Rebuilt/Upgraded my Corkboard PC

JustLong

JustLong

Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2002
Messages
782
I had an extra motherboard laying around since I bought my Core i7 and wasn't sure what to do with it. I came across a e6600 and decided it was time to upgrade my wall. I've had some sort of PC on my office wall for the last 7 years or so. I started with a Dual Slot 1 PII board, then a Celeron 1000, more recently an Athlon 64 3700+. I wanted to use it as a small file server with decent performance so I decided to pick up 6 cheap 7200 RPM drives. While I could have had much larger 3.5" drives for the same cost, the weight would have been too much. I know I could have just bought 3 320GB laptop drives for the same cost, but it just wouldn't be as cool looking :). I'm running 64-bit Windows Server 2008 to take full advantage of the hardware and leverage some of the tools Win2008 has that Win7 does not. The Monitor and Video card are just for the initial configuration since I just Remote Desktop to it.

Specs:
CPU — 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo E6600
RAM — 8GB OCZ Fatality PC2 6400 (4x2GB)
HDD — 6 x 80GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache 2.5 HDDs
VGA — ATI Radeon X600 256MB
MB — Foxcon P965 Board

Pics:
Wallputer2K8_1.jpg

Wallputer2K8_2.jpg

Wallputer2K8_4.jpg

It took me a couple days to come up with a way to mount these drives. This stuff is perfectly spaced for Laptop drive screws, light enough to still hang from push pins, and rigid enough to hold everything securely in place. I'm loving these SATA+Power connectors from newegg. They connect very securely to the drives and are worth the money.
Wallputer2K8_5.jpg

Wallputer2K8_6.jpg
 
I haven't had a wall pc since I worked at a computer store in ... '99, maybe? It was a celeron matx out of a HP I think. I used it as a test bench for video cards, hds, monitors... playing solitaire when it was slow.
 
Do you really have it just resting on pushpins? There's nothing holding it from the back of the board or anything?
 
Thanks everyone for the comments, even the funny one.

As for how its hanging up there, other than the push pins the bottom edge of the motherboard tray is tucked into the lip of the corkboard. Most of the weight is supported by that and the push pins just hold it in place. The power supply and drives are entirely supported by push pins though.

An earlier version even survived the 6.5 earth quake we had serveral years ago.
 
Logan321 said:
I haven't had a wall pc since I worked at a computer store in ... '99, maybe? It was a celeron matx out of a HP I think. I used it as a test bench for video cards, hds, monitors... playing solitaire when it was slow.
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Yeah it's very handy having a fully accesible PC. I just used it to update the firmware on a couple Emulex FC HBAs that weren't playing well with a server that we wanted to put them in.
 
So cool! I bet you'd really confuse people at LAN parties with that.

Any issues with grounding?
 
slugg said:
So cool! I bet you'd really confuse people at LAN parties with that.

Any issues with grounding?
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Shouldn't be... Every power cable has at least 2 ground wires, which all tie into the same spot on the power supply, which is then grounded through the power supply cord.
 
Pretty Sweet! I've seen something like that before, but it was actually nailed into a wall. Good work, and clean looking too!
 
The way those hard drives are mounted look better than an actual case... and the way you've decorated the rest of the corkboard really makes the whole thing look like a collage almost. Very nice! I can't stop checking it out :D
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Why Sweet Jesus Why!?!?!?!?
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Why not?

Its a fun side project to tinker with.
It gave me a sweet conversation piece in my office.
Its more creative than just slapping a window on a case and tossing a couple CCFLs in there.
Its a handy test bed for various components that I might need to check in they still work.
 
Why am i suddenly hearing the theme song from the Team America series? Or maybe it's just the meds...
 
Thats pretty neat, but isn't there a fire issue? I would think electricity and dry wood would not go good together, or do you have something between the MB and Cork?
 
Yeah I have standoffs attached to a motherboard tray from an old case. There are also a couple CCFLs under the motherboard.

