HTPC in Onkyo style

[_ferry_]

Hey guys!

I know i know, it's been a while since my last post here. I spend a lot of time on hobbies but casemodding was on a hold. I spend quite some time on hobbies like airbrushing, electronics, fixing/servicing my VW beetle, stuff like that.

Project Alien Hopspital is still on a hold, I hope I can finish it someday, but meanwhile i started a new casemod. Actually started yesterday The reason for this mod is that i'm moving out to my own house in about a year, (the house has to be build first) So in the meantime I try to prepare as much as possible by building things like LED Lights, Furniture, decorative items, buying stuff etc.

This casemod is a HTPC, so please, do not expect fancy lights, extreme hardware, stuff like that. It's more budget friendly, and I'll try to use hardware and parts which, sometimes, have been around in my mancave for ages.
The plan is to give it the same looks as my Onkyo Amplifier & CD player. This means a brushed aluminium front, very little buttons, and solid. (the amplifier even has a 5mm thick aluminium front.)

Well, As i said i will generally use old stock or things i can use again.
1 of them is the Cooler Master Praetorian. It's a full aluminium case, and i'll use the removable motherboard tray and backplate.

Let's roll..

Part of the stuff i had laying around. If you're wondering what happened to the Praetorian, check this

PSone display, might be usefull

First thing to do after disassembly was shortening the case. It was 44cm high, my amplifier is 43,5cm wide. Between the motherboard tray and PSU was some space which was unused. I removed that part, and had to move this rail 1CM upwards. This rail holds the motherboard tray.

Here it's done. You can see that the PSU hit's the backplate directly. Original here.

Tray is held together in the 2 rails.

After all those years i lost the plate which holds the PSu. Well, lets make a new one. As you can see at the fan on top: I'd also reversed the PSU. The air goes in at the side of the case, instead of the case itself.

Looks good

Fits like it was stock

A small part was then cut away to create some space for the sidepanel
... ehh... bottom panel which i can bolt into that nut.

Here I've bend the panel, fits perfectly along the motherboard tray.

Then i played a bit with the possible positions of HDD's, optical, pump, radiator, PSone screen etc.
I think it will be something like this. Preferable with the optical in the middle, like my CD player has.

That's it for now. I've made some more progress, but done enough for today. Wasn't sure if the 120mm rad. could handle the CPU (E6600) and VGA(simple ATI x1650). I think it can, maybe not with the lowest temperatures and high OC. But i'm aiming at silence, not speed. Anyway, i have some aluminium cooling profiles and copper HDD coolers. I will combine those to some kind of passive radiator.

[jdbnsn]

Welcome back _ferry_!!!!

[SXRguyinMA]

Nice! I saw Onkyo and thought of old school audio equipment - +sub

[_ferry_]

Yeah, the look of the amplifier is very old school, no fancy buttons, small display. I like it.

Well, i have a update of the work i did yesterday evening after doing the topicstart. Don't get your expectations too high, i can't show you a new update every day But this day i can.

A sheet of aluminium. +/-60x200cm. Got 2 of them... for free 1 has already been used for various projects

Made the sidepanel of it. Bend the corners, mounted with 2 screws to see how it fits.

Then... The watercooling, the single 120 radiator might be slightly under dimensioned. Allthough there are all-in-one products based on 120 radiators. I'm used to work with big cases, having space for 360 radiators

Anyway, a collected some more stuff, witch can be useful...

Had to remove a small part of the motherboard tray...

So i can fit these. The copper blocks are HDD coolers, got them as a leftover from a PC shop. Finally, got a use for them
The aluminium coolers are from a product i had twice. You can get a virtual cookie by guessing where they came from (brand+product type). I knew i had 2 of them, but it took me 1/4 hour to find the second one
Anyway, they have the same length, and i can connect the 2 copper blocks with a piece of CCFL housing.

First one fits Hacking the hole was quite hard, the panel was +/-5mm thick at certain points. The cutter has a hard time getting through it... and it should be straight without scratches

Second one fits as well. Note they're not perfectly aligned yet. Just hanging in the opening.
I think it's awesome looking. Cooling performance? Dunno... But hey, it looks cool!

Mounted with some screws. The standoffs aren't necessary, but they're easier to fit then normal M3 nuts

But i'm not allowed to drill holes in it. You'll see the screws on the other side.
So i came up with this. Pretty simple, very effective.

And to push the block against the cooling profile i just tighten this screw.

Which adds enough pressure to bend the cooler if i want to.

Fits perfectly. This was more like a prototype, i can finish it with some sanding and build another 3 of them. Should i just leave them like that, or maybe some fancy additions like LED, or maybe acrylic or aluminium connection rods between them?

[AmEv]

I'd suggest having LEDs illuminating the grilles, creating a "barcode"-ish effect. Put the LEDs inside the case, off to the side.


Just do it temporarily, to see if you like it.

[_ferry_]

That would be nice yes, was thinking about it too. and def. will do that. Thinking about a cold white with blue accent lightning scheme. And 1 switch on the front to switch them all on to enter the "showcase mode"
Got the 2nd acrylic clamp finished. Another 2 to go...

Oh, also found another lay out, maybe the best one.
Imaging yoursels 3 HDD's screwed almost against the top panel, and in the middle right beneath them the optical drive. It gives me plenty of space behind the front panel, a CD/DVD tray in the middle. And the space beneath the top panel is enough for 6 HDD's or so. Not that i need that much, so i'll stick to 3 bays. And maybe a smaller one for SSD when i want one in the HTPC.

[d_stilgar]

This build is looking really good.

[diluzio91]

haha... i'm back and loving all the awesome aluminum.

[d_stilgar]

So i can fit these. The copper blocks are HDD coolers, got them as a leftover from a PC shop. Finally, got a use for them
The aluminium coolers are from a product i had twice. You can get a virtual cookie by guessing where they came from (brand+product type). I knew i had 2 of them, but it took me 1/4 hour to find the second one

It looks like they could be from some tuniq hd coolers, but yours look smaller than what I'm looking at here, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835154005.

Still, love the concept of passive cooling. I hope it works out. I've thought of similar things at times. Zalman had a case that had heat pipe out to fins on the case.

[AmEv]

It's a low-power machine. With a quiet pump, it should be enough.