It seems that every thing computer based is getting smaller- and now so are the cases; just look at the Shuttles. I have decided that I want to transfer my PC into a REALLY small case- something ps2 or xbox size. I had a look in Screwfix (hardware catalogue) and they sell sheets of acrylic and polycarbonate that can be cut, but are quite strong. Major questions I need to ask are.... 1. Is acrylic strong enough, but if I cart around my PC to lan parties and stuff, would it be wiser to fork out the extra 10-20 quid for polycarb which is supposedly 200x stronger than glass. Its nearly bulletproof! 2. Has anyone built a case from scratch before? Anything I need to consider? 3. Having measured my motherboard and PSU, certain things need to be streamlined, or the case will look damnstupid. Is there anyway of moving a GFX card so that it doesn't stick out so much- like adding and extension cable and lying it down sideways. Any slimline PSU's or external ones? 4. As all the stuff is gonna be really crammed- how am I going to deal with heat issues? I figured that the CPU fan can just poke out of the top of the case; anyother ideas would be appreciated. I'll put up some designs as soon as I have the chance, but dont hold your horses- im a bit busy at the mo. Thanks in expectance for any replies- Bit tech rules!
1.) acrylic is fine, and easy to work with . Just treat it with respect when carting it around. 3.) there are 90deg agp card converters around, and even flexible converters as well. Use the search button and you should be able to find where to buy them.
Yes, i guess the small cases are rapidly growing in numbers. I think there`s something called a AGP riser available which will rotate your AGP...
MANY people on this site have custom built their case. Some of nota are the LAN PC (Zap Wizard) which won the TechTV modding contest and the VesperDeco by Eddie the Dane. The Orac3 by Gnome isn't 100% scratch, but with the work he's been doing on it, it might as well be! Just do a search within the project logs, there are quite a few of them. That's the main reason I came to this site in the 1st place - it's not just the "same ole stuff" here and people actually know what they are doing.
To make the case as small as possible, I guess you should get a micro-ATX motherboard, with LAN, AGP and audio on-board. Besides that my guess is that you would have to gut your PSU and stuff only the internals inside that case... There's no need to install a floppy drive. The smallest CD drive would be to get a slimline, as used in laptops. Same goes for the harddisk, get a 2.5" one, same size as in laptops. But... You could get a ID->Flash card converter, and use a 2Gb flashcard as a harddisk, as long as those 2Gb's are enough. However, I don't think 2Gb is enough, so you should stick with a 2.5" harddisk. Before you start working on the case, you should try making a cardboard model of the case. Try to make all the parts fit as close to each other as possible. When it finally fits, you can go on making the final case.
my dad works in the plastics and thermo-plastics industry and according to him, polycarb and polyteryethalene (PTE) scratch easier than plexi.
Personally I think bigger is better...but...to each his own...Be forewarned tho...as you try to get it smaller and smaller...the price will keep getting bigger and bigger...and generally performace gets less also...not to say micro stuff sucks...but if you look at slimline CD/DVD/etc...they can cost $200+ and only run at a fraction of the speed... But..once again, to each his own....good luck..make it a Project and show us
