Design is deliberately overkill with the cooling - it's really meant to showcase fans and look cool (to me, don't care if anyone else thinks it's ugly
), so I know I could save a lot of room if I wanted to.
Also, keep in mind the design is still rough: the "ears" need power and reset buttons (designing those for 3D printing later); I may move the GPU back (way it's designed now is to allow for a fan, basically creating a tunnel of air from front to back to cool the GPU, but it does require extension for GPU I/O); haven't adjusted the dimensions to allow for slightly taller HSF; have to add vent, mobo I/O shield, and power cable cutouts; fans aren't in the right place because I've been shifting them around, etc etc.
Most of the parts are also just placeholders, including the Radeon VII, which will either be modified with custom shroud (have a rough plan for that too) or swapped out for a Nano/ITX Navi card if such thing exists in the next month and if MacOS adds support for Navi. Vent pattern on back needs to be extended down to same length as HSF, all vents need to be evened out/adjusted.
There's a bracket/cage to hold the PSU that I designed, but not shown in pics below. The PSU being there is one compromise in airflow design (more than compensated for), but it allows for very short custom cables since the mobo and PSU are right there.
Design doesn't show the lip/retention system for custom-cut, tinted polycarbonate panel, or the potential screwless slide-in fan trays (possibly magnetic tape, if they can be strong without interfering with fan bearings, otherwise fallback is conventional rail system, or whatever it's called... don't know the jargon). May be adding in a matte textured handle to the top, as well. Toying with idea of
DIY snowblind on the window, but that's something I'll only consider when almost everything else is done.
Case will be painted with Black 2.0/Black 3.0 - if it holds up okay to light touches in testing, if not I have someone who will cerakote it - and all non-black items will be blacked out.
And yes, the case is probably too difficult/expensive to unibody CNC/mill from aluminum, hence fallback option I mentioned earlier, which is doable (just got CNC router, getting more tools, and have a 3D printer already). Definitely keeping the general design, though, because I'm very happy with the look of it.