Double Standoffs + CCFL
Macro2.jpg


CCFL sticking out from the front.
CCFL.jpg


Lights off
PLACEMENT2.jpg


Lights on
PLACEMENT.jpg


Stack of Boxes (16 MSI Wind BB Netops one out of the box)
MSI-WIND.jpg
 
I really like it, its pretty creative man. I might just have to borrow that idea when I finally get moved into a new appartment, and get out of the college dorms. lol:rolleyes:
 
I brought a couch into work and had to re-arrange a little.
Walputer10.jpg

Walputer9.jpg


Added some lighting under the couch.
Walputer8.jpg

Walputer7.jpg
 
Thats crazy man, if that fell you are screwed. :D
Please don't let that happen, since its so cool!
 
I agree, very cool idea! I should try it out.

I've only hung dead PC parts from my walls...
 
JustLong said:
Walputer9.jpg
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Holy shit you have a scarab! haha
now if only it were a mechanical robot that was given the AI of a Roomba, so it would randomly walk around your house.

Back on topic - Awesome corkboard setup! Never would have thought of that :)
 
Phimp said:
Holy shit you have a scarab! haha now if only it were a mechanical robot that was given the AI of a Roomba, so it would randomly walk around your house.

Back on topic - Awesome corkboard setup! Never would have thought of that :)
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One of my co-workers gave it to me. His wife worked for Wiz-kids before they got shutdown by thier parent company. She got a bunch of free stuff including all of the Halo Clix figures and two scarabs. He had no where to put the 2nd scarab and asked if I wanted one. At $200 I would never buy one no matter how much I like Halo.

Here is his collection
Halo-Clix.jpg
 
What do you use for lighting under the couch/shelves? Looks sweet.
 
JustLong said:
One of my co-workers gave it to me. His wife worked for Wiz-kids before they got shutdown by thier parent company. She got a bunch of free stuff including all of the Halo Clix figures and two scarabs. He had no where to put the 2nd scarab and asked if I wanted one. At $200 I would never buy one no matter how much I like Halo.
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$200? Yeah, screw that.. haha
I've been a fan of Halo since the day Halo: Combat Evolved was released for Xbox, but I couldn't imagine paying for one. However, if it was free, I'd be all over that. haha


What kind of read speeds do you get from the raid0 lappy drives?
Mind running HD Tune or something in your spare time, if you haven't already?
 
Phimp said:
$200? Yeah, screw that.. haha
I've been a fan of Halo since the day Halo: Combat Evolved was released for Xbox, but I couldn't imagine paying for one. However, if it was free, I'd be all over that. haha


What kind of read speeds do you get from the raid0 lappy drives?
Mind running HD Tune or something in your spare time, if you haven't already?
Click to expand...

The Drives aren't in RAID 0. I have a RAID 1 Volume and a RAID 5 Volume.
I had 4 of the drives in RAID 0 test at first. I only did 4 since the Intel RAID controller limits you to 4 drives in a volume. If I remember correctly I was seeing speeds over 200MB/sec in HD Tach.
 
so cool! now i know what to do with the space on my wall and an old skt A board i want to resurrect and dont have a case for.
 
Thats very cool, i just know my cork board always falls because someone throws something at it and or something and yea... i don't it being very safe but at that said its very creative.

Thats a cool way of hanging the harddrives though!
 
BMFX said:
Thats very cool, i just know my cork board always falls because someone throws something at it and or something and yea... i don't it being very safe but at that said its very creative.

Thats a cool way of hanging the harddrives though!
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Thanks.

I'm not worried about the corkboard getting knocked down, people usually aren't thowing things in my office. Also the corkboard is hung from a steel rail that lines the walls of my office. These rails are designed to hold hanging bookshelves filled with three shelves of books. You have to actually lift the corkboard up about ½" while tilted at an angle to get it off of the rail.
 
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