Sonosaurus: HTPC build in Grandia GD04

Hi, I would like to share some build notes I have made during assembly of this HTPC. As it turned out, it is not completely straightforward to put everything neatly together in a small case. I hope some of the info will be interesting and I would appreciate comments and oppinions as well.
The PC is now in operational state, but I do not consider it finished yet, so I will review the work that has been done and continue this thread as a build / test log.






Some comments on the requierements and choice of parts:

This computer will be mostly used for music playback. I am not so much into the "Home Theater" part of the HTPC, i.e. video/TV playback is not a priority, it might be capable of some gaming though (not in present config...).
So the case of choice should match in size and style an amplifier and/or CD player. The Grandia GD04 looks absolutely perfect for this purpose, microATX motherboard fits in, there is space for couple of drives and it doesn't need speciality power supply. The three 120mm fans should provide comfortable ventilation of such small volume.

The goal is have the machine as silent as possible, and the lower limit is nothing more than absolute silence
There goes the fanless PSU, SSD and Caviar Green... I prefer to have system on SSD, and obviously my music collection can be easily played from relativelly slow storage HDD.

The Z77 mobo and gamer's memories are overkill here, i know . Processor came out of some compromising I've done with myself...

There will be a case mod needed ...

The Grandia case has 3 slots for drives: 1x2.5" and 2x3.5" , but I didn't like neither of the 3.5" positions as I suspected that 1) the HDD would block the airflow above/from the fanless power supply 2) heat from the PSU will be slowly roasting the HDD 3) I didn't like the idea of HDD being mounted on relatively large sheet of metal (even mounted with isolating rubber washers).

On the other hand there is quite some unused space behind the PSU - you can roll there unused power cables, but the Seasonic is fully modular - so I realized that this is the space I need to mount HDD in Sharkoon Vibe-Fixer - I used it in some other build and was very happy with it. Normally, it is supposed to be mounted in 5.25" bay.

Here is a picture of the actual hack:


to be continued...

haha, you made me laugh to the idea no offence intended.

Really, this still should be a computer... One important task is to run Traktor (DJ software), for example.

I have build a HTPC previously using PCI audio card - M-Audio Audiophile 2496. That worked quite well. For this one I already have NI Traktor audio 6 (more inputs and outputs), I am also considering buying an amplifier with usb input - basically external audio card integrated in the amp, but will have to do more research on that.

yes, it's a bit hybride...also an experiment , but most of the time, the uses will be as you specified. I am not sure about the OS: should be windows, but there seems to be some trouble with the Traktor drivers on win 7...

... worklog continues

Case organization

As stated above, I want to have my storage HDD hanging in the Sharkoon Vibe fixer in the corner behind PSU. To do this I had to make two holes in the front side of the case: The Grandia has an aluminium front panel that is fixed by 5 screws from the inside of the case. Some of them are blocked by the case fans, so they have to be taken out as well.

Behind the aluminium front block, there is normal sheet metal with some space between, so the screw heads (for the vibe fixer) should fit in.

I've made third hole to the bottom of the case for supporting rod. As you see on the pictures, it is just 57 mm long PVC rod with holes drilled on top and bottom.



For some reason, the motherboard height was not exactly as it should be with respect to the back panel opening, so I placed some plastic washers between the mobo and the studs: the washers had to be glued on the bottom of the mobo (alternativelly on the top of the studs), as the space is inaccessible...

Does anybody out there encountered this problem with Grandia GD04 or just my case was somehow bended?

Next, I installed the memories and CPU heatsink (Scythe SCSMZ-2000 Samurai ZZ). The heatsink does not collide with the memories, but the optical drive will reach above it, with some 5 mm space and 1-2 cm overlap. This means that not even thin fan can be located directly on the heatsink - and the Samurai came with 80x80x25 mm piece. One option is to mount the CPU fan on at least part of the heatsink - I have made test zip-tying the fan to the case rear exhaust grill, it could work like that.

Another point to mention is that due to the space constriction the sata connections for the optical drive have to be direct - not the 90 deg type - so they extend even more over the heatsink.

Anyway, the idea I have is to use no CPU fan, since one of the case fans blows directly on the CPU heatsink and in the direction of the fins. I hope this will provide enough cooling for the 65 W TDP processor. I will do some temperature tests and post them here.



The second picture above: I mounted the PSU and organized the cables - there is lot of zip-tie mounts on the bottom of the case, which is really useful. The CPU power cable is taken over the mobo - tied to the horizontal support "beam".

The motherboard goes in and is connected. The HDD fixer gets mounted to the front wall and the post. The two front fans are still not mounted as I need to mount the front panel first. On the second picture everything is almost finished and prepared to connect SSD, HDD and DVD drive. To otimize the clutter of cables I've picked one power cable with 2 sata connections (for SDD and HDD) and one with 2 molex 4-pins - there is CFL inverter mounted to the front wall, which gets one of the molexes - and the optical drive will be connected via molex-to-sata reduction (this also simlifies the installation of the drive).

The UV-CFL tubes are just for fun I will try to make some stylish photos of the completed system.



Thanks for reading, to be continued ...