PROJECT LOG Teac 500 HTPC

I am in the process of building an HTPC type setup into a Teac 500 CD player, I'm using the matching amp, which is the main motivation to do so. Also to get rid of the large PC I currently own. The PC needs to be relatively potent, competently play games, run CAD programs, photoshop etc. I have an idea the spec I'm after, but nothing is confirmed yet as I still need to shift the other one to fund it. Probably a 2500k or possibly the other i5 k.

I looked at some dimensions before buying and worked out that the mini itx board will fit in the 300 systems, and the micro atx will fit in the 500 setup. The latter I've just found out is very tight, and leaves minimal space around the edges to mount other hardware.

So straight away I've had to sacrifice the tv card due to the smaller board. Bonus of that is a sfx psu fits in its case with only needing to modify the plug, might even try and use the OE teac plug.

I will still have a decent sound card (looking at Asus D2 or the STX) now intending to get a board with a wifi card fitted to a pcie to remove and fit the sound t with an extension cable. Hopefully i'll be able to find a decent usb DVBT. Anyone got any recomendations on that? Needs to be able to record in HD. Probably stand more of a chance finding a decent usb sound card, but the issue i have is I do not want to run a receiver anymore due to the poor stereo reproduction.

Idea is to use the sound card with analogue outputs to the 500i for stereo and a 3 channel power up for the surrounds. Might even chuck it in the 500 tuner rather than the legacy case, maybe a 300 amp case and modify the volume nobs to work on the front of the unit rather than the rear.

The other issue I have is a full size graphics card doesn't fit by about 20mm in height, shame. Decent low profile cards are a premium last time I checked. Which leaves the only option of mounting it sideways on brackets of some description. Could be a pain, but I will need the card.

Already had a Noctua C14, which again is 10mm too tall, so that needs a rethink. Will do some investigation. If the extra toys weren't needed it would be an easy build I'd say.

Hopefully end up looking something like this..



Will stick some pictures up as and when I sort bits, won't be a quick build. Any thoughts and advice is always appreciated.

This was my original plan for a mini itx teac 300 cassette deck, still got the dismantled case so may still knock something up out of it.




First purchase has been the psu..

Silverstone 450w SFX SIL-ST45SF Modular PSU. Typically it won't fit in the current configuration, so I will need the plug modding to a different side. Ruining whatever warranty it may have in the process, what has to be done.

Next I need a mini ITX board. Looking at the gigabyte z77. Anyone got any experience in these? What is the fan control like?

Think the cpu cooler is going to have to be the Noctua L12, quite annoyed the C14 doesn't fit.

Anyway, will get some pictures up as bits turn up and you'll get a rambling thought process on the way. Any thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.

Next I need a pci-e x16 riser which is at a right angle unlike all the others. Can't seem to find that.

Or are there any decent low profile cards around? Looking for around 6850/70 power.

mmm... ambitious... i like ambitious. Not how I would have done it but if you pull it off it will be something to see.

you've already got a handle on the main problems... finding a solid low profile video card will be hard. The best ones i've seen are HD 7770 or a 650ti, which isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination... and if you're going to play in those specs you might as well downgrade the cpu to a low powered i3 a bit to ease the temp burdens.

Which means you'll have to use a card to lay your gpu down... which means you'll need a single width high performance GPU that will fit in a small space (not long). That means you're probably gonna need to go with something like the hd 7850 from AFOX which is a special made single slot gpu... might be stronger gpus out there that are single slot like that... but i couldn't find them.

How would you have done it just out of interest? Always up for new ideas. Not really done this before, but if I can build a car and did lego as a kid, I can build a computer. That's my theory anyway.

I can't find any low profile 650ti?

I did take a few pictures, but failed to put the memory stick in and have lost the cable.

I got the power supply today, a power supply I should say, they were out of stock of the modular, and decided to send the non modular version instead. Thanks for the casual downgrade.

Done me a favour though as I've tried fitting it with a few other bits and it'd be very tight. Which led me to remove it completely and start fitting the other components and realise it's going outside. Keeps that heat out, means I can get a full ATX modular and just extend the wires (hopefully saving any warranty issues)

Graphics cards, are they are all standard height? I have a 550ti and a 6870 here both the same card height (cooler slightly different) the 6870 just fits length ways, but the top of the pcie male end is flush with the roof of the case. If there was a card that the actual board was say 10/15mm shorter it'd go in.

Not paying a £80 premium on a low profile 7850.

Anyway, I tilted the card say 30degrees and that'd fit, looks pretty ghetto but it'll go in with the extender on the top and full size 120mm fans, hell I might even make a little air box for it.

Bought some nylon rod to lift the motherboard up, considering raising it enough to fit the hard drives and ssd's underneath, maybe the sound card too.

