How to build a gingerbread computer

Introduction
Help guide and Trouble-shouter
Power Supply
DVD and Hard Drive
System fans
System case
Put together
Summary



22/12-05 | Henrik Olsson | milohenke@64bits.se

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Introduction

Finally, it is time for the second article of 64bits’ gingerbread computer project. In the past article we went thought how to build the graphics card, the processor and the cooler, the RAM memory and the motherboard. You can find the first article here. For those of you how need to freshen up your memory a bit, there is a short picture recap under this text.

In this article we are going to create the rest of the gingerbread computer parts; the power supply, the CD/DVD-player, the hard drive and the system case. However, first we are going to focus on different practical tips and tricks when baking a gingerbread computer.

Help guide and Trouble-shouter

Coming in a moment! Continue to the next page ==>

Power Supply

Let’s continue to build the computer! First out is the creation of the power supply. It is made out of five gingerbread parts; one fan, one front panel which has got a hole for the power cables, one top panel which has a hole for the fan, one front panel with a lot of small vent holes (is made with the backside of a metal pen) and one side panel. As you see there are two parts missing. The reason is that you will not be able to see these parts when the computer is assembled.

The above right photo shows the power supply after the parts have been assembled. However, the power supply still doesn’t have any cables. We solved this by using so called liquorice stings (Swedish candy). You can see how we created the cables in the pictures below.

Finally, we have attached different types of connectors to the cables. The connectors are made out of cut pieces from Bassets; see the picture below.

DVD and Hard Drive

The next thing on the to-do list is the DVD-player and HDD. Construction wise they are similar to each other. The biggest difference lies in that the HDD is somewhat thinner. These two parts are the two first which don’t follow the exact size of the original ones. The reason for that is that we otherwise wouldn’t have had room for them.

About this time we have gained a lot of gingerbread experience points and we are more or less gingerbread experts. Making the DVD and HDD is therefore quite easy. Each unit consists of six parts which, after the baking part, need to be glued together. The power connection and SATA-ports are made out of green Bassetts.

System fans

To build the case we need three fans; two 60 mm fans and one 80 mm fan. To make it a little bit easier we choose to build a common device for the two smaller fans. On the lower left you can see what parts are needed. The fans for the case are made in the same way as the ones on the graphics cards. The fan consists of a round "Bassett" candy, with the green fins cut into slim pieces from a green candy.

Above you see the front and back of the fans. The front has been made with the help of a 60 mm fan. The back has been provided with a number of small holes, all made by the hat of a pen. See images below.

The case fan is made in accordance to the same construction as the fan on the CPU. Please click here to see how it was made.



System case

Now, we are going to make the system case. Due to size reasons, we choose to build a mini-ITX case. The building of the case and its fans is, along with the motherboard, the most time consuming, mainly because of the difficulties with handling large pieces of gingerbread, since it's easily broken. In particular the back-part was shown to be very fragile; we had to try three times until we succeeded.

We start by making the front part of the case. For that we need three pieces; one piece for the top, one in-between, and one beneath. The pieces are then glued together; see the pictures above. We then make a front for the optical drive and use Bassetts to illustrate black and green buttons.

We glue the DVD-player, HDD and front fan to the back of the front part. To minimize the risk that the DVD-player and HDD fall off, we glue small parts of gingerbread under both of them.

On the top right you will see the rear end of the computer case. It has been equipped with four holes; one for the power supply, one for the two 60 mm fans and two for the back ends of the graphics cards. Please note that you have to be very careful when handling the rear end of the case since it’s very fragile.

When the back part is done we glue the fans and graphics cards to it. Notice how the DVI-ports are illustrated by Bassett candy (see above). Below, you can see the rest of the pieces that are needed to build the case, together with the front and back part.

Put together

After much hard work it's now finally time to put the pieces together. We start with gluing the power supply to the back and one of the side-parts. Then we glue all of the parts to the bottom part.

We carefully place the motherboard, equipped with several different components, in the case and put both graphics cards in place on the PCIe-ports. When everything is set, we connect the motherboard and graphics cards to the power supply.

Now when the power wires are connected it's time to glue the other side part and the front. All parts of the computer are now in place! The only thing left is to connect the remaining wires and SATA-cables for the DVD-player and HDD. Take a closer look at the picture to the bottom left to see the result of all hard work.

At the very end, we connect the top part of the case. For those of you who want to be able to open the lid of your gingerbread PC, the computer should be stable enough for just letting the top part lie on top without any other precautions. The gingerbread PC is now complete!

Summary

After having used four gingerbread dough's, a big bag of candy and many, many hours of baking, we have finally put together the 64bits own gingerbread computer. The thought behind this crazy project wasn't limited to the mere accomplishment of this kind of weird idea. No, our intention was also to be able to give all of you computer enthusiasts out there a chance to make something different of this Christmas baking. This project is in other words meant as a celebration for those who have a great deal of interest in computers and also a celebration to the Christmas traditions and all of what that stands for. Hopefully, we have inspired some of you to take on this year’s Christmas baking and build your own gingerbread computer. So don't hesitate when sitting there in front of the computer; put together your own dough and show grandma what a real gingerbread house à la 21st century should look like.





22/12-05 | Henrik Olsson | milohenke@64bits.se

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