I had saved some money ready for a sandybridge build. Then one night in be the thought occurred to me that my current q9450 rig was still fine. It does everything thing i want. and still had life left in her.
What i really needed to send the money on was a new server. This was because at the time i was using my laptop with external harddrives. The laptop was noisey and not very nice to look at.
The plan was to also use the server as a media pc. this had the bennefit of been able to use my 40" sony as the monitor.
So on with the parts. Please keep in mind this was a low budget build. Parts mostly came from the MM though the case and hdds where new from overclockers.
I decided to use low power 775 gear as i knew i wouldnt need the power of i3 and it saved me some money.
specs
Intel E2160 1.8GHz,
Zotac G41ITX Motherboard
Samsung 1tb f2 and 2tb f4 hdds
4gb Geil ddr2 black dragon
LG dvd-rw
Lian li Q07b itx case
HEC-350TE-2WK 350W PSU.
On with the build. Bench test first. I'm using the stock intel cooler, But i have replaced the tim with chill factor 2.
All was good booted no problem so out with the screwdriver.
Next game the problem i knew i would be facing. The Q07b only has room for 1 3.5" hdd and as i wanted 2 in there, i knew that i would ether need to mod it, or come up with a plan.
In the end. I had the simple idea of using some extra stong douple sided sticky foam strips to attach the second drive ontop of the first. This had the added benifit of the rubber mounts taking the vibration from the 2 drives.
This method did cause one problem, in that the only pcie slot is cover. But as im using the onboard gpu its not a problem.
Anyway in with the psu.
Done
Some shots of it in place.
.
Overall im very pleased with the result. The case looks fantastic. I will always buy lian li now. The system is very quite. My virgin HD+ box is louder. And the ps3 sounds like a vacum in comparison.
I ran 20 runs of ibt to make sure all was good and the temps are fantastic.
As this is also a server it is on 24/7 and has not had any problems. (touch wood) Will post some pics of the bluetooth keyboard and external sound card when my camera has recharged.
What i really needed to send the money on was a new server. This was because at the time i was using my laptop with external harddrives. The laptop was noisey and not very nice to look at.
The plan was to also use the server as a media pc. this had the bennefit of been able to use my 40" sony as the monitor.
So on with the parts. Please keep in mind this was a low budget build. Parts mostly came from the MM though the case and hdds where new from overclockers.
I decided to use low power 775 gear as i knew i wouldnt need the power of i3 and it saved me some money.
specs
Intel E2160 1.8GHz,
Zotac G41ITX Motherboard
Samsung 1tb f2 and 2tb f4 hdds
4gb Geil ddr2 black dragon
LG dvd-rw
Lian li Q07b itx case
HEC-350TE-2WK 350W PSU.
On with the build. Bench test first. I'm using the stock intel cooler, But i have replaced the tim with chill factor 2.
All was good booted no problem so out with the screwdriver.
Next game the problem i knew i would be facing. The Q07b only has room for 1 3.5" hdd and as i wanted 2 in there, i knew that i would ether need to mod it, or come up with a plan.
In the end. I had the simple idea of using some extra stong douple sided sticky foam strips to attach the second drive ontop of the first. This had the added benifit of the rubber mounts taking the vibration from the 2 drives.
This method did cause one problem, in that the only pcie slot is cover. But as im using the onboard gpu its not a problem.
Anyway in with the psu.
Done
Some shots of it in place.
Overall im very pleased with the result. The case looks fantastic. I will always buy lian li now. The system is very quite. My virgin HD+ box is louder. And the ps3 sounds like a vacum in comparison.
I ran 20 runs of ibt to make sure all was good and the temps are fantastic.
As this is also a server it is on 24/7 and has not had any problems. (touch wood) Will post some pics of the bluetooth keyboard and external sound card when my camera has recharged.
