One of my latest projects- a MS MCE 2005 box.

I recently had a client request that I build him a Microsoft MCE 2005 system. I had never built one before, so it was a first. His specifications were that it had to be small, lots of RAM, lots of storage, wireless keyboard and mouse and use a TV card that would allow him to add another later on.

Here are the specifications of said system:

1. Shuttle SN45G
2. ATI AIW 9800Pro
3. AMD Athlon XP3200+
4. Crucial 1GB RAM (x2) = 2GB of RAM
5. Maxtor 300GB 16MB Cache HD x2 = 600GB of storage (He chose these- I would have chosen Western Digital)
6. Logitech DiNovo Wireless Bluetooth Kyeboard and Mouse

I was worried about heat in this SFF (Small Form Factor) system, but he wanted this small box.

I installed components and software and ran it for about three weeks just to get the feel of it and the bugs out- and will deliver it this Tuesday. Heat was not too great a concern after all.

Now, I do not like to sell anything without having a duplicate or at least a system that has the same OS on it, and Mrs. P. liked it the first time I put it up. So what did I have to do but build one for us.

I did not want to drop the cash into hardware that is not needed, so I figured I would adapt a system I had sitting about. I thought about it and in the interim one of my suppliers had the MS MCE OEM version $30.00 less than I had paid for the first copy and he dropped the price for the remote by $12.00 to match another dealer so I had grabbed his deal. Now for the hardware.

I had a case, MB, another XP3200+ and one 160GB SATA HD that I could use, grab a DVD burner from another system, but would still need memory, another HD and a video card to do this with. After adding up what it would cost me, I did not really want to spend the cash, so I thought some more.

Last February, Dell had a special on the SC420 entry level server. I found out about this when perusing HardOCP and a link to the forums section- Hot Deals. It was selling online for $229.00 with a Celeron, 256MB of RAM, and a 40GB HD. There was only one minor problem- I hate Dell.

My expierence with them has not been good and I think they sell junk that is non-standard and very limiting to the client. Further, they have convinced too many that it is better to junk a viable system as oppossed to upgrading it. I vehemently disagree with this most of the time. However, I had another client who had been pestering me about buying one and checking it out since last July. Well, I looked at the options, $10.00 more to go to 80GB, and another $100.00 to go to a real processor- a 2.8GHz Pentium IV. I thought it over fairly quickly- it was a one-day sale, and plunked down the card and bought it with the upgrades and the "free keyboard and mouse". At worst, I could part it out and at least make my money back if I did not like it.

When it arrived, I was not disappointed as my expectations were low, and this box meet them. I had upgraded the memory in March to 1GB, and since it arrived, I have had three flavors of Linux on it and two different MS Server OS's on it- but I just could not put it into my network on a permanent basis.

Well getting back to the project story, I was sitting around last week when it hit me- use the damnable Dell box! I ripped it open and checked it out and then went here and there to read what others had done to it.

Paydirt! Others had used it exactly for what I wanted it to use it for. I selected the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X600Pro but the PCIe slot on the motherboard would be a problem so I read the threads ALL the way through and decided I could mod the slot just as easily- and I did. I need to explain here what I mean by modding the slot. The slot is actually a PCIe 16X slot, but Dell added two plastic dams into the slot that prevent anyone from using anything other than a PCIe 8X Video card. However, there is one minor problem- nobody makes one. Dell added these two plastic dams to the slot because they lost there ass over the SC400 as many people just dropped a fast video card into the box and used it as a gaming system. To prevent this happening again, Dell made sure you would lose any warranty you had by forcing the end user into modding the slot if he wanted anything more than the onbaord 8MB video.

I wanted more.

One man saved me a hunk of change by pointing out that he had bought the same card at Newegg from the refurb section and paid $98.00 which was $87.00 less than new. The project was on as of last Saturday and I started work on it Friday afternoon and finished it, while I worked on a few other systems this weeked.

Before:





Here are the images of the slot moddification and actual markings that it is a PCIe x16 slot:



I used a torn business card and an old stick of RAM for a brace and guard when dremeling out the dam the memory braces:



The Video Card and how it fits perfectly in the slot:





BIOS and Boot Screen Shot of Suse 9.3:





Besides a dremel, I used this tool the NRA gave me to clean things up a bit:



The final specifications on this system are Pentium IV 2.8GHz w/ 1MB cache, 1GB of DDR2 533MHz RAM, 1 Maxtor 80GB SATA (Boot and Apps Partition) and one 160GB WDC SATA HD (For Recorded TV), ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X600Pro w/ 256MB of RAM, Lite-On 1673S 16X DVDRW, 48x CD-ROM, Adaptec 3-Port Firewire PCI Card, Creative Labs SB Live! 5.1 Digital, MS Keyboard and Mouse, and MS Windows XP MCE 2005.

As I type this, Mrs. P. is using the new system right now, and I am much more at ease as I do not like putting out a system that I do not have duplicated or at least the same OS running on a box.

I would suggest that if anyone is now deciding to build a MCE 2005 system, Google it and visit the great forums and blogs available- like the The Green Button.

Oh- Mrs. P. is watching right now, and it is time for a drink...

--WP

EDITED MARCH 10th, 2006

This is one of my most visited pages, and I thank you for the traffic, and ask that if you have found this post and the embedded links of benefit- then post a comment, otherwise, I am not updating it anymore.

--WP

WP