

It was getting dark out at this point, so I don’t have any good close pics of right after getting the receiver in place, but here it is with the controller and repeater housing.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3553_800x600.jpg

After that it was time to add some shelves. I got 3/8 inch plywood and cut the shelves to size. They weren’t exact, but close enough, and refined with my scroll saw.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3548_800x600.jpg

I got a birch veneer to apply to the edges so they look nice. This is ironed on and a glue on the back adheres to the face of the shelves.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3549_800x600.jpg

I then got a level and some pieces of wood to cut the shelf mounts. These were screwed and glued in place and the stained shelves were put on top.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_3550_800x600.jpg

Here's how it stood for the past year or so. It was nice having the shelves and especially getting rid of the giant speakers, which overwhelmed the room. But this last winter I put a HTPC together and it's been sitting next to the credenza, being ugly. So it's time that I get back to work and make this into a HTPC case.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6618.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6615.jpg

A blurry picture of the front door open to reveal a really nice receiver and some speaker wire. I sold the amp for $250 and a $40 Best Buy gift card to fund this project. Considering that I bought it for $250, I thought I did pretty well.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6619.jpg

In the top of the cabinet are a lot of goodies for this project that I've been slowly collecting for a few months. Mostly they are USB controller converters. I'll get hyperspin running so I can play all my favorite old games with their original controllers.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6622.jpg

If I take all the junk out we can see what's in there a bit better. On the left is the HTPC mobo in a lian-li motherboard tray. It won't stay there for the final mod, it was just an idea.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Untitled_Panorama1.jpg

With the money from the sold amp I got some speaker components to rebuild the media cabinet back up.
What could this be?
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6627.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6628.jpg

In the boxes we have:
1 yard of speaker grill cloth
12" sub woofer (tiny magnet, but it only cost $14)
Pair of Dayton B652 2-way bookshelf speakers (cheap man's hi-fi)
Lepai LC-2020A+ Class-T amp (cheap man's hi-fi)
70W sub woofer plate amp

After getting lots of goodies I started to dismantle the cabinet again. Deja Vu, anyone? I removed the door I had built (and never fit right, going to fix that this time around), the side doors, and the shelves as well as their supports.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6655.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6657.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6659.jpg

It's starting to feel like a clean slate again, which is really nice. It was getting too filled with crap, and the shelves hadn't been sealed with poly so they just collected dust like mad.

I then got some 1/2 inch MDF and cut a back plate for the right speaker enclosure. The hole in it will hold the plate amp and the whole piece will seal the back of the speaker box. The sub woofer is really cheap, so a closed box is the best option for it.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6656.jpg

I then cut a piece of MDF for the left and right speakers. I'll paint this black and cover it with speaker grill fabric. If I had more money I'd make this so the fabric grill was removable, but I don't really have the money to get the parts I would need, and this will be faster in the end.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6665.jpg

After checking to make sure it fit in the cabinet, I checked the hole to make sure the speaker fit. It was perfect!
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6668.jpg

Next step was to cut a hole for the sub woofer. The mounting diameter was 10 and 3/4 inches, so I put a screw on the bottom of the cabinet and tied a piece of string to it, then measured out 5 and 3/8 inches from the screw and put a piece of electrical tape there.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6672.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6675.jpg

The tape made a little corner where the lead of my pencil could rest while I pulled the string around. After tracing I double checked the diameter. It was perfect!
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6678.jpg

I cut out the hole with my jig saw. My son was already in his crib in his room crying from us putting him to bed, but this scared him really bad and he was screaming after I finished. Oops. At least the hole didn't need any adjustments.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6685.jpg

I then put some foam tape on the inside of the sub to make an air-tight seal and mounted it in the hole.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_6686.jpg

It was dark out by this point, but I still went outside and painted the pieces of MDF. No pictures because of the lack of sun, but I'll get them up tomorrow.

More to come!

[Stonerboy779]

Love the unit. Had forgotten about this and hope ya can eventually find a title for this.

[TheGreatSatan]

Where did you find a Musketeer?

[d_stilgar]

Where did you find a Musketeer?
I've had them for years and years now. I bought three of them for $30 a piece a long long time ago. I've just been hanging onto them. I'm not sure whether or not they'll make it into this build. It would take a lot more time and money than I really have right now. I've had other ideas for them too, and now I also have two Lamptron FC10 fan controllers. Someday all this diesel-punk hardware will make it into a really insane build. For now I'm just hanging onto them.

