Catie's new computer (56k warning)

**Betty_Swallocks** · 30-01-2005, 07:42 PM

Well, the project is finished.

Catie, my 5 year old daughter came to me a while back and said that it wasn't fair.
Everyone else in the house has a computer of their own but she hadn't.

That got me thinking.
OK, we had our old 1400 Athlon in the living room. We had been using it to stream movies onto the telly, but tbh it was really too noisy for that and we'd stopped using it. I could give Catie that one.

But that'd be pretty boring. I wanted to do something a little more creative.

On Ebay I found this dolls house which I thought would make a nice change from a boring beige box.

The first step was to strip out the components from the old case and make sure I had everything I needed.

The internal walls and floor were going to have to go. Given that I was using full size components keeping it as a functioning dolls house wasn't going to be an option.
From this picture you can also see the cutout I had to make in the ceiling to allow the cables out into the roof space.
You can also see the motherboard mountings. Just normal fixings glued into holes drilled in the back wall.

In the end I decided that the hardboard back wall was rather flimsier than I liked so I removed it and replaced it with a sheet of thin plywood.

And here it is with all the components in place just waiting to have XP installed.

And the end result.

One happy young lady who feels very special indeed with her very own computer.

Specifications:

1400 Athlon (Thunderbird)
512Mb 2700 DDR RAM
40Gb Maxtor Hard disk
64Mb nVidia GeForce3 Ti500
Asus 802.11g wireless network card
DVD drive
Digimark 17" TFT screen (Aria £135 special)

As you can see, it's quite up to running Desert Combat at 800x600. She was most insistant that it had to be able to run DC.

monger · 30-01-2005, 07:48 PM

thats well good man.

rep4u [edit: if i could but i cant :/]

what did you do for the power buttons? gotta be the doorbell

Nathan · 30-01-2005, 07:49 PM

lol, thats class man, wp

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Betty_Swallocks again.

**Betty_Swallocks** · 30-01-2005, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monger

thats well good man.

rep4u [edit: if i could but i cant :/]

what did you do for the power buttons? gotta be the doorbell

At the moment the power button is just the cables that Dayspring kindly sent me still tucked inside the case, but I had a brainwave today and rushed out and bought a cheap doorbell pushbutton switch which is going to mount on the side of the house.

Mr_Meeker · 30-01-2005, 07:54 PM

Lol nice one, bet she does feel special, not doing bad with a machine like that at only 5

NBK · 30-01-2005, 08:00 PM

chipped xbox's are good to stream movies to the tv with

Listy · 30-01-2005, 08:07 PM

should have done the dusting b4 you installed it :P

Oddie · 30-01-2005, 09:37 PM

hahaah Class !!
nice one Bud one of the best custom case ive seen for a while

Good thinking Batman

Gunn (LA) · 30-01-2005, 10:00 PM

nc1 Betty

Just don't let her beat you too badly in DC

Physicist · 30-01-2005, 10:46 PM

Showed it to my girlfriend she thought it was fantastic until she saw desert combat being played .absolute quality.

MaddAussie · 31-01-2005, 12:06 AM

Betty ur one top dad

How cool is that, has she got ant barbie software to play on it?

Rep 4 U.... if i could

Teddy · 31-01-2005, 12:14 AM

Excellent case mod Betty

Platinum · 31-01-2005, 08:03 AM

Nice one, glad to see your getting her trained up at DC

jellybaby · 31-01-2005, 05:35 PM

Wow that system looks brilliant m8 wp

**Killa-Kyle** · 01-02-2005, 11:55 AM

Well played Betty... looks good all round

Did u make an earth in there somewhere?

**Betty_Swallocks** · 01-02-2005, 02:37 PM

This is now on the Custom PC magazine website under the "Readers Drives" section

**Killa-Kyle** · 01-02-2005, 06:40 PM

pld Betty

Namer · 01-02-2005, 10:09 PM

Smart case mod Betty. I just get the feeling that you have too much time on your hands though! lol

Looks spanking brilliant - I don't think I will be showing that to my daughter. She might want one.

^SwITcH^ · 02-02-2005, 11:52 AM

Quality mate ... wp!!

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Betty_Swallocks again."

30-01-2005, 07:42 PM	#1
Betty_Swallocks Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Peterborough Posts: 9,046 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 28^th	Catie's new computer (56k warning) Well, the project is finished. Catie, my 5 year old daughter came to me a while back and said that it wasn't fair. Everyone else in the house has a computer of their own but she hadn't. That got me thinking. OK, we had our old 1400 Athlon in the living room. We had been using it to stream movies onto the telly, but tbh it was really too noisy for that and we'd stopped using it. I could give Catie that one. But that'd be pretty boring. I wanted to do something a little more creative. On Ebay I found this dolls house which I thought would make a nice change from a boring beige box. The first step was to strip out the components from the old case and make sure I had everything I needed. The internal walls and floor were going to have to go. Given that I was using full size components keeping it as a functioning dolls house wasn't going to be an option. From this picture you can also see the cutout I had to make in the ceiling to allow the cables out into the roof space. You can also see the motherboard mountings. Just normal fixings glued into holes drilled in the back wall. In the end I decided that the hardboard back wall was rather flimsier than I liked so I removed it and replaced it with a sheet of thin plywood. And here it is with all the components in place just waiting to have XP installed. And the end result. One happy young lady who feels very special indeed with her very own computer. Specifications: 1400 Athlon (Thunderbird) 512Mb 2700 DDR RAM 40Gb Maxtor Hard disk 64Mb nVidia GeForce3 Ti500 Asus 802.11g wireless network card DVD drive Digimark 17" TFT screen (Aria £135 special) As you can see, it's quite up to running Desert Combat at 800x600. She was most insistant that it had to be able to run DC. __________________ We know that many people are finding the going tough atm. We may be able to help. If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in an honest way of making some extra money in your spare time send me a pm and we’ll chat. Or check out my web site The opinions expressed in this post are purely my own and are nothing to do with "GameOn Networking Ltd" unless otherwise stated.

