Custom Computer Chassis

[Mercutio]

Has anyone ever investigated the possibility of making a custom computer case, or having someone else make one for you?

 

[mubs]

I've often wished for it, but it sure is going to be costly. Either you make a small quantity and pay thru your nose, or spend on tooling for a larger quantity. In the end, you're better off buying the best ones that meet your needs and getting proficient with a Dremel. I've also had very good results initially with Dynamat, and now with Accumat (similar, but less messy) dampening materials. I've modded all cases I've owned, with some very good results.

Jim Hansen is a nice guy who understands cases and cooling, and sells pre-modified cases. He's a reputable guy, AFAIK. His web site is coolcases.com.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm more interested in something that's a custom shape than something that could be adapted from an existing chassis.

CityK linked to a sort of "mini cluster" of single board computers a couple weeks ago. I found some C3/2000+boards for a pretty reasonable price ($65) through one of the distributors I deal with, and I was sort of thinking about a cube-shaped box with two complete PCs + 12 or 14 hard disks. Power requirements on a C3 would actually be pretty modest, and if everything were insulated properly it'd be quiet, too (smallish PSU + Samsung FDB + quiet fans on C3).

 

[ddrueding]

I've built quite a few custom chassis. There might even be some links here (or at SPCR). Mostly designed to be larger and really, really quiet. I've build all mine of wood, all based on an existing motherboard tray. Of course, for this you chould just slot-mount them.

As a warning: my first fileserver used an EPIA VIA board with a C3 and I/O performance sucked. It was enough for streaming MP3s, but not enough for video. Even with a PCI-based SATA card.

 

[Mercutio]

Hm. Maybe I should just buy one and play with it first. I was thinking of sticking a SATA controller and a GboC card in 'em, but if they can't keep up with a video stream, they're pretty worthless.

 

[CityK]

I found some C3/2000+boards for a pretty reasonable price ($65) ... but if they can't keep up with a video stream, they're pretty worthless.

They would likely work well with SDTV Mpeg2 sources (see the OpenChrome Project) ... but not much else in terms of video....given the generation age of the underlining components [C3 (samual), chipset (cle266) and embedded graphics (Unichrome))

Who are the boards made by? Putting C3/2000+ into google comes up with a couple of flex atx boards (i.e. as opposed to mini-itx), as can be seen here, here and here. That third board looks like it could be a Biostar (even its model number is suggestive of that), but the brand name tells a diferent story (not to mention raising reason for concern: Mr.Chips = Warning! Warning! Warning!).

Was Via cleaning out old stock and had a firesale or something?

I was sort of thinking about a cube-shaped box with two complete PCs + 12 or 14 hard disks. Power requirements on a C3 would actually be pretty modest, and if everything were insulated properly it'd be quiet, too

I like what you're thinking. I've thought along these lines several times ... I've also thought that modifying a 1U rack case would probably work pretty good too.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm still really liking my current home fileserver. Coolermaster stacker case filled with Supermicro Hotswap SATA racks. After swapping the fans out with quieter ones and dynamating the inside, it runs quiet enough.

 

[Mercutio]

The one I ordered is on a Matsonic board.
Isn't the C3 supposed to have on-chip MPEG2 decoding support?

I have some zero-noise 200W PSUs that came out of Gateway P3/450s (how quiet? Well, I installed a PCI card in one while it was on, thinking it was off), and the newest C3s do seem to use DDR, which I seem to have a lot of, at the moment.

If I worked with wood (well, actually, I'd get my ex- to do it), I'm thinking I could get away with maybe a 12" wide by 12" long by 12" deep cube (the board I'm looking at is 6.5"x9"-ish), but it seems like wood - pine? - would make for a very heavy/cumbersome box, and it seems to me that heat exchange would be seriously inefficient.

 

[CougTek]

I thought Matsonic was part of PCChips.

 

[Mercutio]

I think you're right, but is it worth being picky for a $65 motherboard + CPU that I'm probably not going to keep anyway?

