Concept Passive cooled briefcase gaming pc

[msystems]

Somewhat inspired by this project, I'm thinking of doing my own take on this concept by utilizing the fact that Halliburton Zero cases use an anodized aluminum shell. The aluminum skin should be capable of passively handling some amount of wattage. It would be cool to give that stylish shell a functional use.

Purpose:
Portable gaming rig / EZ bake oven

Goals:
- "Sleeper" appearance. Keep the outer appearance perfectly stock, besides i/o cutout and power button.
- Should be plug and play with an ext. monitor, and work fine while closed for light usage. Target ~ 50 watts
- Make port cutouts look nice and clean and not ruin the appearance. Maybe use a riser board for i/o inputs
- Separate and distinct "Gaming mode" == Forget about passive cooling, flip open briefcase for more airflow, lock top in place, case fans are activated. Target ~ 400 watts system capacity

Planned Construction:
-Drill i/o cutouts. Add either a rubber strip or 3d printed cover over the cutouts for safety and looks
-Mount motherboard in 'lower' shell. Add riser board for i/o cutout if needed
-Mount graphics card in 'upper' shell. Use flexible 3M riser to permit repeated opening/closing of case.
-Install PSU in lower. Probably SFX-L with high efficiency
-Rig up HDplex heatsinks to cpu/gpu (maybe find a lighter weight kit since those copper blocks are 1KG)
-Go crazy with some "heatpipe noodle ramen" connections to the internal aluminum skin, for passive cooling.
-Add low profile case fans, add extra heatsinks

Anticipated problems:
-Deciding to use irreversible ceramic adhesive instead of drilling mounting points through the aluminum shell (or) Deciding to use ugly screws through the nice aluminum shell, instead of using permanent ceramic adhesive
-EZ bake oven 2.0 when closed, even on light usage
-Extremely tedious to do the I/O cutouts, not sure how to do it without them looking jagged and horrible due to lack of tools. Seems impossible to CNC them
-High case weight and high risk of mechanical shock to components when transporting the case. Case will be useless for protection of components when transporting and will need its own case...

 

[msystems]

I went ahead and bought this used case on eBay to get an idea of the dimensions.

Some mockup hardware. Pictured is an mITX board, SFX psu which easily fit.

Here is a 275mm full length video card. I was hoping the case hinge can "Lock" in anopened position, but the hinge only lightly locks it in place. To support components mounted while opened, it will need a stronger, locking hinge. Also note it is only a single hinge.

There should be a way in which the case can close and leave enough space for the "top" components top not touch the ones on the bottom. Here is the graphics card superimposed over the lower section.

In conclusion it has some potential as a portable rig concept, but it may be pointless or actually impossible to design it to operate while closed. There would be no airflow at all while closed. Even if it can operate in some capacity while closed it would be extremely limited because of the thermal issues. Conceivably, removable fan/vent covers could be added which snap in to place for protection during transport. This would be a compromise which destroys the exterior aesthetics of the case.

It would be much easier of course to build it with the intent to always stay opened and use active cooling, which should be quite doable.