Worklog: HTPC ::: sleeper

C

codeflux

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 28, 2002
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welcome to my worklog for HTPC ::: sleeper (the only reason for 3 ":" is because it looks good on the VFD). read on!

full worklog with large pictures http://codeflux.com/mods/sleeper/

Before: Philips CDi-220 Interactive Player - basically a Karaoke box
After: HTPC, but still looks mostly stock

Hardware:
Motherboard Asus A7N266-VM nForce
CPU AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2GHz
HSF Thermaltake w/Speeze low-speed fan
RAM 2x Crucial PC2100 256MB
Hard Drive 40GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE (small, but enough)
DVD-ROM Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM 48x CD-ROM
Video ATI Radeon 9200SE 128MB low-profile
TV ATI E-HOME Wonder low-profile & SageTV
PSU Allied 200W ATX low-profile
Display Matrix Orbital 20x2 VK202-25 w/LCDC
Remote Creative PC-DVD w/uICE

The bulk of the project was done in 2003. Some of the photos are out of order because I was coming back and redoing things here and there. As any work of art, this project is not finished - just abandoned. I am still going back in and changing a thing or two here and there.
 
a trip - ok, trips - to 5 or 6 pawn shops yielded a victim - an old karaoke box by Philips. supposedly in a working condition. it came with one of the ugliest remote controls i've ever seen, looked sort of like a startreck phaser thingie... trash!

/edit deleted images - see above url
 
Looks like its going well. I am trying to do the same thing with an old VCR that wont record anymore but havnt really gotten the project off the ground. Is it just at the "gut the box" stage or are there more pics with the comp inside?
 
That is so tight at the IDE cable. Not sure I would be comfortable with that PSU witout a cover next to the IDE. Best of luck on it.
 
Kckazdude said:
That is so tight at the IDE cable. Not sure I would be comfortable with that PSU witout a cover next to the IDE. Best of luck on it.
Click to expand...
believe me it works perfectly. and the PSU is well grounded. :) i will post more pics tomorrow, give or take.
 
I've got that board laying around here and a few A/V equipment cases that I've been using for inspiration...hmmmm. :D
Thanks for giving me some ideas. What about any interference from the PSU? Personally I take a can or two of Flat Black to it.
 
Nice.
But can that video card I see fit vertically in the box? I had considered using a old vcr before but I figured out that its waaay too short.
 
CrimandEvil said:
What did you do about the previous mounting holes on the case?
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uhm... nothing? they are still there. one of these days i'll go back, break everything apart, and cover those up. but for now they are still holes. :)
 
that actualy looks realy good, I love how you kept as stock as possible. I only have 2 problems with it, Paint the dvdrom tray black as well. And The fan grills you had on there first look much better imo.

072.jpg


that would look much cleaner and flow alot better with the grill cut out. But like I said that is just my opion. All in all I love this case. Great job.

JEEVES
 
one of the most complicated and nicest mods ive ever seen worked on, i feel for you cause i have the ati radeon 9200se too, and thats for my main rig loL! :(
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname? said:
that actualy looks realy good, I love how you kept as stock as possible. I only have 2 problems with it, Paint the dvdrom tray black as well. And The fan grills you had on there first look much better imo.

that would look much cleaner and flow alot better with the grill cut out. But like I said that is just my opion. All in all I love this case. Great job.
Click to expand...
i would have loved to keep those "speaker-cover" grilles - but unfortunately they were blocking too much air, and with a little dust accumulation, it got worse still... and then when i stuck a 2400+ (instead of 1700+ which i had in it initially), it got pretty warm.

that's why i changed the grilles, and cut a vent in the top of the case. that alone dropped my temps almost 10 degrees C (from upper 50's to mid-40's). so yeah, it was worth it. :)
 
tylerhskate said:
one of the most complicated and nicest mods ive ever seen worked on, i feel for you cause i have the ati radeon 9200se too, and thats for my main rig loL! :(
Click to expand...
uh! thank you! finally a comment i was expecting, after that much PIA! thanks, m8! ;)
 
codeflux said:
i would have loved to keep those "speaker-cover" grilles - but unfortunately they were blocking too much air, and with a little dust accumulation, it got worse still... and then when i stuck a 2400+ (instead of 1700+ which i had in it initially), it got pretty warm.

that's why i changed the grilles, and cut a vent in the top of the case. that alone dropped my temps almost 10 degrees C (from upper 50's to mid-40's). so yeah, it was worth it. :)
Click to expand...

yeah i figured you change them due to air restriction. As for temp control why not underclock the proccessor some. I mean you dont realy need the full potential of the 2400 to run divx/movies.

