Before
we dive into rebuilding and optimizing
this HTPC build, let's take
a look at our current setup.
I emphasize, that this is a fully
functional system, which unfortunately has a lot of shortcomings and
cannot be used as intended.
In
the picture you can see listed and highlighted the most
important parts, and the immediately observable chaotic arrangement. It
was not always this way, but as
all is part of a process, had
to squeeze in the last parts. It is important to highlight, that the first motherboard
was much larger
in size and therefore the lifting of the HDD was necessary, and later,
after motherboard replacement, I had no reasons to lower it, because the SSD went under, and “the Piéce de
résistance” stood firmly too.
Anyway, if it's a working system, then where's the problem? Why should I
optimize?
First
of all there is always room for improvement.
Always! Every modder and custom home HTPC builder
should be prepared for this.
Secondly, the PSU is slowly failing, and is willing to start only if I remove the card reader or the bluetooth dongle. As the latter is used to connect my PS3 controller, the card reader had
to go for now, anyway being just an extra convenience feature.
Thirdly, and most importantly, a lot of heat is generated which has nowhere to escape. Things improved a lot after I drilled some
holes into the roof, but after half an hour running,
things get scary and it is feared
that some parts
will permanently fail. And yeah, operates correctly without a roof, but that’s not
the goal.
Redesign
Redesign
It
is therefore necessary to replace the power supply,
the parts should be reorganized a bit,
and I could use a
larger fan, although the machine is already
louder than it should be, to do something with the
air flow and
the hard drive to benefit also from some wind.
Let's
do it!
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