Well since the time I bought my computer my interests have changed, I don’t care about cathodes anymore, large cases, lots of fans, ect. I now want something clean cut, not too flashy, and QUIET! My current setup is lots of cheap fans in a thermaltake xaser III case, its loud and too big/heavy to travel with so I was looking into small footprint cases. Addressing smaller cases, ive always been interested in cube cases but after measuring my components im going to have to do it shuttle style (elongated rectangular prism) Another consideration of this case is silence. The case will be made out of wood with an angle iron skeleton. the bottom will be half inch plywood and the sides will be 1/4 wood (don’t know what kind yet but I want there to be visible grain) wood will muffle the sound (it also tends to amplify and direct the sound such as in speaker boxes but ill work on that later, chime I if you have any idea's/opinions on the subject) This case will use the sandwiching of wood and plexi technique such as the one used in bit-tech's own media pc project. Blue led's will illuminate the two rings to show power (glowing if on/ off if the computer is off) I will also include plexi feet fitted with red led's to show hard disk activity. The mother board will be in the middle of the case, dividing it into two sections. The bottom section will be for the power supply and hard disks and will have a side mounted 120mm fan (undervolted and temp controled) for air movement and to cool down the hard drives. the upper section will hold the Drives and will be cooled by a rear mounted 120mm fan (again undervolted and temp controlled) lastly I will use the hole on the top of the case with a ducted 92mm fan that’s temp controlled. on the back there is a hole labeled "ventalation" that will not be there but it will be where my hard drives will be suspended That’s all so far, the sketchup is still a little rough but id like to know your thoughts/opinions regardless Front: Back: Left Side:
I like your Idea of making the layers of the wood and plexi. I have been working on designing a wood case myself. I might use it because I want a glow but not really a window. what is the mobo form factor?
id like to use mine which is atx if i make the case 10 by 15 inch base it will reamain plenty compact and i should still have plenty of room for my mobo (Abit-NF7) and room to route the wires my original dimensions would fit an ATX sized board and standard componants but in a VERY tight fit, its about as small as i could make it with my system specs Plexi stripes: Length: Back:
interesting concept... I too had this idea becuase it keeps heat away from the mb that the drives etc produce
Hi.. I do like the idea based on the original bit-tech mod, although in drawing form it does seem a slightly bulky... I think the lit plexi might help as eye candy, but with a plain wood finish it might make the case look too plain if you know what i mean.. but i have to admit with a treated finish like that of the original media box it think this will look well... Interested to see how this measures up, but im sure you'll do a nice job of it, good work! Mr.HiM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
man that thing is huge. but if you want the ATX form in tehre I guess you need it. I would propably shave a little off the height. I am looking at building a case myself and I am using a micro Atx board. Mine is 14x14x8 there is plenty of space. yours might look better if you go out instead of up I would post a pic but I have no clue how to.
The wood part sounds really nice, but you can't put a full size ATX board in that way. It needs 12.3" x 10.3" (yes, the board is 12" x 9.6", but read the fine print). My recommendation is to take all the stuff that sticks out the back (second pic from top) and rotate it to the side panel (the side visible on the pic). That way the back panel is clear and you can push the whole case to the wall (compact). From the opposite side panel it is also much easier to access all the drive connectors. Fans mounted on that panel will blow right onto the mobo without obstruction, so you can run them slow and silent. If necessary stretch the case a little deeper, so the drives don't interfere with the CPU cooler. You can also move the drive bays below the mobo to the PSU level (will be 2 bays tall): PSU=6" deep, Bay=8" deep, wiring access=1" deep, Total=14.9", you save 2~3" compared to current design. If you have a flat panel monitor put the case right to the left of it. The monitor will hide the mobo I/O section, but it still allows easy access when you push it aside a few inches. Edit: I just found an old layout that I never built (couldn't afford some parts). It uses the side ways I/O and is really compact. No garantees that there are no bugs in it. Conversion from CAD to JPG may also have distorted some lines. Second Edit: Attempt at an isometric view was added above.