Now the psu is out the way I can't see it being too difficult. (famous last words) Will sort some pictures soon.

Other than low profile, they're all the same height. The low profile cards are too.
You can get extender cables on ebay, that's probably your best bet. Then you can mount the GPU arbitrarily.

Had a rejig, might have found the winning combination....

Drives as per the picture, 2x SSD in the bottom right.

Replace the graphics card with the sound card(s), TV Tuner top left with that one drive raised 5mm to clear the card (back of card is very slim)



Raise the board just above the drive level (now matx)

Graphics on the left with a riser and extension. Which should just about leave enough for the laptop bluray drive to slip underneath it and over some very low profile ram.



Anyone got any wiser ideas?

That isn't the card I'm going to use, that is a 550ti with a gelid cooler, too thick. My 6870 is thick enough to allow the drive to fit, but that is too loud and long.

Think I'm going to take the punt, get a matx board and ram. See if I can get building it. Then cpu and cooler. Then I'll probably have to go to the local computer store and ask politely to try all their gpu cards haha.

you could just go with an A10... that should fit easy, and you wouldn't have to worry about squeezing a GPU into the box (better yet, the added advantage of the APU is you can get cpu and gpu upgrades every new generation... at least as long as they use FM2

Never even looked into those, but enlighten us? Can one be built to compare to a 2500k/560ti setup for example?

Needs to run 3 HD screens, cad programs etc. I've already got smaller boards, dual cores etc, but the idea is to get the spec all crammed in and keep it up gradable. Buying a new board/cpu/gpu in a couple years time wouldn't be too much agg to do for example.

I appreciate you're suggesting just a processor swap, but without delving into hours of reviews I just can't imagine it being able to keep up with the above spec? And I doubt it'll be supported then...

Talking out loud and making notes for a **** memory, better than a notepad a build thread.

Hard drive, I'll chop up the nylon drill a hole x 4, drill a hole in bottom of the cd deck, get some long m3 screws. Done. Same for SSD's.

All cards will be bolted to the rear panel, the tuner doesn't have a mounting hole at the end, so I'll make another spacer for it to rest on, should be rigid from the front and pci anyway. The sound card I'm looking at seems to have a nice hole in the bottom corner of the card, so that should do nicely to mount to the case sideways.

2x 100m scythe slim for intake on the left, gpu and cpu fans will have their own intakes through the roof of the case, 2 more scythe 100mms for exhaust on the other side. Although I may loose one to mount a card sideways of possible. Always have the possibility of adding an 80mm exhaust on the front right hand corner if my numbers aren't too bad. No space on the back panel. Case will be cheese gratered but I'll satin black that and the amp's shell to match.

Thinking of trying to get the OE switch working for the power button. Think the computer shop down the road does microboard soldering. Should be cheap enough.

Heres a good questions if anyone is reading, laptop disc drive, eject button is usually on the bezel, could that be edited with some wires run possibly to work with another switch? Could leave the eject as software only but it'd be nice to have.

chug said:

Never even looked into those, but enlighten us? Can one be built to compare to a 2500k/560ti setup for example?

Needs to run 3 HD screens, cad programs etc. I've already got smaller boards, dual cores etc, but the idea is to get the spec all crammed in and keep it up gradable. Buying a new board/cpu/gpu in a couple years time wouldn't be too much agg to do for example.

I appreciate you're suggesting just a processor swap, but without delving into hours of reviews I just can't imagine it being able to keep up with the above spec? And I doubt it'll be supported then...

Click to expand...

honestly... no.

the i5 will be a better option for computational stuff, and the 560ti will be a better option for graphics.

The A10 was only a suggestion because of your space issues. If you're forced to forgo a GPU because you're unable to get it into the box, an A10-5800k will be the best combined option you can get your hands on, as it will sport far better graphics then an intel chip (far better, like not even in the same discussion better), and still be respectable as a CPU.

The A10's onboard GPU is roughly in line with an old HD 6670 or a 550ti, and the cpu's computational power is moderately stronger then an i3 in multithreaded tasks, while generally slower in single-threaded tasks

Fair enough, might be interesting in the future though if it picks up or a smaller spec machine is wanted. Be good for web browsing/HTPC uses.

Anyway, bought an Asus Z77 pro, hopefully I won't get one from the dodgy batch! It was about the only one that had all the bits I needed. Was either that or the Sniper.

2x 4gb of samsung VLP ram coming too as well as 2x 100mm scythes.

actually the A10 is killer in 720p gaming...

not everyone has an hd monitor.

I do - hence trying to build the above.

Which is going to be very tight.

