Project: Whisper - build log

[fps justin]

NICE. Real awesome job. I'm looking forward to the finished product.

[JCLW]

Well, just for fun I tested the same flash drive on a USB 1.1 port:



Couldn't even hit 1MB/s. Ouch.

[Tyreal]

damn. The consequences of USB 1.1

[JCLW]

Yay! Parts!

[JCLW]

Ok here we go... Case first.

SilverStone LC03:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc03.htm

I've used a few SilverStone power supplies over the years, but this is the first time I've tried a SilverStone case.

It came well packaged. The case itself remains ~2" away from the outer packaging, meaning you'd have to give it quite the jab to hit the case itself. I was glad to see it wasn't "over-packaged", as some cases are.

You get the case itself, a manual, and some screws & standoffs:


The case is a very deep black. The front I'd call "brushed aluminium semi-gloss", and the top and sides is a very deep gloss. You can kind of see little sparkles in it if the light catches it in a certain way.



The back isn't too exciting. Three screws to remove the top. Two 60mm fans which I hope to completely remove.



I tried to take a good picture of the deep gloss on the top, but my camera doesn't do it justice. Maybe I'll get my external flash out later and try again.

[JCLW]

You just push the doors to open them, and then push them again to close them

There is a nice gear driven mechanism that allows the doors to just "float" down gently, instead of just dropping. It works very well, and seems well made.



Lots of room on the inside of the case. It has a removable motherboard tray.



So far I like it. A lot.

Time to start filling it up.

[JCLW]

Ok, next up is the SilverStone ST365 power supply: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-ST365w.htm

It came in a full retail package:


Inside was the power supply itself, a manual, a power cable, and a bag of four screws (not in the picture):


I don't know if it would run my overclocked 830D workstation, but it should power my little Celeron-1200 and laptop drive with plenty to spare.



There is a 120mm fan on the inside, and the whole back is a grill, allowing plenty of airflow. This power supply does not feature active PFC so there is a voltage selector switch.

[JCLW]

A look inside reveals that the 120mm fan is made by ADDA. All in all it is a simple design that should allow plenty of airflow.



And here it is in the case. Plenty of connectors. I'm tempted to cut some of them off but I don't think I'll bother.

[JCLW]

Last up is the Mitsumi 7-in-1 floppy/card reader http://www.mitsumi.com/products/fa402amain.html

I happened across it by accident at my local computer store. I hate floppy disks, but I hate it even more when I need a floppy drive and I have to pull apart another computer to get one. So this computer will get one. The card reader portion reads all the popular card formats. As long as it reads CF and SD I'm happy.

Packaging is about as OEM as you can get:


The front contains slots, buttons, and lights. I like it when manufacturers label their header connections. They could have left out the "USB 2.0" label 'tho IMHO.



The back has the floppy connectors (data & power):


And finally mounted in the case. The black actually matches quite well, but because the black finish on the aluminium is so deep (and the floppy is plastic) the camera flash makes them look different.

[JCLW]

I love motherboard trays. This'll make it easier if I have to take it out later when I try and fit the passively cooled Celeron-1200 in.



And presto! It's starting to look more like a computer now. :)



The power supply fan looks well positioned to draw air past the CPU.