SketchUp Smallest ATX Gaming Case?

Hey guys, I was wondering if I could get some pointers/links to either existing cases or how to build such a case. My main criteria is to have a case the size of a box bounding a normal ATX motherboard and the largest single graphics card without needing special components. Everything else (psu, harddrive, optical) will fit somewhere in between.

Basically, the idea is to stuff the PSU in the bottom, overlapping the unused section of the mobo, and mounting the harddrive in an unused location (rear top in the picture but perhaps the bottom front would work better as there would be less cableling) and an optical bay in the top/front. At the front are 2 120mm fans blowing over the graphics card and the processor/memory. There is a 90mm fan in the rear.

Looking back, I think the psu should be mounted horizontally for better space efficiency, but this way allows it to blow the hot air out of the case.

Here're two quick renders of what I'm talking about, the reference is taken from measurements of my own mid tower:

 

what measurements do you have on this?

 

move the hdd's down to the floor in front of the psu and you will get the case shallower.

Also a shorter fatter case may work better aesthetically than a tall skinny one - 90 degrees on the psu will enable the case to shrink a fair bit in the height department.

 

Putting the psu along the front of the mobo also saves quite a lot of space, have a look at this as an example.

 

Thanks for the inputs, I decided to try to learn sketchup b/c max is messing up on me for some reason (viewport artefacts everywhere!)




So there are three fans pushing air in (2 side and 1 top) with 1 fan pulling air out in the rear. This will probably support SLI. I realized while redoing the layout that if I used a microATX mobo it would be a lot smaller.

I have access to some tools in the senior design lab in my school, but I've never done metal work before. Any one know of a good tutorial for a newbie like me? Or perhaps someone would want to make a case of their own w/ this layout

 

Is the PSU blocking the PCI?

 

The PSU sits on top of ram slots with a bit of clearance. The PCI slots are where they usually are, below the graphics card (long red/black shape below the side fans).

Now that I think of it, there isn't any air flow around the ram. But one more fan in the front would be excessive wouldn't it?

 

all of my gaming rigs have been m-atx, makes things so much simpler for me, as i never use crossfire/sli or any discrete cards. Boards are cheaper and more energy efficient too!

 

You might find This interesting.

/Mork