The Paul's Tech MythTV Project: Phase 2
OK! Here we are... ready to start assembling the hardware! First up is the Case.
As I mentioned in Phase 1, I am using an AthenaTech A3701BB HTPC Case purchased from Newegg.com. Here are the vital statistics:
All things considered, I really like the case, and it has worked out very well. However, it does have a few flaws that you should be aware of.
Before you do anything else, you will want to address the airflow issues with this case. The area around the motherboard is very well ventilated, and a well placed cooling fan will keep your processor and PCI cards happy. There is a vent on the top, both sides, and the back where the 2 80mm fans are. I added another fan near the PCI cards to blow air across the video card and toward the cpu. The 2 rear fans exhaust out the back.
The rest of the airflow in the pc is a bit of a mess though. The power supply sits at the front of the box with the plug-in and fan facing the front. As you can see from the pictures below, the spot where the power supply fan should be exhausting air is blocked by the sheet metal of the case. I suspect that is what the bottom fan is for, is to pull air out of that area. It seems totally inadequate to me, so I opted for a different solution. On the side of the front faceplate, there is a little door that opens to allow some air flow. I cut a hole in the sheet metal in front of the power supply fan to allow the air to go forward, and out of the side vent. It seems to be working fine.
The other problem with the airflow is around the drives. There are zero vents in that area. There is also almost no room for a fan in there too. I have the one DVD drive, and one hard drive in that section. I wouldn't worry too much about the DVD drive, as it doesn't see that much use, but the hard drive is another matter. Modern drives can get quite warm, if not outright hot. Since it is such a critical piece, I think some cooling is in order. I recommend you try to find a 5.25" Hard Drive Cooler/Mounting Bracket. I made a piece of my own with a very small 12 volt fan I had lying around. It mounts in front of the 5.25" bay and blows air over the hard drive and DVD drive towards the back of the case. It's far from ideal, but it will have to do.
After you have finished improving the airflow, the next thing I would do is remove the 2 rear fans. The motherboard install goes easier with them out of the way. Take the 2 screws out of the back and slide the fans towards the PCI slots to remove them. Then, I installed the metal back cover plate for the motherboard connectors.
Next I installed the power supply. You will have to take the front face plate off to do that. You can pop the face plate off by gently prying it off with a flat screwdriver. There are no screws holding it on, just plastic clips. I had to plug in the power cord before putting the screws in that hold the supply in place.
The motherboard install is pretty standard. Install the mounting pegs and fasten the board down to them with the included screws. Then, I installed the RAM and the processor. The heatsink for the processor was an AMD standard heatsink. As I had some higher quality thermal compound on hand, I cleaned off the included compound and used my own. Finally, I hooked up all of the wires, such as the power switch, front usb connectors, ATX power, etc. One thing you may want to forego is plugging in the power led light. I found it to be way too bright and harsh.
Next I re-installed the fans, and put in the video card and the video capture card. Finally, I installed the drives and drive cables. You may have to adjust the DVD drive rail placement a few times to get it lined up right with the face plate. Once everything was connected, I used cable ties to make the wiring neater and help the air flow.
One last thing to do before you put the face plate back on is to line up the DVD drive eject button with the face plate button. There is a slider on the plastic rail on the back of the face plate. Align it with drive button, and you should be good to go.
All-in-all, the hardware has worked great. The cpu generally stays in the 40 to 45 degree C range for temperature. It has performed well enough speedwise, and I haven't felt the need to overclock the system, but I am sure it would take the increased temperature easily. The fans are all reasonably quiet, unless the room you are in is very quiet, then you do hear them a little. Obviously, this is something that can be fixed with better fans, if it bothers you. The drive button works ok, though you can't really use it with the tray out, so you have to push the tray back in to close it.
Now that the hardware is ready to go, it is on to the software install. Look for Phase 3 soon!
