Project Vista Boxen

P

piako

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
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Everything has been ordered from newegg and on its way.

Specs (copy and paste from newegg):

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Orleans 2.4GHz Socket AM2
SeaSonic S12-330 ATX12V 330W
Razer Copperhead Chaos Green 2000 dpi (to replace KVM mouse if it works)
GIGABYTE GV-NX66L128DP GeForce 6600LE 128MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card (I guess 128mb min for aero)
LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SHD-16P1S (cheapo dvd-rom)
NORCO RPC-800 Black Steel 4U Rackmount Case (chassis)
Razer eXactMat Mouse Pad (new mouse pad)
Link Depot C6M-50-BKB 50 ft. Cat 6 Black Network Cable (to switch)
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive (floppy for raid or bios work)
ABIT KN9S Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard (am2, gig-e)
G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-1GBNQ ($100 not bad)
NORCO RL-20 20" 3-sections Ball Bearing Sliding Rail kit for rackmount chassis (rails)
USB KVM Cable for GCS1758/1732/1734, 10' (newegg out of stock had to get from iogear.com)

OS:

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Business for System Builders Single Pack DVD

Chassis

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Will be updating/completing next week around 02/01 - 02/2007.

Enjoy this very basic vista build. I'm prob. not going to make this my gaming rig as I thought about. I have a 7900 gt ko in my other rack case running x64 with a s12-430. I would have to swap psus and video cards into the vista box but there's no reason to mess with that imo.
 
I have two quizzes tomorrow so I don't know if I'll have time to beat this up today. :p

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Here goes some basic stuff.

This was a budget system to run Vista. I decided on abit for the mobo and an am2 a64 since I'm used to overclocking this particular mobo combo. Basic dvd-rom, 300w psu, passive gpu, some ram, and the proc. not pictured is case. ooh and floppy for raid on-board if ever
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Case
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Case again. It's a Norco RPC-800. Newegg had it on sale for around $80. Good deal.
Much nicer than my codegen so I'll prob. be replacing that with another one of these.
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A lot of these rackmount chassis have a typical 3x 5.25 and a 1x 3.5. THis particular
case has two 120mm intake fans. Two front usb, dust thing.
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So here's how it looks inside. The back left is for mobo, rear right psu,
The silver thing going horizontal are two 120 mm fans blowing in.
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I'm pretty tempted to just get 3 more of these cases and transition
The tj07 and lian-li to the rack. Prob. is the lian-li would be really
cramped with the raid array plus the mobo prolly wouldn't fit.

This case is kinda odd because the front io stuff comes off right between the hdds
fans and optical/floppy area. See little hole.

120mm fans oem are the 4-pin type. There's space for two 80s at rear I think
Inside of case painted (saves me trouble)
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Yeah so the front panel wires are a problem and I'll need to rework those.
The fans blow in so air is sucked through grille past hdd and into case
I think i'll be sanding and painting the grille
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Case standoffs were a pain. They and the hardware supplied had
a lot of burrs so one standoff was striped and unusable.

Pretty tight fit for mobo. Also notice where mobo 24 pin power is
located. Might have to get a dremel or nibbler and eat away some of that 5.25.
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Hdds mount vertically with the platters facing downwards.
The sata requires a right 90-deg for sure. The sata power is going to be a problem.
I'll have to see if there's a 90-get sata?
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The front panel wires are in a little trough between the fans
and the mobo. I'd like to re-do all that so it's clean and out of the
way. I'll prob. have to drill some new holes with grommets perhaps to get that going.
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Notice the complete tight fit where the mobo power is
will need to jig-saw off that metal fo sure
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Nother interior shot. Thought about putting the optical lower
but it would have been impossible with the power. I'd like to ge a
VFD or LCD but I'll have to query the vista driver support before I drop
$$$ for one. NOt sure yet but I'll be looking into a HUD or something.
Hdd + optical vibration mounted. Seems common feature on these chassis.

ALso will remove the card supports and put in some grilles 2nd though maybe
not as all they do is catch dust and clog
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I like amd. Decent prices. Perhaps a amd green color mod for the door. :rolleyes:
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The hdd area is pretty clean looking. Onle a stock 80 for now.
I gotta figure out this power thing b/c the clearance

Had an extra DGE(s?)-530T laying around for gig-e. Mobo has gig-e
but the speeds are slow. Go figure.
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Hmmm newegg forgot to send Vista. :(
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Def. will be needing a rounded floppy and rounded pata.
I could have gone modular but not really into that.
I usually just ziptie what I don't nead in a bundle out of the way
It would be coold to paint the rear io panel and all the tock alum
stuff black but some of it may be rivted on (have to check)
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Look at that mess between the mobo and fans. Eew. Need to get working on that.
Decent psu clearance. Need to see height of available
aftermarket cpu cooler clearance. Am2 Orb would be nice
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Rails.
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Um yeah so the bottom case's door fell off. Codegen sh!t. :(
Yeah so avoid that newegg codegen case.
Contemplating replacing that with another one of these norco
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Open. Key used to open. Doors seems sturdy. Hope it lasts.
Might be cool to pain the handles. Perhaps some led fans for a glow.
Mmm perhaps green?
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Test run. No OS as Newegg forgot to ship. I'm contemplating returning the Business OEM for a Home Premium
OEM if I can find it. Newegg only seems to have a home premium 3-pack only.
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Lots of bare metal to be cut perhaps.
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Space between both black chassis. :D
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Perhaps getting a fanbus would be cool.
There's a cover for the Hdd cage too (metal.)
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Looks like it's running. Have to wait for OS and KVM cable before proceeding.
IOgear is still sending the KVM cable. W/o that I'll be up the creek b/c can't
see anything. :eek:
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Installed pretty easy. Decent look.
I'll be needing to get a cable chase or something
to route those cables.
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This exactmat is amazing. It works great.
Tried to use a razer mouse on the KVM and it didn't work.
y-axis inverted. return to the egg. keeping mousing surface. :D
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Too bad about the forgotten os... that system looks nice though :D

