I needed a new computer and this time I decided to go with something a little less dull than the motherboard in a tin box… I knew that the guys at pugetsystems.com had put together a computer similar to this and it had ran without problems for a couple years. They had used the Eclipse System 6 (6 gallon) aquarium and I went with that too since an ATX motherboard fits perfectly along the back wall.
Time to show Newegg some love…
Here is my parts list:
- GA-EP43T-USB3 GIGABYTE motherboard (Pros: 10 usb ports and support for 16GB ram)
- 4GB (for now) of G.SKILL RAM 1600 DDR3
- 430 watt Thermaltake PSU. I hate picking power supplies. This one had good reviews so I ran with it.
- fanless video card with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT chip and 512MB memory
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz processor
- Western Digital 640GB 7200 RPM hard drive
- Two Acer 20” monitors
- 5 gallons of mineral oil from my local veterinary
- Ubuntu 10.04
Here are a few pictures of the build process:
The unaltered aquarium
![1.jpg](/assets/blog/1.jpg)
Marked with masking tape
![2.jpg](/assets/blog/2.jpg)
After having the top trimmed
![3.jpg](/assets/blog/3.jpg)
Holes drilled for the motherboard
![5.jpg](/assets/blog/5.jpg)
With everything fit in place
![7.jpg](/assets/blog/7.jpg)
The side view of the wire routing
![8.jpg](/assets/blog/8.jpg)
The back of the aquarium (and the bottom of the motherboard)
![9.jpg](/assets/blog/9.jpg)
Top view with the lid off
![10.jpg](/assets/blog/10.jpg)
The hard drive is mounted to the bottom of the lid
![11.jpg](/assets/blog/11.jpg)
A view of the motherboard connections with the access lid open
![12.jpg](/assets/blog/12.jpg)
All done!
![14.jpg](/assets/blog/14.jpg)