Change of plan...

Right.
Over the past few weeks, I've completely turned all my plans on their arse.

Basically, I've decided to use all the components from my current PC for my Media Box, and buy a new desktop instead!

This doesn't mean that this blog is over, as there is heaps I need to do to my PC before it's ready to begin its new life in the loungeroom.

First, I got a new case. It's called a Tsunami CP-501L. It's a small horizontal ATX case, minimalistic in design, which makes it ideal for this purpose.
It took me all day to transfer the guts of my PC from one box the another, and as the new one was quite small, it was very fiddly trying to fit everything in. I ended up having to remove the power supply at least twice because i'd forgotten to connect something or other to the motherboard.

Next, I purchased a fanless cooling solution for my Geforce FX5600 graphics card, in the form of a Zalman ZM80D-HP. This keeps the GPU very cool, while making no noise at all, which is a big step up from being the noisiest component in the box. If you'll check out the pic, you'll notice four knobs sticking out from the bars which connect the top and bottome heatsinks together.
These obviously point directly upwards when the card is installed, and as my case is quite squeezy, i couldn't put the side panel on when I first tried! I fixed this by replacing the screws with my own saw'n-off ones which reduced the height to just low enough to put the case back together. Booyah.

Then I replaced the CPU cooler with a new quieter one. It's called an "Akasa AK 786BL"
Just a generic brand form the Computer Fair, but a darn sight quieter than the bog standard AMD cooler. The heatsink has a nicer clip too... no more screwdrivers... Pity about the blue light, but what the hell.

Next loudest thing in the box is the power supply, then the chipset fan. Back to the Fair next week!