Project MUSE Clone HTPC

[GruntmaN]

I'm finally getting around to making my own dedicated HTPC. I went old school on the case. I found an old Gateway laying around when I was moving and felt it was a great fit. I think I found a much better use for it that the P133 laying in it could provide Bare with the first few posts, they were taken from my other log so some of the text may be out of context as it is referring to a post above it in the other log.

I want it to blend in with it's surroundings in my home theater. As most of you know, I'm an avid audiophile. I plunked down some change on an amp BC (before children) and I know it will be hangin in the homestead awhile. It's a Muse onehundredsixty. I've always loved it's simple yet stated appearance and will be modeling my HTPC after it.

And so the mod begins:

The case is pretty rough, I can't remember where or when I got it so after the rust detail is done, their will be some more progress.

I wanted to post over here since Crimson always blesses us with his creations. /me tips hat to one hell of a modder.

[GruntmaN]

I've been battling cold after flu ofter infection for three weeks so work has been slow but it's close to primer.
This is an old case so it was painted well, powder coat I believe but it was hard to tell.

I also got some of the hardware in. I'll be using the Albatron KX18D ProII mobo I reviewed awhile back. It was one heck of an overclocker! I'll be using an Athlon XP2500, probably at 3200+ or higher speeds. I also picked up a shuttle power supply:

For some starter storage, I got the new Maxtor 300GB SATA 7200rpm drive with the 16MB cache.

And for my burning needs, I picked up the NEC 16x DVD DL burner.

Right now I'm finishing up the mount for the PSU. As soon a I get that cleaned up and drilled then I'll be breaking out the primer.

[GruntmaN]

Well time's been short but I'm back on track. I'm a little farther than the pics I'm showing but these are the ones I remembered to take so far

This case is one of the first ATX cases out and had that huge square PSU. I went with the Shuttle 250watt seen above so I had to make a new mount. Here's the back plate of the mount. I've started wetsanding and priming and have the new bracketr and top primered and ready for final wet sand before paint. Hopefully I'll have some more pics for you towards the end of the week. The first pic didn't come out to well and it was taken when the panel was still a little curved. It's been straightened/flattened back out now.

[Sky]

Looks great and I love the concept!! The matching htpc with your other components is going to look really professional!

[GruntmaN]

Well I finally got around to getting some pics taken . I was prepping and priming the pieces and saved the ATX bracket for last and got a nice surprise, the I/O panel was one with the bracket. I had to cut out the I/O ports and make room for the plates. It's always the little stuff that annoys you It turned out great and the plates fit in there well. Unfortunately I forgot to take a before pic and an installed pic.

On the side panels of the case, there were some plastic side panels that added shape and size to the system. I decided I didn't like them and that they were too big so I am leaving them off. There are small squares where the plastic mounted, I will be putting some of the fine mesh I used on Fire there. They should help relieve the heat from the top of the case well.

Here are some of the internal pieces as well as a full shot of the top panel. One is the hdd rack and the other is a slide out rack for an external 5.25" and 3.5" drive. I will probably put the DVD burner above the hdd rack and am debating on putting a matrix orbital in the removable external rack.

Here's the back panel and the PSU mount I made. It turned out pretty well, I still need to make a support on the inside of the case for it though as the shuttle PSU is quite a long one. The PSU mount was made from the case of an old CD-Rom. Ingenuity at its best.

[Crimson Sky]

Thats just awesome--I love to see a good quality worklog! Looks like a lot of work going into it, with disassembly and painting. Any ideas what software you'll be running for the HTPC?. Snapstream's BeyondMedia +_BeyondTV3 with a Haupauge PV250 woiuld be my recommendation--although MS makes a decent one now, though pricey. Snapstream offers free TV program guide downloads and .net remote programing from any device--including web enabled devices like cellphones and PDA's.

[Whisp]

Looking good man!