The Toaster Project(and everything happaning with it)

[Bananasplit_00]

The Toaster Project

Wellcome to the Toaster Project thread AKA My dream case finaly in my hands!

 

This isnt something thats going to be haveing an update every week or anything like that

this project is going to take quite a bit of time, about 6 months most likely because of my planed hardware and my funds.

The plan is to make this the new LAN PC and to take it to LAN parties.

What im going for isnt going to be top specs nor is it going to be to do everything 100% proper,

its all about the fun, the experience and the result of The Toaster Project.

 

 

 

Background:

I fell in love with this case and cases similar to it back at the start of 2016, i had seen a similar case to this used as a archive server with full custom PCBs from about ~1990, it was small, lacked a front panel but it was tiny and heavy as a brick, i didnt think much of it back then but then the LAN PC came around and i started to think about SFX PCs a bit more and started searching around for old cases. i found one of these for "cheap" but i had no money back then, the entire budget for the LAN PC 1.0 was about $120 and i coudlent get one. My affection for this case and similar cases was further reinforced when i saw in my highschools storeroom a verry similar case to this, ITX, this shape and retro looking. there are sevral cases like this, media center cases from the 2000's and earlier, i bid on about a month back and i bid a resonable $35 and shipping and then some other person in the forum thread went "$80 cash, il pick it up in 20min" and i had no chance to compete with that bid so i got nothing from that but just today i pulled out my phone during math and saw i had a notification about more results for me watch on a local sales forum, they are usiually nothing special, just idiots selling shit to eatchother but i saw the ass of this one and knew i had to have it. I bid $30 and pickup instantly and i got it.

 

The Plan:

The current plan is to put an ITX motherboard and a Ryzen 3 CPU in in paired with probably a the same GTX 660 or if i have cash enough something new. For now however its my side machine for older games like NFSU2. seeing as the hardware im aiming for isnt out yet this project is going to take a while and im going to do a compleate rebuild of my main computer after the summer(thats the plan atleats) so this project is a bit on the back burner but right now im going to be doing some stuff with it, il be setting it up in some way pretty soon, probably this weekend and then il just keep updating this thread every time something happens regarding The Toaster Project. 

 

 

 

Pictures:

Spoiler

 

*Placeholder for inside the computer shots that i havent taken yet*

 

 

Specs:

Here are the specs in its starting form:

CPU:--------Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz

GPU:---------------- NVIDIA FX 5500

RAM:--------------------- 2x1GB DDR

Storage:---------- 1x80GB IDE HDD

WiFi:- It has WiFi thats really great

 

 

That is all for now, hope you enjoyed the read and like the project because for me its personaly going to be increadably fun, its going to take quite a while but in its current form i can play NFSU2 on it and im pretty much fine with that for now, its going to be quite the journy untill this PC is completed. Also if anyone happens to live in Sweden and has a LGA1155 ITX motherboard hit me up in PMs and this project will move along pretty quick seeing as i wont have to wait for Ryzen 3 if i shove my I7 2600 in it lol.

 

Thanks for reading

[Guest]

Can it grill Crysis?

[Bananasplit_00]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Can it grill Crysis?

yes. if i had a Crysis retail box for whatever console and held it behind the PC it WOULD melt  

[W-L]

If you can you should make use of all of those buttons and knobs to control things in the system  

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, W-L said:

If you can you should make use of all of those buttons and knobs to control things in the system  

i definatly will if i can  i think the wheel should be able to be used for fan controll and i might add some orange LEDs to it and those could also be toggled by that  

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

Yep, i am stupid...

 

Ok, got working on the project today, opened it up to take some pictures and to take a look at the CPU fan and cooler, here are some pictures to look at before i screw up:

Spoiler

 

So, after this i took a look at the fan and it seemed quite dusty and i removed the heatsink from the motherboard, but the CPU decided to come out with it...

Spoiler

 

Luckely the socket and the pins on the CPU took no visual damage atleast, anyway after that i cleaned off the old, crummy thermalpaste and cleaned them both up nicely(i think you know where this is going now...)

