Project Skinny Case!

So I was completly satisfied with my Lian-Li PC7b until about a week ago, my cousin commented on how big my computer was! And I thought... wow this is the biggest computer case I have ever seen in my life.. and you know what.. it's loud.. and heavy... and why don't I just buy Core 2 Duo too! So I priced out a C2D system and decided I shouldn't spend that much so instead I just spent the past week brainstorming designs and building cardboard models for building a case with the following properties:
1. Small
2. Minimize fan use, ie, maximize airflow, ie, less noise
3. Simplicity, ie, something I can actually build
4. Accessibility to inside components
5. I also wanted the heavier components on the bottem

Here's basically what I came up with.



Sorry, that's the extension of my computer design skills. The hard drives will be next to the DVD drive, which will be vertical. The powersupply is on the ground side. I wish I could use 120mm fans, but then I would have to make the entire case bigger.. I'll just buy some better, quieter 80mms later.

I thought and thought about many different designs and this one just seems the easiest to build and basically accomplishes all 5 things above. I also though about building a case with pretty much the same design as a Micro ATX case, just with a real size PSU and full ATX board, but that wouldn't make the insides very accessable and would just be plain harder to build. I've never done any major case modes before except for a ghetto tupperware case, so I'm trying to keep it simpler.

I just think mine will be funny since it's going to have such a small footprint, but will still be a bit taller than most normal ATX cases. It's actually going to be about the same height as my current Lian Li! haha So, there's the skinny case

So, my friend and I started this project today, well Friday since it's now 2 AM. I decided Plexiglass was the best material to use for me since I don't know how nor have the tools to work with metal and wood would just be... well, wood. So I went to the local glass shop and told them about my idea.. the lady was like.. why would you want to build a case for a computer? You want to but it on display? Are you actually going to use this computer? Or just put it on display in a shop or something? I tried explaining to her that there's actually components inside your computer that are screwed to a metal chasis and I am going to build my own chasis but instead use plexiglass, but she just thought I was making a trophy case or something.. Anyways.. this other guy helped me out in picking the right material for the job. Now.. here's some important information to those of you thinking of using Plexiglass for.. anything..

Plexiglass sucks.

Plexiglass will lose most of it's strength if you drill or cut into a square peice at all and when I told him that we would have to drill holes all over the place and have to cut circles out for fans and all that, he just laughed and said if you manage to get it together, it will probably last a month before it cracks. He then recommended Lexan! Which is a little more expensive but was only $30 for all the material I needed, added, he gave me a good deal since it was just peices he had laying around. He also showed how he could bend a smaller sheet all the way in half without worry. Lexan is used for windsheilds in racecars and motorcycles so I think I can trust it for a computer case. He said 1/8" Lexan would have the same vertical strength as 1/4" Plexiglass, as in, putting pressure on the end. Lexan is also, literally, 30 times stronger than plexiglass when it comes to pressure on it horizontally, as in, a sheet of it holding something up or whatever.

So anyways, the next stop was Home Depot. I'm using L shaped brackets to bolt every sheet together instead of glue. I figure that I'll probably want to take this apart someday maybe to add a case fan or whatever and with the Lexan, I'm not afraid to drill holes. I bought longer screws with the same thread as hard drive and PSU screws so I can just bolt those to the side of the case. I couldn't find screws that fit my DVD drive so I'll have to figure out something tomorrow. I'm also not going to drill the motherboard standoffs into the Lexan and hope it stays. I'm using a bolt, through the 1/8" Lexan and putting 4 rubber washers on the otherside as a sort of standoff then nutting the motherboard in place onto the end of the bolt. The only part that I haven't figured out how to do yet is screwing the PCI cards in. Maybe some sort of clip would be better, but I really dont know yet, any suggestions? Anyways, My case will also be fitted with a handle and a removed side panel of course. The total for Home Depot was $30. More than I wanted to spend, but I bought lots of extras which I will probably take back.

Well, I'm sorry for the lack of pictures for this first post, but as I did or didn't mention, my friend and I are doing all the actual work tomorrow, hopefully getting everything done. I'll try to remember to take pictures all the way through and post them. Maybe I'll post them a little at a time so it seems like an ongoing project! Just kidding But really, I have dial up when I'm at home so it will probably seem like it.. heh.