This morning the first thing I did was take the painted pieces of MDF and do a little mock up of how they'll be mounted. The black paint is just so I don't have brown MDF showing through the speaker grill fabric, so the paint job didn't have to be particularly pretty.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6691.jpg

The next step (after my son went down for a nap) was to stretch and glue the speaker grill fabric. Speaker grill fabric is acoustically transparent, mostly due to the fact that it's full of holes. This means that a fair amount of light gets through it as well. This fabric in particular stretches in a strange way and has a very specific pattern, so I had to be very careful in how I stretched it.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6696.jpg

I'm sure there are better ways of attaching the stuff, but for me hot glue was going to do the trick. It "dries" as fast as it cools down, which means if I use my hands and fingers as little heat sinks, I can cool it really quickly while sending myself to the emergency room. But in all seriousness, I don't have a ton of money and these will never be seen from behind, and the fabric will be held in place by tension after the grills are mounted, and since I had hot glue on hand, it meant I was using hot glue.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6693.jpg

The first step was to square the fabric to the MDF. I decided it was easiest to line it up with the grid of silver stripes, so I did this with the top and innermost side.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6694.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6695.jpg

To glue it down I would lay down a line of glue then carefully fold the fabric over and press down, trying to not touch the glue . . . which is exactly what I was supposed to be pressing the fabric against. I inevitably spent a lot of time pushing down on the fabric and having the glue ooze up onto my hands.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6697.jpg

Four sides and a little trimming later it looked like this.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6699.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6700.jpg

I did a quick test to see how things were lining up. I chose to have the teal stripes in the fabric run horizontally to reinforce the strong horizontal datum the credenza already established. (Does that sound like the sort of BS an architecture student would say? It is.) Of course, that decision was made before I started gluing.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6701.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6708.jpg

I didn't have everything I needed to continue on the speakers, so I decided I would fix an issue I had with the previous iteration of this media cabinet. Before, I had cut and stained shelves, but never put any poly on them, so they were dust magnets.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6709.jpg

I'll be reusing the center shelf (hidden behind the front of the cabinet) for the HTPC. I'll mount it to rollers like a kitchen drawer, so that I can pull the whole computer out to work on it instead of having to bend all in the back of the credenza, which would be horrible and annoying. But I didn't want it to collect dust like before, or at least be easily cleaned with a can of air, so I did a quick sand and cleaning of the plywood and put a million coats of poly on it.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6711.jpg

After my wife got home from work I went to the store and got some L-brackets and mounted the speakers to the speaker grills. It's not pretty, but it doesn't mess with the acoustics of the speakers and nobody will see it. Here's the left speaker.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6712.jpg

The right speaker will be shared in the same compartment as the sub woofer, so unlike the left speaker it needed to be air tight when mounted. I got some black caulk from the store that smelled like tar. My wife is still complaining (justifiably), but I needed black so that it wouldn't be seen through the grill cloth.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6713.jpg

I then mounted the speakers with their grills. For the right speaker I sealed all around with the black caulk. This added to the smell of asphalt-roof-on-a-hot-day which made my wife really happy. At this point I knew that there would be an issue when I went to put the rear piece of MDF in. It wouldn't fit with the sub woofer in place. However, when I went to remove the sub woofer I realized just how strong the foam tape I used was. There's no way that sub is coming off now. The good thing is that I found another solution. I was able to remove the corner supports for on the bottom of the cabinet. The just support the cabinet in shear, and the mdf plate will serve that same purpose, so it's fine without them and now the back will fit.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6715.jpg

So, here it is with the speakers mounted. I think it's looking pretty decent, and I'm excited to hear how the sub sounds after it's all sealed up. I tested it without the box and it was sounding pretty good already, so after getting in a proper box it should be awesome.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6722.jpg

To the left of the credenza you can see a big pile of crap that still needs to be mounted, and I haven't even really gotten to the HTPC part yet. Hopefully I finish this before I leave for London in a month.

[AmEv]

Lookin' good! May just have to come and see it myself :D

[Stonerboy779]

Hmmm not a fan of the blue or rather the strong teal limes :P aha ha
Would have loved to see a cream or something with maybe brown lines through it.

