Kitchen PC

[Ostap]

So.. here is another project - Kitchen PC

This time is just an replacement of existing one
I had kitchen PC since 2005

First one was just an old laptop Pentium 133
It worked fine - i could play some music and it was enough at the time





Next one - was Raspberry Pi based one ... - it was great ...almost
I could play HD videos ...or music ...not both



In 2014 I've decided to move on into real PC base ..and bought my self a mini PC
Asus Vivo PC - with an Intel Atom CPU
It was OK ... but not great
You could even browse the internet ...yep - play some HD movies and music at the same time
But it was painfully slow ...

When i had guests - using it were very awkward ...
click ...10 seconds later something would show up

Few months ago - I replaced hard disk with SSD ...
it did improve the overal performance ...but not that much.

After building the NAS (see it here) - next was of coz the Kitchen
Same type CPU (T model) ...and some small mobo

There were no need for super power - so the choice was Intel i3 7300T
7th generation CPUs had 2 cores and 2 threads per core ...plenty for any kind of use !!!
And still at 35Watt TDP.

Final configuration after short research was this:

CPU	Intel i3 7300T (2 cores, 2 threads per core!!!)
Motherboard	MSI H270I Gaming Pro AC
Memory	2133Mhz 16Gb
SSD	Intel 660p NVMe 512Gb
PSU	PicoPSU 80Watt + 90Watt power block
Case	M350 Mini-ITX enclosure

Memory (2133) were purchased before i got the motherboard ... and were intended for Gigabyte H270
But the order on Ebay were canceled ... had to buy this gaming one ...as the last available option.
MSI mobo can run on memory up to 2400 ...but who cares - its gonnabe x5 times faster computer anyway

Same goes for the huge cooling block I wanted to use like in NAS ...
Holes on the MSI mobo - were just too small for the cooler screws
had to use the stock cooler supplied with CPU.
Its not as bad as it seems - considering that there are no other fans in the box - it's a good trade off

Once i've settled with cooler - I was able to select smallest boxes available
and this M350 one - was the smallest i could find that was not made of plastic

Soooo..... lets start



This is the dude that will be replaced ...he served well for 5 years !!
(the one under the monitor ...)
Power consumption is about 19watt idle ..



A bit closer look - ASUS Vivo PC - 4gb memory
Originally came with 500GB HD disk ..but were replaced with 2TB HD ...



Here is the whole bunch ...though i've already build the PC ...and installed windows on it a week ago
so this is just for the show



The whole thing is ready to be installed
Same PicoPSU ....



Before starting - power up the human



The box is small...as expected



Bit larger than the replaced one ...but we do need all the air flow and shit ...



Surprise ...top plate is secured by just 1 screw
No problem ... if you'll have one - you'll discover how tricky it is to open / close the guy ...
Well made !!!



Open View



And view from inside - nothing much ...also surprised to see no fans installed...
In my case - that's a good thing !!



Back plate fits ok ...



Back power plug ...- no problem whatsoever ...



Plug doesn't fit all the way in ..but it should not be a problem - this is not an apple PC



And the power block - this time its just 90 Watt block



With 80Watt PSU ...should be enough



It looks a bit different than the one for 150Watt ...



And here is the famous P4 connector we'll need
PLEASE NOTE: there are 2 versions of this PicoPSU (80watt version) ...one has it ...other does not
Check before you buy !!!



Mobo is installed ... had to remove every cable (including PSU) ...
Space is so tiny ...

Steve plz forgive me for that ...but you know what i mean



Here we got first problem
Well ...its not a problem but ...

Motherboard - MSI - had no onboard header for external USB ... (only large plug for 3.1)
so this cable cannot be connected....



That extra USB - cable -
It is connected to the external USB plugs under the front cover ...nice
If i could use it - i could connect some USB things ...
No need though ...



Like an USB flash ...or USB wifi ....
Still - nice option ...but i'm ok that i cannot use it ... there is a bunch of USBs at the back



Connect the PicoPSU ..sorry for bad focus ...



Pico PSU cables are kinda too short in this case as you see ...just enough to route them around the memory blocks



And once again - our famous P4 ...it fits !!! ...

In other posts - i've been pissed about why they did that ...
after some search - i found out why
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhAXPnm8BP0



After all been connected ... (not powered up yet)
this is the measure of power block ...bastard pulls 2 watt ... when PC is OFF...
No mater - this is 24/7 ON PC



Once ON - PC pulled 20 Watt...just in bios screen...thats weird...



also ...some weird reset ?
oh well ...after some checks ...coz keybo was not connected - it asked to press F1 ...
logical...

In 25 years - they still could not get the error message right



Got one hooked up and we are in !!!



Usage with this PicoPSU is stable (18 watt...constant) ...not like on 150 version



But once computer booted in - usage dropped down to 12 ..



and the first screen ... Windows server 2016 ...
A better choice than windows 10 !!! while having all the goodies



This is the whole thing again ...- all works



Tiny !!!
Minor note - take care of all the cables
None should be left on sides - case is very small - you'll have trouble closing it if you do
as you see on the picture - had to re-rout P4 cable ...to keep it inside the case.




Just to compare to the old one...



Old one - last click ... closing it forever ...THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE !!!
(it will be used but not by me ... - I gave it to my neighbor)



And click ......_________________________________



All done

Aye.. therrr be new kitchen PC !!

I'll post test results on stress tests later....

[Ostap]

And the stress test:

Same as on NAS i've performed both
kinda forgot about the first one so it run for 2 hours

but it leveled out at 52C



after the test were complete ..i left it to cool down



and stated the Prime95 (CPU torture test) i've kept the other one ON ...coz it provided nice graphs



this stock cooler does the job even better while being 1/5 the size ...
But of coz - it always mater where your eye is at ...
In this project - size and power consumption were the key