Spoiler

AAAAAAAAAAAAAnd for the grand reveal of what i messed up:

Spoiler

i lost my Noctua thermalpaste, litteraly gone without a trace and i have nothing else on hand so now i cant put it back together untill i either find it or i get myself something else... GOD DAMN IT! this is why you should always check that you have everything you need before starting a task  

Thats all for now, hope you like The Toaster Project this far!

[gtx1060=value]

found a similar htpc on craigslist - im going to see how yours turns out and ill buy it if your pc turns out nice

[Bananasplit_00]

1 hour ago, gtx1060=value said:

found a similar htpc on craigslist - im going to see how yours turns out and ill buy it if your pc turns out nice

well if you can wait 6 months on that purchace then sure lol

[Bananasplit_00]

so, in one of my less briliant moments i got talked into using petrolium grease as thermal paste untill i could get my hands on some thermal paste. i can say, for sure, that thats something im NEVER doing again. the CPU stuck to the cooler again but this time about 10x harder and it ripped right out of the socket again  CPU idle was 54C and i got a thermal shutdown when i tried opening HWMonitor while i had CPU-Z open(nothing running in it, it was just open...) so yah, that was a mistake but atleast the CPU still seems fine. i could go and delid it and run with the indium thermalpaste under the IHS and do direct dye cooling but i think i wont seeing as its my highest clocked P4 for the 478 socket right now lol(iv got like 4 3GHz ones but this a 3.2GHz lol). anyway i found out something interesting, the motherboard used is the exact same size as a slim ATX with flipped IO and PCI, its basically ITX width but ATX lenght with flipped I/O. thats all for now, i havent goten any thermal paste because its like $9 for a tube of Arctic silver in my local stores  

[RGProductions]

On 3/3/2017 at 5:10 AM, Bananasplit_00 said:

 

A PGA CPU coming out with the cooler on old systems with dried thermal paste is actually very common.

[Bananasplit_00]

19 minutes ago, RGProductions said:

A PGA CPU coming out with the cooler on old systems with dried thermal paste is actually very common.

yah i know, its just not the best for the CPU pins and socket probably

[RGProductions]

50 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

yah i know, its just not the best for the CPU pins and socket probably

I have an old athlon thats probably done this a hundred times and it's fine.

[Bananasplit_00]

im thinking of maybe going for a Ryzen 5 chip instead of a Ryzen 3 chip depending on the price and preformance just because i would like to want this computer done before the summer because i might be going to Poland to a meat up with the Paladins team i play for and id like to bring a nice computer then. i could bring my laptop, sure, but that wouldent be as fun to me.

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

Prelimenary instalation of the current Toaster!

 

So, i had the day of today and i will have tomorrow aswell so i decided to do some work with the Toaster Project! i moved it to my room and i put the VGA out into my main monitor so now i can switch like that and i installed Input Director as an alternative to Synergy so i dont have to use two sets of periferals but sadly because of the minimal amount of thermal paste it froze and shut down right after i completed the install and its now sitting and cooling off.  not sure when il get some new thermal paste but i might do it tomorrow seeing as i have quite a bit of building to look forward to this year and it would solve this problem for me so i could get back to playing NFSU2 when none of my friends are around  anyway here is a picture of the setup right now:

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

Fixing the overheating problems, finaly.

 

So, i finaly went and bough some thermal paste(RIP NT-H1 tube whereever it may be...):

 

I ended up with some Arctic MX-2 which is aparently pretty good stuff from what i can find, anyway here are some pictures of the contact between the CPU and cooler with the little amount of TIM i had on there before:

 

