Acrylic ITX by Parvum Systems

[parvumsystems]

Acrylic ITX by Parvum Systems - Finished - Final photos & iSeries!

Project:
Acrylic ITX
by: Parvum Systems





Back again!
Been putting in some hours after work to get Shaun's LAN rig set for Summer iSeries. I'm afraid this time a lot of the CNC process, bending & machining will be left out. Simply because we don't have much time at the moment. Work is very busy and it's hard enough to work on a personal case in our spare time as it is.

Here is a photo of the Onwards and upwards build that is now finished. This should give you a good idea of the direction this project will take:

Moving straight in then. First like to say a big thank you to Adrian. Adrian has actually shown a huge intrest in us and our cases since day one. We've been in regular contact since and he has been very helpful. So the guys there have covered all the watercooling for this rig. A few photos of what we plan to cram in this little case:

Next followed the horrible hours of drawing and brainstorming. This becomes extremely difficult when half of the hardware you've yet to source and the available technical drawings online are to a minimum:

Finally got to a decent stage to start cutting. The finished blue panels:

We then cut the white. Lots of 45° features in this project. Double layer for the bottom of the case with cubes attached:

Then putting everything together:

Next we bend the chamber section. Test cut only. Obviously subject to change to suit the motherboard, RAM & block etc. 2 very tight 45° bends on this one. Hopefully will squeeze a couple of pass through connectors into the 45° section at a later date. A lot to figure out still but here is it so far:

That's all this time folks. Got some more bits showing up next week so we will try and put the hours in and keep this project rolling well!

Thanks for reading everyone. Sorry there isn't much eye candy yet!

 

[parvumsystems]

I absolutely love this.

tempted to go itx

Defiantly a good idea! My next ITX will be for the home I think. Pimp out the front room a little with a media center.

A lot of work has gone into that! you can tell.

Some of the planning on this was a nightmare. It works in my head... but can be a nightmare to translate to CAD.

ITX time! Weyy, lets see how you guys pull another awesome case off!

Pressure is on to impress after the last one. Won't have as much time to do write ups but hopefully the pictures will be enough !

Will be checking on this often, love the parvum cases.

Thanks mate, means a lot! Hope to keep pushing Parvum!

when are you guys making midi tower caseeeeeee

ITX will be next but the larger cases will follow after this. We plan to have a BBQ & meet up at our warehouse space over two days. Inviting mainly friends but most our well known modders. The plan is to do something REALLY special with the full size tower. We could simply pull the length of this case up but we dont feel the aesthetics would work very well for much larger cases. In return it should give the other modders a chance to use some nice machinery and get some bits cut for their projects.

It's so cute!

Can't wait to see this, the last build was superb!

I'll take some photos with my iPhone next to it or something next time to get a true idea. With the W/C we are planning this should be a pretty cute but powerful rig ;D

Just gone itx in a prodigy and lovinggg it!

It's defiantly the way to be moving at the moment! ITX will defiantly only get bigger!

 

[parvumsystems]

So much win with this case, it's unbelievable!

Thanks mate. Means loads! Hopefully you can make Summer LAN!

This thing is beautiful!

Thanks! What a great first post!

 

[parvumsystems]

Thanks stoned (Y)

 

[parvumsystems]

We're waiting for your updates LOL

Tomorrow evening my friend. Have to fit it in after work !

 

[parvumsystems]

Tomorrow evening my friend. Have to fit it in after work !

OK this is a lie... the update is ready but I wont have time to transfer, edit & upload until tomorrow. So then we shall post!

You've got a habit of nailing it when it comes to designing/building cases man

Seriously nice stuff!

Thanks! I'm glad we are pretty good at it! The big plus side of doing this project logs is each time we can see and notice till improvements for future cases. Everything is being taken into account .

Thanks again!

waiting for updates on this is killing me.
now I know what prince Charles must feel like, waiting for his mum to die so he can get a promotion at work!!!!

What a way with words. Sadly the update will be tomorrow now. But it went great

ohh just about to buy the MTX case.

