Phobya water-cooled case design thread - Stage 1 - Complete - see Stage 2 thread

As you've probably seen in this article Phobya is giving all you modders the chance to make your case design a reality! All you have to do is design what you consider to be the perfect case for water cooling and upload your initial concept designs (pencil, sketch or render - we take anything!) to this thread by 28th November.

The bit-tech community will then vote for their favourite designs over three stages, leaving a handful of the best designs. The best designs then go to Phobya early in 2011, who will pick the best.



You have the choice of designing a case based on a mid tower or full tower or a unique design of your own. The following specifications must be considered but they are NOT mandatory.

Midi-sized tower

* Up to two locations for large radiators (minimum of dual 120mm/140mm)
* 1-2 pump mounting locations
* 4 x 5.25in bays
* 4 x 3.5in Bays
* 1 x PSU mount
* Hole for fill port and external radiators
* Internal mounting for an reservoir as EK Multioption or Phobya Balancer
* Mounting holes in the side for bigger radiators
* Holes for 16mm or 19mm vandal switches (power and reset buttons)
* LED holes for power and HDD lights

Full tower

* Single up to quad Radiator in top also in the bottom (140mm and 120mm)
* 2 - 3 Pump mounts
* 2 x 5,25" Bay
* 4 x 3.5" HDD Bay with air circulation
* 4 x 2.5" HDD bay with air circulation
* 1 - 3 x PSU mounts
* Holes for fill port and external radiators
* 1 or 2 more places for radiators including a Phobya Xtreme 200
* Minimum 2 x internal mounts for a reservoir such as the EK Multioption or Phobya Balancer
* Mounting holes in the side for bigger radiators such as the Phobya Xtreme NOVA 1080 and the Cape Cora
* holes for 16mm or 19mm vandal switches (power and reset buttons)
* LED holes power and HDD

Stage one (currently in progress in this thread!)
will see everyone post rough designs of their entry with the deadline being Sunday 28 November 2010 - you have four weeks to enter. Stage one is for rough concepts, experimentation and for you to take on board advice from other forum users. Then it's the community's turn - bit-tech readers will vote for their favourite design and the best will go through to the next stage where their designs will progress further.

Stage two
will begin in the second week of December with the winners from Stage 1 progressing with their designs. You'll have another four weeks to add some serious detail and make any major changes to your design with input from the community. As with stage one, bit-tech members will vote on their favourite designs and the best will go through to the final round.

Stage three
will begin in February and is the time to add all the detail - colour, lighting and those subtle bits that make every case unique. It will be your chance to make your case as flexible and capable as you want. You'll have another four weeks to make these changes, then the final round of voting will take place. The best three designs will go to Phobya and it will decide the winner.

You should include designs of the bare case and with hardware installed if possible. Other original designs will be accepted but the case must be easy to build. Extra points will be awarded for this and also for regular updates to your designs in this thread.

You must submit your final designs for each stage to modding@bit-tech.net and in this thread for voting before the deadline for that stage. The deadlines will be clearly posted in the thread for each stage. There's no minimum post count, but if you need to register you can do so here.

Read this before asking a question!

Q: Do I have to upload my final design by 28th November?
A: No. Stage 1, the deadline for which is 28th November, is for rough designs only. It's to give us and other readers an idea of what your design is about. You'll have much more time to add details later as the competition doesn't end till Feburary!

Q: What are the limitations? UK only? Post count, age limit?
A: None! It's worldwide, you just need to be a bit-tech member and there's no age limit!

Q: Do I have to upload a render/3D image?
A: No. A paper drawing scanned or photographed is enough.

Q: You've said we can only build tower cases and that they must be easy to build. This is too limiting!
A: You can base your design on a mid or full tower but you can also design a case that looks totally different, so long as it's great for water cooling. The specifications are a guide only. The case will be made in small numbers so there is far more flexibility in terms of manufacturing than a run-of-the-mill case. We're not talking a production line of Mod of the Year standard cases here though - they need to be easy to build in that sense!

Q: You mentioned points for regular updates. What about copying and what if I already have a finished design?
A: We want to encourage discussion so we want to see you making progress and incorporating any good feedback you've received from other members, particularly in Stage 2 and 3. This way you'll almost certainly end up with a better design. If you hide everything until the deadline day, well that's just not very sporting is it?

Stage one is for concepts and early designs. If you already have a finished design you want to enter, well that's great, but you'll have to work within the confines of the competition. Maybe you have some early concepts or you're able to reverse-engineer your work to give you something to work with. Again, the whole idea is community interaction - if you think your case is perfect as it is, well feel free to show us but we're sure there will be plenty of people who don't think it is and have some great ideas that you might not have though of.

Q: Do I have to stick to the specifications?
A: "The following specifications must be considered but aren't mandatory." In other words NO! They are there as a guide to emphasise the kind of cooling systems we're looking for. For example, in the full tower, you'll need to have at least two locations for large radiators, ie triple 120mm and upwards. If you're not sure, feel free to ask!

Q: Will I get paid thousands for my design?
A:No. It's up to you how much time you spend on the design - everyone should bare in mind they might not win but it's taking part that counts! The case is being made in small numbers and is aimed at a niche market. It's not going to be mass produced like cases from Antec. As such, a free example of the case you designed (which will cost quite a lot) plus several hundred pounds worth of cooling gear to go with it is a just reward in our eyes!

 

Yep there's a link to rad templates, at least, in the article. We'll see what we can do about other stuff - just concentrate on the concept for now. Stage two will be where you add details for specific stuff!

 

Yep I spoke to Mick64 last night to let him know! His designs are exactly what we're talking about, hence they're featured in the video

 

Not at work I hope?