My cheap HTPC Project

[anabioz]

Well to start off I wanted to build a home server running raid 6 with ECC fully buffered DDR2 ram... But I ran into the problem - I did not have a motherboard that supported ECC FB DDR2 Memory. Then I saw Cowboy's sale thread and saw he was selling his self-made case (I truly respect DIY projects) and I decided to buy it from him to support his work

Case came in broken, corner of the right upper plastic attachment to the faceplate was chopped off. So I looked through some of the junk that I had and found Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2 (which is a mATX AM2+ Motherboard). From the failed server project I had Opteron 1218 AM2+ Processor... Coming from XBMC on xbox1 and hearing HTPC everywhere I go - something hit me: "You have a motherboard, processor and sh!t load of DDR2 ram... What are you waiting for?" Opterons are not listed under supported CPU's for the desktop motherboards. I still decided to pop it in and check. But the problem was the broken case and lack of screws (sorry Cowboy, at that time I really was short on the screws that you sent me with the case ;)).

To be honest I've never written anything like this before so corrections on my english are welcome and some future thoughts on how-to-do-this-properly are welcomed as well.

So let's get to the point.

Super glue, tie wraps and lots of paper towels and I got back to work. Patching, bending, yelling, punching, screaming, scratching, disappointing but NEVER GIVING UP!

Figured out couple of ways to hold the case together with the items put in the case and extra screws from non-standard angles. Anyways guys, I really suck at writing - so here is the final pictures and computer specs:

AMD Opteron 1218
G.Skill 4GB DDR2-800 4-4-4-12
Kingston SSD 40GB
BFG 8800GTS 512MB
Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro w/ Optical Out
MCE Ir USB Remote

The OS was Ubuntu 9.10 x64
Regular Install with some extra components installed:
mp3 support
MC
SSH (changed default port for remote management and filetransfer (sftp))
Nvidia 185 drivers installed and enabled OpenGL support
Sound configured for 5.1 Analog Output
XBMC-Standalone

After configuring everything and verifying that the gigabit connection is established to the switch, static IP assigned to the network adapter.

Ran XBMC for the first time so that .xbmc config folder was created. Accessed the personalized folder and configured sources.xml for the network and smb shares. RSS for the news.

Anyways guys, if you like it - please post. If you have questions - I am more then welcome to answer it if I know the answer :)

Thank you for reading.

[anabioz]

**reserved**

[Arinoth]

Looks great, not often do you see a water cooled htpc

[Zero82z]

Looks good! Could use some duct tape around the edges though...

[headsh0t]

Pretty sweet build! You should have put this in the HTPC section of the forum though.

[anabioz]

Should I duck tape it and repaint it?

Originally Posted by Zero82z

Looks good! Could use some duct tape around the edges though...

[Zero82z]

Nah, you can't paint duct tape, it'll just flake off and look awful. Either tape it or paint it .

[misterd]

Looks good man. Is that my old 8800?

[anabioz]

that's the BFG 8800GTS 512MB G92 :)

[misterd]

Yeah i had one, but i sold it to Phil, forgot... wrong person in montreal