My Case Design

Reldar

Reldar

Reldar

Associate
Joined
6 Feb 2010
Posts
353
Hey. Thought I'd share my design for a case I'm planning to build soon. It's quite simple but hopefully effective. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Some info:

- Using 1.2mm aluminium sheet metal.
- 180mm fans will be Silverstone Air Penetrators on low setting (18db / 80cfm).
- Positive air flow design.
- No optical drive bays as I almost never use them and to be honest I think they just get in the way. I feel they are becoming obsolete. I have an external dvd drive I use if I need to.
- Hard drive cage for 4 drives. Can't see myself using more than 3 or 4. (120gb SSD for OS and main apps, 2tb HDD for storage and another 2tb HDD for backup).
- Motherboard in centre of case rather than at the back. Allows better exhaust potential. All unnecessary metal around the motherboards I/O / PCI shield removed for maximum airflow. (Such as usual rear fan mount area)
- 3cm gap behind the motherboard tray for cable management.
- Both side and top panels to be covered in a thick noise absorbing material.





With most case designs the front intake fans push air through the hard drives FIRST.
But with this design most airflow will go STRAIGHT the the main components.


 
Last edited:
Freddie1980 said:
Where does the optical drive go? You might want to put another 140mm fan on the top to balance out the air pressure.
Click to expand...

LOL, my first thought.

I recommend changing the top 180mm intake for the Optical drives and leaving 2x180 at the front and back. Generally (and this is personal) I have either the same amount for intake and exhaust, or if there is an odd number, have 1 more on the exhuast. The reason I do this is because the exhausts will still pull air through the case regardless if the intakes are pushing in the same amount of air. Get me?
 
I think one main problem is going to be keeping the graphics card from wanting to droop down if you are going to completely remove the PCI plate, since it will have no support. Presumably you'll be hacking a motherboard tray out of an old case?

I have to be honest and say I'm personally not keen on the idea of putting the mobo in the middle of a case and running cables through a hole, both from an asthetic point of view and ease of use when you need to unplug anything. I'm also not convinced you'll set that much benefit in terms of air flow, as with the distances involved I would imagine you'll hardly feel the air flow by the time it gets to the mobo. If i was going to do something along these lines I'd probably have fans in the case side blowing driectly onto the mobo and fans in the case top extracting heat. Maybe rotate the mobo 90° as well in this case.
 
Bubo said:
I think one main problem is going to be keeping the graphics card from wanting to droop down if you are going to completely remove the PCI plate, since it will have no support. Presumably you'll be hacking a motherboard tray out of an old case?

I have to be honest and say I'm personally not keen on the idea of putting the mobo in the middle of a case and running cables through a hole, both from an asthetic point of view and ease of use when you need to unplug anything. I'm also not convinced you'll set that much benefit in terms of air flow, as with the distances involved I would imagine you'll hardly feel the air flow by the time it gets to the mobo. If i was going to do something along these lines I'd probably have fans in the case side blowing driectly onto the mobo and fans in the case top extracting heat. Maybe rotate the mobo 90°.
Click to expand...

He might want to take a page out of Lian Li's book and use a support arm for the video card.
 
-fedexer- said:
He did say at the start that he had an external dvd drive, that's where it's going, outside the case :p
Click to expand...

Yes he does doesn't he.............:o

Won't having all the cables from the I/O backplate imped airflow? If you are going to go down that route I would make the back/rear of the case a door so you can get eay access to the motherboard I/O plate.
 
More of a brute force approach but I think it would work well.

Positive airflow to compensate for hot spots while aiding airflow though the power supply at the same time.

Lots of sound deadening which should make it whisper quiet.

Good design :)
 
Freddie1980 said:
Where does the optical drive go? You might want to put another 140mm fan on the top to balance out the air pressure.
Click to expand...

I havn't used an optical drive in months and I have an external one if I need one. I feel they are becoming obsolete. Yeah I was thinking about placing a top fan... It's a thought.


Bubo said:
I think one main problem is going to be keeping the graphics card from wanting to droop down if you are going to completely remove the PCI plate, since it will have no support. Presumably you'll be hacking a motherboard tray out of an old case?
Click to expand...

I won't be removing the PCI plate itself. Just any unnecessary metal around it such as where the usual rear fan would be mounted. And yeah I'll be taking a motherboard tray from an old case.


Bubo said:
I have to be honest and say I'm personally not keen on the idea of putting the mobo in the middle of a case and running cables through a hole, both from an asthetic point of view and ease of use when you need to unplug anything.
Click to expand...

