Small case for an old PC (custom built??)

[Celeron_Phreak]

I'm wanting to build up a 486 computer to use my old DOS software and games on (I have to much old comptuer stuff lying around), but I don't want to use a desktop case, I wanted more of a tower, or simply something small and not to noticable. I just need to be able to put a 5.25" floppy drive, 3.5" floppy drive, PSU, HD, the mainboard and about three or four expansion cards.

I'm thinking something like a cube, but not positive yet. I'm also not sure of what material I want to make it out of.

I'm creating this thread for those of you who care to submit ideas. Hopefully this will become my 486 computer thread.

I hope I can get around to doing it this time. Last time it was going to be a Doom 1 mod, but then christmas came around and I never got time to play with anything. Now's a time for change though, and I've had some time to think about new ideas.

~C.P.

[Xaotic]

A wooden case can be done fairly easily, especially if you use the backplate from an AT or ATX case for mounting the IO shield and cards. Thermal issues will normally be minor on those boxes. Somehow, it may be easier to just get an AT case from a thrift shop for very little investment.

For a very small form factor, consider uncasing and recasing the PS(or getting a tiny OEM supply) and running laptop optical and HDDs. These will reduce the necessary cubic volume. The limiting factors will likely be the width of the board and size of the PS. Since, these systems do not require much power, it may be possible to have an externally mounted PS and a tiny case with possible use of PCI right angle riser cards. Likewise, the PS could be mounted at one end of the case, MB at the other and the drives in the middle or perhaps over the MB

You could also go the other way:

http://www.waiteworks.com/cases/index.html

[Celeron_Phreak]

Hmm. those are nice wooded cases, but a bit to much for what I'm doing =\. I could probably get away with no case ventilation, as every 486 my family has ever built never had one fan in it except for the PSU fan, and they barely got hot, much less warm. I'm thinking you might be right about just getting an AT case from the thriftstore, I'll look around.

The motherboard I'll be using won't have any PCI slots though. It'll have VLB and 16-bit ISA slots. So a right angle adapter for the expansion cards is out of the question.