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.

Front view. Note lack of optical drive. I have something somewhere, but not bluray, and not slot load.

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.

Here's the 60Gb OCZ vertex. In this picture it is in a Silvestone HDDBOOST. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Bending Brake: On sale for $40. Someone buy something from me quick, like the HDD boost I listed in this thread.
Fanless PSU: $130 at newegg. 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. 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.

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 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.

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.

Finally, this build has recently gotten a nice gift from TGS. You should all go give him some rep. He gave away three SSDs 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.

Yep, more updates to come.