First, my motherboard, CPU and power supply came from Amazon. To build your own computer, you need the pieces to put it together. I had some parts already at home that were extras from a computer my brother built last year, but I had to buy some of the parts. I needed a motherboard, a CPU chip and a power supply. I didn’t need a case because I am going to make the case out of my lunchbox. Mom and dad said if I wanted to build my own computer they would buy these parts. The cost was $138 for the CPU, $111 for the motherboard and $45 for the power supply. That adds up to $294.
Step 1: Add standoffs to the motherboardA motherboard is the main printed circuit board in the computer. It holds most of the computer parts. Other parts of the computer, like the optical drive and the hard drive, screen and keyboard, connect to the motherboard through cables. I used a Gigabyte Ultra Durable mini-ITX GA-H87N-WIFI motherboard. It has an Intel LGA 1150 socket for the CPU. I screwed standoffs into each corner so it can connect to the lunchbox. Standoffs are little metal posts that hold the motherboard up off the computer case.
A CPU is a chip that does most of the work in a computer. The CPU has an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and a control unit (CU). The ALU calculates all the math and logic , and the CU manages instructions from the memory. For my lunchbox computer, I used an Intel Core i3-4330 CPU. It runs at 3.5 GHz (that means three and a half billion cycles per second.) It has 4 megabytes of cache, which is a lot of memory on the chip. It also includes Intel HD graphics 4600, to send high definition pictures to the screen. This CPU fits the LGA1150 socket on the motherboard. The CPU came with its own fan cooler, which keeps the CPU from getting too hot. I installed the fan cooler right on top of the chip.
Random Access Memory (RAM) is an integrated circuit that stores the data that the computer uses. I plugged in a Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3 memory DIMM (stick). It can hold 4 billion bytes of information and it runs at 1333 MHz (That means one and one third billion cycles per second.) The motherboard has slots for 2 memory sticks but I am only using one of them.
How much data can 4GB of memory hold? There are about four billion bytes in 1,000 songs; 8,000 photographs; 10,000 websites; or 400,000 emails!
Step 4: Build an optical drive frameI made an optical drive holder. The optical drive is the place where you put your DVD’s. I made the holder out of Legos. When I was done that, I glued it together with a super strong glue called cyanoacrylate glue. My optical drive slides right in and fits perfectly. The optical drive frame will sit in the bottom of the lunchbox, and the motherboard will sit on top of the frame.
After I made the holder, I practiced sliding the optical drive in and out just to make sure it fits. I used a Sony Optiarc DVD RW AD-7740H slim drive designed for laptop computers. It fits just right in my Lego drive holder.
Next, I set the motherboard on top of the optical drive frame. I drilled holes in the corners of the Lego frame for the standoffs. So the motherboard and the optical drive will fit into my lunchbox.
A computer’s hard drive stores all the data and applications. For the hard drive, I chose a Western Digital 500 GB Scorpio Black 2.5” hard disk. I connected the hard drive to the motherboard with a SATA cable. I hold it in place next to the motherboard with a rubber band. How much data can 500 gigabytes hold? About 60 hours of High Definition video; 100 DVDs; 25,000 trees made into paper and printed into books; or the complete music collections of 25 composers.
The power supply provides electricity to all the parts of the computer. I chose a picoPSU-160-XT high power 24 pin mini-ITX power supply from Mini-Box. It is the smallest 160 Watt power supply and will fit great in my lunchbox. I used an online power calculator at Outervision.com to find out how strong my power supply needs to be. It looks like I need between 138 Watts and 188 Watts for my lunchbox computer, so the picoPSU should be just right. This is about the same power as a strong light bulb.
Step 9: Connect all power and data wires. I plugged in all the power and data wires between the motherboard and each of the components. There are wires from the power supply to the motherboard; from the motherboard to the CPU cooler fan; from the power supply to the optical drive; from the power supply to the hard drive; and from the motherboard SATA ports to the optical drive and to the hard drive. I added some wires to connect LEDs to the motherboard so I know when my computer is on and when the hard drive is working. LEDs are Light Emitting Diodes, they are like little colored lightbulbs. I also added some wires for a homemade on/off switch.
With all the pieces together but before it goes in the lunchbox, I plugged in the power and held down the DELETE key while my computer booted up. This opened the BIOS so I could set the BIOS settings and install my operating system. Once I had the computer working, then I mounted it into my lunchbox. My computer worked the first time I turned it on; that showed I had put all the parts in the right way.
I made marks on the lunchbox so I could find out where to put my computer. My dad helped me cut out the holes I had marked out for the rear ports and for the front DVD drive door in the lunchbox with tinsnips. I covered the edges of the cut tin around the DVD drive with hockey tape so it won’t be too sharp. I used a hand drill to drill holes in the bottom for the standoff screws. I drilled holes in the top so air can get in to the CPU fan. I screwed the computer into the lunchbox -- there are 4 screws on the bottom of the lunchbox that go up into the bottom of the standoffs. On the back, I connected the power, monitor, keyboard, mouse, audio, ethernet and bluetooth.
BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System that comes on the motherboard; it starts up and tests the hardware, and loads the operating system when you turn the computer on. It comes already loaded on the motherboard, in a special memory chip called the ROM. ROM stands for Read-Only Memory. It is a different kind of memory than the RAM I plugged into the motherboard in Step 3 earlier. I opened BIOS by holding down the DELETE key while my computer boots up. To install my operating system, I had to adjust the BIOS settings first. I set the Boot Priority to CD/DVD, picked Optimized Defaults, and changed the SATA to AHCI mode.
I like Apple computers so I wanted to install Apple’s OSX as the operating system for my lunchbox computer. We had a copy of version 10.6, Snow Leopard on a disk so I installed that. I had to follow the instructions on tonymacx86.com to get it to work. I installed a program called iBoot. That lets me run Apple OSX in my lunchbox.
Even though my lunchbox is about the size of a Mac Mini, it has the power of a Mac Pro. A homemade computer running OSX is called a “Hackintosh”. For my lunchbox computer I didn’t buy anything from Apple (except the operating system, OSX) -- I just hacked together a system that works like a Mac Pro. A Mac Pro from Apple with the same performance as my hackintosh would cost about $3,000. I built my lunchbox computer for about $300. I saved a lot of money!
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