2. The Hardware
After finding this Shuttle FV-24 Motherboard, the tiniest little sucker I have ever seen, that prompted me to start my plexi case mod. Since everything but the kitchen sink was integrated into it, I didn't need much else. Wouldn't need a CD, since it would just be servin' up files. All I needed was a PSU, a chip, a drive, some ram, the mobo of course, and some cooling.
The Motherboard:
Here is the tiniest board I have seen, the Shuttle FV24. I won't go into details, but it pretty much has everything integrated into it. Plus, look how small this bitch is! It is just asking to be put into a small case! Best of all, I could throw in a 133 fsb FC-PGA chip if I wanted to. This was the most expensive thing, and put me back about $120.
The Chip:
Ok, I am not looking to calculate PI here, just serving up some files. So I wanted something cheap, cheap being the key word. OMG, a Celeron 600 FC-PGA (flip chip - pin grid array for those wondering), for only $30 on E-Bay! Holy doodoo, had to get that. Mark that off the list.
The Cooling:
I'm not working with a nuclear reactor or anything, just a Celeron 600, a 7200 rpm drive, and other small heat sources. I figure all I need is some good chip cooling, some vent holes, some tasty waves and a cool bud, and I'll be fine. Thought about fans, but I really don't want to deal with the dust bunnies, period!
Looked around for some low-profile coolers, and found what I was looking for. Found out that Alpha made this 1U Alpha PAL 15 chip cooler that looked tight. So I picked it up for about $30 at Rack Mount Pro.
The PSU:
In order for this case to be small, the PSU was a big concern. I definitely had to go at the most, 1U. Now I didn't need a lot of wattage, but I also didn't want a piece of s#!t. So looking around, I ended up going with the Enermax EG250S-V, which is only 250W and should do me fine, even if I decide to add extras later on in life. This was the most expensive thing next to the motherboard, and put me back around $70.
Ram:
Hey, this stuff is so cheap. Still, I had 2 x 128Mb PC100 laying around, so I used that. So at least I'll have 256Mb pumping through this baby.
Hard Drive:
Last but not least, hard drive. This is one of the important parts, since I could probably only fit one drive in my case, it has to be large. Not only that, it should be kinda fast so it can serve up the files at a decent rate. Again, I had a Seagate Barracuda II 30.6Gb 7200rpm ATA/66 drive laying around, so I used that. Once I run outta space, I'll think about getting something larger. However, gotta keep heat in mind, as this drive will generate more heat than a simple 5400rpm drive.
That about does it for the hardware, now we should look at what we'll need to build this sucker. Read on.
