Concept Project Aedicule

TehJerm

Efficiency Noob
Original poster
New User
Jul 11, 2016
6
6
Introduction:
Hello fellow small formfactorionados!
I've been lurking a bit around these forums since August of last year, since I started dabbling in the idea of making a case of my own.
After playing mainly consoles for several years, I ascended(ish) having a content-creating laptop for school from 2011-2014. I started building my own ITX desktop computer in the fall of 2014 for more ascending and horsepower. I've always been a fan of things not needing to be bigger than they need to be, and that's why I've owned and tried several cases since then, including a Silverstone SG05 & Chieftec BT-04B-U3. At the moment I have a Sharkoon QB One (14L!, I know..), which is a very flexible case - however, I can't stop thinking that I want to go smaller, while maintaining the ability to fit all my current components.



Overview:
I started sketching a case in July which ended up looking a lot like the Hutzy XS' and Firewolfys MI-6's cousin. Started thinking about things like expandability & noise levels. Also compatibility with my current components, so that I don't have to buy a lot of new stuff. I already have a 600W SFX PSU from Silverstone, and I don't plan on replacing that anytime soon, so I knew I had to include SFX-PSUs. I lengthened the case so it could fit a 120mm fan in the bottom as an intake, and possibly even a 120mm AIO. If I upgrade to a SFX-L, I could do that and either use a 80 or 92mm intake fan instead of 120mm.
I currently have a Gigabyte 960 which is 18cm long, and does fit into most cases. However, I don't know if I'm going to go for a larger card in the future - so that's why I have extra room in the 'GPU-chamber'. Could also be useful for cable management. Speaking of cables, the GPU and motherboard will be connected by a PCIe riser cable.
The case will only have support for mITX motherboards, and depending on setup it can have space for 2.5" & 3.5" drives.
This is not something I plan on doing mass production of, more like a 1 or 2 off.
I want the case to be less than 10L is volume,, because reasons.
I/O at the front will consist of 2 USB and audio/mic. Along with the power switch. Placement of these have not been finalized.

I've decided to call it the Aedicule (at least for now), which apparantly means "little house" or a small shrine.

Now, pictures of the core:




Specification:
Volume: 9,4L
Size: 25,6 x 13 x 28,3cm Height*Width*Length
Material: ~ 1.6mm Aluminium / steel (whatever I can get someone to manufacture for a decent price and rigidity)
MB-size: mITX
RAM-compatibility: 50mm
GPU length: 279mm max
PSU: SFX / SFX-L
Storage: Up to 4 3.5", or many, many 2.5"s
ODD: Slim, either slot loading/tray
Cooling:
- Intake: 120/92/80mm in bottom of the case
- Exhaust: up to 2x120/2x92/3x80mm at the top of the case. Max thickness: ~12mm


Please note that I have yet to finalize thoughts on HDD/SSD mountings and positions, so these are lacking from the pictures.


Also:
1. Not using my ODD as much as I used to - so thinking about dropping it, instead making a 'pocket' for 1 to 3 2.5"-SSDs. Thoughts? Any other uses/modifications?
2. Should I increase the height slightly to allow for full 25mm fans? Will probably be just under 10L then.

Also²:
I was tinkering with the idea of moving the PSU up to the side of the motherboard, allowing space for a 240mm radiator in the bottom of the case. However, I'm a bit worried this will make it resemble a Dan A4 with extra space in the bottom, and then lose its uniqueness as my 'own' case.
How well would a 240 CLC like the Fractal Design Kelvin S24 cool a CPU and a GPU in this case you reckon?


Opinions on this?There's a lot of brilliant minds in this forum, so I'll take any feedback

Thanks for reading!
 

K888D

SFF Guru
Lazer3D
Feb 23, 2016
1,483
2,970
www.lazer3d.com
Looks good! I would at the very least increase fan compatibility to 15mm thickness as there aren't many 12mm fans. You may also want to add a few extra mm gap to reduce fan noise and turbulence.
 

jtd871

SFF Guru
Jun 22, 2015
1,166
851
Don't get hung up on being too unique. If somebody else has a good idea that makes sense for you to incorporate into your case, it will still be your case.

OTOH, if you really like somebody else's design and can live with the compromises using an off-the-shelf design requires and without making your own case yourself, then by all means buy one and start playing in it already.
 
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Biowarejak

Maker of Awesome | User 1615
Platinum Supporter
Mar 6, 2017
1,744
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I notice a lot of "ifs" in your OP :) don't let that drag you too far down the rabbit hole. Work with future expansion in mind while retaining a defined build envelope. Make things modular so you can accommodate a variety of different configurations if you need to. At least, that's what I'd do :p
 

jmsantos1983

SFF Lingo Aficionado
May 12, 2017
107
23
You go guy. You got this community to help. There alot of info in this community.
Ok.
Using a psu like this one with a AC-DC brick: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...bto-psus-are-now-available-direct-order.1983/
Would it make the case smaller?
Optional slim optical drive?
Only have the power botton, no USB or other?
Other optional case that allows a regular GPU?
Please remember that the point of this form is to get more power with less space.
The placement could be copy from other but you could make it look cool simple like apple style.
The C-WS looks cool.
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/catz-c-1-5l-c-sfx-10l-and-c-ws-15l.1562/page-18
 
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Pendra

Caliper Novice
May 4, 2017
23
23
My case is 10.5 L and it holds a full size GPU (max 33cm long), an ATX PSU plus has room for 2 2.5 HDD, 1x12cm case fan or 2x8cm fans.
ODD is something you don't need. The last time I saw a DVD was some years ago, during my last Win7 installation. In any case, I have an external DVD drive, somewhere... If I went all ITX/SFX I would probably be able to fit 2x5.25s, too into this size. However, just like the ODDs, I dropped the idea of internal HDDs, too. MSATA/M.2 SSDs are the future. Tiny with brutal speed and capacity and require no cable. I eliminated all SATA and drive power cables from the case. The only HDD I have is a 2.5 external for backup and movies. I didn't expect to see this, but I think we are witnessing the death of the HDD technology.

The absolute minimum you can go with normal, unmodified, aircooled ITX MoBo, ITX GPU and SFX PSU is around 5.3L. You can go below that with the weird placement of the power cord or a small mod of the PSU.

For front panels, fans and other industrial bits and pieces, Aliexpress is your friend.
Li-Heat just put up some nice long 16x16x risers to ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCIE-PCI-Ex...475523?hash=item1c83921e03:g:bTIAAOSwrhBZAZA-
 
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