30-01-2005, 07:48 PM	#2
monger Alien Controller Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: 52.122958,-0.433802 Posts: 11,622 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 23^rd	thats well good man. rep4u [edit: if i could but i cant :/] what did you do for the power buttons? gotta be the doorbell __________________ twitter.com/marchorner

30-01-2005, 07:49 PM	#3
Nathan Combine Soldier Elite Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8,234	lol, thats class man, wp You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Betty_Swallocks again. __________________ PlayStation Network ID - tobiasboon - currently playing Street Fighter IV, Batman Arkham Asylum & Killzone 2 Games for Windows Live GamerTag - tobiasboon live - currently playing Street Fighter IV

30-01-2005, 07:54 PM	#5
Mr_Meeker Bullsquid Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Rushden, Northants Posts: 4,818	Lol nice one, bet she does feel special, not doing bad with a machine like that at only 5 __________________ My Last.FM

30-01-2005, 08:07 PM	#7
Listy Vortigaunt Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Scotland Posts: 3,903 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 29^th	should have done the dusting b4 you installed it :P __________________

30-01-2005, 08:00 PM	#6
NBK Banned Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: The center of the universe...more commonly known as Manchester Posts: 4,475	chipped xbox's are good to stream movies to the tv with

30-01-2005, 09:37 PM	#8
Oddie Manhack Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Midlands Posts: 1,260 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 30^th	hahaah Class !! nice one Bud one of the best custom case ive seen for a while Good thinking Batman __________________

30-01-2005, 10:00 PM	#9
Gunn (LA) Combine Soldier Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: On location ... 'Stuntmen-R-US' Posts: 7,147 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 21^st	nc1 Betty Just don't let her beat you too badly in DC __________________ The opinions expressed in this post are purely that of my own and nothing to do with "GameOn Networking Ltd" unless otherwise stated. GameOn Game Reviewer (Reviews.GameOn.co.uk) GameOn News Poster (www.GameOn.co.uk) GameOn Magazine Writer (GameOn Magazine) Teh Website ...

30-01-2005, 10:46 PM	#10
Physicist Roller Mine Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: newcastle Posts: 823	Showed it to my girlfriend she thought it was fantastic until she saw desert combat being played .absolute quality. __________________

31-01-2005, 12:06 AM	#11
MaddAussie Antlion Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Poole, Dorset Posts: 5,723 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 9^th	Betty ur one top dad How cool is that, has she got ant barbie software to play on it? Rep 4 U.... if i could

31-01-2005, 12:14 AM	#12
Teddy Combine Soldier Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: In the General Lee - Yeeeeee Haaaaaaa Posts: 7,827	Excellent case mod Betty __________________ --------------------------------------------- GameOn Staff -- LAN Head Admin -- --------------------------------------------- DJRobJones.Com - everything prog - email info@djrobjones.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The opinions expressed in this post are purely that of my own unless stated otherwise. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

31-01-2005, 08:03 AM	#13
Platinum raggggggggge Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Under your bed Posts: 21,784	Nice one, glad to see your getting her trained up at DC __________________ GameOn Distributed Computing, Folding @ Home, Seti @ Home, Milky way @ Home. Put your spare CPU and GPU cycles to use for a good cause and help GO rise up the ranks.

31-01-2005, 05:35 PM	#14
jellybaby Baby Headcrab Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: north wales Posts: 143	Wow that system looks brilliant m8 wp

01-02-2005, 11:55 AM	#15
Killa-Kyle Bullsquid Administrator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Dublin Posts: 4,757	Well played Betty... looks good all round Did u make an earth in there somewhere? __________________ The opinions expressed in this post are purely that of my own and nothing to do with "GameOn Networking Ltd" unless otherwise stated. Achtung Baby! Xfire: gokyle

01-02-2005, 02:37 PM	#16
Betty_Swallocks Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Peterborough Posts: 9,046 Xbox Live Leaderboard: 28^th	This is now on the Custom PC magazine website under the "Readers Drives" section __________________ We know that many people are finding the going tough atm. We may be able to help. If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in an honest way of making some extra money in your spare time send me a pm and we’ll chat. Or check out my web site The opinions expressed in this post are purely my own and are nothing to do with "GameOn Networking Ltd" unless otherwise stated.

01-02-2005, 06:40 PM	#17
Killa-Kyle Bullsquid Administrator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Dublin Posts: 4,757	pld Betty __________________ The opinions expressed in this post are purely that of my own and nothing to do with "GameOn Networking Ltd" unless otherwise stated. Achtung Baby! Xfire: gokyle

01-02-2005, 10:09 PM	#18
Namer Manhack Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Barnsley, South Yorkshire Posts: 1,498	Smart case mod Betty. I just get the feeling that you have too much time on your hands though! lol Looks spanking brilliant - I don't think I will be showing that to my daughter. She might want one. __________________ In the immortal words of Richard Hammond " We are at the cutting edge of cocking about!" C2D 4400 @2.8Ghz, 6gb corsair xms ram, 160Gb h/d and 240Gb h/d, 1x XFX 4850 and, of course, water cooled. Currently dual booting XP and windows7 RC.

02-02-2005, 11:52 AM	#19
^SwITcH^ Combine Soldier Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Nantwich, Cheshire Posts: 7,640	Quality mate ... wp!! "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Betty_Swallocks again." __________________

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