And yah, thats pretty freaking terrrible contact i had, no wonder it overheated and shut down lol. anyway thats fixed and i also fixed another problem, the fact that Synergy isnt free. How did i fix that? Did i pirate it? nope what i did was i found an awesome replacement! Input Director! Input Director is really awesome, it lets you controll any amount of other PCs(slaves) on the same network from one PC(master), sadly only Windows but it works on all versions of Windows as far as i know and it basically is like adding another screen, and you switch to the slave by just draging your mouse like you would onto any other screen and it switches the controll! is super simple to use and set up as long as you can deal with the old AF asthetic is has(though the latest update was somewhere midway through 2016...). Anyway what i now have is the Toaster Project PC set up as in the previous update but now running to my new 1440p screen, audio comes through a 3.5mm to DIN 5-pol cable plugged into the tape in on my AMP and then i can just swap my monitor over and my AMP over to the TAPE 1 Phono setting and just drag my mouse of the top of one of my screens and i have full controll of the Toaster Project PC! pretty freaking aweosme!

 

Thanks for reading and i hope you are enjoying the project so far!

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

I really should take more pictures of what im doing and not play NSFU2...

 

So, minor update, i also set up WoL just now, no now i dont have to reach over even, i just press a button on my computer and it starts up! i also properly configured Input Director aswell on the Toaster Project PC. anyway now i dont even have to move over a meter to press the power button basically, yep im that lazy. A strange thing i noticed however when playing NSFU2 just now is that the framerate seems to have tanked since i got my 1440p display, this GPU cant even output at 1080p and the game is running at 800x600 but somehow the framerate is way worse now, not sure whats up with that but if you know go ahead and tell me  

 

Thanks for reading this minor update and i hope to continue this project so i can complete it before the summer because of secret not really done plans for what i might be doing  

[Prqnk3d]

On 3/17/2017 at 0:38 PM, Bananasplit_00 said:

Update:

I really should take more pictures of what im doing and not play NSFU2...

 

So, minor update, i also set up WoL just now, no now i dont have to reach over even, i just press a button on my computer and it starts up! i also properly configured Input Director aswell on the Toaster Project PC. anyway now i dont even have to move over a meter to press the power button basically, yep im that lazy. A strange thing i noticed however when playing NSFU2 just now is that the framerate seems to have tanked since i got my 1440p display, this GPU cant even output at 1080p and the game is running at 800x600 but somehow the framerate is way worse now, not sure whats up with that but if you know go ahead and tell me  

 

Thanks for reading this minor update and i hope to continue this project so i can complete it before the summer because of secret not really done plans for what i might be doing  

might not be framerate but just bad downscaling?

[Bananasplit_00]

46 minutes ago, Prqnk3d said:

might not be framerate but just bad downscaling?

it is stuttering pretty bad at times and running REALLY slow and because physics is calculated every frame the game runns really slow, its great for makeing corners though

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

A wild parts list aprears!

 

Here is another small update, iv done a few things since last time but there wasent really anything to show of honestly seeing as nothing has hapaned hardware wise yet. What i have done i to start a parts list sortof and i found a RGB kit because who can say no to the insides of the Toaster PC glowing brightly in orange! i havent bought anything, its all just speculation but iv done some messuring and window shopping basically and i have come up with a list of parts im going to need(probably not even close to all i will need for the entire thing, i have only done so much and this needs improveing):

 

CPU: Ryzen 3 / Ryzen 5 / Any deals that may come up

GPU: RX 460 / RX 560 / RX 470 / RX 570 (has to be SFF model)

RAM: Single 4GB stick of DDR3 or DDR4

PSU: Be Quiet! SFX Power 2 400W / SilverStone SFX ST30SF 300W

CPU Cooler: Noctua L9i (havent checked compatablity) / Wraith Stelth

Misc: Deep Cool 360 RGB kit + Front I/O + motherboard standofs

 

thats what i have for now, what chip and what GPU i go for is entirely up to the preformance and price at this point and the PSU will be dependent on how much i will have left, this PC is just ment for 1080p ~75Hz and notthing more, the RX460 is about equal with a GTX 660 and i have found that the GTX 660 does a good job for the things i will play with it and is plenty of power but a RX 470 would be a really nice card to get in there just for the extra horses. note that case and harddrive are not listed, i have a 300GB HDD im going to use to save on that and the case is what this build is all about so...  when the current hardware goes from the case all the front I/O will go, it dosent seem to be working currently anyway but its all attatched to the motherboard so i plan on getting some I/O cabled and mounting new things in the gaps the old motherboard will leave behind beause front I/O is a great thing to have. Sadly basically all i can find that would let me do that are picking apart $30 5.25" bay I/O add ons so we will see what i do with that idea. if anyone knows where i can get a motherboard USB header to usb cable that would be great(no ebay and if its Amazon international shipping is a must).

