First of all, I have to say thanks to Shadowlord for the inspiration to make this PC. This is my progress thus far. This chassis is a Pioneer PDM630, 6 disc changer that I bought from ebay. Motherboard is an Asus P5KPL with an intel 2 Ghz core duo and 2 gigs of ram. 1 TB WD caviar green, and running Windows XP. This is 2 weeks worth of work doing it little by little on break time at my place of employment. I would not have been able to do this if I did not work for a company that makes industrial computers! Here are some photos so far. Real tight fit. The orginal power button works and I'm debating on putting a slim drive cd/dvd drive in and making some of the other buttons work. I'm also going to be putting a Thermaltake medialab VFD in place of the old display, so I can have a remote to play iTunes from. I will be getting an external DAC to run this into my reciever also. Just thought I would share and tell everyone what audiokarma is making me do!!!!:music:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/d0af_1.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_04412.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0446.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0447.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0445.jpg

thats impressive..curious to what your bosses and peers think. What DAC are you thinking on using ?... yup, pretty cool and good work..!
Hbar

The owner of the company thought it was pretty cool. He gave me the go ahead to use some of the equipment and metal. Thank god for the Pem Serter we have!!!:thmbsp: As of right now, my funds are very limited, so I'm thinking of getting the Fubar II for right now. It's inexpensive and I think it will be a good DAC to get my feet wet.

Sweet!

That is frikkin awesome!
Finally a use for BPC!
Maybe I will steal your idea and build one for myself!

That is really impressive to say the least, way further than just replacing caps ;)

Theres a cheap DAC that I've been thinking of getting and playing with, I'm pretty sure a couple of other AK members have this too

http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LAMPUCERA/CD%20DAC%20Lampucera%20lampizator.html

Apparently it's really good for it's price

Actually this was one of the easiest things I've done. Basically all I had to do was cut metal, put pems in, and hook everthing up! I encourage anyone and everyone to do it! It wasn't to expensive (so far!) either. Everything you see here cost me a little over $300. I'm going to put another $250 into it, including the DAC, and it should be good to go.

Really cool! Can you make me a McIntosh unit?

Somebody from Chat just showed me this thread.

This was a great idea and it came out great. Sweet !

:thmbsp:

Thanks for all the replies! Just wait until the fronts all done!:banana: Just a couple more months and it should be all ready to go!

Neat toy. Keep us appraised of what else you are doing to that lil box.

Either way, its a great party joke on someone "hey there bob, go turn on the cd player..." "sure, bill.. wait.. wtf, i think i just broke your CD player..."

Yeah, what makes it better is the cd player has a cartridge style loader, and if someone would push the little flap in where the cartridge goes, they will see the hard drive. I haven't been able to work on it much lately, due to money being tight, but I will update when I get some more work done. Thanks for all the great replies!:music:

Here is a little update so far. I was able to find some unused LED's at work, and took a couple different colors we had, and made 1 yellow, 1 amber, and 1 green LED to use as the HD LED. I eventually chose the green, as it looked the brightest. I drilled a hole in the headphone jack and that is where is resides now:D. Other than that, the only other thing I did was order the Fubar II DAC. I thought this would be a good DAC to start with. I did put the cover on it to monitor CPU temps, and it was getting pretty hot. I hope I can get away with maybe making some slits like my Yamaha CR-620 has on top to help with the temp, but I think I might have to add another fan somewhere. That might be a challenge! The only other piece I need to complete it will be a MediaLab VFD by ThermalTake, and it will be complete!! :music: Anyway, here are the pics!!!!

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0467.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0468.jpg

That is awesome! I'm planning to do the same thing with an old Yamaha cdp that bit the dust.

Cool project! Maybe you can add a fan to the bottom where there is no motherboard.

If you don't plan to be adding PCI cards, a fan would probably be best between the motherboard back-plane, and the power supply. You may be able to squeeze a 80mm fan there, but will likely have to settle for a 60 or 70mm. Adding this exhaust fan, with a couple cutouts on the bottom between the motherboard and front panel should do the trick just fine. You don't really want a fan on the top or bottom of the chassis.

I'll have to take a look and see, but I don't think I can get a fan there. The motherboard is kinda high, and the fan would proably be too deep. What would the disadvantages be of having a fan on top? I've never built a computer before, so airflow is all new to me. If anyone has some more suggestions, I'm open to anything and everything. Thanks for the help!

