The story...

The kitchen computer is one of the most used computers in our house. For years this computer was a laptop that had a busted screen connected to a monitor and keyboard. If we only needed to surf, this would have been an okay setup to have. However, 3D games and HD content on the web has made this the worst computer ever (according to my 9 year old). I had a friend email and tell me about a deal Micro Center had going on with their AMD chips. Buy a chip, get a free motherboard. This was to hard to pass up. I got a Phenom II X4 840 quad core chip and a motherboard for $99. Nice... now, I need to put it in a place that use to occupy less than a inch deep... Here is where the problem starts. I could not find any reasonably priced case that would be, powerful enough, small enough, and quiet enough to suite my needs. So, like any geek with a miter saw would do, I built my own case. I wanted to start a blog to show the progression and the changes I make. Feel free to comment.


Oh, and before you blast me about the exposed power supply - I do know the dangers. The power supply is surrounded in metal on the back and sides and one can not touch the dangerous capacitors because of the plexiglass on the front.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Action shot

K-dog fragging it up in Unreal Tournament.
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Updated case...

I ordered a new CPU heat sink from NewEgg.   I was so excited because it look like it would be a perfect fit for the ghetto computer...  but... its about 8mm to tall.    I was so bummed.

But, in true ghetto fashion, I extracted the fan and made a mount for the stock heat sink and bolted the new fan on it.   Works... sorta.    The new fan fits and solved my sound problem.  I went from 45db with the stock cooler to 39db - which is just a little over ambient noise for the kitchen.



But now, the idle heat temp is 33 (Celsius) and quickly goes to 40+ when you have any processes going on.  This is no where near the temperature limits of the CPU, I just like to have my temps down as low as possible - especially since this is a wood case!

I also added a power switch to the back access panel and I made a small aluminum tab to mount my power and hard drive LEDs to.  You can see them in the upper right hand corner behind the case fan.  Blue for power and green for the hard drive... I think it looks nice...

Next... some sort of stain maybe and a better cooling hear sink.
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First things first

Started out by cutting the board.   Used a table saw to cut a blade width slot for the plexiglass and to cut a slot for the ply-board backing.

Once all four side were complete, I cut the plyboard to size and fixed three sides in place with glue and trim nails.  The fourth side will be used to access the inside of the case.   I drew out the points that needed to be removed (power connector, I/O ports, Fan) and then will be mounted it in place with four wood screws.

The plexiglass was difficult to cut.  I am surprised I was able to cut a hole for the fan at all...  usually the plexiglass breaks if you try to cut it with power tools.  I got lucky  on my first go around.

Once the case was complete, I added the power supply and main board tray to the back of the ply-board with screws and bolts.   The bottom side of the power supply is simply glued in.   The hard drive is mounted on a L shaped piece of wood and secured in place with heavy duty double stick tape.  This will keep the drive secure and will create a padding that will keep it from vibrating the case.

 Here is first attempt.  I have a stock cooler in place and I am surprised to see that it is keeping the CPU very cool.  The temperature at idle is only 24 degrees Celsius.   But... it is too loud for me... I used an iPhone app to measure the db level and it said 45db. Without the computer running the ambient noise level is only 38 db.   Its enough bug me.   So I will change the CPU heat sink it out on the next update.
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Parts list:

Computer:
  - AMD Phenom II X4 840
  - Asus M4A78LT-M LE mATX
  - Crucial 4GB DDR3 PC1600 RAM
  - 500 watt power Antec supply
  - 80Gb 2.5" SATA drive

Case:
  - 3/4" x 4" pine board
  - 2' x 2' x 1/8" plyboard (for the back)
  - 20" x 18" plexiglass
  - Aluminum from old case for power supply housing and LED mount
  - 2 x 5mm LED lights
  - Momentary switch for power button
  - donor wire from old case and power cord
  - Gorilla glue
  - Trim nails
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