My new build (work in progress)

[Calum]

As some of you may know, I recently went ahead and bought a new (older) computer.  I'm now planning on building it into a wooden case, so I'm starting this work log thread in case anybody would like to see how it goes ahead.

First off, the specs:
Intel STL2 server motherboard, dual socket 370
2x1Ghz Pentium III 1GHz/133MHZ FSB/256k cache
4x512Mb CL3 Compaq PC133 registered SDRAM
18Gb IBM Ultrastar 10000rpm SCSI HDD
CHA-50 50x IDE CD drive (brand unknown, variously seen it as LG, Artec, Ultima)
400W PSU
2x80mm fans, 120mm fan

Some of the parts, mainly the fans and CD drive, may be changed, and I might also add some more HDDs, mainly just to use them because I have about 10 lying around.
The plan is to build it into a kind of drawer underneath my desk - the sides will be solid, but the bottom will not be attached so it can slide out, otherwise I wouldn't be able to access the components.
I'm looking into passively cooling the CPUs, thinking maybe the case fans will provide enough airflow, but I won't know until I try it whether it will work.
I'm going to use this computer mainly as a test bed and possibly a server, I'll also be running F@H on it (which reminds me, I need to get my other partitions up and running for this computer).
When I start work, I'll post some pictures for those interested.  Not sure when I'll have some time to get going though so bear with me.
Wish me luck!

[xavier]

Calum, why only 400 w power supply?

[Calum]

It was the cheapest option, to be honest.
400W should be adequate for my setup I believe, I won't be adding hardware that takes significant power.
If I was planning on adding a decent video card (impossible due to the lack of AGP or PCI-E connectors) or more powerful CPUs (impossible as they're not supported, and even if they did work to get an improvement I'd need the PIII-S CPUs which would cost more than everything else put together) then it would be worth a better PSU.
I did check some PSU calculators, and even with a huge safety margin using P4s (as P3s weren't an option), several HDDs and several optical drives, I never got anything above 350W.  It's looking to be more like 250-270W, so 400W is fine.

[xavier]

Ok ,& im sure it will turn out to be a[ good ]1 of a kind rig.

[Calum]

Ok ,& im sure it will turn out to be a[ good ]1 of a kind rig.

Thanks, I hope so too.
Currently looking into some kind of RAID and deciding on an OS.

[homer]

could you draw up what your planning on making for a case?

[Calum]

I can try, but I really suck at drawing.
Will try and get some pictures up later today.

[Calum]

Sorry for the bad drawing and quality, but I suck at drawing and don't have a camera, my phone is the best I can do.
Annotations: the top word is "fans", below and to the left is "CD", to the right "front panel", below and to the left "PSU", on the right "HDD", below and to the left "CD", to the right "board".
The top drawing shows the front view, the bottom shows the bird's eye view of the tray.
Things aren't really to scale, I know.

[homer]

this is what i think would be best for ventilation. the key thing is air pressure. to get the best possible airflow, air-in has to equal air-out; this is why it is best if you get identical fans. with this setup, you should be able to use passive cooling on your CPU's.

[recovering disk space -- attachment deleted by admin]

[Track]

I haven't the slightest idea why you bought a 1Ghz-CPU PC, but there is no way it will score anything notible in F@H.

[Track]

this is what i think would be best for ventilation. the key thing is air pressure. to get the best possible airflow, air-in has to equal air-out; this is why it is best if you get identical fans. with this setup, you should be able to use passive cooling on your CPU's.

Actually, the most proficiantly-cooled build optimally encompasses higher exhaust CFM than intake.

[Calum]

I haven't the slightest idea why you bought a 1Ghz-CPU PC, but there is no way it will score anything notible in F@H.

That is a far point and I have been thinking about this over the last few days.
F@H is out for that build as it won't score well.
And I bought it as a project, to learn from it - it was cheap, and I can learn about dual CPU systems and SCSI drives from it.

homer, thanks for the diagram, I may need some more fans but that looks OK.
The reason I was using the fans there was because that's what I have right now available, but I think I can scare up some more.
The PSU has an 80mm fan on it by the way Track, so air out will be more than air in.  Unfortunately this means more dust as it will be a negatively pressured system, but I also have dust filters, and the system will be out of its "case" quite often anyway so it won't matter.

Thanks for the input so far.

[homer]

hmm, if you designed the case to have an easily removable top panel it would make the case easier to dust, then you would not need to use dust filters.

[Calum]

Well, it will have a top panel of sorts, just no side panel.
You see it will be underneath my desk, so one side will be already there, as will the top.
One side will have to be open.
I'll try and get some pictures later to explain what I mean, kinda busy right now.

[Calum]

OK, here is the underneath of my desk.
You can see the top will be the bottom of the desk, and one side will be part of my shelf, on the right.