Dear bit-techers, I am looking for a case that I can place inside a shelf, one of those: Height is not that important, but the inside surface size of one of those shelves is 45 x 45cm. I will be putting my amp, Bluray player etc inside and am considering getting a new case to put my computer inside as well to get rid off the cable mess under the table. The PC will only be operated while the shelf is opened. Still, while not quite high-end the hardware does produce a bit of heat: GTX 1070, 3570K, tower cooler but only 3x 2.5" drives. Right now I am considering a Bitfenix Prodigy. Any other ideas?
I'd be concered about airflow around the case, to be honest. Even with the front of the shelves open, heat is going to get trapped in a relatively small space and your temperatures are going to suffer. 45 x 45 cm isn't tiny, but it's not ideal either.
^^ You'd want to drill a couple of fairly large holes out of the back / bottom to get airflow through.
As above, I'd be worried about temps. It would be in your best interest to cut out the back panel for the PC shelf at least.
Mount stand-offs directly to shelf, cut cable holes, mount PSU underneath, THE UNIT BECOMES THE CASE, win Mod of the Month.
I will have a look at the shelf once it arrives. I'll either -place the case on the very top (might be open enough, plus the case is hidden when not in use), -cut out the back panel for the PC shelf and reinforce it with two steel beams or -build some kind of ghetto air duct to vent the hot air out the back of the shelf. Luckily there will be a few cm of air between the shelf and the wall.
I guess it'll depend in part as to what materials the shelving unit is constructed from. I'd be a bit wary of drilling excessively large holes in some fibreboard shelving, but if it's solid wood or whatever then that's less of a worry. But I think you'll definitely need some additional ventilation.
Ghetto build and cut hole in back for cooling, add some air vent cover to make up for lost rigidity if necessary.
The TT Core V1 would fit in there. You could fix Perspex over the non gpu side panel vent to help the air get pushed through to the back and not out the sides, on the gpu side hopefully the negative pressure from the gpu sucking in air should limit the heat being pushed out that side. Put a couple of quiet 80mm fans in the back with some 80mm ducts through the back panel. Would probably work well. Probably talking a load of rubbish but it sounds good in my head
I did a recent round of looking for cases around 38cm max. This list might help you. - BitFenix Prodigy - BitFenix Colossus M Mini - Fractal Core 500 (the one I bought but watch PSU length) - Antek ISK600-M - Corsair 250D I actually kinda wish I’d spent the money on the 250D. To get the Core 500 in the gap I’ve got which is 42cm I’m using right angled power, HDMI and USB adapters. I was going to stack my Microserver on it but put that somewhere else so the shorter and taller case would’ve saved me buying a new PSU... All of the above should go into 45cm though. Just remember to measure with the door shut, which I didn’t...
I'd whack 2 big holes in the back and mount fans to the back of the shelf itself to actively force air out. If you have a look on eBay there's a lot of decent looking louvred vent covers to fit over the fans so it doesn't look too ugly either.
Thank you guys for your suggestions! Now that I have assembled the shelf yesterday I have decided against putting a case as is inside the shelf for now. The heat produced by the computer, an amp and other electronics would be too much I think. While the build quality of the shelf itself is quite good the roller shutter feels flimsy and is not well mounted compared to the shelves I have at work. Maybe I'll mount a 20cm fan inside one side later on, but I don't want to rush that isse while moving.
