Hi, I posted this on another forum, but I thought somebody here might want to see it too. My goal was to build quiet, smallest possible PC that has 3,5" HDD, fast enough processor for serious video/photo editing and DVD-RW drive. Measurements of the case are 7x20x30cm. The case cost around 60€ including 20€ power switch and all shipping costs. Components used: - ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi 125€ (from Germany) - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 170€ - 2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz 50€ - Samsung F1 1TB 3.5" SATA2 7200RPM 32MB 80€ - PICOPSU-150-XT 59€ (from Germany) - 12V 150W AC/DC Adapter 40€ (from UK) - DVD-RW slim drive 40€ - Pre-Wired Delrin Vandal Switch 16mm 20€ (from USA) - Pata-Sata adapter 4€ + - Samsung SyncMaster 2043BW 20" 210€ - Logitech UltraX Premium 20€ Materials used: - Black shiny 3mm & 4mm perspex sheets and cutting using my CAD drawings + small 10mm polycarbonate sheet 30€ - 24 pcs. black M4 hex screws, 8 pcs. silver M4 'normal' screws, 20 pcs. black nuts and 4 washers 10€ - Bycicle inner tube 0€ Some components: Perspex sheets, screws and rubbers already cut to right dimensions. Corner pieces. These were pain in the ass to do since every corner piece needed 6 threads. Wasn't pleasant to do them with a hand tool Motherboard stands. About 2cm M4 screws, 5x10x10mm polycarbonate pieces and 1x10x10mm rubber pieces. Motherboard in place.
HDD and DVD-RW drive stands. I thought many possibilities how to do the stands for HDD and DVD-RW drive. Glue wasn't option because it's not strong enough and the space was too small for anything you see in the normal pc's, so I decided to do it this way. And it works well. Screws and washers in place. Four pieces of bicycle inner tube. These are only parts I glued. They are very elastic and have great grip. You don't even have to press the HDD hard against them and it will not move at all. And I think I don't have to say there's no resonating at all. 3mm perspex pieces holding the HDD in place. Also 4 pieces of rubber there too. Stands for DVD-RW drive. I used 1mm rubbers there so I can save few mm in height. DVD-drive is not used very often and it doesn't resonate that much. So bigger rubbers would have been just waste of space.
Front panel, DVD-drive and power switch in place. I forgot to mention that I also need to buy 1mm aluminium sheet that I will use to lock the DVD-drive. Front panel is the only place where I used 4mm perspex. That's so it stands out more and makes the case look more "valuable", or how you say it Side panels in place. Top panel in place, still missing the meshx panel. Finally, new PC, display and keyboard in the table ready to use White ring in the power switch is the only led in the front panel and it's connected to power LED. No blinking lights, that's the way I like it
Updates: Meshx panel installed. I ordered new top and front panels. Top panel has now round edges in the air hole and DVD-drive goes inside the front panel hole. Last thing missing is the aluminium sheet that will hold the DVD-drive in place. I will make that in few days. I made some tests with both meshx panels (hex and normal), so I could see how much the temperatures will rise when using them before choosing which one to use. Here are the results and it's pretty clear why I choosed hex version: From the back: Here is the meshx panel installed: And the whole thing again:
Looks wonderful! Did you give the case any feet? Big fat aluminum feet would give it a nice look IMO. Like these but smaller? I didn't see any feet in the parts pile, it must slide around a bit.. http://www.mnpctech.com/CaseFeetMachined.html I'm jealous, I need to do this one day.
I used small, around 5-7mm high feets. Same kind of feets what are used under chair or other furniture. I wanted to do feet that are not visible, that's why I made those. It doesn't move with small force, so those are ok to keep it in place. This was first case I've made btw.
Thanks I will build my next case when pico-ITX boards are more powerfull so those can be used as desktop PC's
i love the way it looks! It's super small and very sleek and stylish. One question, why did you go with an tray type dvd drive instead of a slot loading? IMHO, a slot loader is the only way you could make that case any better. great job! lee
Agreed but slot drives are a little rarer to find and more expensive, while a tray type can be picked up from almost any trashed laptop. I like the work you did here, very clean. My only complaint is the thumbnails needing to be clicked each time! (and maybe some cable sleeving/routing.
Very nice build! I used an off the shelf mini-ITX case with a few modes for quieter cooling. But I like yours better. Very impressive for your first time out.
'How to make an imac killer' on the front page should basically just be a hot link to this mod. That is sexy.
Thank you for your kind words. pyrozen, to tell you the turth I didn't even remember to think a drive like that. I most likely would have choosed that instead. I'm happy with the drive I have now though, so I'm not switching it. But in the next mod (pico-ITX case) I will use slot-in drive
I like it, I'm planning a mini-ITX scratch build myself at the moment. Quite different though as I'm going for a 200mm cube. How do you find the graphics on the Zotac 9300? I'm wondering if it's worth the extra over the Zotac 630i wifi, it's about 2x the cost for the 9300!
I don't really play games, but in CS 1.6 with 1680x1050 resolution I have 100fps all the time, expect when there's smoke grenade thrown in CSS, I use little bit smaller resolution, dont remember now what, but it fps is ~100 in that too. I do a lot video (HD and SD) and photo editing, it works very well in that. 9300 is enough if you don't play the latest games.
+1 to this. If you had managed to get a slot loading drive it would be even better. But as it stands right now awesome job.
Thanks. Slot-in drive would have been better yeah. Pico-ITX mod will have that for sure when I'll make it
