My take on a MacPro style vertical cylinder case (~10.7 L)

[Vaderator]

ok... It's a trash bin style case (inspired by the 2013 Mac Pro, the dune case, and the incoming cryorig ola).

It started with seeing some black aluminum modders mesh on Amazon for $35 that would look cool wrapped in a cylinder.

Then I found this awesome aluminum storage bin (8" diameter, $12) at hobby lobby that has the same type of holes as the s4 mini's airflow vents. I'm going to paint it black.
This is the best I can find online to give an indication:

To cap the top and bottom I had to get creative. The top is an 8" black subwoofer grille, and the bottom is an 8" diameter wood bowl.

The sub grille:

The wood bowl:

Once I assemble these pieces, all that will be left is to build a frame to hold my itx board, gpu 980 ti, 3.5" 4tb hard drive, 2.5" 128gb ssd, and sfx 550watt psu.

Thanks in advance for any help as I progress this build.

 

[Vaderator]

Here's some actual pictures:
This is assembled next to my old rosewill (jonsbro) U3.

Here's the mesh wrap that I'm going to wrap around:

Here's the primer coat (progress shot):

Here it is painted and reassembled:

You can see my video card (evga 980 ti) next to it. With displayport cables and a 140mm fan at the top, there really isn't much extra vertical room. I'm thinking of upgrading to the zotac 1080ti mini so I can shorten the aluminum cage a bit. I'm also thinking of dropping the top fan because of the open air nature of the build with the mesh and large holes. I also plan to cut out the bottom of the bowl to allow the psu to intake from underneath.

There won't be much progress over the next two weeks, but I hope to build out the frame in two weeks following the excellent build from yetanothertechchannel:

Any thoughts/reactions so far?

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Where will the IO be?

food for thought:
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...c7FEN4&id=553697906602&ns=1&abbucket=9#detail

 

[Vaderator]

Intoxicatedpuma- That is a great looking case - thanks for linking, I had never seen it before and never would have found it on my own. It has just enough originality to be truly different than just a Mac Pro knockoff. I wish the gpu was vertical to allow for larger than itx cards. If mine can turn out as polished that would be a real win.

For io, I have purchased a bunch of panel mount extensions. E.g.:

They are coming by boat from Hong Kong I believe (ebay, boat is the only way to make it economical.). Full list includes: 6x USB 3.0 ports, 1x c14 power port, 3x displayport, 1x hdmi port, 1x LAN port, and 2x wifi antenna ports.

 

[wywywywy]

Reading the first post I was like

Then reading the second post I was like

 

[BaK]

Another food for thought with this great build on OCN: http://www.overclock.net/t/1595486/build-log-trashcan-wayward

 

[Vaderator]

Ok that guy is a real pro... mine won't be nearly as pretty on the inside. I finally was able to order the 1080 ti mini (it showed in stock for ~1hr at bhphoto, so that was lucky).

Here's how I'm thinking of arranging it (Mac pro shown for scale):

I'm also thinking of ditching the top fan to keep it short (and for cable clearance) and maybe ditching the wood bowl bottom just to simplify.

The 1080 should be arriving on Wednesday which means next weekend I'll do the internal structural work. Most of my panel mount ports have arrived, but the cords are a little shorter than anticipated. Especially the Displayports because the connectors are ~2" each leaving 8" of cable. I'm not sure how that will work out.

I'm also thinking of doing a ponoko laser cut backplate to give it a higher quality feel with etched labels.

Anyway, should be a substantial update in 1 week.

 

[Vaderator]

Ok I went ahead and put together the inner frame. It is assembled just as in the 3D file.

With a 10.5" graphics card (not feasible bc it blocks the power port. Hopefully, the 1080 ti mini fits the way I think it will.

Looking down at it you can see the 3.5" and ssd drives in the center.

Last shot:

The frame fits perfectly into the outer case. The motherboard and hard drives are back to back and separated by a thin sheet of lexan (in fact the hard drives are hanging from only lexan). The whole thing is very sturdy and a very efficient use of the space.

All that being said, the io is going to be very tight. I am thinking I will keep the wood bottom but shorten it a bit to give a little more room for the cables at the top.

More at the end of next weekend.

 

[Vaderator]

Progress!

You can see the overall final look of the case now. It is still missing a power button that I plan to put on the front.

You can see the bowl bottom is quite a bit smaller than my earlier post. Here is why:

You can see we cut off a total of about 1.25" from the bowl so that the diameter lines up with the outer case. That is working out very will. I'm also glad that we didn't lose any fingers.