Subbed.

Ah thanks sir! Hope to see some photos of the finished rig!

nice to hear your parcel has arrived

Fancy seeing you here. The new stuff has fast forwarded this build loads

 

[parvumsystems]

31 May Hardware & Cooling installed

Project:
Acrylic ITX
by: Parvum Systems





Sponsors:




Back again!

First up then we want to introduce OCUK as a hardware sponsor on this build. OCUK have been on board with Parvum from a very early stage. We must say they are a great bunch of people there and we are very happy to be teamed up. Thanks again to Rich for setting this up.

They have dropped us a lovely Asrock board and a Haswell chip, first things first... kit it out with the waterblocks:

Next a few changes to the mid wall for cable management & standoffs installed:

Made a little base for the pump as we needed it to be 5mm higher:

Installed in the case with some test fittings:

160mm rad and 80mm fans installed. A grill and some kind of shroud be added later:

Test fit of the side/PSU panel with the 120mm rad and scythe fan. Very tight... LOL airflow much??

Now we install the XSPC reservoir. Suits our vision well, I mean after all... why not show off all the brilliant W/C gear to its fullest potential! Biggest pet peeve is ITX cases that just hide.. everything!

So with the reservoir:

Thats it for now. We had to change the bottom chamber as you may well have seen, the rad has moved from bottom to front and the chamber will be completely different. More on this next time.

Thanks for reading. Peace out.

 

[parvumsystems]

Yummy

Makes me want to build such a tiny system with watercooling

How many disk drives will it accommodate?

You should indeed! Big fan of squeezing such powerful hardware in a very tiny case.

For this just a single or two SSDs. But that is literally only because its all we need. We've figured out space for a mechanical drive but are opting away to use the space for other things.

I have a huge boner!

Almost took my eye out

They probably won't get to use it before the official release anyway

looking good

Thank you!

6 posts in and already he brags pmsl

Going strong

 

[parvumsystems]

07 June Cable Braid

Sponsors:




Just a quick one this time...

Thought I'd show any of you that hadn't seen this. The scratch built ITX that we did for Asus. They showcased this case at the Computex event. Sadly we didn't get to put a rig in it but damn... it looks great! It was what pushed us to get rolling with this build:

So in go the cables. We've opted for small 20cm extensions this time. The rear will be completely enclosed so this was to save time and money. We don't have as much time as we'd like to mod so it was the perfect option. These are custom extensions that Shaun sourced from Shakmods. Check him out here.

These fit extremely tight but everything going to the drawing plans:

Super happy with these, quality was great colours are perfect. Awesome service.

That is all for now. More soon!

 

[parvumsystems]

Amazing how much gear you can fit in one of these! great work guys!

Thanks Blame! We are a little bit concerned with the perhaps less than 10mm breathing space behind the 120mm radiator fan but we will see.
Frustrated at the moment as EK are not planning a block for the GPU we are getting

 

[parvumsystems]

19 June - Asus, Bottom Chamber & SSD

Looking good so far. Be interesting to see how you route the sata cables as they look like they will be a pain to be neat because of the way the sata ports are

Thanks mate. Ah yes it was a bit of an awkward one. Something I'd like to see in a different place on the board. However with just the need of a single SSD in this build you'll see how I tackled it in this very update.

Looks like an awesome build

Probably a daft question, but: Where can I get the metal cubes and fitments necessary to screw acrylic together like this?

I'm starting to ponder my own custom case build... with very little mechanical knowledge but access to an acrylic laser cutter, and a plan involving silver mirror wrap and lots of LEDs. Machine is turned off, it looks like a plain metallic/reflective box, machine goes on... LEDs come on and light up the interior, killing the mirror effect because the light inside the case is at a similar strength to the ambient light outside.

As for the cubes they are a nightmare. We've had literally tens of emails asking about these. We initially wanted to start selling them to support the modders but we don't even have enough ourselves. We have to buy in such a massive quantity but all at the moment our accounted for. The bolts are easy, just search for what ever length and colour you want and then the thread size. M2, M3, M4, we use M3 for example.

