I'm selling my Extended ATX Core, which was built in August 2007 for compatibility with Pluto Home, the predecessor to LinuxMCE.
This machine is tested and 100% working. It has been kept mostly unused (turned off) in a climate-controlled environment. I've also made sure it's stayed dust-free by using canned air every few months. It will easily last 5-7 more years running full-time without a problem, because I built it from the highest quality parts to ensure long life and reliability. It could easily serve as a Core for a very large house, since it 3 LAN ports: One is 10/100, for the Internet connection, and the other two are Gigabit, giving you a large backbone for your internal network. You could put all your Media Directors on one of the Gigabit ports, and the rest of your internal network on the other.
There's nothing wrong with it, it makes a great Core; it was bought for a business partnership that's being liquidated. The fans can be turned down so that it's pretty quiet; or you could stuff it in a closet with the fans on high.
Here's a link to my Craigs List ad:
http://austin.craigslist.org/sys/1244599757.htmlHere are the parts and links to prices online:
Power Supply and Case:
$180 @ NewEgg.com: Antec Titan 650 Watt Power Supply & EATX Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129027$334 @ ServersDirect.com: Tyan S2882G3NR-D-RS R Motherboard
This is a well-equipped server board with 4 PCI-X slots (extended, not express), one PCI slot, 3 LAN ports (2 Gigabit), 2 RS232 ports, plenty of USB ports, and room for a second Dual-Core processor.
http://www.serversdirect.com/product.asp?pf_id=MB8059-X$120 @ ServerSupply.com: AMD Dual-Core Opteron 275 2.2Ghz CPU
http://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/pid_lookup.asp?pid=99027$182 @ NewEgg.com: Qty. 2 of Kingston KVR400S4R3A/1G.
2 Gigabytes of memory, with 2 more memory slots for the existing processor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134295$33 @ NewEgg.com: NVidia GeForce FX5200 256megabytes
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145136$18 @ NewEgg.com: Qty. 2 of Rosewill RCX-Z1 CPU fan, Long life ball-bearing for 45,000+ hours
You get two of these; one is already installed on the existing CPU, and one is new in the box for when you decide to add another CPU. I used Arctic Silver CPU Paste on the existing fan, to ensure optimum cooling for the life of the CPU & fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200014$18 @ NewEgg.com: Qty. 3 of Antec TriCool 92mm case fans
2 are installed in front of the hard drive bays. There is room for the 3rd fan (included) on the case door, but it must be installed carefully so that you're able to open & close the case door as needed, without getting a stray cord caught in a fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209003$83 @ NewEgg.com: Logitech Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse
I got this keyboard because I type alot, it's very comfortable, keeps up with fast typing, and gives good distance from the computer. I actually bought two of them and am keeping the other. The NewEgg description says it's beige and black; it is not, it's silvery-blue-grey and black.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126006$54 @ CodeMicro.com: Lite-On Dual Layer DVD Burner with LightScribe
http://codemicro.com/store/check_price.php?partno=LH-20A1H-185$44 @ ServerSupply.com: Maxtor 120GB Ultra ATA 133 Hard Drive
This is the fastest IDE hard drive you can get. There are plenty of SATA hard drive ports on board; plus there is a 3Ware SATA RAID controller included.
http://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/pid_lookup.asp?pid=63788$815 @ CodeMicro.com: 3Ware 8506-8 SATA RAID Controller
http://codemicro.com/store/check_price.php?partid=1088841 If you know drive controllers, you know that nearly all RAID controllers are "FakeRAID", which means it relies on your system's resources and thereby slows your whole computer down. Among the few exceptions, are 3Ware RAID controllers (and some Intel controllers). There's a reason these drive controllers are pricey; it's like having a small, separate computer inside your computer just to run the hard drives. In fact it does have built-in memory and a CPU.
The system comes with the latest version of the motherboard BIOS installed. The floppy drive is installed in the case, and the drive works; however the included data cable is not long enough because the data port is on the opposite side of the case from the floppy drive. On the rare occasions I needed the floppy drive, it was very easy to just slide it out of the front bay (the case includes fast-access drive rails) & plug it in temporarily with the short data cable; or a longer floppy cable is only a few dollars. The motherboard BIOS hasn't had a new version in several years, so it's unlikely you'll ever need the floppy again for that.
This will make a great Core for someone, it just needs a sound card (Audigy, $15), and some SATA drives to store your media. The included ATA drive is for the operating system and runs really fast; or you could upgrade that to SATA also if you want, since the motherboard has plenty of onboard SATA ports. (I used an ATA drive for the OS, because of a limitation of Pluto Home / Debian Sarge. The current versions of LinuxMCE have full support for the onboard SATA ports.)
Feel free to bring all offers. Buyer pays actual shipping costs; I won't charge any handling, and I already have the necessary shipping boxes. Find me in the chat room, or email me Kevin -at- Apollo Smart Homes *dot* com (no spaces).