I'll have to take a look and see, but I don't think I can get a fan there. The motherboard is kinda high, and the fan would proably be too deep. What would the disadvantages be of having a fan on top? I've never built a computer before, so airflow is all new to me. If anyone has some more suggestions, I'm open to anything and everything. Thanks for the help!

If you didn't plan to stack anything on top of this PC, there would be no concerns other than aesthetics. However, if you plan to stick this in an audio rack or something, than you will want want to exhaust on the sides only.

I went home last night, and there is no way a fan is fitting in the back. The motherboard is fully against the back. I don't have a rack, so I don't plan on putting anything on top of it. My audio gear is on an Ikea bookshelf, the expedit? The one that has an open back, and it is on it's side, longways. My turntable, cd player, and reciever all sit on top. I plan on putting my DAC and cd player (cd player is a PS1, due to it being small and compact) in one of the cubes underneath the receiver. So the computer, turntable, and receiver will on be on top side by side. The aesthetics of the fans might be an issue, but if people look at it as a cd player, they might be intruiged by the fan:D Plus, they make those cool LED fans! HAHAHAHA. :smoke: Thanks for the insight. I'll just have to play around a little and see what I can come up with.

A final option is to put a fan on the bottom of the case in the front area, and have it blow into the case. Adding a hole in the rear by the CPU will allow the positive pressure air to carry the heat out.

Well, I don't think I have any other options then putting a fan on top. I think it will look fine with the design I have in my head:nerd: Seeing as I like to add pictures, here is another one. I bought a 15" monitor from my father's work for $15, so everything is hooked up. Seeing as my significant other will not let me have a lava lamp AND the monitor, I had to find a lava lamp screen saver!:D The Comp. will NOT be sitting on the turntable. I will move it over on top of the receiver when it is all complete. I just set it there to test.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0472.jpg

I got the fans in today. They do the job at keeping the CPU cool. I think it looks ok on top. They are really noisey though!!:sigh: I'm using some 80MM fans from Cofan, thats what we had at work and I thought I'd give them a try. Anyone know of some better, less noisey fans? Update pic:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/TSheaZ28/IMG_0475.jpg

Here is a link to a cooling fan shootout for noise levels - it may help you pick one
http://www.directron.com/noise.html

I recently bought a Silenx Fan - very quite

http://www.silenx.com/ixtremaprofans.asp?sku=ixp-34-08

TSheaZ28,

Try undervolting the fans from 12V down to 5V.
If your current fan is high speed (2500 rpm at 12V), it will run around 900 rpm at 5V and still move some air. At this speed, it's bearly audible.

I see that you are running your fan as intakes in upside down orientation. Sleeve bearings don't last long like that. You might want to try locating some Panaflow fans by Panasonic which have hydrobearings.

Thanks supermario. I'm looking online right now, at some. There is like 5 different model #'s of the 80mm x 25mm. Is there a difference in the model #'s? They all look the same.

Edit: NM, I didn't look close enough at the specs. Different RPM's. Also, is there a website you would recommend? It looks like coolerguys.com has the best prices, but I have never heard of that site before.

These ones are Panaflos.
There was a merger between Panasonic fan division with NMB few years ago.

I like Newegg. They are pretty good with shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705016

Some reference for ya. Download the mp3 clips and see if the sound of the fan is irritating or not. Some of us have very tender ears :D

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article689-page7.html#panaflol

If you want adaquate cooling you might want to get the higher speed ones like 2400rpm and undervolt it. If you undervolt a weak fan, you won't get much air flow at 5V and may have difficulty getting the fan to start reliabily.

It's easy to undervolt from 12V to 5V by connecting the positive to the 5V line on the powersupply and ground to ground. Just a heads up, I wouldn't try running at 7.5V (12V with 5V for ground). I wrecked a powersupply few years ago doing that.

I like your PC in a old cd player. It's an awesome display of craftsmanship. I see that you have a lot of intakes but lacking exhausts. You can put an exhaust fan on the backside but for silence, you can try punching some vents on the back. Don't forget fan filters :music:

I am going to put a cutout in the back for airflow. I cut out a mesh piece from an old file folder to use for a grill. I do have fan filters also, just didn't snap them on. Thanks for your help and recommendations:banana:!

120mm fans will move just as much air while running slower & quieter.
I have experimented with running them at 4.5 volts, using an adjustable wallwart I got off ebay, and it worked fine. In many applications just a little airflow is all you need. I have my CR2020 in a cabinet with limited airflow, and my fan works great.

Great project!

If I could of put 120mm in there I would have. The power supply and cpu fan are just about to the top of the case, limiting my space. 80mm were the biggest I could go.