I have a circa-1998 dual Pentium II HP Kayak system that functions as my general email, web, and audio server running RAID1 Linux. I worked on it as a distraction a couple of years back and silenced it to make it tolerable (though not silent). It also works well as a small heater for my media room.

I'm going to replace that machine with a quieter more power efficient system. I picked the new Intel D510MO, an Antec Mini P180 case (need to house a RAID1 system), and a 130W fanless PSU.

Here is a photo showing details of the motherboard and mounting of the PSU. The ATX cable supplied with the DC-DC converter kit is slightly too short in this configuration, hence the need for the extender. The other disk of the RAID1 pair is not yet commissioned.



This photo shows the configuration of the 150W power brick. This is a large unit, but using this kind of case allows the brick to be housed internally. I've gutted an old ATX supply so that externally an IEC cable is used to connect to the 120V supply. Internally, this is routed through to the power brick.

What are the odds ... I just posted my D510MO server build today too. Great minds think alike!

Nice build and great idea using the PSU shell for the IEC jack.

Cool build. I think I'm about to get hooked on building a D510MO server myself.

Great idea using an empty PSU shell for the plug! Mind if I steal that one?

What are your impressions of the D510MO? Do you have any fans in there and how are the temperatures?

I'm still commissioning this server, but so far I think that it's good value. There are complaints in some reviews that it doesn't make a good HTPC, but I suspect that's only the case if you want it to run HT video codec.

For my purposes, I only need it to be headless and serve the audio and video files (and NAS, and email, etc). So far my codecs are elsewhere (SqueezeBox and PS3). I don't need it to have any fancy video card, and two SAYA ports is sufficient for my needs.

I have left a Panaflo fan in the ATX PSU case, and I'm running it at 5V. A little noise, but it gets me a 2C drop. I'm not sure whether to leave it running, or disconnect it.

I'm still hooking up lm-sensors, and because the server isn't fully commissioned, I'm not running it 24x7 and only have one SATA drive in place. (There will be 2 SATA drives once commissioned.)

The last test I did, the CPU temperature reported in the BIOS was 35C and 47C for the remote. With the 5V fan running, 32C and 45C for the remote.

I'm thinking of hooking up a Panaflo as the rear case fan, and running it from the PWM controller on the motherboard. I'd use lm-sensors to kick start it if the system goes over a threshold temperature.

I've removed the giant fan from the top of the mini P180 case.

This picture shows some detail of the stripped down ATX PSU casing:

• Internal rear facing grill cut out to allow for better airflow
• Connection for IEC socket to internal power cable

For safety remember to ensure that the IEC ground is connected to both the case and the internal power cable.

D510MO compatibility with Windows Home Server. I loaded WHS on a basic machine using a D510MO board.

Nice build, I'm posting mine today. I'll be running Win2k3 server instead of WHS though...I heard some people had trouble getting WHS working on the D510?