VOGONS


First post, by RJDog

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I am high on parts, and low on cases to put them in. I probably have twice as many mainboards and parts to build full systems than I do cases. Many months ago, I found and recapped an Socket 478 Intel board complete with 3GHz Northwood HT processor, and really wanted to do something with it -- I don't have any other Pentium 4s and thought it would be a great Windows 2000 Workstation build. So, scrounging for a case I didn't find anything that I was looking for, but came across a 2U SuperMicro server case. I measured the P4 heatsink height and found it would fit... so, challenge accepted!

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One of the challenges was that I really, really wanted to include an M-Audio Delta 44 card that I still had from when I bought it new in 2001... this build would more-or-less be replicating my audio workstation I had then. The Delta card is full height, though, and this is a low profiles form factor case. So, I decided to bastardize the card and move the connector off-board connected by a short ribbon cable. This seems to have worked... the card is plugged in to the board using a right-angle PCI riser I had from another low profile case and then the connector runs the short distance to the make-shift low profile bracket for the DB15 connector. I also installed a FireWire card (which I also still had from when new in ~2002) this same way with a shorter PCI right angle riser.

I knew I would not get away with the same trick for a video card, so I found a low-profile ATI Radeon 9250 for $5 shipped. This is, by no means, a gaming card. It's no slouch, but I don't expect to play any AAA games on it, even from the target build era of 2003. But, this is meant to be a workstation anyway.

Last (minor) challenge was the drive situation. I wanted to use IDE; even though the motherboard has SATA ports on it, I don't trust onboard SATA from that era... and may be just a little too new for Windows 2000 anyway. But, the case was obviously not meant for routing IDE cables. I made it work, but I took off the Slave connector on the IDE cable so I could bend it the way I wanted. Turned out to be not a big deal.

No optical drive, but that's what Daemon Tools is for right?

Reply 1 of 8, by Jade Falcon

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Nice system. And I commend you on you creativity with the sound card. Most might not know this, but I have a thing for small form factor OEM systems.I seen alot of dells in my life time that look alot like this system.

Reply 2 of 8, by BeginnerGuy

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Awesome! Totally awesome!

Makes me want to track down some junked 2u systems to consolidate and free up some room in the garage.

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 4 of 8, by PcBytes

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Although not a fan of Intel Desktop Boards (the fact that you can't OC them is what puts me off along with their proprietary BIOS), that's really neat.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 5 of 8, by RJDog

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Thanks! I'm still trying to determine if I've compromised the audio I/O quality of the Delta card by putting in the short ribbon cable... not that I will be using that for serious audio production at this point (I don't think), but I'd like to think it's as good as it could be. Maybe I'll come up with a way to shield it.

But as for the 2U thing, yeah it was a fun build. I was lucky the case I scavenged fit a full ATX board fairly comfortably. I had to use a short 20-pin ATX power extension, but no big deal.

Last edited by RJDog on 2017-11-17, 02:20. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 6 of 8, by Jade Falcon

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If there is room I would have left the card alone and ran the breakout cable through a PCI back plate. Or cut a hole in the case for it.But that is just me. Ether way it looks fine. Twisting the cables together and zip tiring then should help abit with shedding, kind of like cat5.

Reply 8 of 8, by chinny22

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Approve of the 2U Win2k workstation setup
But it needs another socket to be truly cool!

(although just about anything is cool compared to P4 temps) 😉

You actually going to do audio work on this or is it just bit of fun?