A case idea

[5pl1n73r]

Hey guys, even though this is my first post here I have been a long-time reader of the site and the forums. I really was inspired to seek a more silent solution after my Gigabyte Aurora wouldn't stop rattling. So I decided to mess around on Sketchup and see what I could come up with, since until now I haven't run across a case the encompasses all the features I was looking for.

1.Removable Motherboard Tray
2.Removable dust filter (and no stupid ventilation holes that simply negate the whole purpose of the filter)
3.Superior cable management
4.The 'tool-less' implementation would simply be the use of thumbscrews (can't stand those plastic thingys you only close on one side... for some people using fan controllers and the like these things are hell and they actually broke some of my controllers.)
5.Separate thermal zones for HDD's Motherboard and PSU
6.No fans under 120mm
7.A minimalist look... none of those transformers faces on the front witha plastic door. *shiver*
8.And of course silent or the capacity to be silent with simple changes.

Since my first post can't contain links or URL's I'm going to divide it here.

[5pl1n73r]

What I ended up designing met these requirements and more. The basic premise was not my own but borrowed from the newest Voodoo Omen and more recently the Silverstone RV01 (although the RV01 only came out in the final days of my designing the case and had no impact on my build.) The ones that flip the Motherboards. I liked how this created the opportunity for all the exhausted hot air to exit from the top as it naturally would. This also can give the back of the case a really clean look. The feature list now is as follows:

1.Three separate thermal zones All with their own dedicated fan or fans.


2.1/8 inch thick aluminum construction including the side panels except for the front which is ¼ thick this is all of course to create a very sturdy and hopefully quieter design.


3.Back of case is clean and all cables pass through a single hole at the top of the case


4.Four 5.25 inch drive bays all equipped with thumbscrews.


5.Five 3.5 inch hot swappable drive bays accessible from the front of the case with a one touch open and close door. (I was thinking of adding a little clasp that closes over one of the slots with the words “system HDDâ€

[CallmeRoth]

I really really like the idea...why...well Ive had almost EXACTLY the same idea in one of my many case idea draw ups.

But your way of having the power supply solves my stumble for placement. Ive always favored this airflow design seeing as heat rises. Its good to see someone else with similar thoughts.

[5pl1n73r]

I really really like the idea...why...well Ive had almost EXACTLY the same idea in one of my many case idea draw ups.

But your way of having the power supply solves my stumble for placement. Ive always favored this airflow design seeing as heat rises. Its good to someone else with similar thoughts.

Heh thanks man. Now all we have to do is find someone to build it right?

[CallmeRoth]

Theres just one flaw I can see i think. Once you put in Disc drives and Hardrives that whole channel of air there is blocked off.

[5pl1n73r]

Theres just one flaw I can see i think. Once you put in Disc drives and Hardrives that whole channel of air there is blocked off.

Yeah, I guess I didn't get any good angles on that in the pictures... there is actually quite a bit of room on either side of the CD cage... gives the fan plenty of room to get air.

[danielG]

It looks great. I love it.

Looks expensive, though. And I'm not sure if I would have the space to place such a large case. My P182 is already a bit too large.

I just think having the 5.25'' bays near the bottom is a bad idea. I'm a lazy bastard and wouldn't like to bend over that much every time I wanted to put a disc in the DVD.

[LodeHacker]

Someone get me an axe, right now! I think I need to fell a tree and make that design from wood then paint it black and sell it on eBay for five grand O_O

Of course I could save the environment and not get rich if these mothaf**kas (sorry) from the industry would have flipped the motherboard tray so that all I/Os face upwards! That construction is lovely, maybe if having an option to route front USB to external motherboard connections would be good to keep the inside clean (my motherboard has like 6 external USB ports and none of them are used!)

However keep that integrated fan controller off. Maybe make a version of the case without a fan controller (maybe make the space usable so that a slim optical drive can be installed?) because I think I would prefer my own fan controller of choice and that makes for lots of unused knobs there...

I don't know I just have a feeling that it looks good on paper (or in this case pictures) and technically airflow is great, but for some reason I keep thinking that such kind of design takes up more space than the average PC case and it will not be as practical as one might like to have it. Somehow I find that even if the motherboard is flipped in a nice direction it just will be a big hassle to (dis)connect something temporarily, because surely most will survive with front USB only, but I can not without FireWire or S/PDIF on the front (yes you read right, that's why I bought the Akasa AllInOne [older model]; now I have routed the video RCA port on the Akasa to the back of my PC to the coaxial output of my sound card)

[Eyedolon]

I love this idea! A few thoughts:

- For those with larger video cards (ie. the GTX260, which measures a whopping 11" long), I would be concerned about the weight doing bad things to the top bracket - and is the case tall enough to even fit such a card in the first place?

-- Counter-point would be that this can easily argued to be better then the current "limp fish" that inevitably results from longer graphics cards. I think all newer cases should have at least some sort of idea for supporting the behemoths team Red and team Green have been designing recently. My Antec 900 came with a little plastic clip that clips into the HDD rack to support longer cards, but it doesn't jive with the very attractive full-housing of the new Nvidia cards.

- I'm concerned about the odd routing of external cables eating up precious cord length. I believe this is a weakness you can do nothing about, since the flipped mobo tray causes plugs to not be where they should. My DVI cable is already *just* long enough, as well as my keyboard.