[d_stilgar]

Today my I took my family out to Plummer, ID to ride the Centennial Trail on Lake Chatcolet. We did 28 miles and my 11 month old son was a champ in his little trailer. Project logs aren't for talking about travel or whatever, but it's just so gorgeous up there.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_2528.jpg

When I got home I got straight to work. Since the right speaker will be sealed in a box with the sub woofer, I needed a way to extend the speaker clips to the outside of the box. I got a little clip thing at Radio Shack that would do the trick. It cost $5 but this is one of those things that I would rather not be super ghetto.

I measured the cut out and driller some holes.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6724.jpg

Then I cut between them.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6726.jpg

Holy crap it really beat up the side I already painted!
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6728.jpg

I'll just cover it up with this. :worried: :p
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6729.jpg

To mount it, and hopefully make a better seal, I used some double sided tape around the inside of the plate.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6731.jpg

Then I drilled some pilot holes and screwed it in. Would be nice if I had some black screws around here somewhere.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6732.jpg

I then soldered some speaker wire to the inside, and tinned the other ends so I can plug it into the right speaker.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6733.jpg

I put some caulk on the top and bottom of the MDF then slid it into place. The plate amp hole allowed me to reach in and plug in the speaker wire inside. It also allowed me to get a bead of wood glue around the perimeter of the MDF plate, but I couldn't see what I was doing so after I put foam tape around the inside perimeter as well. There wasn't a great way to fasten the MDF with screws without making it really ugly, but considering it was a really tight fit on friction alone I'm not too worried.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6737.jpg

After that the last step was to mount the plate amp for the sub woofer. I plugged in leads inside and then screwed it in. The plate amp comes with a double layer of neoprene to seal it, which is nice because it means I can get inside if I need to work on something, or if I want to add acoustical cotton or whatever inside at some point.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6739.jpg

On the right side I screwed the Lepai amp to the credenza behind the left speaker. This box will end up housing a whole bunch of cords and will inevitably get kinda ugly. I'm not sure at this point what my plan is to try and hide it or make it look better. Twist ties, zip ties, velcro, and staples will all be used, but I might still hide it all under a sheet of plywood or make an entire back plate for this side with a hinge or something.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6749.jpg

Next step before I could test the speakers was to cut speaker wire to the right length. Some people like to get nice banana clips and stuff, but to me it's too expensive. However, I hate just twisting the copper and sticking it in the little sockets. It always unravels and gets crappy, so I just tin the ends.

While the iron heats up I strip the ends, twist them, dip them in flux, and stick them in the clips.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6751.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6755.jpg

Then I just get enough solder on the end to hold all the individual pieces of copper together. This is way cheaper than getting clips and it solves the problem of bare copper coming undone and eventually being unusable.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6759.jpg

Here are two finished wires, one short, one long.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6760.jpg

Next step was to plug them in and fire it up.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6763.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6764.jpg

I had tested the speakers before with a different amp and wondered what all the fuss was about since people have been raving about them online as being a "cheap man's hi fi," but after coupling it with the amp they were using and adding a slightly stronger low end from the sub I figured it out. The speakers sound great. I had them turned up for a little bit, but then my son went down for the night so I had to turn them down. I haven't got the balance between the speakers and the sub dialed in yet, but I'm really impressed so far and I'm excited to have this portion of the project completed.

[d_stilgar]

Hmmm not a fan of the blue or rather the strong teal limes :P aha ha
Would have loved to see a cream or something with maybe brown lines through it.

Yeah, I knew it wouldn't be everyone's favorite, but my wife and I kinda hate gold, and I thought the plain silver was too boring. If there was silver with other accent colors I may have gone that route, but I like the teal.

[d_stilgar]

June 12th Update
Alright so it's been like 11 days since an update. I've been waiting for some drawer rollers to come in, but they aren't here yet, but I wanted to get to work anyway on what I could.