 

anyway i have grown quite font of the current hardware in it so i might end up mounting it all to a pice of wood when it gets evicted from its current home just to keep it as a retro gameing machine that dosent take ages to boot, looking at you my first ever PC and the LAN PC.... 

 

thanks for reading and i hope you are enjoying the project, no pictures in this update but dont expect them untill i start getting stuff, might be as soon as april if the cheapest Ryzen 5 chip + ITX AM4 board is within my budget!  

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

A slight possible problem

 

So, just got word on that i might be going to Poland this summer which would be takeing a chunk of the cash iv saved up for this project and my main rig upgrade. i was looking to get it done before the summer but the cash just wont allow for that if im also going to Poland. I might not be able to go to Poland though because of work but i have no confirmation on that yet. basically its looking more like this will be done after this summer or possiably even Q4 2017 depending on what im doing with this Poland trip, my personal rig upgrade and work this summer. if i can sell of the current LAN PC for about $400 that would solve most of my economical problems though so i will do my best to sell it off aswell as all the other random bits i have around. currently the funds just dont add up if im going to continue with this project right now but we will see how everything turns out and i will be doing any work i can do without spending any money untill i know more but i thought id just mention this seeing as there might not be any updates for a while.

 

thanks for reading and i hope i can get this sorted quickly

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

A wild update aperas! (LTT forum wont let me copy pasta the update thing right now  )

 

PAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTS LIST TIME!

yep, i have decided on the spec of the final thing now and started to buy a few things, i also found my beloved NT-H1 again. anyway here is the specs list im going with:

specs:

 

CPU:---------------  I5 4690K @ stock

GPU:--------------------------------  TBD

RAM:------ HyperX 2x2GB 1600MHz

Storage:-------- 1x1TB Seagate HDD

Motherboard:--  ASRock E3C226D2I

CPU Cooler:---------------- Cryorig C7

PSU:-  Be Quiet! SFX Power 2 400W

Case:--------- Fujitsu Scaleo C(2005)

 

ok, so i have the RAM, HDD, Case, CPU and cooler right now and im picking up the motherboard tomorrow. the PSU will be a while and i havent even determined the GPU yet so dont expect this build to just be done in a month or something, the date for compleation is somewhere around august still and really depends on when i get myself a R5 1600 or I7 4790K(the 1600 is cheaper, even wtih a motherboard ). the only thing i see as a bit sad is that my I5 4690K will never get to stretch its legs again running its glorius 4.7GHz after i drop it in this project but it will always be in my heart or some shit like that. i have though a LOT about makeing this PC my main rig, over and over and over again but i have decided not to for sevral reasons. i really like how much shit you can stab into an ATX motherboard in terms of expension cards and the case wont take all 4 drives + CD drive that i use and so i have decided to keep them separate. the only reason to actiually do it would be to save me some on the cash front but ehh its probably fine, i wont starve to death or anything  i picked up the cooler today, i went to "Webhallen" in gothenburg and asked what they had, grabbed the C7 seeing as they didnt have an NH-L9I and got on the train home to the north lol. paid $35 or so for it which was pretty decent, the NH-L9I is about $45 instead and preforms just a tad better from what i have seen. the motherboard is $20 in unknown condition but there is nothing to indicate that it should be dead or damaged, its just not tested and if i understood the ad correctly its been replaced during troubbleshooting but that didnt result in anything(basically it wasent the motherboards foult for whatever was wrong). the GPU is to me a bit of a tough nut seeing as i dont want to spend a lot on it but i want to play games at 1080p, before the RX 460 was the most obvious option but now with the 500 cards out i need to see how the 550, 560 and 570 preform and how they compare in price before decideing on anything, and if the 1030 becomes a thing il have a look at that aswell. its pretty hard to pick a GPU seeing as i dont have a lot of cash and much less then that in space, for the 460 i had a card picked out that wasent that expensive either but now i need to re think again  .

