Hey everyone! Awesome site. I've been thinking about creating my own case out of wood for about a year (fairly conventional, nothing like Black Mesa or any of those insanely cool mods), and reading through the site has convinced me to do it. But I have some questions. I'm a long-time Mac user, and I've only had this PC for a little over a year. I currently have this setup: Dell 2350 845GL Dell mobo 2GHz P4 (northy, I believe, on 400MHz FSB) 768MB DDR 266 Two optical drives Floppy GeForce4 MX440-SE PCI I have NO AGP (DAMN IT!!!), so that's part of the reason I am modding and upgrading. I'm going to buy these components: Antec 400W PSU 865PE-base mobo GeForce FX 5900XT Vantec HSF (can't remember which exact model, but I will be o/c'ing to 2.4GHz at least) Obviously, I will be creating my own full ATX case. Firstly, does anyone see any problems with this setup? I can take all of my current usable components (optical drives, hard drive, memory, processor) and stick them into the new PC with no problems, right? I wonder if Dell does something screwy with soldering in the components to make it unupgradable. OK, now onto the modding part. I want to build the case entirely out of wood (no acrylic), and I want to keep the cost down. I'm a woodworker of some experience, so that's no problem. I'd like to use some sort of a skeleton to build off of, rather than build the whole thing from scratch. Any ideas where I could find something? If I made it completely out of wood, I'd have to worry about making special slots in the case for peripheral cards, drives, etc., which I really don't want to do. Thanks for any suggestions!
Sounds like all you would have to do is rip the back panel from another case. I think you should be able to handle everything else. Digi-key has metal standoffs that you could use. to keep the mobo away from the side of the case www.formfactors.org for handy dimension information
Dell mobos use different powersupply connectors, so you'll need to either convert it to an ATX connector or get a new PSU.
As I said in my original post, I will be getting an Antec 400W PSU. My main concern is that Dell somehow soldered the optical drive connectors or the processor onto the motherboard, and I won't be able to remove them. Are my fears unfounded?
Cool, thanks. I think that since I'm a noobie to both PC building and modding, I should just built it off of a skeleton, the same way the author of this article did: http://www.bit-tech.net/article/131/ Should I just head over to NewEgg and purchase a $20 case, and rip all the plastic off? Is such a thing possible? I'm wanting to build a computer similar in style to what the guy in the aforesaid article built.
How does this look? http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-127-018&depa=0 Like I said, all I want is the metal frame. It looks nice & roomy on the inside with plenty of drive bays.
With it's lack of internal supports, it looks like it'll flex quite a bit. BUT - Since you're basically going to be rebuilding the whole thing, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Not a bad price either.
OK, here's another question, which will probably seem silly. How is the motherboard secured to the case? Is it screwed directly onto the side of the case or what?
Do you guys recommend I make my own case based off of the ATX spec, or build one off of the metal frame of an existing case?
For a first attempt, I would use the mobo/card area from a case, just to keep the spacing just so. I wouldnt worry about the drives too much, just find some longer screws and make a way to attach them to the wood. Simple slot in a wood panel would work. As for the Dell, the CD drives should be pretty much standard, just a funky faceplate. The proc should be standard also.
Thanks for the advice. That sounds like the sanest solution for someone of my experience, or more appropriately, lack thereof. I've decided to put one of these in my top bay: http://www.envynews.com/?ID=533 About the funky faceplates... yeah, they're midnight blue. I'm going to make a swinging door to cover up the optical drives. The very top bay will be open so I can have my temp monitor on there. I'm going to go with a shiney-black finish on it, with reflective silver logos for the fan grilles. I'll have a cutout of Tux the Penguin on the side, with blue lights on the inside. The fan grilles will be: the Nvidia eye, the Nvidia "n", the KDE "K", and the GNOME footprint. Sound cool? /me is uber-excited. w00t!
wood cases are nice. obviously, the more you can make yourself the better it'll look, but if you want to go with the case skeleton idea (not a bad idea at all really, considering) check out www.directron.com. last time i was over there they were still selling case skeletons for $10. you might want to check that out.
Thanks, Zog. The thing I don't like about that though, is that I don't know exactly what kind of skeleton I'm getting. I.e., how many drive bays? How big a chassis? Etc. If I buy a completely new case, OTOH, I know _exactly_ what I'm getting. Does Directron do something special to the skeletons?