Here's the hardware list:

Mobo of some kind . . .
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
Scythe Orochi CPU cooler
16Gb Ram (4x 4Gb)
2x Nvidia 9800Gt video cards
2x Arctic Cooling GPU cooler
2x 2Tb hard drives
60Gb OCZ Vertex SSD
Some cheap $20 case from newegg
Various Silent fans
PCI USB card
Kingwin 500W Fanless PSU

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6769.jpg

Here's a fair amount of it with stock collers. It needs to run near-silent, so silent coolers will be aded to everything.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5036.jpg

The case itself is an "HEC" brand cheap steel case from newegg.com. It cost $20, and will be sacrificed for easy mounting of hardware.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6767.jpg

Everything needs to fit on this sheet of plywood. This will be built into an inverted drawer so I can pull the whole PC out of the credenza to work on easily.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6765.jpg

Here's a rough estimation of where I thought things might go. I decided to go extra lazy and recycle as much from the original case with the fewest cuts possible, so it changed a bit from this concept.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6773.jpg

Here's the empty case with side panels removed.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6770.jpg

First step is to drill out all the pop-rivets that are holding the different parts together. I'm going to drill out as few as needed to remove the different sections I want.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6775.jpg

After a dozen or so rivets we get this.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6777.jpg

I put the pieces on the wood and screwed them in place with some wood screws. It's surprisingly sturdy, which is good. I was afraid I might have to actually fabricate something.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6779.jpg

I then mounted all the hardware back into place and marked on the plywood some holes so I can route the cables all underneath later. Since this is all temporary, and I need to test the system, I left it as-is for now.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6780.jpg

I then went behind the credenza and placed the plywood on some temporary shelf supports (that I had removed before :duh: and had to replace) for while I wait for the drawer hardware to come in.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_6784.jpg

Bad news is that when I went to turn it on it wouldn't post properly and I started to smell some electronics cooking. After some tinkering it wouldn't even beep or post errors anymore. I'm not sure if it's the motherboard or the PSU, but I have a friend with a spare that I'll be able to get tomorrow so I can test that. Either way it's no fun not having it work right off the bat. I hate spending money, especially when I don't have a lot.

June 13th Update
Quick update, I got a spare PSU from a friend today and it still won't boot or do anything. The good thing about this is that I know it's the motherboard. The bad thing about it is that something was broken regardless, and that sucks.

Quick edit and update: I am looking to get a cheap replacement LGA 775 board if anyone has one. I emailed EVGA about my board. It seems it is out of warranty, but probably only because I failed to register it within 30 days of purchase. Lesson learned. I asked if there was any chance for a replacement board or a steep discount and linked to the work log here. Maybe they'll have pity. Odds are greater that links within messages are automatically removed. We'll see what happens!

In any case I'm not going to hold out trying to find another solution.

June 18th Update
Quick pictureless update:

I won a 650i motherboard off ebay for pretty cheap. It will be here soon. But I also might be getting a striker extreme for cheaper from someone on another forum who just wants to see it in a good home, so I'll have a few options here soon to get this thing back on track.

The bad news (for this project) is that I leave for London in two weeks and will be gone for five weeks, so there won't be any updates until I get back. Maybe I'll check in here and someone will want to do a meetup or something.

August 25th Update
Okay. It's been two months, but I left at the end of June for a study abroad in the UK and was gone until August 6th. You can see some photos from that trip here (http://modsandends.com/?p=1322).

The 650i motherboard I purchased was a bust. I could never get it to post no matter what hardware configuration I tried. It was probably just a dead board, which is lame. However, I got another board from a guy on HardForum for $50. It's a Asus P5n32-E SLI, an absolutely awesome board worth way more than the $50 I spent on it. It's really why I love communities like this.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6808.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6809.jpg

I tested that everything was running, but the setup was an ugly mess for sure, so I marked where I would want some holes, took everything off the piece of plywood, and went outside to cut holes.

First was cut with a hole saw. I probably could have used a smaller hole cutting bit, but everything fits without too much hassle, so I don't really mind.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6810.jpg

After that I removed the motherboard tray and cut the holes for the rest of the cables to be mounted through.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6811.jpg

Since I had all the metal off the plywood, I gave it all a few coats of black spray paint. I could have cared a lot more about the quality of the paint job, but school starts Monday, and really I'm going for a case that looks "better," not "amazing."

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6812.jpg

While the paint dried I went back to the credenza and put in a few heavy duty drawer slides. When the case is done I'll be able to pull it all out easily in case I need to work on or access something.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6806.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6805.jpg

Once the paint was dry I screwed all the metal bits back into the plywood.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6813.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6816.jpg

I then remounted the hardware and routed the cables under the plywood.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6827.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_6822.jpg

It's not finished, but it's getting much better. I still need to . . .

