Projects

[Eastman51]

I like messing around with computers, doing meme things or just building simple and clean PCs. And with this hobby, I've got a list of projects that I am currently working on and plan on doing in the future. Some of these projects I may need help with (for easier solutions or on what things to get/use), and some may be a while before they can be started and/or completed (mainly due to physical space limitations). I'll likely be updating this thread/post with updates on active projects and such. May create additional threads for specific issues for help and whatnot, we'll see. I figured I'd make this thread to avoid having just a bunch of threads everywhere for short little projects/upgrades that don't really need their own full, fat thread in Build Logs.

 

Planned projects:

Spoiler

Builds:

• First ITX PC - Will be using the Fractal Design Node 304. I may use the R5 2400G I have sitting in my desk unopened, or I may go with one of the upcoming Zen 2 CPUs (or reuse my main rig's R5 2600x). This would just be a portable little desktop that I can take wherever and setup wherever.
• Meshify C build- I want to build a PC in the Fractal Meshify C, I like the design and would be excellent to have another decent rig lying around for when friends come over or for a dedicated racing wheel setup (temp server?). Will likely be Ryzen based.
• Semi modern Intel build - A friend of mine recently overhauled his Intel PC and is going to give me his old mobo and RAM, but he's selling his old CPU. I'll need to pick up a CPU for this board, iirc its got an H110 chipset.
• X58 build - I'm actively seeking to pickup an X58 motherboard and CPU for it. I've found a few mobo + CPU combo listings online and will attempt to get one of those, I may upgrade the CPU on it but we'll see. I've got a case, PSU, and a PCIe GPU (nothing fancy, basically a display adapter), so I can work on this right away. I also have some HDDs lying around, but I will probably grab a SATA SSD for boot to make things quick. I may slap on my old Corsair H55 AIO, but I am also considering buying a mid-range air cooler (no stock Intel fan here bois). I am probably going to use this PC as a platform for some experiments with dual/multi booting different Windows versions, and do some dumb things like trying to get Windows 95 to run natively on newer hardware.
• Random AMD CPU - I found this random AMD CPU in my closet a few weeks ago, not sure what it is cause its covered in thermal paste and in one of those plastic trays that come with new CPUs. I think its from when a friend and I upgraded some ebay PC that he gave to his gf and he just left the CPU. iirc its AM3(+) and a dual core, so not great, but it could be used for something. 
• Re-assemble my first desktop - I've got all the original hardware from the first desktop I bought, but its all scattered right now (and the HDD is in my main rig and the DVD drive in my HTPC, lol). The CPU is an i3-4170 (2c/4t), so not fantastic, but again could be used for something.
• Server - I want to make a home server, primarily for Steam caching and a NAS, possibly a media server (plex?). Ideally, I'd want to build something myself (dual socket 1366?) and run things through VMs (as well as have remote VMs I can just log into). Oh, and I'd probably run a pihole off of this too, if only to consolidate everything into one box. Making a powerful and capable server might not be possible right away, but I could put one of the PCs I have lying around to good use in the meantime, even if for simple beginner stuff and learning.

Utility:

• Single drive multi-OS installer - I want to make a USB drive using an M.2 enclosure (for speed) that contains a variety of ISO installers for most Windows versions, and possibly some Linux distros. I'm confident I could burn the ISOs to different partitions on the drive, but I'm concerned(?) that it will just make a ton of unlabeled boot options that would turn this convenience into a trial and error goose chase to find the right installer. Is there a solution to this? Ideally it'd be one boot option and then you select the OS, but that may not be possible. 
• Get a USB floppy drive - I need one, for transferring things between my retro PCs, and for being able to make bootable floppies without needing one of said retro PCs operational. They're cheap, just a matter of me being actually bothered to put one in my cart.

Conversions:

• SSDs for the masses - I want to have an SSD in every PC I have. So far, I'm at 4 out of 6 in the PCs I have operational. I need to get one for my Core 2 Duo PC and for my Pentium 4 PC (which only has IDE natively). The Pentium 4 conversion will be pretty easy, since it runs XP; unlike the pain train that was converting my Pentium 1 PC to an SSD.

Repairs:

• Intel 486 - I recently scrounged up a Packard Bell beige-box that has a sticker label that says it has an Intel 486 chip in it, which is super cool. But, when I plugged it in and pressed the power button nothing happened other than some loud noises and a burning-like smell out of the PSU. So, I'm going to have to try and replace the PSU. I should be able to test the system with the PSU from my Pentium 1 PC, I noticed that they both use the same cables for motherboard/CPU power. 
• Random Dell - I got this beige-box Dell tower a while back and took it apart for fun because the XP installation was password locked and I was also doing some light data recovery off the HDD for the previous owner. No idea what CPU it has, but I think it's a Pentium 4. I'd have to either get the CPU out or put an OS on it to find out. The system should still be fine, just needs to be reassembled.

Memes:

• Hard copy games - I'd like to get a Bluray drive in my HTPC, for movies ofc, but also because I want to try out a dumb idea I had. Steam recognises libraries on even external drives, so it should be able to read a disc as a library too. So I want to try out putting Steam games on some Blurays for the lolz. I know it'll be slow, but it'll be funny and kinda cool.
• Network games - I want to see how loading Steam games off of a networked mapped drive would perform. I know it would be heavily reliant on LAN bandwidth and performance, but there could be other factors involved. The goal of this project would be to see if this could be realistically used. If so, you could just run a 250GB SSD in your PC and invest the rest in a beefy NAS and good network, which shouldn't even be that bad. \
• Internal floppy for modern tech - I was trying to find a PCI or PCIe expansion card with floppy headers on it, but all I could find were IDE headers. Then I stumbled upon a really weird device. It looks as though it takes internal USB 2 and converts it to any type of internal floppy you could want (3.5", 5.25", etc). No idea if it works, but I may order one just to try out, and for the memes if it does work.

Active projects:

OS installer, X58 system

I'm probably going to order the things required to make the "universal installer stick" (UIS?), since it would aid in OS experimentation on the X58 system I'm going to be picking up soon. 

Found a cheap dual socket LGA1366 board and some cheap Xeons, I may make my server sooner than anticipated.

Updates:

I have the M.2 in its enclosure, and its running great. However, I've run into the problem where the Windows 95 through Windows ME isos don't boot, they just go to the grub menu. I ordered some unopened Vista discs that I will rip into ISOs to put on my USB drive, and I will do some testing in VMs with the early Windows ISOs to see if they work before I burn them to the drive.

 

I also finally was able to get an X58 board, which is a MSI X58 Platinum and it will come with 12GB of DDR3 and an i7-920. I will order a cooler and SSD once I have an estimate on when the system will arrive.