Hi all, i have been following the bit-tech forums for a long time and have always wanted to make my own custom case, because i am never satisfied with any case i buy... So, i wanted to make a case that: - showcased my component - was "cheap" to make - was functional - looked a little bit good - "small" This build will start most likely late may... to be ready for my next Haswell-based build. So i have plenty of time, and i wanted to get advice from this amazing modding community. Here is what i have drafted so far. The case will be made from sheet metal (4 mm for the MB tray and 2 mm for the rest) and from laser cut transparent acrylic for the side panels so that i can see inside. I have yet to check that all the bends i designed for the sheet metal can be actually done. About the cooling system: two 120 mm fan (Noctua) will be installed in the front for direct airflow to the component. I will 99% be using a Noctua cpu cooler with two 92 mm fan, without PWM, and since i want PWM on the cpu i will remove them and replace them with other Noctua fans but with PWM. So i put the two extra fan that i'll end up with on the side panel, to cool the hard drives. These will be set to the lowest possible rotation speed thanks to included Noctua adapters and will have an acrylic fan guard on the top half so that the side airflow does not get in the way of the main airflow from the 120 mm fan + cpu fans. I don't know how this will affect noise... if they get too noisy with such fan guard i will remove it and see what happens. The side panels are screwed to the metal fan panel. The front panel is screwed to the mb tray, maybe i will make the holes on the mb tray threaded because it might be a bit hard to assemble it like this. The top panel is not fixed and just rests on the others. I will probably put a bit of rubber strips on several point to avoid vibration. There is no bottom as the bottom is my desk Motherboard tray: The tray is very simple, a big cutout and holes. On the side it has hole to screw the 120 fan panel (visible side) and the acrylic side panel on the other. Disk tray Those bends look way too tight... i will have to check this. But anyway i put holes for 1 SSD and 2 hard drives. PSU The psu will be installed under my desk in a cage, and the cables will pass through a hole in the wood. This way i can make everything smaller. Space for vga and cpu cooler So, let me know what you think. The name is subject to change cause it seems a bit lame now. Some doubts: - i am worried about the VGA. Can i leave it just standing there or should i think of a way to screw it to the case like on normal cases? I have seen a lot of bench tables that have no expansion card screw so i don't think it should be a problem. - filters: for the fans, i will use filters to avoid dust. For the side panel cutout, i think i will glue some mesh to the mb tray that covers the hole. For the front panel, i don't know... i still have to figure out how large to cut the holes so that both the I/O section of the motherboard and the vga card can be accessed. I don't want to glue a mesh because it would look just bad... ideas?
Nice idea. Simple. But here are some remarks: your thread will be moved to 'modding', because you did not start anything yet. Some mod will come around and move it. No panic. Second: you really should attach the graphics card (it's not called a VGA anymore). Top bench tables are made to temporarely test some stuff, in a day to day environment, using the PCI slot to keep a card upright is not that good of an an idea. Third: While it is your choice, I'm a bit sceptical of the practical implications of having a box bolted in the middle of my desk. Most desk-bound computers you see are built into the desktop, and do not hinder the usage of said desktop. My impression is that you do a thing like that to save space. Maybe using a smaller kind of psu is another idea? Last comment: I like the graphical way you cut the vent of the harddrives, but it is a bit out of place in the general design of the case. Maybe do something with it? Keep on modding!
I like it. -You are building a little heavy for such a small case. You can reduce the number of screws and use a much thinner metal. that would make the complex bends easier. -You should continue the dovetail joints on the sides. You will get a stronger bond like that, since laser cutting does not make a perfectly flat edge. -I agree you will want something to hold the GPU in place, even if it's just a slot to fit the end of the bracket into. -Space under the motherboard is important. It doesn't look like you have anything to elevate the board off the mobo tray, since the port hole is flush with the tray.
Tomorrow i'm traveling all day for work... but sunday i should have some time to tweak this idea. Thanks all Btw: hardware i wish will be inside - some i7 haswell with a mild overclock (4 ghz?) aircooled - one HD7970 or 7950 This will very much depend on how much i will get as productivity prize at work! I don't really like those two 92 mm fans... thinking what to do.
Hello again, i am working abroad right now, so i don't have a lot of time to work on this project. But! i have been thinking, also based on what you told me, and i pretty much changed everything. So, - gone are the bolts on the plexiglass, i think i will use instead some glue to keep them togheter - i moved the psu inside the case, it is quite bigger now but space is not really a problem - i moved the fans outside of the case - there are now 2 set of holes for 3.5" drives and 2 set for 2.5", on the sides - i have been studing the ATX specs and now the I/O cutout is done properly Here are some pictures One very big question: you can see that i draw one PCI-E slot on the motherboard, but i can't find anywhere (and i searched for a long time!) the dimensions. The ATX specs v2.2 have still PCI and ISA slots... I need to know all dimensions about positioning of the gpu and for the cutout of the back panel!
Okay, looking good. If you want a reference model of a motherboard (and other pieces) you can find it here. If you are worried about the slots in the side of the case, those are the same as PCI slots. Talking about PCI slots, is there any reason why you didn't attach the gfx-card to the chassis? I see you cut out only one slot for a gfx-card. If so, can i ask why you are using ATX? Why not going with something mini-ITX? I'm a bit curious too about the placement of the lonely fan in front. What is it supposed to do? to me, it looks like it's going to be starved for air/blowing against a wall. And, assuming the two on the top are exhausts, where is your intake? (or vice versa) In each case, keep going! This thing has potential.
Hi alpaca, i don't think i want to move to mITX, mostly because there are not a lot of motherboards to choose from. I am thinking mATX where the choice is wider, but for now i don't mind full ATX The gpu is attached (i don't know how) to the case... but first i want to find the dimensions. All fan are intake. Right now there are no cutouts but i will make them when i get back to a computer with Autocad installed (right now i have only inventor and i don't like making weird shapes with its sketch tools) The front fan will probably be set to very low speeds, and i will maybe cut the side panel a bit more, so that i brings some airflow to the drives and the psu