Until tomorrow!

PS, seriously, any ideas for the PCI cards?

And wow this was a lot to read, my apologies, it'll be pictures from here on out!

Oh and I forgot to mention, the components will be exactly whats in my sig.

A64 3000+ Winchester | DFI Lanparty NF4 Ultra-D
2x 512MB OCZ DFI Special |3D Fuzion 7600GS 256MB
74GB Raptor | 300GB Seagate | NEC 3520A DVDRW
Enermax 485w Noisetaker

Looking forward to the pics.

The standard case screw thread is UNC #6-32. Optical drives on the other hand are tapped for Metric 3 (M3).
You will need to purchase a #6-32 tap if you want to add threads to your aluminum L channel sections.
For lots of information on working with polycarbonate check out my plastics machining guide: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=387265
Or hit me up with any questions you have.

To save yourself alot of time and hassle it would be best to purchase a replacement motherboard tray. Performance-PCs sells them for $25
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210&products_id=3387

Captain Slug said:

The standard case screw thread is UNC #6-32. Optical drives on the other hand are tapped for Metric 3 (M3).
You will need to purchase a #6-32 tap if you want to add threads to your aluminum L channel sections.
For lots of information on working with polycarbonate check out my plastics machining guide: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=387265
Or hit me up with any questions you have.

To save yourself alot of time and hassle it would be best to purchase a replacement motherboard tray. Performance-PCs sells them for $25
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210&products_id=3387

Click to expand...

Dang I thought about just scrapping a motherboard tray from an old case, but the only one I have at home now is my nice Lian Li.. I would order one of those removable ones, but I'm working on this at a friends house while I'm home from school for break and wouldn't be able to finish it at school.

We got a lot of work done today, but I forgot to load the pictures from his camera onto my flash drive to upload them here. Sorry! I'll remember tomorrow, promise. The sides are all bolted together and now we just have to do the hardest parts- cutting all the holes for the fans, i/o sheild, PCI slots, PSU and then drilling the rest of the needed holes. Everythings working great so far though.

We just used a hand saw for cutting the sides, then used a grinder wheel for making them all straight and flush and a normal drill and drill bit for the holes for the bolts. I'll load the pictures TOMORROW.

I still don't know how exactly I'm going to get the PCI cards to stay in.. And I'm planning on using a Dremel (thanks to ElifTymes) to just cut out the all the holes that need to be done. I'm not sure how that's going to work though.. Probably going to take a LONG time.. heh.

With some planning, you could use 120mm fans in a few places. Up top, you have some spare space next to the HDDs, you could get a 120mm in there. Also, there are PSUs with 120mm fans. Put one of those PSUs on the bottom, upside down with the bottom fan sucking air down and out of the case. With a 120mm on top blowing in, and the 120mm PSU fan blowing out, you would have a nice airflow to start there.

Definitely try to go to a 120mm fans as they greatly reduce noise for the same airflow.

Yeah my PSU has a 92mm and 80mm fan sucking air out. I think I COULD squeeze a 120mm in the front, but there's not enough room up by the hard drives. Maybe a 92mm could fit up there, I'll see. Well I'm gonna go get to work on this!

Don't forget the pictures!

Sorry folks, been busy working on this lately, up until last night actually and then I just thought I might as well wait till I'm back home in Ann Arbor to upload the pictures on highspeed instead of dial up.

I worked on this at my friends so I didn't really take many pictures of the process, but I'll take some more of the finished product here.


My friend cutting the Lexan. We just used a wood saw. No melting, easy straight line.


Just bending this stuff. See how strong?! We drilled a hole less than half a centimeter from the edge on a scrap piece and I put a bolt through it and stomped on it on the ground. The bolt bent, but the Lexan wasn't broken!


My cardboard model Didn't really quite finish it.


Taped together! The side that's not there is the removable one. We cut that out later. Getting closer


Holes getting drilled. They came out really clean actually. We just put a piece of wood behind it and held the Lexan down and drilled. It's actually pretty hard to drill through, maybe because we were using a super old, low RPM drill, but low RPM is good when dealing with plastic since it will melt.


