Acreo Aeneas

The Living Room HTPC

The Specs

Hardware:

Intel Atom N330 (dual-core)
2 GB of SO-DIMM DDR2 800 RAM
1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green HDD
ECS MD-120 HTPC Barebones with 8x Slim DVD Multi Burner
Encore Component+S-Video-to-USB Video/Audio Grabber
801.11 b/g/n USB Wireless Adapter (still need to buy)

Software:

XBMC "Camelot" version 9.11
- using default "Confluence" ...

Final Build Log

Forewarning...

The images that make up 90% of the build log that follows are large, so before you skip off to the conclusion or another page, just give it a few minutes to download all the images. It's well worth the wait.

A Word About Comfort

If you're like me then you sweat a lot when you're couped up in a hot room that could pass for a light sauna. Before you even attempt to start building your next rig, make sure ...

General Updates

So I've managed to order everything but the Sunbeam LAN Rig Strap and Bag and CPU cooler. I should have a complete listing with prices I paid and full pictures (and more) sometime next week when I start putting it all together.

Off the top of my head I ordered/have:

500W HEC Raptor R500 PSU
Zotac G31MAT-B-E Motherboard (LGA775)
Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00 GHz CPU
2 GB Crucial DDR2 800 RAM
512 MB PNY GeForce 9600GT ...

Project Overview

"Project Gryphon" is my first LAN Party oriented rig and is also the most budget-restrictive build I've done to date.

The project's overall goals are:
1) Build a decent performance gaming rig
2) Should be lightweight so it'll be easier to tote around
3) Build it for as cheap as possible

Bearing those three objectives in mind, I also can't stand a loud case, so I'm also aiming for a quiet rig. As for the ...

Ah the joys of building your own rig! Or in my case, absolute budget-restrictive build for the purpose of toting the entire tower to a LAN party near me (whenever it is I find one). I've already dreamt of having a totable LAN rig and just haven't made to decision to do such a project rig until now. Rather, until now that I have a netbook for mobile computing and upgraded and powerful quad-core desktop rig for when I'm home and tied to a chair.

So with that said, I have some ...