Projects
The company I work for, Silicon Forensics sells a forensic computer system that is built inside a full size pelican case. That gave me the idea for the first case computer I built which I called the Poor Mans Netbook even though it ended up costing quiet a bit more than a netbook to build ~_~. After people constantly commented on how bulky and under powered it was, I decided on working on a smaller, faster and better built system that could actually be useful for something. I was able to get a much smaller case of the same brand as the last one that I could fit a mini-itx mobo in and the process began.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Poor Mans Notebook
-Pentium Dual Core E5200
2.5 GHz, 2MB L2, 800Mhz
-2x 2GB Corsair DDR2 PC6400
-GeForce 7100 Integrated GPU
-64GB OCZ SSD
-8” Touch Screen LCD
-Netgear WG111 802.11G
-Bluetooth 2.1-EDR
Bench testing, I was able to overclock the CPU to 3.2Ghz on air but decided to run at stock due to the lack of airflow in the case. Im using a 120w Pico-PSU for power. System in this config only drew 34w idle.
Stock heatsink would not fit in the case as it was too tall. Had to install a 1U heatsink instead. Its silent when the system is idle but during full load it sounds like a vacuum (and my macbook) ~_~
Stressing the CPU, SSD, GPU, WiFi and Bluetooth all at the same time to make sure its all stable.
Woot, my LCD finally came in the mail. 8” 1024x768 LCD with touch panel O=. I needed to power it with the computers power supply so I had to modify the adaptor to connect to the 12v rail of the psu.
System fully loaded with the LCD. The power brick for the pico-psu is only 60w so I gotta go order a 102w. Gotta power it with a full size psu for now.
I made the top of the case from a sheet of steel. The two large holes are for the fan grills for airflow. The other holes are for the power adaptor, power switch, 2 USB ports, SATA port and a molex power connector.
All painted, just gotta install the fan grills and other ports and switches.
Size comparisons... 9” EeePC, 13” Unibody MB, “Poor Mans Notebook”
And I am done for now. I still would like to figure out a better bezel for the monitor instead of using a piece of foam. Still waiting for my new power brick to boot it all up but once I receive that I will post more pics of the system up and running. Thanks!