[ ] Mount the plywood board to the drawer rails
[ ] Make a better power/reset situation
[ ] Configure the software for playing Roms
[ ] Build some sort of . . . something for the USB controller adapters I have

However, it's getting really close to done and I'm excited. Hopefully over the next few weekends I can button this up and call it finished.

Sept 10th Update just for TBCS
I've been using the PC now for a few weeks. It's still running awesome. I've got some new goodies for it as well, so I'll take some pictures soon and post an update. I still need to do some stuff to call it "done," but it works. I really should make a video at some point too . . .

The bad this is that I'm two weeks into Fall semester of my last year of grad school and I don't think I've ever been as busy with school as I am now. Life seems to be an 8AM to 12AM existence of non-stop school work, real work, family responsibilities, and house chores. Some of those things are more fulfilling than others, but all of them have to be done, and I can't do anything else until I feel ahead in those things.

But it's great to be back at TBCS!

[d_stilgar]

Update!

So, I've never been so busy with school. I seem to say this a lot, but this semester is just full.

I'm doing a pretty major research project (probably could be doctorate level stuff really), which is going fairly poorly since I don't do any of the research/findings that I'm wanting to do and instead beat my head over cruddy software all day long trying to get equipment calibrated so I can actually get started. I probably put in 2-3 hours a day on this, and I have other classes . . . homework, normal-busy architecture grad school stuff on my plate as well.

And the computer has been running fairly well . . . so I've just let it be.

But then my wife was working out and jumping all over the place and the screen went yellow then black, or at least that is what she tells me. She says the sound worked for a bit, and then the whole thing shut off.

I haven't been able to get a video signal out of it and I really have zero money to put into it especially without knowing what is wrong.

Things I have checked:

- HDMI switch. Other things plugged into it work, which means it isn't the TV either.
- A loose or bad connection. I checked that everything was plugged in and tried a few different things with the video cards to see if one was loose or bad.
- When I boot the computer I get no video signal. When I hit the power button to shut down it turns off immediately. This means that it isn't making it past a post or error screen, even if it is trying to output a signal.

Things to try:

- Bad video cable from the PC. I have a DVI to HDMI cord. This could be the issue, although I really doubt it.
- Video Card. The motherboard doesn't have onboard video, so it could just halt if the video card is bad. I have a spare crappy something sitting around. This would be the best thing to go bad since the computer has dual 9800GT cards which would be easy and cheap to replace with a modern mid-low end card.
- CPU. I have a spare cheapo LGA 775 chip here somewhere. I can try installing it to see what happens.
- Ram. I can remove sticks and just try one at a time. Maybe one went bad. It doesn't feel like a bad ram problem, but you never know.
- Motherboard. I just got a new motherboard, so I really hope I didn't somehow kill it as well. All my fans are low speed. It's possible that there just isn't enough air getting to the north or southbridge and it fried. It's possible that's what killed my other motherboard. If the motherboard is dead then this computer is finished until after I graduate and can spend a little money on something. It's lame, but that's the way it is.

Either way, if I get some time I'll continue to tinker with the credenza and other details of the build. There are some things that seem so obvious to me now that I should have done from the start. Hopefully I'll do them and post some pictures at some point.

[Stonerboy779]

Hopefully you can sort out the issues, the console is looking great

[d_stilgar]

Good news!

So, I finally found a few minutes and went out to my shed to fish out a speaker so I could hear the post beeps. I had a long beep followed by three short, which meant that my video card wasn't seated properly or had bad memory. Since I had two in SLI I just removed the 2nd card and got the same result, so I just switched out the cards and then it booted.

I may or may not get a new card soon to replace it.

What would be a good match for a Q9550? It would be relatively cheap these days I would guess. Is a GTX 660 overkill?

Thanks for the advice. I'll get some progress posted . . . maybe Thanksgiving week. I'll also have some other stuff soon.

[msmrx57]

Good news indeed. Been watching this so I can show the wife how it turns out because I've been thinking of something along these lines. I keep looking on craigslist for an onld console stereo or some other piece that has the right shape/design.

[Outlaw]

Pretty sweet build so far. I think the teal matches the whole 'retro' look of the unit.

