This project is for when I have some money (I don't ATM) and will be my main pc. I want it to be as quiet, small and nice looking as possible. I intend to use: Micro-ATX mobo(not chosen yet. Want an nforce2 but can't find one on sale in the UK) AGP Riser Radeon 9000 All-in-Wonder Tiny PSU Pioneer sLot-in DVD Seagate 120GB HDD Lots of fans USB 2 Card Reader Noritake VFD Unit I intend to make the box a similar shape to a bit of hifi, and out of wood but with a perspex front. My current plan is to have the motherboard and graphics card in the bottom half of the box, and the drives, PSU, card reader and other bits n pieces in the top. This way i figure the heat in the top half will be vented by the psu fan, and the heat in the bottom can be easier dealt with as there's less to cool and less in the way. Most micro-atx Socket-A board have the socket on the right. The Coolermaster HHC-L61 has the fins running parelle to the clip, so I intend to use one of these for the CPU. I will run the AGP card on a riser pointing it to the left (over the pci slots), and use a hefty passive heatsink on this, although space is limited as the motherboard will be in the way, hmm. I will also attach a hefty northbridge heatsink, unless I get a board with a passive one anyway. Then, I intend to run the largest, sloewst fans across the entire width of this section, blowing from right to left. I will have to do something clever to get the air running smoothly past the AGP riser, but a few niftily placed bits of card should sort that. As i don't want the thing to make much noise, or to hurt my fingers, and also to stand on it's side easily, I thought that instead of using fan grilles over these, I would use 2 rows of dowel to cover these fans. That should allow air to flow quietly, give a firm base to stand on, and allow air in even if there's a flat surface right there. In the top half, I intend to have the PSU on the left at the back, with the card reader in front of it. Then the DVD drive can go on the right, with its slot as close to the top of the case as possible. The hard drive should fit underneath the DVD, if i use a micro-atx psu(these happen to be the height of a 5.25" drive + a 3.5" drive), but that may make the whole thing a bit large. Some usb ports will go somewhere on the front panel for gamepads. The front panel will have a glowing logo on the left appear as it is turned on, a load of buttons somewhere, slots for memory cards above the logo, the VFD display will be on the right underneath a slot for the DVD Drive, which will be relocated. I intend to get the panel professionally cut when i decide how I'm going to deal with buttons and LED's. I will then stick car window smoking sheet to the back of it, and then cut holes for the VFD and logo out of sticky black plastic, and obviously things that need to stick through, and stick this onto the back of that. This way, it will be mirror-finish powered off, and the display and logo will appear when powered on. Any Ideas/suggestions, Anyone? Fluffledump Thanks to ZapWizard & Macroman for ideas. Made a model in Sketchup. That's a handy piece of software! Here's the pic , and here is the skp file. I can't work out how to get text onto things so you'll have to figure out what each bit is.
Downloaded it, having a go. Who'd a thought 3D modelling wouldn't come as second nature! heh. Maybe by the end of the week......
Sketchup is kinda expensive, especially as that money could go straight into the *actual* computer rather than a drawing of it. But prototyping is important. So I might recommend perhaps something like: 1.Gmax - *FREE* by Discreet. It's a stripped version of their flagship 3d modeling program, 3d Studio Max. Very good for exacting measurements when prototyping something. You can work on any measuring system (metric, standard). It's also very easy to learn, not much a learning curve. Only downside, you can't render out your image. But then again, you really only need it for visualization and measuring. 2.QCAD - *FREE* An awsome open-source piece of software. Allows you exacting measuring, angles, etc. Very good for prototyping object dimensions. 3.Rhinoceros - $895 ($195 Academic/Non-Profit). Nurbs 3d modeling program. Heavily used in industrial design (consumer products, etc.). Very good program and not too hard. If you can get the academic/non-profit price, it's more than worth it. Of course, I only provided the last option to give you an idea of the range of things out there. Personally, I use the two first (and free) programs listed. They're perfect to see how a case, etc will look with all the components in and exactly how everything needs to fit. Saved me when I first started building my own case.
anyone know a place for decent skethcup tutorials and guides? cos im stuck with using it, its not the easiest thing to get into and use stright away!
I've used Rhino 2 before and I remember it was VERY nice. I could never get my head around 3DSMAX, TrueSpace or others when I tried them out, but Rhino was just incredibly easy to get into, plus the use of NURBS for things like case design is quite good at saving CPU and RAM resources
PublicNME, go to the Help menu in Sketchup, view tutorials, Video Tutorials. And John , how do you import those pictures (like the one you have used for the motherboard)?
File>insert>image. The written tutorials seemed pretty good to me. I found that once i knew what the buttons did, or some of them, I could work the thing reasonably well.
is there a resource for standard components? because I dont afancy drawing an entrie motherboard or anything. there must be somewere on the web were u can download examples.
is that all you can say, I dont wanna sound harsh but thats just being a pest, if u have somein decent to contribute then do, if u dont then why bother? theres no better word for it than spam*, grr anyway, can anyone answer my q?
erm, sorry mate Reading over your idea, it does seem a very good idea... Guides: erm, not any websites jump to mind "good 1s" bit-tech have alot of good guides... so does http://www.nforcershq.com ..
Also find dimensions of things here. Formfactors.org will tell you the same kind of thing but in much more detail.
thanks for the tips on cad/3d modeling software, i was looking into the same thing and this will help a lot
Ahh ha.. well.. I just might have the board for you here The board is actually this one Hope thats of some use to you if i'm not too late
Give me motherboard dimensions and a layout diagram/photograph and I will create the component for you
I use the Biostar M7NCG mATX mobo. On top of the Chaintech BooNDoggle posted about, you get Firewire and 5.1 audio (vs 4ch on Chaintech). Solid board in my opinion. Check out here
