Hello SFF Gods!
After lurking in the shadows for a while, I finally had the courage to register and post my idea.
I’ll start with a little background story. I recently moved to the other side of the world and couldn’t take my ATX tower with me. This meant that it’s time to start thinking of an upgrade, but I also wanted a rig that I could take with me if I ever decided to go back. The plan is to reward myself with this pc after I get a job.
The idea that I have isn’t by any means the smallest there is, it’s nowhere near these incredible 6-12l cases that I’ve been seeing on this forum. I wanted to design a case that can pretty much handle most ATX-sized parts and cooling, without being an ATX case. This allows me to easily go back to a larger tower if I ever want to, without having to buy all new parts. I have no interest in water cooling and rather want some proper air flow.
This quick render shows the size compared to a very common measuring tool.
The basic idea is sort of a love child of Node 304 and Mac Pro, with a bit of Osmi in the mix.
The plan regarding parts include:
-Z170 ITX Mobo
-6700k
-32gb DDR4
-3xSSD for dual boot, for example 2x256gb+1x1tb
-ATX PSU
-An undecided GPU, let’s see what the red team has up their sleeves
In its current form, this cube or cuboid can house all these, a tower cooler up to around 160mm, a GPU up to 325mm, an ATX PSU up to about 170mm, and a 140mm fan.
Measurements for the case are 232x232x359mm, including 30mm feet. This sums up to about 19.3 litres, without the feet the volume would be 17.7 litres but for obvious reasons those can’t be removed. This puts it pretty much on par with the Node 304, being a tiny bit smaller.
Here are some more renders, plus screenshots from SketchUp as rendering with the parts would take about 17 years with my laptop. The parts belong to their rightful owners, of course.
For materials I’ve been planning 1mm and 2mm aluminium and speaker cloth to cover the ventilation holes. If there is a better fabric for the job, I would gladly hear more about that. I’m also interested to hear if the aluminium isn’t sturdy enough to handle the weight.
After reading through all the project threads here I believe that I have some sort of understanding what is possible and what isn’t but your expertise is always invaluable. The plan is to also aim for the most silent system possible, with noise dampening materials and other witchcraft.
In case it’s not clear, the case intakes fresh air from the bottom and blows it out from the top. This obviously rules out for example blower GPUs, but there are always compromises to be made. Maybe intaking from the top and fighting against convection could also be an option?
I have never done a scratch build so please tell me if you immediately see that this doesn’t make any sense. Time frame for the build is very open as I still need the job first, that’s why I didn’t start an official build log. I just like to plan things ahead.
Is there something that you would do differently in my shoes or something that could otherwise be improved?
Thanks for making it this far, you guys rock!
After lurking in the shadows for a while, I finally had the courage to register and post my idea.
I’ll start with a little background story. I recently moved to the other side of the world and couldn’t take my ATX tower with me. This meant that it’s time to start thinking of an upgrade, but I also wanted a rig that I could take with me if I ever decided to go back. The plan is to reward myself with this pc after I get a job.
The idea that I have isn’t by any means the smallest there is, it’s nowhere near these incredible 6-12l cases that I’ve been seeing on this forum. I wanted to design a case that can pretty much handle most ATX-sized parts and cooling, without being an ATX case. This allows me to easily go back to a larger tower if I ever want to, without having to buy all new parts. I have no interest in water cooling and rather want some proper air flow.
This quick render shows the size compared to a very common measuring tool.
The plan regarding parts include:
-Z170 ITX Mobo
-6700k
-32gb DDR4
-3xSSD for dual boot, for example 2x256gb+1x1tb
-ATX PSU
-An undecided GPU, let’s see what the red team has up their sleeves
In its current form, this cube or cuboid can house all these, a tower cooler up to around 160mm, a GPU up to 325mm, an ATX PSU up to about 170mm, and a 140mm fan.
Measurements for the case are 232x232x359mm, including 30mm feet. This sums up to about 19.3 litres, without the feet the volume would be 17.7 litres but for obvious reasons those can’t be removed. This puts it pretty much on par with the Node 304, being a tiny bit smaller.
Here are some more renders, plus screenshots from SketchUp as rendering with the parts would take about 17 years with my laptop. The parts belong to their rightful owners, of course.
After reading through all the project threads here I believe that I have some sort of understanding what is possible and what isn’t but your expertise is always invaluable. The plan is to also aim for the most silent system possible, with noise dampening materials and other witchcraft.
In case it’s not clear, the case intakes fresh air from the bottom and blows it out from the top. This obviously rules out for example blower GPUs, but there are always compromises to be made. Maybe intaking from the top and fighting against convection could also be an option?
I have never done a scratch build so please tell me if you immediately see that this doesn’t make any sense. Time frame for the build is very open as I still need the job first, that’s why I didn’t start an official build log. I just like to plan things ahead.
Is there something that you would do differently in my shoes or something that could otherwise be improved?
Thanks for making it this far, you guys rock!