New Build!

I’ve been planning this for a while, but I haven’t been able to put it all together until now.

Just built myself a small form-factor PC which will basically run HTPC duty. Most importantly, I wanna watch K-On! in 1080p and play Touhou and emu on the TV.

Parts

The case is a Thermaltake LanBox which made for an… interesting build. It’s also surprisingly big and heavy. Looks nice though, and I love the handle.

LanBox

I really like how modular the case is though, pretty much every major component has its own removable section.

Started off with the motherboard and back IO. Again, I really like how the entire tray was removable and includes the back IO rack where the video card goes.

Surprised by how big the GeminII heatsink I got was. Luckily, it didn’t interfere with the memory or the power supply (although there’s not much clearance between the heatsink’s fan and the PSU).

Mobo Tray

Next up was the front panel rack with the BR-ROM and hard drive. Thing was incredibly difficult to put back into the case, mostly due to the black thingy on the left refusing to go into the hole properly.

Front Panel Rack

The power supply rack… cut me. Seriously. I dropped it and caught it before it hit the ground, but in the process, the rack left a few cuts on my right arm and hand.

It’s also kinda weird that they want you to mount the PSU upside-down. I guess it’s to let the heat vent out instead of into the case.

Went with the Antec BP5500 since it was fairly cheap and had modular cables, which seemed like (and was) a really good idea for a case this small.

PSU Rack

Also sleeved the front panel connectors with some spiral wrap… because I could. Given a choice, I would’ve gone with the whole flex sleeving and heat shrink option, but the placement would’ve made that too annoying. Removed the hard disk cage too, since I didn’t need it.

Inside of Case

Started to put everything together and noticed that there was a lot of dead space in the front since I removed the hard drive rack.

Huge Low-Profile Heatsink is Huge

Actually put the PSU in and the power cables were a pain. Since the side panels don’t seem to be removable, I couldn’t really maneuver the cables where I wanted them.

Eh, whatever, so I just closed it up and booted it up.

It lives!

Knock on wood, but this is probably the first time I’ve built a computer that booted up properly the first time! No dead memory, no compatibility issues, nothing!

Started installing Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit right away.

…and it didn’t like my CD key. Maybe it was because I was trying to use a 32-bit key to unlock 64-bit Windows, so I tried my 64-bit key (which I used for my desktop)… nothing.

Turns out that you really shouldn’t let the Windows 7 installer have internet access since it seems to download a blacklist or something similar that really doesn’t like my student copies of Windows 7.

Whatever, got it running and everything though. Named her “ReinforceZwei” since it’s…

1. Portable (kinda)

2. Blue (on the inside)

3. Handy (hopefully)

4. Not the most powerful thing out there （笑）

…and I’m a huge Nanoha geek.

Rein!!

…more I look at it, I realize it could use… moar lights. Maybe I’ll get some blue EL wire and go crazy.

Obligatory parts list:

Thermaltake LanBox VF1000BWS Case

Antec BP550 Plus 550W PSU

MSI K9N6PGM2-V2 Motherboard

AMD X2 240 Processor

COOLER MASTER GeminII CPU Cooler

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2×1) DDR2 1066 Memory

POWERCOLOR HD 4650 1GB Video Card

WD Caviar Green 1TB Hard Drive

Lite-On 4x Blu-Ray ROM

…and Heart

…

…don’t tell anybody, but the loft is still a mess from all this…

Computer-related Mess