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The "Plexiglass All In One Box"
By Zaz
- Posted on October 13, 2002
Introduction
Contents
- Raison d'Etre
- Connecting the NES Controller
- The inevitable Dremel...
- Action Shots
- The NESPC Gallery
1. Raison d'Etre -->
The Chounga Team is a small group of French
case modders. Zaz has been PC modding since 1994 and for more
than 20 years starting with his first ATARI VCS 2600 (full
yellow paint and home-made paddles).
Choosing the Shape
I discovered the Mini-ITX motherboard, just
when I finished my last mod called "DIVXBox". This
was a full plexi box, with an ATX all in one motherboard and
AMD Duron 800mhz. The goal of this project was to made a small
computer connected to a 14" TFT LCD, to display slideshows
of my pictures.
It works great but I faced 3 problems:
- Noise - Even with a low noise fan, the system
was always much too noisy, and the system ran quite hot.
- No Ethernet 10/100 onboard, and no way to add a PCI card.
3.
- No TV-Out.
I decided to build a new "Heart"
to my PC into my existing full plexi shape with a VIA Mini-ITX
motherboard.
I used:
- 5mm plexiglass
- Aluminium stick
- Roundheaded screws
...and that's it - no more materials.
I chose to put the ATX power outside the case
in order to reduce noise and to make the case thin as possible.
The dimension of the box could certainly be
reduced , but in fact, I think it's better for the motherboard,
because there are too many cables inside!
For the box I also use aluminium stick with
some screw . The result is a really solid box.
3. Fitting the Motherboard, HD, LCD, FAN and
PSU
For the "Heart"
- EPIA 800 Motherboard
- 256 MB PC133 SDRAM
- Maxtor 40 GB ATA 100 Hard Drive
And for the "Extras"
- Stand from a Playstation 2
- green LCD on parallel port (4*20)
- Enermax fan 8cm (more for the look)
- Green neon line
- Red switch and some color led,
- Wireless keyboard (with integrated mouse)
- Logitech Joypad USB
- Blue cover plexi ATX.
For the "Software"
- Windows XP Family Edition (also tested with
Windows ME and 98SE)
- LCDcenter 2.0
- WinAmp 2.8, (winamp 3 is too slow)
- BSPlayer
- EzLinX
- Timbuktu Pro
And for the LAN and Internet connection, an
ADSL Router connected to a 100 Mbps switch.
I fixed the Mini-ITX motherboard onto the
back of the plexishape using roundhead screws. The Hard Disk
is also fitted with screws, on another plexiglass panel, just
in front of the PCI slot. I put in front a pink enermax fan
just for fun, not to cool the case (it doesn't need it)
Finally, I added an LCD and a green neon line.
At the moment I haven't found a good solution to hide all
the cables.
I use my creation for 2 major activity:
- First : Videosurveillance, (I connected an ADSL Router,
2 IP cameras from AXIS and use a PC soft called EzlinX (www.nooceo.com),
in order to protect my home during the day and during my holidays!
I use Timbuktu Pro in order to remote control
my box from any place all over the world.
- Second : Games , DivX, MP3.
Mini-ITX with a C3 800 mhz is an excellent solution for most
PC users .
- Webstation, webcreation : Surf, email is excellent,
- Office : no need to have the last processor to run Office
suite….C3 800Mhz is totally enough !
Also
- Perfect for emulation (a lot of Mame games work fine)
- Perfect for 2D games,
- Quite good for 3D oldies like Tony hawks proskater 2…
(works fine!)
And maybe no to much powerfull for recents 3D games..(only
8mb on the integrated chipset), but I test a GEFORCE MX PCI
and a HERCULES 4000 XT PCI and it works great….
So with a really cheap price (less than 150 euros) and with
recovery products (HD, atx power etc…) you are able to
build a good computer very thin, noiseless !
The next step is to finalized the screen ….
Our next creation will certainly be a RED "Apple CUBE-like"
with the same motherboard, integrated an mini ATX power, DVD
slot in and more memory…. Or maybe something more original
!!
Stay tune on www.chounga.com to see
the result !
Be the force of tuning with you !
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