Sucks to hear about the board and graphics card.

For a new gfx card. I think the gtx 660 is overkill for a dedicated htpc/light game emulator. I currently use the GTX 660 with my Q9450 to play most games on Med+ settings without issue. It does hd video playback without breaking a sweat but unless you get a great deal on it, I don't think you would need it aside from the argument of "future proofing".

Something like the HD 7770 would work (assuming you don't run dual gpus in future) or if you still want a little more oomph, the 650ti would be good and still save you some money for some extra parts.

Whats also nice with the new cards is they support audio passthrough over hdmi. I haven't tested surround on it yet to give any real opinion on it. I can tell you it was a nice surprise when i found out it was plug-n-play.

The other thing, the 7770 and 650ti will both be less power hungry than the GTX 660, resulting in less heat.

Note- Power ratings taken from HWCompare

9800GT ~108W (x2 if sli)

HD 7770 ~80W ($90+ new)
GTX 650ti boost ~110W ($125+ new)
GTX 660 ~140W ($175+ new)

Any one of the 3 cards and I'm sure many other options would be better suited than the aged 9800s.


If you shopping around and haven't check them out yet, I would recommend checking the for sale/trade section over at hardforum. They have some really good deals and even beat out fleabay 99% of the time.

Good Luck and can't wait to see more!
Outlaw

[d_stilgar]

Thanks for the recommendations. My hope is to play lots of games from my steam account as well, which is why I would want a video card capable of more than just HD playback and some emulation.

I'll look at some reviews over at HardOCP and maybe find a cheap card on HardForum. I really don't need to futureproof when the CPU is a Q9550, but I want to play games at their best settings . . . at only 1080p resolution . . . and not be held back by the CPU. So the question really is, what is the best match for my CPU that won't break the bank. Really, it looks like the 650ti boost would be enough.

Thanks!

[Outlaw]

Going to use big picture?

If your looking to play at 1080p with high+ settings, you prob want the 660/7870 or better..

Other than your extra ram, we have pretty identical systems and the cpu is still pretty powerful considering it's age. With my setup i was gaming at 720p to keep the fps up (60-100+) and because I hated how small everything was at 1080 on my 23" but I also don't play the latest titles either to give you real world opinion.
Q9450
8GB Ram
7200RPM HDD

Usually playing CS 1.6, CS:GO, Civ 5 @1280x1024 lately.

Our cpu's are comparable to IVYs i3-3220 cpu per Anandtech-http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/677?vs=50

Eurogamer review of GTX660 vs HD7870 vs GTX660Ti vs HD7850
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-geforce-gtx-660-review


650Ti Boost (unsure of Ram) vs 660 (unsure of Ram) -
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/783?vs=782
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-660-vs-GeForce-GTX-650-Ti-Boost


For under 200 though, I think the 660 is still a solid card (won't/very little cpu bottleneck), again, unless you can get a better deal on a better card. Make sure it has 2GB or more of ram though. Later on, when you upgrade, it will perform even better.


back on track though, any new pics? :)

Outlaw

[d_stilgar]

Going to use big picture?

back on track though, any new pics? :)


I will definitely use big picture mode and might even mess around with SteamOS when it's released. My biggest beef with it so far is that it is completely beautiful . . . and that I wish I could somehow import my XBMC library into it. That's it really, haha. No, more than that there are just things that it doesn't do nearly as well as being in normal mode or on a PC.

And the whole thing really points out issues with Steam's whole log on thing. I really want to be on more than one machine at once. I want to be able to play one game in one room and another game on another PC in the living room at the same time. To get around the problem I now maintain two accounts and fill my 2nd library with extra copies of games I get.

As for new pics, I don't really have any because I haven't done anything picture worthy. It's mostly been just fiddling and fixing things. I still need to take the whole machine apart again so I can cut an inch off the plywood base it's all screwed onto so that I can mount it to the drawer sliders without it hitting the front door hinges.

I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do for the old controller ports. They all have weird requirements that I hope I can get around, like needing to plug in your game controller before plugging in the adapter. That really won't do.

Then I need to figure out a way to very easily and quickly import a few hundred (maybe thousand) games into XBMC with the advanced launcher so I can just launch them from within XBMC.

