Now with better pics and now I'm deffiently going to make this i thiough I would post in Projects logs!: I always like small cases but I think m-ITX is pointless for powerful comps as the graphics card is a lot longer than the board and for me I might as well go to m-ATX. I can also think about dual GPU too with this setup. So I am going to be making this case in anticipation for sandy bridge, support (potencially and realistically) for a 1250W PSU two HDDs (maybe four but see how it goes) dual GPU and the best CPUs due to good cooling. I'm going to style it in Half Life me thinks! REV 1.0: I will be using steel sheet, steel bar and steel angle. I am going to do the exact same construction method of Mountain Mod cases if you have seen them (on the UFO-U2) they use sheet metal for the 'U' shape looking side on then weld the flat bar and angle onto the edges. I know poor explaination but hopefully when I make it you'll see. I also want to same though finish that sometimes use of the UFO's the flake stuff but I don't know what this is actually called or if it exists in can form if someone can help me there! It will be 255mm high 255mm wide and 300mm deep. I think there will be two 120mm fans in the top over the mobo, 92mm at the back of the mobo and nothing on the other side. The side panels will work the same as the UFO too the top will be solid but the sides will be windowed with mesh. This is the first sketchup design I have come up with so far: REV 1.1: Just mae a few changes. To fit the HDDs in (as I misread the actually size of a PSU) I've had to mount them in a differnet way way and move the mobo tray over unfortunately this will limit the the size of the CPU cooler to about 120mm and the 92mm fan will now not fit in the back of the case ! (and better pics!) Oh yeh any name suggestions? UPDATE #1: Will hopefully be getting the materials friday so if I have everything else together I will be starting this weekend! UPDATE #2 (29.10.10): So I have finally started! I got some metal today free of charge by emailing my local fabrication company and they then said I can have anything out of their skip! I got some 2mm thick steel sheet and took it home to start work, heres how it got on: I cut the sheet metal using a jig saw I would of liked to see it done with a dremel! The jig saw struggled and after tightening the bolt holding the blade too tighting I couldn't get it undone so a lot of my time was wasted sorting that out but I got theere in the end and the cut were more accurate than I thought! This is as I began to start filing the edges. My UNC no. 6 32TPi tap and countersunk screws: And then to finish off I drilled the holes for the risers and tapped them, the mobo fits nicely although I don't think I have left enough room for the expansion card plates !! Fingers crossed I think it should be okay. Not too much done but should a a substantial update next time when I start the I/O and PSU cut outs. From now on i will be updating within this post then bumping so even though there is 'view authors posts only' option you don't have to you will find everything here!
I think I might design it to take just 2.5" drives as they are getting to near the same price as 3.5" and I don't need massive capacities, also I think I might go for an SSD once I've finished it! This means that I can move the middle seperating section opening the motherboard compartment so I can fit bigger fans and CPU coolers. What do ya think?
Thank you and I'm going to try as hard as possible! Hmm, tbh I don't know wether I will style it as this case isn't to build something to show off as such just a computer case that I've always wanted! But I'm not absoulutly sure yet ideas?
I guess the PSU intake will be on the side panel? This layout is very similar to how I am doing it in my Quintessence mod. It really allows you to cram the parts into a very small shell and still have a lot of room for cabling.
I was going to update with a third design but thought I would wait until i got some matrerials and incorparate it making a more substantial post. I'm now not going to use mesh as the cooling won't be as effiecent so all the panels will be solid but there will be be more fans like two in the side panel blowing onto the GPU(s) one on the bottom, two at the back and another one intaking air over the HDDs which will now be 2.5". The PSU fan will be against the motherboard tray but with a 5mm gap between it, the PSU exhausts air in my case and the intake for the HDDs will balance this aiding cooling of that section. Will get an update tonight.