Are you creating it just for the purpose of messing around with Vista? What are you going to use it for?
 
Black-Tom said:
Too bad about the forgotten os... that system looks nice though :D

Are you creating it just for the purpose of messing around with Vista? What are you going to use it for?
Click to expand...

Pretty much. This'll be my gaming rig once dx10 rolls around and I save up some money for a decent dx10 video card and prolly need a new psu for the new video card. Until then I'll just be farting around in vista and setting up some network stuff. Will fold when I'm sleeping.

I got a lightscribe dvd burner just now on newegg so that'll be interesting to try out.

I'm also going to try and get this baby over 2.7 GHz on a 2.4 GHz chip stock hsf. I bought some extra fans which will be coming later next week.

Pretty stoked with the case. I found a right angle sata power chain so it'll be sweet once everything gets sanded and done.

Still have to check out the crystalfonts packages for vista compat and a few other things.

Thanks for commenting. :)
 
Nice job...looks good. It appears that there is room for 6 drives in the HDD area on that Norco. Is that right?
 
Vista came.
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I found a iStar USA part that will fix this problem. It's a 4x 90 deg sata power cable and it's on its way. Also orderd 4x black sata 90 deg for the data.
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Handsome looking DVD. Has some interesting holograms.
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Ahhh the joys of Vista. Had to do some BIOS work to get past that.
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There we go
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Well Vista seems pretty much like XP. :eek: Few interesting changes in the file navigation and they fixed some errors in the networking and file preview area.

Trucking in

a. iStarUSA 4 Link Power Supply Cable For HDD (Sata Extra-Long) Model DIY-OSA04
b. LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner with LightScribe Technology
c. 2x APEVIA CF12SL-UGN 120mm Green LED Case Fan
d. Thermaltake 18" Black Floppy Drive Round Cable Model A2059
e. Thermaltake IDE(ATA66/100/133) Round Cable Model A2049
f. 4x OKGEAR 18" SATA Cable Model GC18AKM12
g. 2x APEVIA CF4SL-UGN 80mm Green LED Case Fan

Interestinly, Vista went out (or had) a lot of the drivers I needed. Also it appears some drivers I need don't exist. I'm still working on getting the overclock ready. Once the fans come and I tidy some cables I'll start working on that. I had considered a zalman AM2 orb cooler but decided against mainly based on price. It would have barely fit in the case.

I'll be looking on getting a top window for the case perhaps depending on how bright the LED fans end up being. I'll need to find a way to cut a even hole in the top of the steel.

:rolleyes:
 
5 year warranty. :D I guess it was nice to finally
buy a dremel. Picked up a EZ lock and a 12 pack of
456B metal cutters. Yeah so the safety glasses were
good to get because there were sparks everywhere when
the metal was being shaped.
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Area to be cut. This is 5.25 cage.
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Power cord now has clearance. Test fitting. You can see little white
scuffs on the power 3.3v lines where the metal was cutting into the power wires.
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Here's the piece that was cut off.
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A little 45 degree cut for some flavor. :D
There will be a DVD burner in the middle 5.25
once that arrives.

Looking forward to lightscribe and seeing how it
works.
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Before. Notice how the metal was pretty much just sitting around
and blocked ease of flow.
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Finished for now. I'd like to put another 45 degree flare on that point you see sticking out.
Some other stuff comes next week and I'll be working on the mods more then.

Have to do some more prep work for painting and find some appropriate colored paint.
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How long have I been up? I forget.
Here are the boxes from newegg. Stuff
to put in computer. Wooooo.
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Yeah so the goal is to keep all the wires
very clean and not obsructing airflow. The rounded
TT floppy and IDE were a good choice for the price
The USB and IO panel were easy to route and tuck away
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That bundle is the power for the two 120mm fans
the adapter for the SATA power. It looks big but
there was really no where else for it to go
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These iStarUSA 90 deg sata power cables
are great. Picked up some sick black sata cables
for the data. Now it's super low-pro.
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Fingerprints I know. I'll be painting the case door
along with the handles and putting a window on the top
when I have some time
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These apevia (sp?) greens fans are pretty nice.
NOt a ton of airflow, but crystal color.
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Moderate lighting. Cool green glow.
The top is a burner, bottom dvd-rom.
Nice shot I think.
Bottom case to receive danger den Am2 setup soon.
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Fingerprints, I know.
I like this case. I'll be painting the door
and handles and the silver innard pieces black.
The door and handles and lid I don't know the final
pain scheme yet. :D
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The rear glow. Adding a top window will allow lots of visability in the future.
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Darkness.
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