Posted by PH on 08-25-2007 01:30:00 CST
As I mentioned in Phase 1, I am using an AthenaTech A3701BB HTPC Case purchased from Newegg.com. Here are the vital statistics:
- ATX,Micro-ATX,Flex-ATX Compatible
- 2 5.25" External Drive Bays
- 1 3.5" External Drive Bay
- 1 3.5" Internal Drive Bay
- 7 Expansion Slots
- 2 Front USB Ports
- 2 Front Audio Ports
- 2 Rear 80mm Cooling Fans (Included)
- Dimensions: 13.8" x 7" x 15" (W x H x D)
- Gloss Black Finish
- Front Power and Reset Buttons
- Front Power and HDD Activity Lights
- Bottom Mounted Cooling Fan (Included)
All things considered, I really like the case, and it has worked out very well. However, it does have a few flaws that you should be aware of.
Before you do anything else, you will want to address the airflow issues with this case. The area around the motherboard is very well ventilated, and a well placed cooling fan will keep your processor and PCI cards happy. There is a vent on the top, both sides, and the back where the 2 80mm fans are. I added another fan near the PCI cards to blow air across the video card and toward the cpu. The 2 rear fans exhaust out the back.
The rest of the airflow in the pc is a bit of a mess though. The power supply sits at the front of the box with the plug-in and fan facing the front. As you can see from the pictures below, the spot where the power supply fan should be exhausting air is blocked by the sheet metal of the case. I suspect that is what the bottom fan is for, is to pull air out of that area. It seems totally inadequate to me, so I opted for a different solution. On the side of the front faceplate, there is a little door that opens to allow some air flow. I cut a hole in the sheet metal in front of the power supply fan to allow the air to go forward, and out of the side vent. It seems to be working fine.
The other problem with the airflow is around the drives. There are zero vents in that area. There is also almost no room for a fan in there too. I have the one DVD drive, and one hard drive in that section. I wouldn't worry too much about the DVD drive, as it doesn't see that much use, but the hard drive is another matter. Modern drives can get quite warm, if not outright hot. Since it is such a critical piece, I think some cooling is in order. I recommend you try to find a 5.25" Hard Drive Cooler/Mounting Bracket. I made a piece of my own with a very small 12 volt fan I had lying around. It mounts in front of the 5.25" bay and blows air over the hard drive and DVD drive towards the back of the case. It's far from ideal, but it will have to do.
After you have finished improving the airflow, the next thing I would do is remove the 2 rear fans. The motherboard install goes easier with them out of the way. Take the 2 screws out of the back and slide the fans towards the PCI slots to remove them. Then, I installed the metal back cover plate for the motherboard connectors.
Next I installed the power supply. You will have to take the front face plate off to do that. You can pop the face plate off by gently prying it off with a flat screwdriver. There are no screws holding it on, just plastic clips. I had to plug in the power cord before putting the screws in that hold the supply in place.
The motherboard install is pretty standard. Install the mounting pegs and fasten the board down to them with the included screws. Then, I installed the RAM and the processor. The heatsink for the processor was an AMD standard heatsink. As I had some higher quality thermal compound on hand, I cleaned off the included compound and used my own. Finally, I hooked up all of the wires, such as the power switch, front usb connectors, ATX power, etc. One thing you may want to forego is plugging in the power led light. I found it to be way too bright and harsh.
Next I re-installed the fans, and put in the video card and the video capture card. Finally, I installed the drives and drive cables. You may have to adjust the DVD drive rail placement a few times to get it lined up right with the face plate. Once everything was connected, I used cable ties to make the wiring neater and help the air flow.
One last thing to do before you put the face plate back on is to line up the DVD drive eject button with the face plate button. There is a slider on the plastic rail on the back of the face plate. Align it with drive button, and you should be good to go.
All-in-all, the hardware has worked great. The cpu generally stays in the 40 to 45 degree C range for temperature. It has performed well enough speedwise, and I haven't felt the need to overclock the system, but I am sure it would take the increased temperature easily. The fans are all reasonably quiet, unless the room you are in is very quiet, then you do hear them a little. Obviously, this is something that can be fixed with better fans, if it bothers you. The drive button works ok, though you can't really use it with the tray out, so you have to push the tray back in to close it.
Now that the hardware is ready to go, it is on to the software install. Look for Phase 3 soon!