Mini PC parts

I’m building own mini PC variant. The main idea behind this project is to build completly silent and fail safe computer. So the less moving parts the better. And of course it has to be small. It will be home router, web server, etc, and in future home media center. I have to buy slim, slotted DVD drive and set up operating system first. I think it will be Solaris (media center? lol). I chose Via Epia mainboard, model EN15000G. If I had more money I’d buy nano-ITX mainboar (12×12) so I could build PC even smaller than Mac Mini for about 4cm! Well… power supply is PicoPSU, very cool, completly silent and very efficient. It’s the smalles power supply I have seen. The AC adapter is 12V 5A from my Iiyama LCD panel, I replaced it with LG’s 12V 3,5A which is enough. Memory will be: 60GB, 2,5″ and 7200RPM hard disk from Hitachi/IBM plus 512MB of RAM (PC3200/400MHz Hynix/IBM). That’s it!

I already tested this hardware configuration, and it’s working great! Windows with all Via’s drivers and software is booting up from power to clean desktop in 42 seconds. Now i’m preparing to build computer case. First I have to buy some materials and tools. I have so many ideas for this case. I don’t know where to start. Probably there where the costs are smallest.

Below some photos of my new hardware.

The PicoPSU with 12V 3,5A LGs adapter.

Full size view of my power supply. As you can see it has build-in two molex connectors. It’s not hard to extend them to more but I only need one.

Close ups:

LG switching adapter close up.

Hard drive and RAM:

I mentioned earlier that I tested this hardware. Here are some photos of Epia in standard ATX case.

Back panel, cables, connectors…

Some BIOS readings: temperatures, voltages.  Very good example how good PicoPSU power supply is!

Epia, 2,5″ HDD and DVD drive connected and working:

Installing Windows XP:

Sorry for not good quality of this picture:

And the Via Epia EN15000G itself! BTW, I can see two smiling faces on this picture. Can you?

I’m very excited about bulding case for this. Hope soon I will share my experiences about this with you.