The idea sounds nice! I actually see a small YouTube video guide to doing something similar with a case window. I think a company used this idea pretty swiftly for a show rig at Computex also!

Sponsors/Support:





Small update for you all. This one took forever to measure and draw. It was a massive PITA. We used what technical knowledge and measurements we could for some of the case but other things like the placement for fittings was next to impossible to work out. Anyway... I'll let you see photos!

First was a package from Asus! This was in exchange for the work we did for Asus at the Computex event. Thanks Bindibadgi/Richard & Alex for this!

Nice baby 670 for the build:

Worked a little on cable management; all LEDs installed, USB3 header, SATA cable & Pw Switch.
Pretty nice, needs a little tweaking:

Now we cut the NIGHTMARE panel. Real headache. This is test cut number 2. Considering this we are stoked. Only one hole needs to be moved about 1mm for a CPU block connection:

The bottom chamber roughly installed just for you guys to see:

Next we installed a small piece with a little V bit detailing to cover the rad and fans. Very similar to the Onwards build. This time to mount an SSD. The SSD is a tiny bit wider than the section but it doesn't stand out to much and is a great spot for it (possibly got this idea from L3P).

That is all for now. Thank you again so much for reading. It really helps when we stay late to work on things like this to get such great feedback/response & criticism.

Until next time.

 

[parvumsystems]

that looks win.

is that a USB3 cable you are putting in on the 5th pic up?

Win indeed but you should see the other side. Its called a headache. haha!
Sure is yeah, we actually first used one for Abz at this very forum for a custom order case:

 

[parvumsystems]

Fantastic work so far mate.

Lovely work mate!

Thank you both!

Great looking build, in response to the M3 threaded cubes. Might have found a source for them for people looking to do acrylic builds.

UK Farnel - ETTINGER - 05.60.533 - CUBE STANDOFF, THREADED, M3/10NI
http://uk.farnell.com/ettinger/05-60-533/cube-standoff-threaded-m3-10ni/dp/1466868

@parvumsystems Let me know if these are similar spec to the ones you use, Don't want either me/other OCUK members to go ordering them if they don't spec up.

Hi Cypto, based on the downloaded technical drawing it looks different to the little picture shown. It appears only two axis's have threads. This would then basically be pointless. Currently every cube we have made is waiting to be put in a case. Our case demand is high so we can't start to sell these yet sadly

 

[parvumsystems]

25 June - Loop Complete, GPU installed

Sponsors/Support:





Back with a nice photo heavy update. Got quite a bit done over a number of evenings.
We start by cutting some 1.5mm aluminum parts for the case, PCI/IO section & Radiator Grill:

Small bend on the PCI/IO section:

Grill installed:

Small annoying gap due to the fans overhanging the rad/fan shroud we made. We planned to back the 'Parvum' cut through with blue acrylic which in turn resolved the problem:

USB 3.0 in the top installed:

Case coming together pretty nice now:

Time to turn the case upside down now. Biggest beauty of a fully modular case. So easy to work with when doing something this advanced/custom:

Next shot gives you an idea. We have to install all the 90° fittings into this lower chamber. Nice and tight....:

Doing this was very frustrating, suppose this comes often in SFF modding:

Back the right way up:

Just two pieces of hard acrylic tubing in this one.. so we install:

Finally for this update we install the 670 mini. Really nice card. Due to the fact there is currently no full cover block available for this card we decided to keep it air cooled. They have done an awful lot of awesome work on the cooler and it looks great so we don't mind this at all:

Obviously this small bit of red had to go so we cut a small detailing piece from the same blue:

And installed:

That is it for this update. I will get the coke can size comparison in the next update. Kept forgetting to grab a can. We will be filling the loop and cutting all the white second layer panels in the next update!

 

[parvumsystems]

I just LOVE the fitting route on the top

Thanks mate! It's actually in the bottom (had the case upside down lol), it was really helpful for actually making this loop work.

Love it

Which psu are you u using if you don't mind me asking ?