JEEVES
 
The motherboard doesn't have any sort of options to let you OC/underclock, he could change the FSB down to 100 instead of 133 but not sure what kind of clock he'd get then. Plus if he uses ffdshow (and I don't know why not?) then you'd want as much CPU as you can get :D
 
nice job.. turned out much better then my vcr did..

what was the logic behind the ati video card thou? chaintech has a matx board with tv out onboard.

*hmm* *runs off to ebay*

:)
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname? said:
yeah i figured you change them due to air restriction. As for temp control why not underclock the proccessor some. I mean you dont realy need the full potential of the 2400 to run divx/movies.
Click to expand...
don't forget - i have a TV tuner in there too, and between SageTV 2.0 (yeah, forked out $60 for the license), Descaler, and WMA, i need all the juice i can get. 2400+ works nicely - when watching TV, system load is about 40-60%, depending on what's going on and stuff.

right, overclocking is not really an option, but then again, i cannot afford any more heat in there. the CPU runs in mid-40s on idle, and the PSU heats up pretty nicely too (low 50s - it was over 70 before i added the rear fan and more heatsinks on the PSU's radiators).

as far as underclocking from 133mhz FSB to 100mhz FSB, i'd get 1.5GHz, instead of 2GHz stock (multiplier is 15 on that chip). but like i said above, i need juice. i'm running single-DDR as it is (as opposed to dual-channel DDR), so FSB counts for a lot.
 
Veeb0rg said:
nice job.. turned out much better then my vcr did..
Click to expand...
maybe because mine is not a VCR - it is (was) a VCD player. :)
Veeb0rg said:
what was the logic behind the ati video card thou? chaintech has a matx board with tv out onboard.
Click to expand...
1. that ATI card has an RCA video out - no need to additional adaptors.
2. i still run Winamp visualizations once in a while, and hardly any on-board video could cope with that. I NEED MORE POWAH!

i've been eyeing some low-profile 9600's - but at this point i'm too busy with other stuff to care too much. i will get rid of that 9200 though one of these days.
 
very nice looking mod. what was the total cost on it? (didn't see one, but then again i may have just missed it)
 
rogue_jedi said:
very nice looking mod. what was the total cost on it? (didn't see one, but then again i may have just missed it)
Click to expand...
well, the case itself cost me ~$90 - it was supposedly still working, and i bought it at a pawn shop. a bit too steep, but at least it turned out to be great.

the parts themselves were pretty much off-the-shelf stuff, which i bought from newegg. i'd say about $500-600 overall for all the parts and stuff. a bit steep, again, but hey! buys and their toys, ya know. ;)
 
HA!

I have to give you props on that mod as you beat me to the idea.

The unit is a Philips CD-I I had been eyeing one at my local fleamarket here to do the same type of project!

The other Idea I had was to use that as the part the user would interface with and utilize a USB 2.0 drive caddy to mount a DVD drive in to it.. then put a USB 2.0 hub in it andput a USB VFD, USB Receiver for remotes and etc, put some usb ports on the front and so on and so forth (you get the basic idea). THen put a power strip of some sort in it so that only two cables would come out of the box, the usb and a single power cable.

The next part of the idea I was tinkering with was adding a RJ45 jack on to the rear of the unit and hooking various buttons to the wires so I could run all thew wires back to a tower case that was hidden behind my TV or rack/shelf to power on the system and etc.

Anyway I always have a ton of ideas just not enough time skills and patience to pull it off..

Again great job!
 
Hey Nintari! I thought it was you!
Sounds good, I have several DVD players, recievers, and a multi CD player gutted and ready for modding but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with them too.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Hey Nintari! I thought it was you!
Sounds good, I have several DVD players, recievers, and a multi CD player gutted and ready for modding but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with them too.
Click to expand...
sheeet! just send 'em over to me - i'm sure i'll figure out what to do with them. :)
 
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