Yup. i decided to do it. i got some extra cash coming from my tax return, and i decided i would like to build a second little computer. one i can have to listen to music, use for communication, (aim, skype, email), have pc game guides open while im playing on my Gaming rig, and stuff like that. maybe make a little tv station.
I decided to go with a Mini itx board instead of a micro because of space issues. mainly because with a micro i would have to have a beefy external power supply, but with this Zotac board i picked out, it comes with a laptop looking power cord that just plugs right in. bad***. its a 90w power supply.
So i figured i would see what you guys had to say about the setup i picked out! for the motherboard i got a ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom 330 board. It comes with a 1.6ghz Dual Core Intel atom CPU and a heatsink/fancombo. here is the link.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813500027
in addition i just picked out some gskill 2gb DDr2 ram, and a 250gb segate Barracuda, 7200rpm with a 8mb cache. this is where i was thinking of asking for help, i wasnt sure if i needed to look for a low power consuming hard drive to suffice for the small powersupply. or if any company made extra slim hard drives meant for small builds.
i just noticed that my power supply does not have a 4 pin connector. i have a 80mm fan i picked out from before that i was going to attach to the case to cool the heatsink. with that mobo can i only have 1 fan hooked up? cause i would like to do a fan on the side and the fan on top. The fan i have now had a 4 pin connector and that mini 3 pin connector that plugs into the board. can i use that 4 pin connector to attach to another fan so i can have 2?
for now i think ima go net book style and roll without a optical drive. i have an external CD drive, but come to think of it i think its a firefire output. who knows. but i'll just hook up another drive of mine to intall an OS ( think i might go Ubuntu style this time) and then ditch the Drive. maybe later after i get a few more $$$ i might invest in a slim blue ray drive. who knows!
go big or go home, i might grab a 200mm fan and cut a hole in the side. or a slim slipstream 120mm. still gotta look into it!
My other question was that when i took apart my xbox, i removed everything, so that it was just the plastic casing. what i was wondering was do i have to have that metal tray the motherboard was screwed too? cause if thats the case then i was just going to cut out the metal tray the same size as the mobo and mount it. im not very smart when it comes to grounding stuff. i shorted out a mobo before. cause if i put out the metal i will have an inch or two extra to work with.
any suggestions would be aweome!
also, thinking of painting yellow to match my gaming rig. i used Duplicolor engine enamel to paint my case, will the same work with plastic?
edit: also one more thing. how would i go about making a switch to turn on the computer? because im not excatly smart enough to try and rig the front power button to turn it on...so what are my alternatives?
so basically in a nutshell, here are my questions:
1. can i use any hard drive with a mini itx board? something that uses low wattage?
2. with that board, is it possible to have 2 or even 3 fans hooked up? im looking to have 1 for the heatsink, and possible two 60mm fans on top for some extra air.
3. do i have to mount the mobo to metal? or can i screw it to plastic with the riser screws?
4. can i buy just a power switch that i can install on a different part of the case? cause im not using the xbox power button.