Here it is running with the 1080 TI mini inside. You can see how tightly this is all packed inside. I have to do a little work because it isn't centered in the base yet. The other thing I had an issue with was I bought a cheap $10 riser (30cm) and was getting attrocious frame rates in 3dmark (3-5fps), so I did a little research that said premium cables had EMI shielding. My solution: use hvac aluminum tape and wrap it around the riser to eliminate EMI. It now works like a charm.

I am getting close! The Hurricane in Houston is getting in the way of progress because I need to make another trip to Lowes for some more aluminum supports, so I may have to take a break. Also, I'm still waiting on some of the long-lead panel mount IO stuff from China.

 

[Phuncz]

This is coming along nicely, well done ! I'm loving the way you tackle this project.

BTW: possible fan contender if you ever need one for the cylinder: http://noctua.at/en/nf-p14r-redux-1500-pwm

Good static pressure, good speed range (450-1500), PWM and it's not that expensive.

 

[Vaderator]

Thanks! I would love to have a fan up top, but I think there will be major clearance issues with the cables sticking out. The worst offender will be the displayport cables as they stick ~2" out of the top of the graphics card, and angle down elbow connectors are a little much at $8 a pop x 3 ports.
I do have room in the center for two 25mm fans above the hard drives that would sit below the cable clearance. They would help some stagnant air in the center, and I am worried about backplate heat radiating into the hardrives.

 

[Vaderator]

Oh I did have a question of style... should I put the power bottom on the front 1/4 of the way up from the bottom, or place it in he back?

Here is what I have for a power button:

 

[BaK]

Cool!
well done with the hvac aluminium tape!
In the 3rd pic, the cooler of the 1080 Ti mini looks like it will not fit into the cylinder, but its probably a temporary off centered positioning.

I would put the power button on the back for a clear design, unless you want its light ring to be visible.

 

[Vaderator]

Yeah you are right on both accounts - 1) the frame was off center and still needed to be worked on, and 2)the clean front is the way to go (and far easier). The power button will go in the back. Speaking of the back, that is what is holding ME back. The IO adapters have not all arrived from China, so I have been in a holding pattern for a while. The PC is functional, looking nice, and running quiet and cool.

As I mentioned, the back is just waiting for parts to be finished.

It is a bit of a mess but, here is my concept for closing that area:

I'm envisioning a big vertical column of all the IOs screwed into these aluminum supports. They will fix the jagged edges of the case, and I will be able to filter out IO I don't need (like mobo DVI and HDMI ports have always bothered me when I have a GPU).

I'm a bit worried about it becoming a rat's nest in there with all of those extension wires, but oh well, I'm pretty committed. Once I get the LAN extender I will be good.

Here is a parting shot:

 

[BaK]

The PC is functional, looking nice, and running quiet and cool.

Good to know such an open/ventilated case doesn't need an extra fan!
This I/O column is a great idea, can't wait to see it finished!

 

[Vaderator]

Good to know such an open/ventilated case doesn't need an extra fan!

Well, we'll see. Unfortunately one of the fan blades on my gpu broke off before I was able to really stress test it. It started to get pretty hot at ~85 degrees, but I heard the fan rattle and turned it off. Fan was only at 70% max speed though.

I'm going through RMA now, so my next post update will likely be in a few weeks and fully complete.

I went ahead and purchased the cryorig slim (13mm thick) 140mm case fan because I do have some headroom above the cables.

 

[Valantar]

Well, we'll see. Unfortunately one of the fan blades on my gpu broke off before I was able to really stress test it. It started to get pretty hot at ~85 degrees, but I heard the fan rattle and turned it off. Fan was only at 70% max speed though.

I'm going through RMA now, so my next post update will likely be in a few weeks and fully complete.

I went ahead and purchased the cryorig slim (13mm thick) 140mm case fan because I do have some headroom above the cables.

Ouch, that is some serious bad luck. I've never had a broken fan blade in my life.

As for fan/cable clearance, wouldn't a standard wire fan grill on the bottom of the fan be enough to keep cables from entering the fan, while still allowing you to fit a proper 25mm fan? Or is clearance so tight that you can't even bend the cables out of the way?

 

[Vaderator]

For anyone curious how it turned out:

The Power Button was removed because I am using it on my S4M.
Here they are side by side:

The fans just weren't enough to keep it cool, and my paint skills were not so great underneath the grill, so opening it up more was a sub-par option. Also, at the end it just didn't feel SFF enough. I think I have the SFF bug for sure now, I ordered the Salvo S401 and will post that side by side with the other two.