Fair point but I won't be changing the cables everyday and when I need to it's just a 3 min job of taking the side panel off and putting it back on.


Bubo said:
I'm also not convinced you'll set that much benefit in terms of air flow, as with the distances involved I would imagine you'll hardly feel the air flow by the time it gets to the mobo.
Click to expand...

That is why I have selected the Silverstone Air Penetrator fans. They are far more effective at focusing airflow into a column that can be channelled directed onto components. They push air a lot further than regular fans due to the design.

Silverstone site: "Air Penetrator fan’s unique blade and grille designs can create enough pressure to push air as far as 1 meter away".


Freddie1980 said:
Won't having all the cables from the I/O backplate imped airflow?
Click to expand...

They will most likely be tucked down the side out the way... Hopefully...


Freddie1980 said:
If you are going to go down that route I would make the back/rear of the case a door so you can get eay access to the motherboard I/O plate.
Click to expand...

That is actually a really good idea! I will definitely consider that! Thanks!


Eurosaber said:
The cost of materials, fans etc probably add up to more than deacent case? lol
Click to expand...

True. But to be honest cost is not that much of an issue to me and it would be far more satisfying to have built my own case.
 
Last edited:
I would use a cable trunking system, such as the trunking with the slits in the side for permanent cabling.
Or, use the ones that rackmount gear uses to keep the wire bundled neatly away. Keeps the wires from impeding airflow.

Do not forget to gromit the case edges for wires, and the same for any edges that you may come into contact regularly. Nothing cuts as well as unprotected / non-deburred sheet steel!
 
Why don't you turn the whole thing 90 degrees and have the cool air coming in at the bottom, and the hot air exiting out through the top? making use of the natural rising effect of warm air

You would basically be making a souped up silverstone ft02

also you would be able to use something like a thermalright hr02 passive cpu cooler in here easiliy
 
Last edited:
Reldar said:
That is why I have selected the Silverstone Air Penetrator fans
Click to expand...

Watched a video on youtube showing these fans in action as I didn't believe that it could be any different to a regular fan... I couldn't have been further wrong - really impressive airflow

You've probably all seen it but I thought I'd share for those of you who - like me- would go off looking for it lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m8fC809TK0
 
Make sure you do a build log - always fun to watch something like this come to life. As a thought - for the cabling - why not hide it all behind the motherboard case like any of the modern motherboard trays/cases do, so all of the cables are hidden in the dead space behind the motherboard - out of sight and clear of the airflow?

casesideview.jpg


If you divide the case, with the PSU and HDDs separated from the mobo you will get better flow and you can also add in a GFX card support! With this design I wouldn't put a top fan in - it will interfere with the flow and would actually be counter-productive - you want as much flow (noise allowing) as you can get, and all of the fans push/pulling in the same direction for a nice smooth past.
 
Last edited:
I hope you go through with this design, i would really be interested in seeing this build log :eek:! Definetly different seeing a case being built from scratch :)

Any EToB? (Estimated Time of Build :p)
 
Its an nice design with solid linear flow, but in my experiance it seems that side and top fans contribute significantly to lowering tempertures, and help out considerably with spot cooling. Open vents on the bottom and top would probably help a lot of the hot air that escapes the liner air stream to vent outside.
 
Always love scratch built cases and will get round to doing one myself one day! A few ideas/tips for you:

Use extension cables, and maybe make a custom back plate to mount them so you just plug your exiting cables onto back of case down near the bottom say beside psu.

Holes at bottom where the psu is and flip it so the fan takes air from the bottom of the case (only useful if you are putting feet on it.)

What about if you decide in future you need front usb/audio, maybe look into making a single 5.25" bay for something like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BB-001-AK&groupid=701&catid=1428&subcat=1429 or even just a plain old fan controller. Or you could strip the usb/audio from an old case and find a place to put it.

Watercooling in the future? Before building the case decide if you are ever wanting to fit watercooling then work out dimensions/placements. Radiators won't fit straight onto 180mm as standard or I suppose you can make a custom shroud?
 
Nice design!

I'd personally keep the fan layout true to the original (possibly compartmentalise like cavemanoc suggests) as i find that positive pressure and correctly filtered intakes actually reduces dust intake a massive amount! This resulting reduction in dust actually helps keep temps consistent since heatsinks don't prematurely bung up.

I use a positive pressure approach in all my PC cases (P180, P193, PC-101B, PC-A70B and currently the MM H2g0) and can literally use it for a year or two without even thinking about dusting inside. Temps are good and as long as you hoover the filters when they start loading up you should be fine! :)

gt
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom