Introduction

I was always charmed by the VIA EPIA Mini-ITX boards, so when I came across one on eBay I just couldn't resist. It was an impulse buy. When I got it I didn't really have a use for it. Then my internet provider upgraded my bandwidth and so I needed a second PC for light surfing and downloading. I wanted something small and energy efficient, so the EPIA board came back into favour. Energy efficiency was going to be easy, that's what these boards are designed for. The board is small and would require a little modding (always fun).

My brother in law has an iMac and darn do these look beautiful. This was my inspiration. I considering modding a CRT monitor to hold the PC, but it would have been too big and clumsy. Considering the room you have in a CRT it didn't seem to much of a challenge either.

My search for a 15in LCD monitor began. You can't believe how much people want for them on eBay. Fortunately I stumbled on a seller who was selling 2 monitors, nobody else was interested so I got them cheap.

My initial components were:

• Via EPIA M10000 board (C3 1GHz CPU)
• Compaq TFT5000S monitor
• 80W Pico-PSU
• 40 GB 2.5in 4200RPM hard drive (from my laptop after an upgrade)
• Sitecom WL-113 USB Wi-Fi dongle

I started to take apart the screen:

Then I mounted some long standoffs.

I sourced a piece of thick plexiglass that would function as the motherboard plate.

Figuring out how and where to place what..

The motherboard plate cut, drilled and tapped.

Mounting the hard drive