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 Micro Stealth
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Date Posted: May 10 2001
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Author: Unaclocker
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Posting Type: Article
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Category: ProCooling Projects
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Page: 1 of 3
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Article Rank:No Rank Yet
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Note: This is a legacy article, imported from old code. Due to this some items on the page may not function as expected. Links, Colors, and some images may not be set correctly.
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Micro Stealth By: Unaclocker
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By : UnaClocker
Date: 5/10/01
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First, I'd like to go over my goals in this project.
- Small computer for my mother
- AMD based
- Watercooled
- Cheap as dirt
- Out-do ProMini ;>
- Prove that home built watercooling can be reliable for normal people
So with that said, let's get on with it. A lot of this system was just spare parts I had laying around. Well, let's go over the parts that went into this system.
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The Case -
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I stuck with Pricewatch for hunting things down, starting with the case. I needed a cheap MicroATX case that used a standard ATX power supply, because a MicroATX power supply typically doesn't put out much over 150watts. Even a non overclocked Duron needs more power than that. I ended up going with a nice "Elevation Case model 217". It was $21 plus $14 for S/H and came with a 250watt supply. I really only bought the case because it was the cheapest one I was able to find. Once it got here, I realized it really was a nice case. As you can see, it's a good looking case. What impressed me the most was the essentially screw less nature of the case.
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The front pops off, then the sides swing out and lift off. The top also lifts off for easy access to to power supply and top drive bays.
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Mobo Tray
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The motherboard is mounted on a removable tray for easy installation and removal, which I found extremely helpful while assembling the machine. The 3.5" drive cage is on a swing-out hinged assembly. This proved to be very helpful too.
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Lil Stealth Vs Micro Stealth Size Comparisons
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Here are some shots comparing MicroStealth to LittleStealth. As you can see, the case is about 1 bay shorter, maybe 2" total, and only 1/2" narrower. When it comes to depth though, MicroStealth is a whole lot shallower, a good 3"!
Then there was the CPU. Obviously the best bang for the buck CPU right now is still the AMD Duron. The Duron 700 is only $38, or thereabouts, and usually does 950-1050MHz. They also draw less wattage than the same speed TBird, which is good so that the CPU doesn't overload the poor 250watt supply. I managed to get one from a friend with an I-O-U. It was pretested (aka Used) to do 1000. It also had all 4 feet torn off which proved to be the biggest headache in the world. I managed to glue some foam onto the CPU to take the place of the missing feet.
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The motherboard: it was a toss up between PC Chips 810 and the Asus A7S-VM. I ended up going with PC Chips because it had an AGP slot while the Asus didn't. They both have onboard video, which I had planned to use anyway. This motherboard is based on the SiS 730 chipset which is an integrated north and southbridge chipset. I was unable to find any MicroATX boards with multiplier controls. Although this chipset does support 266 FSB, so I'm able to run the Duron 700 at 933 on it without a hassle. This board had onboard video, sound, network and came with an AMR modem. It has 1 AGP slot, 1 AMR, and 2 PCI slots.
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I wasn't very impressed with the stock chipset heatsink so I glued on a blue orb that I had laying around. The board ended up costing about $90 shipped. And due to stability problems, I ended up hating myself for not choosing Asus.
Ram wasn't much of an issue since I had some junk PC133 laying around. The m/b only has 2 ram slots so it's a little limited on ram upgrades. Regardless, I only had a pair of 64meg sticks so that's what the board got. So I'd call that $40 worth of ram after shipping.
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I haven't actually ordered the CD-Rom drive yet. I'm just using the DVD drive from my machine for the time being. I plan to pick up a cheap 24x locally for $30 or so. One thing I noticed with this drive was just how tight of a fit this case really is, there's barely any room between the drive and power supply.
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| Random Forum Pic |
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| From Thread: Motherboard Question |
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| | ProCooling Poll: |
| So why the hell not? |
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I agree!
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 67%
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What?
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 17%
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Hell NO!
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 0%
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Worst Poll Ever.
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 17%
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Total Votes:18Please Login to Vote!
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