Ongoing HTPC in the TV rack (2 Viewers)

[mama]

Ok, as I´m not very happy with my solution at the moment, I´m planing a new "case" for my htpc. At the moment it´s in a midi tower that is placed in the corner of the living room between two furnitures. Doesn´t look good and because of it´s position, the very quiet CPU fan is strengthened a lot in this corner.

My TV rack has a nice little drawerfold without a drawer. So I´m now planning to build my htpc right in there. I´ll make some pics these days to show you from what I´m trying to tell you in my bad english here.

As my time is spare, I think it will take some weeks to finish it, but I´ll post every news here.

 

[mama]

Ok, after some days of thinking about that (and asking my wife for permission... ), I bought the needed things today. So here some first pics of my "project":

This is the raw material. Some wood to make the bottom and a second bottom for the DVD and card reader. Also the cards will be fixed there.

This is all the stuff that has to go into the rack:

And here all has to fit in. I already tested the two (well, how to tell it in english... :roll: ) "Schubladenschienen":

And the rack itself with the new Panasonic plasma (yes, I gave the Hyiundai back):

 

[mama]

Ok, and here´s the result of my work today. It´s not finished, but it´s working. I want to fix the cables and build a kind of bridge to press the cards on the board. Also the reset button must be installed and maybe later a LCD. Then I´m thinking about some LEDs starting when you open the drawerfold.

Comments are welcome.

Here are the pics:

 

[FlipGer]

Hi mama,

very interesting solution! Looks quite well.

I also currently search for a good solution for my system. This is a nice inspiration. I think i will size my tv rack, to see if this would work at my home.

Flip.

 

[tomtom21000]

Looks quite good.
But no fear of vibrations?
How about the air circulation?

success for your efforts, anyway!

tomtom21000

 

[mama]

Thx folks.

Vibrations are nor prob. All drives and even the board are buffered with these little pads you can buy to nail under a chairs foot. Works very good.

For the air circulation, I´m thinking about a water cooling, or at least one or two 80mm fans at the back of the rack. But that´s fine tuning.

 

[mama]

Ok, first evening watching TV with it, I must say there must be a fan the next days! It´s really hot in there and my ATI card began to flicker...

I´ll cut a 80mm whole out of the back and put a fan there blowing out. Also on the front, I´ll search for a nice cover for the fan and place one blowing the air in.

 

[ordinary73]

mama:
Ever thought about EMP (EMR, EMI etc.) ? A shield could be better for the PC and for the other electronics in your room as well.

 

[mama]

Don´t know what you mean. Any links for this?

 

[FlipGer]

Hi mama,

short in german: Er meint elektromagnetische Abstrahlungen. Das hatte ich auch überlegt. Ein Computergehäuse ist nicht umsonst aus Metall. Ein Farradayscher Käfig gegen Einflüsse von / nach außen ist oft angebracht.

Flip.