HTPC Build inside a drawer [Lots of plastidip!]

[JokuTyyppi]

Sooo, summer went by and I thought i should have something to do on these dark evenings. I got a 42" plasma tv for free about half a year ago and I have had a very ghettoish HTPC connected to it. It is built out of all the excess components i had laying around It has an msi mobo (which is very ugly red color), Amd Athlon 64x2 XXXX, two gigs of ram, Radeon 5450, Xonar DGX sound card, random TV card and an Apple (WD) hdd from my Mac G5 build. I hav ditched cpu and gpu fan and put just a 200mm fan on top of the mobo, not screwed into anything or so I needed it to be quiet, don't care about the temps on those crappy components (temps are not that bad actually, about 40c) Oh shit this image quality, please don't kill me

 

Update1

Update 2

Update 3 (almost finished)

 

 

 

So i got angry because i had just put those parts in there and it looks AWFUL (or awesome if you like )  The whole pc has been under my table so that no one has been able to see it but still... it hurts inside to know that it looks awful. So i thought that i could build it inside my homemade drawer and make it look AWESOME My idea is to make two sections to the drawer: lower and upper. PSU would go to the lower section and there i could hide all the cables. On the upper section would be MoBo and holes for the cables (which i hope to sleeve) As well as the hdd. Then i need to cut holes for PSU airflow and Back IO and for one fan in the back.

 

 

 

There will be LEDs (hey, it's me, what else did you think? ) And the drawer will be completely black inside. Also the MoBo will be plastidipped(!!!!) black because otherwise that build would never look good

 

These are just my initial thoughts about this build and I am not 100% sure how it will end up, but we'll see!

[Jerakl]

Nice, following this.

[ERSCreeper]

Looks interesting

[CowsGoRoar]

Looks good! Ghetto makes it more badass. 

[Guest]

[JokuTyyppi]

[uPDATE 1]

 

Today I started working on the drawer and managed to saw the MoBo tressle which hides the psu and all of the cables. I also made a holder for the dvd drive. Then i cut an intake hole for psu. I also attached the hdd "rack" there. Tomorrow i will need to cut hole for the psu in the back as well as for mobo back io

 

Remember, all of this will be black!

 

   

 

That... thing there isn't aligned correctly so it looks weird

 

[Razbit]

Ahh, some good ol' progress! Looks good, keep it up

Dat DVD tho

[JokuTyyppi]

Ahh, some good ol' progress! Looks good, keep it up

Dat DVD tho

Thanks And that DVD drive WILL be atleast plastidipped... Otherwise it would never end up in this build!

[Razbit]

Thanks And that DVD drive WILL be atleast plastidipped... Otherwise it would never end up in this build!

Well that's a good news

Edit: oh god f*cking sh1t, a grammatical mistake! Phew, fixed

[JokuTyyppi]

Well that's a good news Edit: oh god f*cking sh1t, a grammatical mistake! Phew, fixed

[JokuTyyppi]

[uPDATE 2]

 

I have been very busy with this build for these two days, even so busy that i didn't have time to post this update! Yesterday i was still at my friends place (watching ) him build me a pwm controller (Thanks a lot Razbit)  at around 00.30 so i was so tired at that point that i couldnt do a post here...

 

On these two days i have managed to install a few things in the box and drill some holes, make motherboard standoffs and.... much more... AND PLASTIDIPPING Its so much fun to paint ugly old components to look good and new. Only at a cost of a spray can!

 

I also bought a sleeved 24pin cable and Razbit sleeved me the 4pin cable.

 

Here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

I even plastidipped that Radeon Red doesn't go with this build so well.

 

 

Painted the visible part of the box.

 

 

MoBo stands

 

 

Then to painting! But it is still wet in these pics. It will be matt black.

 

 

When i bend that thing it cracked but then i filled it with epoxy and gave it some sandpaper and then painted it so it is good now

 

 

A cover for DVD drive, you'll see how it fits later on

 

Sorry for my few words but im too tired to write a novel now

[JokuTyyppi]

Awesome! Cant wait for the finished result, I love projects like this

Thanks! I cant wait for it either It is soooo fun to build these kind of things I only wish i had a better camera so that my build logs would be more enjoyable to read...

[JokuTyyppi]

[uPDATE 3]

 

Wow this has been fast build! I managed to paint all of the necessary parts (except tv card is still drying) and installed the parts to the drawer. I think it looks pretty good and much better in live than in these crappy pictures... It is not completely finished yet but getting very close. It is already useable and fully working. There are also many fingerprints in the pics so it looks... bad (NSA might get my name from the fingerprints!! OMG ) Also cooling is not completely finished as i haven't decided what kind of fans i am going to use and how many. We'll see how hot it gets.

 

First when i booted it up i had a small problem... It just beeped and didnt post. Then i took ram dims out and noticed that some paint had managed to get between the ram and motherboars pins so of course it didnt boot! Then i took my screwdriver and scratched the paint off the pins and ram. Very roughly actually as these are old and cheap parts  I wasn't too worried about it getting broken. But now it works perfectly. More pics when it is completely ready!

 

This is that dvd cover i made. Sorry about those fingerprints....

 

 

 

LEDs under Mobo. Don't look good in these pics.. but real life it is very nice

 

 

 

[Razbit]

Wow, I gotta say you did a great job! (again )

The plastidipping came out better than I first expected, it does look FREAKING COOL It seems to be something that you'll have to teach me one day, when I figure out my coming projects

Yes indeed, this was a real quick build, but, of course, its just a good thing! (Someone has been modding he's Define r4 now for 25 months, and it ain't ready..)

Anyway, great job & can't wait to see what you'll come up with in the future

[BarisERY]

Does everything work fine with PlastiDİp all over the electronic parts?

[JokuTyyppi]

Does everything work fine with PlastiDİp all over the electronic parts?

Everything works perfectly! It is because plastidip is kind of rubber when it dries out and it doesn't conduct electricity. You should only leave heatsinks without paint as paint reduces its heat dissipation. And plastidip is easy to take off if it goes on to something you dont want it to go

[JokuTyyppi]

I have now been trying to get rid of that hot running old WD drive and i tried OpenElec on usb stick and everything else was perfect but.... It just didn't work with my sound card. Now I am trying to do a XBMCBuntu usb stick. The reason I don't want to go with a full Linux Distro + XBMC is that my usb 2.0 sticks are waay too slow for that. I am thinking about buying a small 32gt ssd but... 37e is also money So must try with usb sticks first

[LarsReviews]

I have now been trying to get rid of that hot running old WD drive and i tried OpenElec on usb stick and everything else was perfect but.... It just didn't work with my sound card. Now I am trying to do a XBMCBuntu usb stick. The reason I don't want to go with a full Linux Distro + XBMC is that my usb 2.0 sticks are waay too slow for that. I am thinking about buying a small 32gt ssd but... 37e is also money So must try with usb sticks first

 

There is a really cheap SSD from Sanddisk. 120GB for 50 Euros.

[JokuTyyppi]

There is a really cheap SSD from Sanddisk. 120GB for 50 Euros.

Nice! That isnt too bad! In Finland the cheapest one is 60euros i think. But i don't need that much storage in htpc so if i buy an ssd it will be a smaller one or i wait for them to be even cheaper ( Btw i am not THAT critical on money when it comes to my main pc, but this htpc cost me a total of 20€ including TV sooo 50€ ssd would be much in that perspective )

Also, I managed to get it up'n running on usb stock but the boot time is horrible... Otherwise it is fine.