Building the Viking

Although I normally don't do "build-it" posts assuming that most of my readers already know how to do that, beside which there are plenty of good ones on YouTube. This is a little different, in that not only will it describe how I pieced this thing together, but how it was done from an acquisition standpoint as well.

This "box" is pretty small as you can see. I'd guess from a volume standpoint, it's between a quarter and a third the size of my desktop workstation, the "Blackbird" built in a Cooler Master "Centurian" mid-tower case. This makes my 4th Cooler Master case, and that's almost completely due to the fact that apparently their design/business philosophy fits me almost completely. That is, they tend to lean toward unassuming cases, with enough features to make them noteworthy, but very "bang-for-the-buck" friendly. This CM Elite 120 is a great example. I didn't need the smallest, or the nicest looking, which pretty much leaves out notable case makers, both Silverstone and Lian Li. It fit my budget ($50 range) which is key, although, I'm unwilling to sacrifice build quality which let out a whole variety of other makers. And I did mention unassuming didn't I!?! I hate flashing lights, shiny panels, and any other do-dad which don't contribute to function. One other feature that many might consider an odd decision is that it came without a PSU, AND that it was sized to take a regular ATX unit. I'm extremely distrustful of "included" power supplies as well as the long term issues of dealing with something which is non-standard. 

OK, so on to the build. Item number 1, this case not only fulfilled all my criteria, but I was able to find it for sale on eBay, through a seller I trust (Newegg) at a good price $50 (free shipping). But you might wonder why I used eBay when it's Newegg and I could get it at the same price through their website? Well....eBay has kind of "cash back" bonus point system and I've been waiting to get my quarterly "rebate" which amounted to something over $27 this time. You see, I routinely use eBay for lots of my purchases for clients and see a small, but not insignificant return. This time it made this very nice case cost me $23!

The motherboard and CPU were free, being "cast-offs" from my brother's upgrades this summer. It's a Zotac H55-ITX a-c, with an Intel i3-450. That's a mini-ITX MB, with basically everything onboard including 802.11n WiFi. If you are doing your own calculation, you can just insert the $$$ from your selection here.

Other items that I already had and didn't need to pay for included, a SATA, Blu-Ray/DVD+RW combo optical drive. Oh, by the way; one of the reasons I chose this case was that it holds a full-sized optical drive so I didn't have to buy another (probably slim-laptop style) drive that would be more money. I also had 2.5" 500Gb/5400rpm SATA laptop drive which was exactly what I wanted for data storage for this thing. Notebook drives are quieter and use less energy than the full-sized variety. I had bought this some months ago for $30 from Craig's List, so if you want, you can tally that as well. I already had a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit that I could use, so no cost there.

What else did I buy? I had to have DDR3 RAM, which I on waited till I caught a good sale at Fry's. Last week they had a nice set of Patriot 8Gb (4Gb x 2), RAM on sale for $32 with a $10 rebate, making the ultimate cost $22. I found a fellow ThinkPad Forum member's ad for an unused 64Gb Samsung 470 SSD for $52. Not a great deal by today's standards, but decent. leaving the only part missing as the power supply. 

Because I chose a case capable of taking regular ATX PSUs, I had more flexibility. And this thing was going to be the HTPC in our bedroom, so it needs to be quiet. After spending some time researching on the Silent PC Review website, I concluded that Seasonic PSUs were the way to go. I was able to find a nice, used 460 watt one on eBay for $45 and I was done shopping!

On Monday the last part (PSU) came and I couldn't help but open the box and start piecing it together. Despite the Cub Scout meeting that night, I was able to put it together and get the operating system loaded. By Tuesday night, it was fully updated and installed in our bedroom. That evening, I was able to watch older Big Bang Theory and Brady Bunch episodes on the CBS website! Total spent...$156....$186 if you include the 500Gb drive. Even if you have to buy an appropriate board and CPU, it can be done for maybe $150 more. Not too bad regardless of how you look at it.

The Viking Is Coming.....As An HTPC

That's a United States Navy Lockheed S-3 "Viking". Which is the network name for the new bedroom HTPC I'm in the process of building. It's being named according to my network convention of using fighter names for notebook computers, transport aircraft for servers (natch.), and for the various desktops I use have reconnaissance or electronics warfare planes. In an earlier posts I discussed my main desktop workstation, the "Blackbird", as well as our file server, running WHS as the "Hercules". The "Viking" is a little special, and unusual for me in that, not only is it relatively up-to-date computer, but so named in honor of my friend Eric who flew one of these while in service of our country.

 OK, back to the computer end of things. A few months ago, my brother (who else) emailed me to see if I wanted a motherboard that he had replaced. But of course! It's a Mini-ITX form-factor, Zotac H55-ITX, which is an Intel Socket LGA 1156 board, running the H55 Northbridge chip and capable of handling i7/i5/i3 CPUs, complete with onboard b/g/n WiFi! Let me just put it out there that, that's pretty fancy hardware in this neck of the woods!

He even included a cool running i3, and a Gelid Siberian CPU cooler. All I need to get is some DDR3 RAM, and a case to put it in. Things went along slowly largely because I had other projects that took priority and also because I wanted to do it "right". Meaning I wanted to put it in the "right" case, with the "right" power supply, and the "right" boot drive. What that translates into is a compact case, that looks good, but wasn't so small that it wouldn't cool well, plus I strongly prefer a regular ATX PSU instead of something unusual (read: expensive). 

This turned out to be the Cooler Master Elite 120. It not only takes a regular PSU, but a full-sized optical drive as well. Well; imagine that.....just happen to have one of those sitting out in the garage right now! Along with that, I was able to track down a Seasonic SS-430HB power supply as well, so it should be stable AND quiet.

Last night I came across a fellow ThinkPad Forum member selling a new Samsung Series 470, 64Gb SSD for $52.

Of course, I'm also going to throw in a regular mechanical drive as well so that it won't be completely dependent on the server. There happens to be a 2.5" Hitachi 500Gb Travelstar that I've been hoarding for several months now just waiting for the right opportunity.

 
All that's left to do now is to run down some RAM, wait for the parts to show up and enjoy having a HTPC/DVR in our bedroom!