Just a close up of how I bolted most of the sides together.


Got most of it bolted together. Didn't drill any holes in the back peice yet since I wasn't sure exactly where there would be extra room until I dremeled out all the needed holes back there.

Just all the junk. My friend let me mess up his house for a few days. haha


First cuts done! Yeah, there's just a big hole for the PCI cards. Notice some rudimentary planning on the board on the right.


Close up. Kind of rough, but I haven't sanded anything yet. The cuts for the power switch and cord are kind of sloppy, but it was my first time and I only had a large cutting wheel thing. That circle is for a fan control knob on my PSU.


Got all the cuts done for the back piece, still haven't sanded though. Seeing how things line up.


Look how pretty and clear it is after the wrapper is taken off! Notice the front 2 cuts are now done and I sanded all the cuts too. Nice handle huh?


See how smooth the PSU fan hole is now? I picked up those nice feet at Home Depot. They work well.


Getting everything put together!

That's all the pictures I have right now from my friend's camera. I'll take some more tonight with my camcorder.. that's all I've got, not the best quality but it works. Enjoy!

Just bought a Silent Gigabyte 7600GT, 80 and 92mm Arctic Cooling fans, some generic fan grills and a Thermal take Ruby Orb. That'll quiet this sucker down. This case is so sweet I want it on my desk and it's a bit louder than I'd like. Anyone know of a good fanless southbridge cooler for a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D? And I also need power/reset buttons! I'm hot wiring this computer right now.. I picked up some at Radio Shack but they're the wrong kind.. They momentarily DISconnect the circuit instead of momentarily CONNECT the circuit like needed for these.

The Thermalright HR-05 SLI is an awesome passive cooler for the DFI.

As far as Power rest buttons, Go into to Radioshack and tell them what you need and they should hook you up. Otherwise most modding places, jab-tech, frozen cpu, etc sell the switches you need.

OK I just took some more pictures last night. Sorry for the quality, I was using my Camcorder.


See the Handle on top. Got my new fans, silent 7600GT and Thermaltake Ruby Orb in now. It's maybe a little louder than those Home Desktop PCs from Dell or HP, that's probably the best comparison, so it's really quiet


Just the front. You can't really tell, but there's just 4 wires coming out the front for power and reset. Haven't went to Radio Shack yet. My hard drives don't have much airflow, so they're usually in the mid 40 C range, sometimes upper, but not past 50 C. You can also see the spacers I used for my motherboard. I made the cut in the back for the Backplate and when I put it all together, I realized that it was a bit too high. I just bought 1 inch spacers and I think it works out great.


The Bottom. Sexy heatsinks of the video card I'm running my CPU, chipset and Intake fans all at 50% using the temperature sensor BIOS options on the Ultra-D. I think they run at 50% if they're not fully off or fully on. They go up to full speed if needed, but that's rare.


Full view. I need to put something on the bottom of the removable side to keep it in place down there. It wobbles back and forth and I try to twist it.


I bought this case fan and the holes don't go all the way through on it so I couldn't bolt it. Had to use a screwdriver to gouge out the holes in the Lexan so that case fan Screws would fit. (I don't have any tools here at school, although I am taking a class that gives me free access to a metal working shop now ) The Backplate fits really well, not perfect though. But anyway, that style of Arctic Cooling case fans are amazing. I just have the 80mm one, but I'm sure any size would be great. They can only be used for outtake fans, but mine is basically silent and it moves a lot of air out. I'm going to work those in as outtake fans in every case I do now.


Full back side. As you can see, I just have a big hole for my PCI cards. You can also see that the Ruby Orb is overlapped by DVD drive on the very top inch or so. Kind of sucks.. when I upgrade to Conroe and get a board that has the CPU on the very top, instead of the Memory like on the Ultra-D, like 3/4 of the Ruby Orb would be directly under the DVD Drive.. So I'll have to build a new case then!

Well that's it on this case. I had fun and learned a lot. It took longer than I anticipated, but oh well. I was thinking it would take 1 day but it took like 4 or 5. I think it turned out really well. Questions, comments, insults?

looks really good man, congrats on a one-off case!