Toaster PC Mod
Introduction:
This is the first computer that I have ever built. When I first looked into
building a computer I wanted the best, fastest computer I could possibly build.
Then I looked into the price of the components and WOW! that stuff is expensive.
I priced out a P4 2.8 and the processor alone was $380 U.S. Dollars! The entire
system was going to cost in excess of $1,900 U.S. Dollars. Well, I do not make
that much money so I decided to put the computer building on hold for a year or
two in order to save up.
About this time my wife came to me and asked to replace our old PII tower
computer in the kitchen (she has several cookbooks, gets recipes online,
etc…). Now let me tell you that not only is this tower computer huge, it is
U-G-L-Y. I don’t even think it would fit underneath the kitchen cabinets, and
don’t even ask about the 6 year old 15” monitor!
Now, when I explained all of this to one of my co-workers he suggested a
Mini-ITX
system. I had never heard of this, but when he told me about how small it was,
its capabilities, and its price, I thought “wunderbar” this is it!
Since my wife wanted it for the kitchen I thought to disguise it as a kitchen
appliance. My co-worker and I kicked around a few ideas but I finally decided on
a toaster. It had the internal space required and looks good too. I then got on
the Internet to find out more about what computer components to buy and I found
this site, www.mini-itx.com.
I was kind of bummed to see that a few people had built a toaster before, but I
figured “What the hell”, I have never built a toaster, original or not!
Hardware:
- GE 4 Slot chrome toaster
- Via M9000 Motherboard
- 40GB Hard Drive
- 512MB DDR RAM
- Panasonic 4x slim DVD
- Sparkle 150W Power Supply
- Hauppauge USB TV Card
- Netgear wireless 802.11 Network Card
- Gyration Ultra cordless mouse and keyboard
- KDS Rad5-c 15" flat panel monitor
