water cooler :: building a mini-itx box
im looking to build a silent mini-itx box (such as johns) for dsl and maybe windows [for gaming(but hey, i could just use wine...right?)]
i would like to use it to host my own web site
i would like to have 1 0r 2 slim drives (1 cdrw and 1 read only)
maybe 3 usb ports for external devices
have it be wireless internet capable (is it possible to put most of the receiver inside the case?...)
have a big compact flash drive...(maybe over 256 if thats possible?)
have a regular hard drive in for windows and my games/downloads..
also be capable of connecting to a non wireless lan
and maybe be capable of makingsynthesized and recording music
is all of this possible? if so, can any one give me tips on how to build it, and any parts i may be missing from my list
any help at all would be greatly appreciated, as iv never built a pc before
i know that i need a:
-motherboard
-power supply
-case (with enough spots for everything)(custom... maybe?)
-some way to embed dsl on a cf drive
-harddrive
-audio card
-graphix card
-monitor
-lotta money
Some of the boards have sound, graphics and network interface already on them.
Well if you want all the bits you listed the machine is not going to be that quiet ;) Anywho Mini-ITX.com is a very good site with pages of other people projects and product specs.
Im afraid theres many versions of motherboards to choose from. If you want the maximum speed but no CPU fan, then the ME6000. But if you want 1GHz+ its cpu fans all round im afraid. As for wireless access, depends whether you using PCI cards, USB sticks or a PCcard (from a laptop) which then the MIIE6000 has a cardbus and compact flash slot.
Just as a word of caution some of the later boards need a certain type of RAM.
Essentially most of the boards have similar features:
Two IDE channels (so four devices)
At least one LAN socket
Usually four USB sockets (2 from header on MB)
1 Parallel port, 1 serial port
2 firewire from header pins
keyboard/mouse PS/2 sockets
Onboard sound
This is much as I can suggest really.
Its up to you for which motheboard will suit your requirements, I would suggest taking some time over it! and reading as many other peoples projects as possible if this is your first build!
Hoipe this helps! :S 
Libretto -
Thanks for the link!
A computer inside a COW?!!
Some interesting stuff.
Chris
Well relly wanted one of the these! But wasnt good on student budget 
P.S.: If you want the smallest stylish PC to match your 50MB distro have a look at this! The actual motherbaord would fit into a 5.25" cd drive. Think a complete linux software firewall INSIDE your tower machine.
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