It is the Silverstone Tech. SST-ST45SF-G 450W Modular Power Supply, baby SFX PSU with a decent amount of power still

Very nice build, bottom partition is a nice touch to keep it tidy.

Thanks ash!


Some drinks can size comparison photos. Thanks for the tip Asouter:

 

[parvumsystems]

so I could fit about 12 irnbru's in that bad boy

Will get back to you on it but confident you could with a bit of force haha. Maybe the hardware will get in the way tho.. ;o

 

[parvumsystems]

Looks awesome!! work of art!

Basically being far toooo kind! Thanks for this

Very keen to see the next update!

It's comments like this that make the updates come faster! ETA till update; about an hour ;D!

My god, That is absolutely stunning, good job guys, can't wait to see the finished product.

Cheers Gravy, we are basically there now with the build so final photos pretty soon!

 

[parvumsystems]

5 July - Loop Filled W/ Mayhems

Sponsors/Support:












Sup all, no problems with the loop. This is wonderful news. Start by filling the res with Mayhems Pastel White:

Then the best part! Fixing the white panels we cut. It's a strange process creating what will be a white case but being all blue for 90% of the build.

Back/PSU side. V bit detailing & 120mm vent for the 120mm radiator:

White top added, double V bit detail to show off the 670 mini. Also a 45° section for the USB 3.0 ports:

The final white panels:

Couldn't be happier now the white panels are in place. Especially with the window, really frames the project.

To finish the update a couple of shots from the eSpark LAN last weekend:

For anyone wanting to know that is a sneaky shot of the ITX running and below my trusty Onwards and Upwards build. Take a look at that project here.

The black with orange case is a standard S1.0 with Orange accents.

Until next time and the final photos, I wish you all the best!

 

[parvumsystems]

After seeing this build I'm more than tempted to do a case out of aircraft grade 5052 or 7075 aluminium alloy with a style to match and tribute the Avro Lancaster. Any ideas on how I'd go about getting some sponsorship for this build?

Sounds interesting indeed! It's really hard, my only advice is to do the best work you can and start a nice project. High quality photos are essential. A good quality SLR camera, a cheap white paper back drop and quality work are all good places. Sometimes completing a really nice project without any sponsorship is a good starting point as it helps to build a portfolio of work!

In some cases I see big hardware companies contact people really soon into a build if they like what they see. I suppose for us it's slightly different as we always offer work in exchange for parts that we get.

 

[parvumsystems]

Finished - Final photos & iSeries!

Sponsors/Support:











So finally back guys. Sorry but this feels like a very anti-climax post now it's been so long... and there isn't THAT much to show. However after the problem with the GPU and having to wait for it to be looked at in Taiwan we are finally back for the finished photos.

To to summarize for anyone new or interested; the spec of the system is as follows:

Hardware:
Intel Core i5-4570
Asus GTX670 Mini
ASRock Z87E-ITX
Silverstone SST-ST45SF-G 450W
Corsair 240GB Neutron
Corsair 8GB DDR3

Cooling:
Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 80mm Dual
Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper 120mm
EK RAM Monarch X2 CSQ Memory Waterblock
EK Supremacy CSQ Universal CPU Waterblock
XSPC Acrylic DDC Tank Reservoir & Pump
XSPC's Latest G1/4″ Rotary Fittings Chrome

Anything else please ask me!

Just to show you a little more of the system here it is with Onwards at the E-Spark LAN!

To finish I would just like to thank everyone who has followed, commented, criticized and advised! Without all you guys what would be the point! It pushes us to keep showing you what we do here and what can be done with a Parvum case.

Keep your eyes out for our first ever E-ATX rig. The project log will be up very soon and in turn be a working prototype as I build!

Finally if you will be at the iSeries summer LAN from this Thursday Shaun and I will be there with a group of friends and case builders. We will be attending as exhibitors but with gamer seats - 'H2-A3 - H2-A10'. We will have this ITX build, the Onwards build and possibly a little look at a build we have done for a customer featuring a lovely Titan and lots of watercooling!

Thanks again all!