 

anyway thanks for reading this my 8 folowers lol, hope you are reading and enjoying this as much as i am, the next update will probably be fitting the motherboard in the case this sunday  

[Bananasplit_00]

 

Update:

And so it begins...

 

picked up the motherboard today and i can replace it if its broken even for another one of the same board that should work, i didnt grab that board though seeing as this one came with the box, cables and so on. i dissasembled the current toaster and here are some pictures of what i did today:

motherboard:

Spoiler

pre dissasembly pictures:

Spoiler

dissasembly:

Spoiler

after dissasembly:

Spoiler

as you can see in the last pictures the I/O plate doesnt match up so thats a problem, and then this amazingly nice other problem came up, you cant get the motherboard far enough to the right side(seen from the front) to make the PCI-e slot line up properly with the top cutout. awesome, now i need to get a single slot GPU  i was not expecting this to be a problem at all seeing as from the outside it lines up just fine but once you get inside it just dosent line up sadly. for mounting i havent decided if i will use the removable plate or not yet but im more leaning towards not mainly becuase its easier to mount things to the case directly and not needing to shave everything down to 0.5mm thickness on the underside and still have a solid mount. i will most likely be putting pop-rivits in to mount to seeing as i have the tools for it around already. the GPU situation however is pretty bad now, i have very litttle space for it now and the only single slot card i can find that has any power at all is a 460, which is what i planed, is also about $65 more expensive then the card i was planning on getting... i could also just grab my dremmel and cut out the cutouts part to make room for a two slot card by mounting it in basically the middle of the slots, here is a shitty paint drawing of that:

 

the problem with that is that the back of the case will probably look pretty bad so i would like to hear what people think about it before i decide.

 

anyway thats it for this update, thanks for reading and i hope you are enjoying it

 

[kaiju_wars]

I mean, as an aesthetic, it's nice to have the case looking good, and I understand that sentiment.
But, with something like this, people won't be looking at the back of the case, so time to go chop chop.

[Bananasplit_00]

On 2017-04-22 at 11:47 PM, kaiju_wars said:

I mean, as an aesthetic, it's nice to have the case looking good, and I understand that sentiment.
But, with something like this, people won't be looking at the back of the case, so time to go chop chop.

found that going chop chop wont help me fit a fatter GPU... there is more metal holding that back then i initially thought and chopping that up would be takeing out more metal then im comfortable with  on a brighter note im posting another update today in just a bit  

[Bananasplit_00]

Update:

im makeing progress, maybe.

 

i have made more progres, i now know that whatever i do the PSU planned will fit just fine seeing as i can cram an ATX PSU in there in quite a few ways  i now know that i can "sortof" fit a dual slot GPU, its a bit wanky and the motherboard is skewed in the picture but imagine the left side at about the level of the left side and thats how its going to mount:

i am chopping out a small bit of metal used to hold down the removable plate the old motherboard mounted to seeing as its not needed anymore and just gets in the way of things(can be seen at the bottom of the picture showing the GPU fans):

 

and here is a top down view of how the GPU sits agains the mettal frame side:

 

here is another awesome picture of how close its going to be between the GPU and the case:

its less then a milimeter, its crazy. im pretty glad that the cards im looking at dont need a 6 pin  anyway thats about it for this update, also fund cleared up seeing as the poland trip isnt happaning, probably forgot to mention that, but thats the reason there are updates at all right now, im not broke  

 

thanks for reading and i hope you are enjoying the updates as much as i am!