Hi everyone Okay, to start off with, I know cube cases are not a new thing and most people is starting to find them quite boring, But I would really like to build myself one. So, I started off with some plans on scetchup (You'll see them just now) What you are seeing is my idea for a cube case, which will be air-cooled. The dimensions will be 35 centimetres per side. First Shot: From the front: From behind: From top: Left Side: Right Side: Back Angle: Okay, in the front of the case you can see 6 5.25" bays. 3 For Hard Drives and 3 for Optical Drives. The hard drive side will be a Thermaltake iCage (with a built in 120mm fan) which will hold my HDD's and one the other side will be only 1 DVD writer, the other 2 slots will be for future upgrades or something. (LCD, fan controller etc.) Also, in the front is another 120mm fan and 2 more for extraction at the back. I want to make the sides with 8mm black perspex. My idea is that when the pc is off, the case will be a black mirror type case - you must really not be able to see inside it. But when its on, the insides must be somewhat visible. the interior lights must all be blue. Now, I need all you professional modders here to please have a look at the design. Before I start, can you please point out ANY obvious design flaws i may have made. Also, I am not sure what color perspex to use to give me my desired effect. (Black or Dark Grey) ALL comments welcome. Regards, Dean
My PSU's cables are all pre-sleeved, its just the main cable thats really thick, like a hose pipe The rest of the cables are either rounded or SATA. I have thought about this, thats why I am putting 2 120mm fans at the back for extraction. Also, th PSU will serve as an extractor for the HDD fan.
Being an air cooling nut, I would personally add one more 120mm exhaust at the "top of the motherboard" 90 degrees from your current standard exhaust location. This adds a lot of cooling power to your cpu and all your power mosfets. Regarding selection of I might suggest flipping thru my worklogs. Pretty much all of my builds have used some sort of black tinted plastic to achieve the exact look you've been describing. Clear plastic tinted with 50% transmission, 20% reflective auto tint. Same for this one. Light gray polycarbonate here. Dark acrylic for this one. Go to page 9. Dark acrylic again. If you want to go with dark acrylic, it is much more evil. You can get good internal glow with decent lighting. To actually see details (of the motherboards) you need very strong lighting. navig
you should turn the power supply so that the cable is coming in the back of the case, with the rest of the cables, not the side.
According to the scetchup designs, it would just not fit like that and I really dont want to make the case bigger than it is. The power cables from the psu with interfere with the hdd cage and cables, so, this was my best option. Do you think there could be a problem with the way it is at the moment though?
Thank you for the advice Navig. Firstly, your case / bench station looks absolutely amazing!! Seriously, great work there! Yup, you are 100% correct. I definately want the effect you made with the case. Here is two pics from your log that really inspires me for my build: Lights off: Lights on: I want mine to have the exact same effect. Could you please tell me what color perspex this is, also the thickness. Is it black or dark grey? Oh, and to Dae Ja Voo, if youre reading this, That is the color I need! To everyone else that commented, thank you for the advice.
Any more ideas on a name now that everyone have more or less an idea of my idea and the colors thereof?
So i went to maizey on friday, and I think i found the plexi you want Have a look: Let me know if you like
Okay, so I added another 120mm fan on top of the case like so: Is this what you had in mind? Also, would the 2 opposing fans not create a huge noise when they both running?
That's the exact same acrylic I used when I made my cube back in .. '02. I'll have to dig out pics of it again, it's on VH somewhere. Basically you'll need a LOT of fannage for an acrylic case, those things end up like ovens. Beware of heatpipes and work with directed airflow through shrouds.
Would love to see the pics - please post them if you can find them. Do you think the case requires more fans? Instead of one 120mm in the centre of the front I could fit 2 x 120mm underneatch each drive cage. Would that be better?
I worked on a single 120mm fan for a P3 on a mATX i815e, a 7500 Radeon and single 80mm exhaust from the PSU and it wasn't enough. The PSU cables also go everywhere making clear cases look like ass too. Cable management should be your #1 priority along with cooling. I don't think MORE fans should be the answer, I think more focus and directed airflow is required: Have an input fan and shroud for the CPU and graphics. Get air in and out where needed: remember your hard drives, chipsets and power regulation components.
Really sorry, but I am a total n00b with this so I am not too sure what u mean with the shroud for the cpu. Please try and explain this to me
I would subdivide the insides for better airflow: -Separate the psp/hardrive area so the drive intake vents directly to the psp. -Build a baffle/duct to direct the back fan directly onto the mobo chip. (Like those green things inside a Dell.) -You could do the same thing with the video card. Fill the bottom of the case with a million holes, then only have the psp running exaust. (All fans blowing in.) Get rid the bottom front fan. It will cancel out the flow of the back fans. (I hope noise isn't an issue for you!)
