Building a 1U PC

[Computer_Phreak]

Ok..

I have one PC (AMD athlon 2000) and one mac (ibook 700).
I don't need portability, so I am selling the ibook (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4602&item=3411784484
).

With the money I'm getting from the ibook sale (probably > 800), I want to make a 1U (like Xserve) PC. Then I can sell my original PC, and save up for a 970.

I have a budget of about $500.

I plan on using this case:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11209&item=3412079043
-$60
For the power supply, I'm not sure. The silencer 1u from pcpowerandcooling looks nice but is a bit expensive. ~$50

Here are a few questions:
I want to get PC100 / PC133 RAM, and a pentium 4 processor. I don't need the system to be that fast. Would the 533 Mhz FSB add any speed over the 400 FSB with the slow RAM?

Motherboard: ~$50
Hard drive: ~$90
Already have Geforce 3 ti
512MB or 1024MB PC133 RAM: ~$45-90
CD-RW: ~$25

That puts me at about $365 without the processor or cooling fan.

 

[Catfish_Man]

Hooking a P4 to PC133 is like hooking a garden hose to a fire hydrant. Get an AthlonXP, or a Duron instead, they're not quite so memory dependent (since they have a slower bus anyway). They're also cheaper, and almost as fast. If you could afford it I'd say get the top end P3 (runs quite cool, and is made for PC133), but they're really expensive.

 

[Eniregnat]

From personal expierence, you can build your rack out of 2*4s or find an old rack at a swapmeet.

Find an old EchoMona, and you have a great PC and Mac sound card. I love my Mona and all of Echo Audio's sound cards.

Why do you need (or want) a rack mount computer?
Has the 970 been announced yet?

 

[Computer_Phreak]

Originally posted by Eniregnat
From personal expierence, you can build your rack out of 2*4s or find an old rack at a swapmeet.

Find an old EchoMona, and you have a great PC and Mac sound card. I love my Mona and all of Echo Audio's sound cards.

Why do you need (or want) a rack mount computer?
Has the 970 been announced yet?

I would like one for the "cool factor" and to save space.

 

[Eniregnat]

For cool factor look for an old rack from radio or recording equipment. In the 60,70s and early 80s, a large number of companies produced rack mount equipment. For fun, start browsing though the local swap meet. If you want something more than basic black or brushed aluminum this is the place to look. Some of the older "filler" plates are works of art on their own. We once built a virtual "Hal" for our rack server. It was simple to build and looked cool. One super bright red LED, several stacked fish-eye lenses, and a simple circuit that caused the LED to glow bright when the HDs were accessed. The capacitor that fed the LED then slowly drained, so it looked as though it had moments of though and came on when the computer was accessed.

Also think about paints for the covers.

 

[NavyIntel007]

I don't know if you can use a P4 in a 1U enclosure. If you look around most 1U servers are P3's.

 

[yzedf]

http://www.gtweb.net/index.html