Nylon turned up, wasn't looking forward to trying to get a screw in that. Stumbled across motherboard standoff's on ebay in every length possible. So I've got them in 35mm length. Picked up some of these to mount the drives to...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190578168786?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Hope they are the right thread to screw into the HD's. If so that'll space it up just enough to fit SSD's underneath with 2mm clearance and hopefully the back of the DVB card too. Also quieting the drives, I'll put small rubber washers under all the screws as well.

Board, cooler, and ram is here. Waiting on the bluray drive and some money to buy the cpu and sound card (which now seems to be discontinued) Best sell the 6100 system.

Now first issue is the drive is going to foul the cooler. I'll trim the back of the Teac front as much as a can, but it seems the cooler can only be mounted 90 degrees round from where I pictured it. Might have to dremel the basted.

Cooler looks really good, fan feels pretty cheap.

Heard a clatter through the postbox and the sound of something metallic hitting the floor. That'll be the S/H Bluray drive I bought of ebay for cheap wrapped in merely a jiffy bag, ie one thin layer of bubble wrap. What a tard.

Oh but I managed to start getting things for in testing. Where I find the bluray drive is really cocking up the feng shui of my Teac. Needs to go into half the cooler pretty much and a fair bit of trimming of nice new shiny heatsinks. Not ideal.

So I now need a similar style heatsink, but with a larger gap between the heatsink and board its mount. Thinking Noctua again, don't want to shell out for another cooler that doesn't fit.

Also on remeasuring I don't think I'll get those rubber mounts in. Which is a shame.

Which leads me to think I had a bit of a laugh building a freenas box into an old bakerlight stereo recently, but the network speed via dlink isn't too hot, so the idea was flawed unless I want to start throwing cables around the house.

But that doesn't mean it couldn't go upstairs now. I also have a gutted matching Teac tuner it could go in. Would have to be an atom type board, passive cooling. I've got 2 3tb drives already, one more could make a nice raid setup with everything backed up properly.

Could run windows on it, chuck in my old m audio sound card and an imon remote setup and it could be a headless music player once setup, and torrent box, maybe controlled by remote desktop. Or just chuck it in a big ugly case in the cupboard on a freenas type setup.

I don't know yet. Think I've got to buy another cooler and see if it'll all go yet, just thinking a raid outside the case might be a wise move for storage.

Having had a couple spare hours today, thought I'd knock this up out of a few spare bits.

AS Rock 350m1 board, 500gb HD, and a psu board that worked out cheaper than a pico....

Only needed an angle grinder, a drill, a screwdriver and a pair of pliers if anyone is wondering.





Left to do is get a vfd fitted and working, and get the power button working.

Failing so far.

Thermaltake cooler is too short. Bought a Noctua L12, and it is a couple mm too tall, and the bluray drives covers half of the underneath, could get away with it, but I'd rather not.

3570k is on its way though, need an ssd and I'll get it built. Still have to decide on a gpu and psu.

Few minds on the cooling now, small water cooler might work, rads can be put anywhere. Needs to be utterly silent though.

Think its back to the nas idea for the storage, will have an ssd running this.

Would be much easier without a gpu/bluray drive.

Think I'm going to have to stretch the Teac a few inches.

can you go with an ultra slim laptop style blueray drive, just glue the Teac panel on the drive door or something...

Yeah that is the plan, already got one as there was not even a small chance of a full size drive fitting. Keep ordering the wrong adaptors. There's mini sata, micro sata, pata blata blata blata.

Problem is which ever way round either cooler goes, the thermalright and the noctua gets in the way.

I can move the board up or down, get the drive to slide under the noctua, but it covers 1/3rd of the heatsink. If I wasn't gaming etc I wouldn't be too fussed.

Its all good though, got a couple of good fab mates who do my custom bits for cars. Just a quick tickle with a welder for the floor, and I'll get a new piece of 1.5mm sheet bent for the roof with mesh grills, paint it black, same for the amps. Sorted

Ordered another Silverstone SFX PSU as that will now fit and provides a mount for the bluray drive. Hopefully it'll turn up modular this time. Also got a Samsung 840 pro ssd which will go under the board along with a HDAV1.3 deluxe (if I can find one) as will a tv card probably a black gold, I swear they all crash hopefully a better quality one won't. 3570 is here too.

Think I'm going to use the noctua fan on the thermalright cooler now. Put another 120mm fan next to that for the ram/board/psu. PSU might get its own intake and exhaust into the case or vice versa, depends which fits. Next to that space for 2x 120mm fans for the gpu, cut space for that in the roof with mesh. Need to decide on that, will be last. 2 or 3 scythe 100mm slim streams on the left hand side for intake as well.

Then whatever will fit on the right hand side for exhaust, maybe 3x 100m scythes again.

Can also get the stack of hard drives in it now. Still might do a NAS though.

Anyway, now I've got to find some nice mesh, and next week I might have something to show for all this head scratching.