 

[CityK]

Isn't the C3 supposed to have on-chip MPEG2 decoding support?

Not the processor. Some northbridges, on the other hand, yes. You still need drivers to take advantage of the acceleration though. See the OpenChrome project...in particular, that page I linked above....for a linux distro with everything already added, see the EpiOS

 

[CityK]

and the newest C3s do seem to use DDR

Bear in mind you're not getting a new C3....While I don't think the Samuel 2 core was Via's "Willamette", it probably is a lot more sucker then the newer Nehemiah core.

 

[CityK]

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIA_C3 and its embedded links for more details.

 

[Groltz]

Here's info on the computer case Merc keeps in his bathroom:

http://www011.upp.so-net.ne.jp/kat2/pc/ern005/ekana.htm

 

[time]

:bigeek:

 

[Bozo]

:bigeek:

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[LunarMist]

Yikes! Perhaps for the bedroom?

 

[Mercutio]

Here's info on the computer case Merc keeps in his bathroom

That would be cute except that I think people who like anime/manga should be sent to live in prison camps where they're forced to resort to cannibalism to survive.

 

[LunarMist]

Huh? How does that relate to the anime/magma?

 

[CougTek]

The customed computer case looks like an anime. It is definetly manga-inspired.

 

[Groltz]

That would be cute except that I think people who like anime/manga should be sent to live in prison camps where they're forced to resort to cannibalism to survive.

I know...We've discussed it before. And I agree with you.

Couldn't resist posting that barb, though. :mrgrn:

 

[CityK]

a lot more sucker

Hmm. Yes, that's some mighty fine writing I got going there. Anyways:

While I don't think the Samuel 2 core was Via's "Willamette"

I stand corrected. The Samuel 2 core was indeed Via's "Willamette" of the C3 cores....it should give your average 486 a run for its money.

it probably is a lot more sucker then the newer Nehemiah core

Indeed. I've seen cpus suck before, but those Samuel 2's are the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

 

[CityK]

Continuing with my trend of self-correction:

..on-chip MPEG2 decoding support?

...Some northbridges...You still need drivers to take advantage of the acceleration though. See the OpenChrome project...for a linux distro with everything already added, see the EpiOS

Well, what I said isn't necessarily true. Older EpiOS releases would support your Samuel 2 processor, but they would lack the OpenChrome drivers. New EpiOS releases include the OpenChrome drivers, but currently wont support any pre-Nehemiah C3 cores (Samuel 2, Erza, Erza-T) -- see this for more info.

Anyways, not that big of a deal, given that the OpenChrome drivers are just the bleeding edge of the via Xorg driver, as explained here. And given the via Xorg driver supports acceleration via the XvMC extention, your can leverage the built in hardware capabilities provided in the UniChrome IGP embedded in the CLE266 northbridge that is on this motherboard.

On the Windows side of things, it is my understanding that PowerDVD (and WinDVD) will be able to make use of the embedded acceleration (so it is only reasonable to summize that the Via chipset drivers do indeed make the feature available to those apps able to exploit it).

 

[CityK]

your can leverage the built in hardware capabilities

with just about any distro that includes the appropriate Xorg version .... which will soon mean almost every distro, given the likely universal transition to 6.9/7.0

 

[Mercutio]

Well, my Matsonic motherboard + C3/2000 can in fact saturate a 100Mbit network link by itself. If nothing else, that means it'd work as a storage appliance.

 

[Mercutio]

When it rains it pours. Someone give me a mini-ITX socket 370 system today. Looks like an i815. It gives a "no-memory" beepcode on start, which I'm hoping just means that it needs some different RAM.
It'll be interesting to see what I can do with it, and how a C3 stacks up to a 1.2GHz P3.

The same guy also gave me a G3 iMac (one of the old CRT-based ones) and a G4 iMac (one of the LCD-based ones), neither of which have working displays.

 

[Buck]

The same guy also gave me a G3 iMac (one of the old CRT-based ones) and a G4 iMac (one of the LCD-based ones), neither of which have working displays.

The beauty of an integrated system.