Building the MediaBox

Silent power for the MediaBox has arrived »

Jun 14

Building the MediaBox

At long last, the time has finally come. I have managed to get all the parts ready to go ahead with the build of the MediaBox. So I wont bore you any more and dive right in. Here is the full list of the hardware that the MediaBox was built with.

Follow up:

Omaura TF5 HTPC Case
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Hiper HFC 20820-C1 Low profile Cooler
AMD Athlon X2 4200
1GB Corsair Memory (plain vanilla)
160GB Maxtor SATA HD
LITEON DVD-RW Slim loading slot drive
Small IDE to standard IDE converter
M2-ATX 160W DC-DC PSU
150W Maplin power brick
Panel mount 2.5mm DC socket
2 x small crimp blades
20 pin ATX extension cable
P4 12v extension cable

So with the hardware all tallied up it was on with the build. Instantly I had a problem. The cooler backplate on the motherboard was held in place with plastic plugs, but the Hiper CPU cooler needed to be screwed into the backplate, so it wasn't compatible. Lucky for me I had an older motherboard lying around which had the metal backplate with screw holes for the mounting side. So by removing the stock gigabyte back plate and replacing it with a spare metal one I managed to mount the cooler no problem after that.

Mounting the gigabyte board into the TF5 was no problem, the only thing that I would say is that the ATX backplate for the external connectors was a tight fit, but that was more to do with the fact that part of the frame had bent during shipping.

Now the card reader, front USB, font audio and firewire was a little frustrating to connect due to the lack of documentation that came with the TF5 case, so it was a process of figuring out which connector goes where on the motherboard, but I got there in the end.

Here is a shot of the motherboard with CPU and RAM in place mounted inside the TF5 with the front connectors connected to the motherboard.

Moving on, it was time to connect the PSU. As explained in a previous post, I decided to go with a DC-DC power supply to keep noise levels down. And lucky for me, there where M3 sized holes in perfect position to mount the M2-ATX.

So simply mounting two M3 stand-offs in the holes was all that was needed and I was then able to mount the PSU on top

The M2-ATX comes with a 20 pin ATX connector and a 12v P4 connector, but unfortunately neither of them where long enough to connect to the motherboard so I had to purchase an extra extension cable for each.

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14 comments

§ Art said on : 09/07/08 @ 10:52

Thanks for this blog! I am building a similar system and your advice has been helpful.

I have the same problem as you did with the Hiper HFC 20820-C1 Low profile Cooler with the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, but unlike you, I don't have any spare motherboards lying around to canibalize...

What is your suggestion in that circumstance?

Thanks again for the blog.
§ admin® said on : 10/07/08 @ 16:21

Thanks for this blog! I am building a similar system and your advice has been helpful.

I have the same problem as you did with the Hiper HFC 20820-C1 Low profile Cooler with the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, but unlike you, I don't have any spare motherboards lying around to canibalize...

What is your suggestion in that circumstance?

Thanks again for the blog.

You can buy a bolt through kit. Not sure where about you are, but you can get them at SpecialTech
http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=5775
if you live in the UK.
§ Art said on : 17/07/08 @ 20:55

Thanks a lot for that advice. In the meantime I also wrote to Hiper, and their customer service is truly amazing. They answered my email within a day, and the next day they shipped two backplates for free to me by UPS. This wasn't really their problem, but they fixed it for me anyway. Three cheers for Hiper, and thanks for your suggestion too.
§ admin® said on : 18/07/08 @ 18:31

Thanks a lot for that advice. In the meantime I also wrote to Hiper, and their customer service is truly amazing. They answered my email within a day, and the next day they shipped two backplates for free to me by UPS. This wasn't really their problem, but they fixed it for me anyway. Three cheers for Hiper, and thanks for your suggestion too.

Well that is what you call customer service. Glad you have solved the problem with the backplate. Let me know how the rest of the install goes for you.
§ Frazzler said on : 27/12/08 @ 11:33
Looks like these coolers now come with a backplate (mine did anyway) - but how the hell did you get those plastic plugs out of the one attached to the motherboard???
§ admin® said on : 28/12/08 @ 12:05

Looks like these coolers now come with a backplate (mine did anyway) - but how the hell did you get those plastic plugs out of the one attached to the motherboard???

Well the ones that where installed on my board had to be removed from the underside. I had to get pliers to crush the end and the pull through from the other side. After that the metal backplate just comes through the 4 holes in the board from the back.
§ Iain said on : 10/02/09 @ 13:14

Where did you get the components from - you said Maplin for the power brick, but what about the psu backplate? It sounds a silly question, but do these dc-dc boards work outside of the 'car computer' setup they are marketed as their intended use - and you note that there is an ignition connection. I am planning to build a similar setup, althoug may use a different case (e.g. Silverstone ML-02 or a Hyper case).
I take it you need a dc powerboard with both the 20 and 4 pin connectors as most boards now come with a 24 pin motherboard connector (it's been a while since I have built a machine)?
cheers
§ ceri® said on : 10/02/09 @ 13:24

Where did you get the components from - you said Maplin for the power brick, but what about the psu backplate?

Well the PSU backplate should have come with the Omaura case that I purchased, but I never had it and as far as I can tell Omaura are no longer running anymore (which is a shame, as their cases were really nice).

I had the DC-DC PSU from LinITX.

but do these dc-dc boards work outside of the 'car computer' setup

The M2-ATX certainly does, there a jumpers on the board for various power down/up settings for car ignitions, or there is a simple plain PC mode when not in use in a car. The ignition connection is not used, in a car it would be used to power on the PSU from the ignition

I take it you need a dc powerboard with both the 20 and 4 pin connectors as most boards now come with a 24 pin motherboard connector

Well off the top of my head I believe the M2-ATX has a 20 pin, but 24 pin motherboards with accept a 20 pin ATX connector, The extra 4 pins on the motherboard are more power lines but most DC-DC boards won't spit out that much power anyway. The 4 pins are usually used by high powered GPU's etc... which would be no good for DC-DC boards anyway.
§ Schali said on : 26/02/09 @ 13:39
thank you for this blog,
Can you please tell me how to connect the power button (the 2 led connectors) on the motherboard - i thought the lack of documentation was only my problem. maybe you can add a detailed picture
thank you
§ ceri® said on : 26/02/09 @ 16:37

Can you please tell me how to connect the power button (the 2 led connectors) on the motherboard

The LED around the power button is connected to the Omaura light on the very right hand side of the case (you can see this on the first picture), the cable then should have a splice somewhere in the middle which will connected to the Power LED header on your motherboard. Hope that helps.
§ Schali said on : 26/02/09 @ 20:47
sorry doesn't really help.
The splice in the middle ends with 2 connectors both named "LED" and both with 2 pins. think I'll have to follow them to the end. I've expected one of them named "power swr" or something like that. thank you for now - nice blog anyway cu
§ Aaron said on : 19/08/09 @ 19:49
Hey Admin, I read on your post on #6 that you had to break the white pins on the mobo (I have the same one :))
Is there a way of avoiding that?
§ MTmbr said on : 28/01/10 @ 17:48

I was just wondering, Where did you get your Omaura TF5 HTPC Case from?

Excellent blog by the way :D
§ ceri® said on : 28/01/10 @ 17:58

I was just wondering, Where did you get your Omaura TF5 HTPC Case from?

A company called Specialtech in the UK