And I'm fiddling with the idea of building an Adalight system for the machine. It would be totally awesome and add a lot to the entire build, but would cost . . . ~$75-130 to make it happen.

But, I'll get the drawer thing working soon and then post some more pics and a video.

[Outlaw]

In beta. seems to be pretty cool and seems like it would solve your problem. It will also be part of steam os.
http://store.steampowered.com/sharing/

Looks like steam os will support streaming too per this article-
http://kotaku.com/valve-announces-steam-os-1371869324


Valve also announced four new features that will be available both for SteamOS and the standard Steam platform: streaming, family sharing, parental restrictions, and options for movies, music, and other media.


For the controller adapter-

I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do for the old controller ports. They all have weird requirements that I hope I can get around, like needing to plug in your game controller before plugging in the adapter. That really won't do.

Does that mean it has to be plugged into the adapter before plugging into pc? Seems like a pita. Maybe plug into a hub that you can turn on/off so you don't have to keep unplugging and plugging back in?

Not familiar with XBMC. Good luck with that import, lol


That Adalight system looks pretty cool. Normal use, I think it would be distracting, but something like music videos or music for parties, it would be a cool feature. Definitely have to see pics when you do that.


Good luck and can't wait for more pics
Outlaw

[d_stilgar]

The issue with family sharing in steam is that it's fine as long as I'm not playing any of my games. But as soon as I want to play anything with my account, even a free to play game, then the other person gets kicked out of whatever they are playing, even when it's a different game.

It's irritating when I have 300+ games in my library and I want to play Borderlands 2 that I can't play any of the other 299 games in another room on another computer, and I don't think family sharing is going to solve the problem, at least not yet.

I'm not sold on the streaming yet either, but we'll see. It might solve some issues, especially if I never plan on gaming in two rooms at once (so no friends over for lan parties), and will make a HTPC setup much cheaper as a 2nd device. In any case it will be free, so that's awesome.

The switch idea for the USB sounds like a good idea. It really is a dumb thing to have to work around.

Even though the machine is looking pretty bad right now, I'll move some more files over, set up Dolphin Emulator, get one game in the XBMC library, and make a little video in the next week. I think it's time to show off how awesome this setup really is.

I hear Adalight is best for animated movies. Because of the way cameras work, it always looks more extreme in videos, and the software can be configured so that it's much more subtle. In any case I think it's that extra feature not seen very often, so I like it. It's also been on my to-do list for a few years, but I never have the money. I have some now, so it would be fun . . . if I can find the time to get it put together.

[Stonerboy779]

Can't wait to see more it's really making me want to work on one of my consoles but it is a project for the future when i have a house haha

[Outlaw]

The issue with family sharing in steam is that it's fine as long as I'm not playing any of my games. But as soon as I want to play anything with my account, even a free to play game, then the other person gets kicked out of whatever they are playing, even when it's a different game.

It's irritating when I have 300+ games in my library and I want to play Borderlands 2 that I can't play any of the other 299 games in another room on another computer, and I don't think family sharing is going to solve the problem, at least not yet.

I'm not sold on the streaming yet either, but we'll see. It might solve some issues, especially if I never plan on gaming in two rooms at once (so no friends over for lan parties), and will make a HTPC setup much cheaper as a 2nd device. In any case it will be free, so that's awesome.

The switch idea for the USB sounds like a good idea. It really is a dumb thing to have to work around.

Even though the machine is looking pretty bad right now, I'll move some more files over, set up Dolphin Emulator, get one game in the XBMC library, and make a little video in the next week. I think it's time to show off how awesome this setup really is.

I hear Adalight is best for animated movies. Because of the way cameras work, it always looks more extreme in videos, and the software can be configured so that it's much more subtle. In any case I think it's that extra feature not seen very often, so I like it. It's also been on my to-do list for a few years, but I never have the money. I have some now, so it would be fun . . . if I can find the time to get it put together.

Ahh. I definitely read the wrong article. I read it as you just couldn't play the same game.. That sucks though.


Emulating with legacy games. If that is the only thing to work around, I don't think that's too bad, considering you are wanting to use the original controllers.

I agree on the Adalight. It's definitely not seen often/ever and would be a good conversation piece.


Good luck and can't wait to see more pics of it near/completed.


Outlaw

[Twigsoffury]

sign one computer in on offline mode =)