Concept A 10L watercooling mini tower case

[CC Ricers]

I've read something like that before. Someone had to spin the entire hard drive, unopened, in the opposite direction to get the platters spinning properly again. Or barring that maybe it's a busted controller.

No such luck reviving the drive right now. The data is not worth paying for professional recovery service, but I'm gonna hold on to the drive just in case. For now, this build is stalled from completion, so I sold the video card and I'm gonna downsize for now.

 

[jeshikat]

That's a bummer.

 

[BirdofPrey]

damn that's a bummer. I remember having that happen. Strange grinding sound and I knew I was never gonna see those files again.
That'll teach you to back up your data, though.

 

[CC Ricers]

The most valuable content, in terms of hard price, was the loads and loads of music I've bought from various places online. Fortunately, most of that has been backed up already, as recently as a few months ago. Many other things like games, videos, miscellaneous DJ mixes and soundtracks, and especially most of my design and programming related projects, are still locked up in there.

It's all good, though, I'm turning this into an opportunity to do something else from this turn of events. I sold the 770 for a decent amount of money and now have an excuse to get a 2.5" drive in my desktop for another build.

 

[CC Ricers]

Hey, this thread can live again!

I haven't fully replaced my hard drive but I can now afford new parts for my main desk PC. The scratch case project will continue, and I'm skipping right to the watercooled build. It will have proportions similar to this scratch case on Linus Tech Tips but mine won't be painted. I want it to have a clear aluminum finish.

Many of the original build parts won't change. I'm still going for a GTX 770 which is modest by today's standards but still pretty decent for a lot of full HD gaming.

 

[CC Ricers]

I've made revisions to the case design, and will be a bit slimmer than before. Cut down from ~160mm to 130mm in width, with a height of roughly 245mm and length of 310mm putting it within 10L of total volume. It now has a layout similar to one of the older concepts for NCase's Project Sidearm. Same idea of making it a "show off" case but with putting the GPU in the left side where it will be viewable with a side window panel, and a SFX power supply for broader support.


The case would support dual 120mm radiators, or a single 240mm radiator, with 25mm fans, placed at the bottom. AIO coolers are preferred but it would be an interesting challenge to do a custom loop in it. I still don't know where I'd place hard drives. Either I'd leave it to the bottom space to put 2.5" hard drives or a 3.5" hard drive (if no radiators are used), and for dual rad systems either mount one on the roof of the case or just go completely with m.2 SSDs only

I am still figuring out the exact fabrication process that I'll use, whether to have the panels milled/routed, or cut with a saw. I have enough money to possibly laser cut some parts too, but am not sure what are some good shops around to provide the kind of laser cutting for a single case.

 

[Nanook]

I really like the revised configuration!

 

[duke00]

Why you dont switch the radiator on the topside so the heat goes direct out of the case.

 

[CC Ricers]

Why you dont switch the radiator on the topside so the heat goes direct out of the case.

I was thinking about this too, and whether it would help improve case temperatures or not. The case has built in feet that leaves an empty space in the bottom where heat can go out, but only with a push fan setup.

 

[CC Ricers]

I got a decent deal for a short GTX 1060 and kind of want to downsize the case now, to about the size of the prototype DAN A4. It's still gonna be long enough to support full-length cards but full-custom water cooling wouldn't really be possible here. I will use a AIO liquid cooler for the CPU, though.

 

[CC Ricers]

Small update: got the EVGA GTX 1060 3GB, small ITX version, plus a like-new Silverstone SFX-L 500W PSU with all the cables and accessories for a very good price. The GTX 1060 is running fine on my impromptu system (running even on a HD-PLEX 160W unit!)

I have almost everything I need to start building my case around it. I want to get around to cutting up the metal angle bars for frame supports this week!

 

[cfortney]

This looks great! looks like we pulled together a pretty similar design, I'll share mine here if you don't mind. I haven't actually pulled the trigger on ordering anything in hopes I could find a case available online someday soon. Probably won't happen though, it's hard to find a truly small case with a big window and 240mm AIO support. I put the radiator up top thinking it would allow for better airflow, and to leave the CPU block visible from the window for display

 

[CC Ricers]

Yup, that looks a lot like the layout I'm going for! And looks like it's more popular than I thought, as even @dondan has now unveiled his own design for a new watercooling friendly case. But stuff like that just inspires me to keep going further.

As I continue to update the design, I've made these renders. However, I've decided to move the radiator and fans to the top of the case.

 

[Boil]

Hopefully two fans in the bottom feeding cool air into the chassis & the radiator with its two fans exhausting up top...?

 

[CC Ricers]

I'm not sure yet about having room for two additional fans at the bottom, at least for this version of the case. Actually, it's because I just ordered cut-to-size metal panels for the front and back so the height is set in stone for now It's gonna be 9 inches tall, or 228mm. That will give me enough room to install a 27-30mm thick radiator with 25mm fans on the top.

 

[cfortney]

Yup, that looks a lot like the layout I'm going for! And looks like it's more popular than I thought, as even @dondan has now unveiled his own design for a new watercooling friendly case. But stuff like that just inspires me to keep going further.

As I continue to update the design, I've made these renders. However, I've decided to move the radiator and fans to the top of the case.

This is awesome! The place I work has a really high end 3D printer so I'm planning on printing a lot of the parts to reduce how much aluminum I have to order and custom cut. I'll share my design when its ready! Looks like I'll need a custom support bracket for the PSU, and I'm thinking 3D printing the cutout for the rear IO will be easier than me trying to dremel it out of aluminum

 

[psycho88]

I'm waiting or the prototype, there are so many options for SFF case in this forum,