you mean like this? Please keep the suggestions comming EDIT- i didnt see your post when i was making the renders... could you please explain your design more... i dont quite follow
I just added an attempt at an isometric view. Perhaps it explains better what I expected my design to look like. All the invisible walls are fully closed for undisturbed wood grain enjoyment. The "Card Fan" and the "CPU fan" are the openings for the 120mm fans. One is blowing towards the card area on the mobo and the other towards the RAM/CPU area. Different from your design I have the mobo at the bottom ("Lower Level"). The piano hinge mentioned would allow to flip open the top ("Upper Level") sideways so you can reach the mobo. A bar to hold it open would be handy, but I didn't think about that initially. I have no clue yet how to mount the drives in the 5.25" bays. The drawing specifies 6" width. At the back the drives are only 5.75" wide (that's a standard, you can relie on it), perhaps a plate underneath and some long 6-32 screws could hold them to the top panel of the chassis. Some variations I thought about while doing the isometric views: (1) If you use a HDD rack it probably has a blower blowing into the chassis. The exhaust would be sucked right into the PSU, which always blows out, so HDDs and PSU could be cooled without the extra PSU inlet. You get more surface area on the side for a lovely wood pattern. (2) The two 120mm fans could go to the front instead of the "CPU watch window". Let them blink for HDD activity. Of course the chassis would get deeper by the thickness of the fans (new depth about 14 in?), but you could move the mobo deeper into the chassis to hide the messy ATX I/O plane better. Currently it is 0.95" recessed. with fans at the front it could be 2.45" recessed. You may even be able to cover the mess with a matching curtain stolen from a doll house. I look forward to seeing your project.
Well here are some more renders i did with your idea, i think i might drop the atx part and instead just buy a ITX board from newegg this was i can have the I/O panel on the back of the case. well... tell me what you think of it with all the componants installed Front: Left Side: Back: Right Side: Top: Bottom: BTW... could i get a mod to add a warning to all 56k'ers to the thread title??
I was looking at This Motherboard as my primary choice, its very small and more that adequite for my needs (and CHEAP!) This is another board i could use but i dont know which of those two dimensions has the I/O panel (the 9 inch or the 7 in one?) lastly, This board, its bigger than the rest but its memory (pc3200) is the same as mine any suggestions? also when it says 9x7 inches, which one of those sides has the I/O panel?
It looks nice matey... I dunno about the wood, but I do like the design... Should ventilate well (at least from what I've read/pictures) and I agree with Nick, a smaller board would help with airflow
just something about the look and feel of wood that makes me want to make a cae out of it. its easy to work with and sculpt to exact needs, it takes a beating wonderfully and its solid. it dampens vibration, and just isnt used as much as it should be, it gives a real home-made look and is so simplistic. but onto the real oint of this post... will any of the motherboard mentioned work in my situation as far as size goes? (id really like to know about that last one)
jerb: the newer design you have is flawed. When nick said to move the IO panel to a side, allowing the case to be against a wall, you cannot have fans on one side, and the IO on the other. If you were to put both the IO and the fans on one side then it would look cool, but if you have a rats nest of wires coming out of your computer, than they might block fans, so keep that in mind.
Some interesting ideas, and a good use of sketchup. Would like to see more. you can do that yourself, just click the edit button for that first post. I would also recommend that you crop your images too, all that extra white does make the file size bigger.
hey jazzel, thanks for the sketchup componant liberary i found it very helpful. also taking everyones advice and suggestions into consideration i have made a number of changes, i have elongated case and made it taller to allow for more airflow/motherboards. i also have relocated the I/O panel to the back and moved fans around. i have ran into two problems however, my PSU will be a seasonic (This One ) and it has one 120mm fan on the bottom, to remedy this i will mount the unit upside down, my question is this. will the 120 mm fan suck air from the inside of the case to the outide or will it be blowing on the bottom of the board? the other problem i run into is that the top two fans will be blowing in, (the top one will be ducted to the cpu Heatsink) and the other wil be blowing acrost the harddrives. having both fans blowing in will create a very strong positive pressure inside of the case leading to excessive wear on the fans and premature failure... any ideas on a remedy for this? Front and Right sides: Front and Left sides: Right side: Back: Thats it so far, im still open to any ideas or solutions to my problems.
Generally, fans blow hot air away from whatever component they're attached to. However, looking at the photos of that PSU it'll probably suck air in the bottom and push it out the back.
