spartacus

Spartacus' Ultra-Cheap HD HTPC Build Log!!!

My budget is quite small, but my aspirations are ... umm, much bigger.
The game plan is to mod this little aluminum box (paint it black, cut holes in it, add some lights), shove a mATX 939 machine inside it, and in the end watch some glorious 720p movies with it. (and run whatever other server or always-on type apps that I might desire at college )

** The Parts **

$40 - HP DX5150 (MSI MS-7050) 939 board & AMD 3700+ (Thanks gbyss!)
$20 - Cheapest I can find... (thinking of this since it's on sale)
$0! - Aluminum box/case -- dad picked 4 of them out of the dumpster at his work and I swiped one
$0! - Tiny 200W PSU my dad also picked up at the dumpster
$0! - Seagate 250GB IDE HDD
$15 - 2x 512MB DDR400 sticks

$15 at Performance PC's
$5 at Xoxide
___
$95 total so far!

(I'll have to see how the onboard video handles itself, but my guess is I'll have to pickup a cheap GPU to handle the 720p content)

** Contents **
1 - Getting started & the pile of stuff I have so far (posting pics now, hold on)
2 - PSU Sleeving, testing the CPU and motherboard, ghetto 775 heatsink attachment
Front and rear panel cutouts, front grill, motherboard standoffs
Finishing the grill and a paint job
It's Alive!!!!! (Putting it all together, power-ON!)

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E8400 @ 4.4Ghz, 1.34v

spartacus

1 - Getting started & the pile of stuff I have so far (posting pics now, hold on)

The mobo is rebranded MSI mobo that came from an HP computer. Thanks to gbyss for giving me a nice deal on this and the 3700+! It shpped today, so here's a stock pic of it. I'm gonna try and flash the BIOS to the MSI one in the hope that I will achieve some OC'ing options. (Hopefully I don't booger it up!)


Last night I got to work sanding down the little aluminum box my dad pulled from the dumpster at work. It used to house some electronic testing equipment. Once I get the motherboard, I'll line it up and cut a hole for the rear IO panel.

I will probably cut some holes in the front and add a meshed area, and a power switch. My other thought was to get a piece of dark, smoked black acrylic as the front panel with a blue CCFL or LED's inside. I'll have to see how the total cost ends up before I start buying anymore fancy crap.

I won't be using a CD/DVD drive built in to save space--I have a USB one that should work to install the OS.







The free PSU:



The PSU doesn't have all the connectors I need, so I picked up some parts for a DIY job. I'm gonna sleeve the cables and replace the white connectors with black ones (it's cheap enough and will look a lot better). I also have a SATA drive I am gonna put in with the 250GB, so I needed a sata plug.
I had to get the 20-24 pin psu cable from Xoxide -- PPC wanted $7.95 and XO had it for $4.50 shipped!



Parts should start arriving by Friday, and more on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm out until then.
Thanks for watching.

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E8400 @ 4.4Ghz, 1.34v

TikiMan098

the things some ppl throw away! lol looks like a winner already. Whats the total cost going to be? I just like to know so i can throw some good numbers at people who are about to buy the latest hp or dell.

SystemTech

Cool project, Nice and small. cant wait to see more progress.

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"To have God in our side doesn't mean sailing on a boat with no storms, it means having a boat that no storm can sink!"

spartacus

I'll keep a running tally of all the stuff I buy.
The goal is to keep it <$100. I think I'll be fine if I can find some cheap RAM.

(Although I could've done without the cable sleeving, I want this to be a classy looking Ultra-cheap HTPC ...not a trash bin junker of a PC )

Thanks. Now it's just waiting for parts!

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E8400 @ 4.4Ghz, 1.34v

spartacus

Update:

It looks like this will be a great little setup once it's all running.

The mobo arrived last Monday (woo!) and I got it up and running today. I also got the PSU sleeved and the P4 power adapter made. (DOH! forgot the P4 cable! oh well).





The motherboard/cpu didn't come with a 939 heatsink, so I'm gonna use a 775 cooler I have from my sig rig build... Right now it's ghetto rigged, but it works.

The zipties just cross and pull it down. However, it's not a firm as I'd like it. In the BIOS, the CPU temp is idle at 54*C, which seems really high (temp ranges on a 3700+ anyone?). If anybody has a better (but cheap/free) way of attaching this, PLEASE post it!





I''m gonna go try and cut out a back plate and some standoff mounting holes so I can have a better place to work on it ... the desk drawer is kind of cramped

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E8400 @ 4.4Ghz, 1.34v

spartacus

Front & Back Panel Cutouts, Front Grill, Standoff Holes

That sums up what I did in a quick phrase.

I found the dimensions for mATX boards, but after I couldn't find my ruler, I just dropped the board into the case as it should line up and used a sharpie to mark holes. My original intention was to tap the holes, but the standoffs I scrounged up had enough of an overhang to just make thru holes and thread a nut on the bottom of them (and I didn't want to buy a tap for a ultra-cheap build! ).





I cut out the back panel for the IO stuff. It's not really graceful, but at least it's a clean cut and that side faces backwards!



I decided I did want a grill of some sorts on the front. I found this piece of metal mesh in the basement, so I used some wood, a vice grip, and a hammer to make a little rectangular window.





And to finish off the night:

I began to cut out the front panel. Note: NO RULER WAS USED AT ALL for this grill ida! haha. Measuring is too much work (coming from someone who's getting his BS in mech. engr. next year! haha! watch out!) I think it will look pretty good once it is done. Progress on this part was halted by the jigsaw overheating (it burned when I touched the housing near the motor) and TV (Office reruns, So You Think You Can Dance! (Yes, it's really cool :P))



That's all for now!
Tomorrow I'm gonna finish the front cutout, do a quick assembly to make sure everything fits ok, and start the painting! Wooo!

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E8400 @ 4.4Ghz, 1.34v

grishkathefool

sub'd!!!

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spartacus

Update: Finished the front grill & gave 'er a paint job

Got the front panel cutout, finished the grill, etc, etc. The jigsaw didn't do too bad of a job. It looked pretty bad after the rough cut, but with a little filing and sanding, the top edge started to look a lot better. I ended up just grabbing a tub of JBWeld to mount the grill --- I forgot to add some screw holes before I painted it alll .... But it works.

It's not perfect, but as farmer Hogget said, "That'll do pig, that'll do."



I got the case painted over the past weekend. 1 coat of gray primer, 1 can of flat black, 1 coat of clear. Everything looks good now ...except... I boogered up the edge of the paint job on the front panel and left a couple fingerprints. Also, I spilled a couple patches of JB Weld on the grill when I glued it into place.

I found a momentary on switch in the basement and need a cover and some wire for it.

I have the backplate cutout for the PSU too, but I didn't bother to get pics of it.

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E8400 @ 4.4Ghz, 1.34v

nubz

I think it looks fine broski.

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