Phendrana: Ghetto media server in an old HP case

Show off your quiet rig.

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pvone
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:47 pm
Location: Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Phendrana: Ghetto media server in an old HP case

Post by pvone » Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:10 pm

Well, I had some stuff lying around that was given to me a while ago - an Intel D201GLY2 mini-ITX motherboard (Celeron 220, 1200 MHz) with a gig of RAM and a 90w PicoPSU + 60w power brick combo. At first, I thought the board wasn't really good for much - it's too slow to really watch any videos, there are no 64-bit drivers even though the CPU is 64-bit capable, there are no Windows 7 drivers at all, and the only video-out options are the onboard VGA (which seems to put out some visible noise) or a PCI video card.

But recently, when I was adding an SSD to my main PC (in addition to the 1TB Samsung F1 I already had in there), I thought, why not pull the 1TB out and build a low-power media server for it, so I wouldn't have to have my higher-power PC on all the time? And the Intel board actually fit the bill perfectly!

So, here's the result. (click for bigger pics)

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It may look slightly ghetto, but it works fantastically well. Funny about the cables there - I normally take extreme care in organizing them to make them super-pretty, but this time I just figured, well, it's gonna look kinda ghetto anyway, might as well embrace it :lol:
Anyway, the fan there is an 800RPM Slipstream mounted with 1.8mm Stretch Magic, and does a great job of cooling everything silently (funny how it's almost as big as the board!). Even the hard drive is running fairly cool so far, in these winter months. I'll keep an eye on it during the summer, but I think it'll do just fine.

The electrical tape is to silence those horrible blinking lights :lol: There's more of it on the back too!

I run the system headless, and use Remote Desktop if I need to access it. So there are only two cables coming out of the back - the ethernet cable and the power cord. Nice n' tidy.

As far as noise, the Slipstream is inaudible unless my ear is right up to it, and the Samsung F1 is extremely quiet too - although I do feel a small bit of vibration in the case, so I could probably mount the drive on softer foam or suspend it and it would be even quieter, but honestly I keep the system under my desk and I don't hear it all.

According to my Kill-A-Watt, the whole system uses ~34w at idle at ~47w at full CPU load. Pretty damn good, considering my main PC uses close to 100 watts at idle.

I've been running this little box for coming up on 3 months now with WinXP, and it's doing great. :)

Specs again:

-Intel D201GLY2 mini-ITX motherboard /w onboard Celeron 220 (1200 MHz)
-1GB DDR2
-Samsung F1 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive
-800RPM Slipstream fan
-PicoPSU-90 + 60w power brick
-Windows XP
-HP 8655C case

~34w idle; ~47w load


I just want to mention the case... it's very cleverly designed. I actually made some measurements and found that some shockingly high-end hardware would fit inside - not only a full ATX motherboard, but also a full 10.5-inch video card, presuming it's in a lower PCI-E slot; a 180mm PSU (so even an 850 watt would be possible); and I even found a couple of motherboards (even an obscure LGA1366 one) where the CPU socket was in just precisely the right spot for a TRUE to fit too. :shock: The thing is, there would need to be some cutting in order for all that to get proper airflow, and I just don't even know where to even start with that sort of thing, so I never did it... I think it would be awesome to do eventually though. The ultimate stealth case. :)

SteveRCE
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:56 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Post by SteveRCE » Sat Jan 16, 2010 11:19 am

I actually used the same case's skeleton for my server, using the same board and PicoPSU. I popped all the rivets, pulled all the plastics, and mounted a 120mm fan over the system board and system drives. Still waiting on getting more machinery for my shop before I finish the case.

+1 globe for recycling

RoGuE
Posts: 540
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:11 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Post by RoGuE » Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:59 pm

lol this is hood, but I like it. But who needs a media server to be attractive..it can be tucked away in a closet easily..

Cool

pvone
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:47 pm
Location: Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Post by pvone » Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:10 am

Thanks :)

and SteveRCE, you will post pics, right? :wink:

Trav1s
Posts: 259
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:33 pm
Location: CR, IA

Post by Trav1s » Sun Jan 17, 2010 5:51 am

Nice recycling! I really dig those old cases with new guts stuffed inside.

I have a 10 year old mini tower in my office with a modern mobo/processor/ram, HD and DVD drive. I event left the "Designed for Microsoft Windows98" sticker on the front for giggles. The reset button is missing but you can still get to the switch. Talking about boring vanilla computing...

xan_user
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Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 9:09 am
Location: Northern California.

Post by xan_user » Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:55 am

great use of an old case. my nas is similar,but in a smaller hp case.

its amazing how many people want to build a similar file server in a new case, when there are thousands of perfect cases floating around for free out there.

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