- Size and weight are an obvious issue - Not only will this design be taller, it will be substantially longer if my spatial feelings are right. How long does it turn out to be? Along those lines, anything you can do to shorten it would cut material costs down seriously - I'm thinking something along the lines of the GMC Toaster that I saw pictures of recently.

- Why not use some of that serious airflow in the bottom chamber to cool a single hard disk? It seems like a perfect place to put a disk, technically "outside" the case but if you set it up so the wires could be run up behind the mobo tray it would be a perfect setup for cooling the drive. This might increase the noise, however.

- Along the same lines, the bottom chamber only pulling from the back would make me think the front-most fan would be starved for air. Possibly putting an intake in the front and ducting both sides with a serpentine pattern would balance the air flowing to all the fans. This same logic can be applied to the top exhaust, though it appears the top side may be just a large grill.


Very intriguing design! I haven't thought this hard about a case in a long time =D. Would be incredibly pricey though. And the rental cost for the forklift to move it wouldn't be too hot either.

[KlaymenDK]

Very nice - case and presentation!

One odd question: what did you use to model this? Looks a bit like Sketchup, but I can't be sure. Which sources did you use, or is everything from scratch?

[5pl1n73r]

It looks great. I love it.

Looks expensive, though. And I'm not sure if I would have the space to place such a large case. My P182 is already a bit too large.

It probably would be expensive and it is very large... price was the only thing I really gave no thought to. As for size. Well I just can't make it any smaller... the only real unusual dimension is the depth. There are plenty of taller and wider cases out there... but the depth is a doozy. Here is a picture next to a scale box the dimesnions of a p182. My case is shorter and slightly less wide. but much deeper.



the only way I can really make it any shallow would be to have built in slim drives because the Disc drives can be almost 8 inches in length that takes up a tremendous amount of depth. The only other thing I can think of would be to make it a micro ATX case... But I really wanted a case that would give anyone a solution no matter what size components they have.

I just think having the 5.25'' bays near the bottom is a bad idea. I'm a lazy bastard and wouldn't like to bend over that much every time I wanted to put a disc in the DVD.

Yeah I noticed the trend of having cases on the floor now... I have always had mine next to me on the desk... no particular reason I just always have... but as you can see I tried to make it so the ports and controlls were up top and my first draft had the CD cage above the HDDs but this created a problem with the airflow. the only solution was to have the HDD's on top. Any ideas would be great but I just don't see a way.

Someone get me an axe, right now! I think I need to fell a tree and make that design from wood then paint it black and sell it on eBay for five grand O_O

Of course I could save the environment and not get rich if these mothaf**kas (sorry) from the industry would have flipped the motherboard tray so that all I/Os face upwards! That construction is lovely, maybe if having an option to route front USB to external motherboard connections would be good to keep the inside clean (my motherboard has like 6 external USB ports and none of them are used!)

I think I understand what you mean. That's a good idea and it shouldn't be to difficult to implement.

However keep that integrated fan controller off. Maybe make a version of the case without a fan controller (maybe make the space usable so that a slim optical drive can be installed?) because I think I would prefer my own fan controller of choice and that makes for lots of unused knobs there...

Even though this is like the 8th version I have messed around with I still built the case around my personal prefrence. and you are right I shoulnd't have the controller built in I think I might just have a 5.25" cover there instead and the option to install your own device there. Good suggestion.

I don't know I just have a feeling that it looks good on paper (or in this case pictures) and technically airflow is great, but for some reason I keep thinking that such kind of design takes up more space than the average PC case and it will not be as practical as one might like to have it. Somehow I find that even if the motherboard is flipped in a nice direction it just will be a big hassle to (dis)connect something temporarily, because surely most will survive with front USB only, but I can not without FireWire or S/PDIF on the front (yes you read right, that's why I bought the Akasa AllInOne [older model]; now I have routed the video RCA port on the Akasa to the back of my PC to the coaxial output of my sound card)

Your right about the size this is not for the person looking for a small solution. It's a monster. But a gentle and Quite monster (I hope).

The front ports on there are just stand ins. I don't actually just want a mic, headphone and 4 USB ports. Give me E-sata, firewire... whatever. the ports are not set in stone.

I love this idea! A few thoughts:

- For those with larger video cards (ie. the GTX260, which measures a whopping 11" long), I would be concerned about the weight doing bad things to the top bracket - and is the case tall enough to even fit such a card in the first place?

-- Counter-point would be that this can easily argued to be better then the current "limp fish" that inevitably results from longer graphics cards. I think all newer cases should have at least some sort of idea for supporting the behemoths team Red and team Green have been designing recently. My Antec 900 came with a little plastic clip that clips into the HDD rack to support longer cards, but it doesn't jive with the very attractive full-housing of the new Nvidia cards.

There is plenty of room for longer cards... from the very lowest point on the PCI cards to the highest point on the fans below is 12 3/8"

I could add a little something in to grab the cards but I figured because they were hanging as it were there will be no bending of the cards... I don't think it would be an issue but if some people would feel safer and would avoid the case because it didn't have a support bar then it would be silly for me not to add it in.

- I'm concerned about the odd routing of external cables eating up precious cord length. I believe this is a weakness you can do nothing about, since the flipped mobo tray causes plugs to not be where they should. My DVI cable is already *just* long enough, as well as my keyboard.

Well consider this. Most people have their case on the ground and alot of people don't have cases with the PSU at the bottom this means that the cables they use have to reach all the way to halfway down the case... on my design it has to reach the top and bend in. I figure it's just about the same cable length for most of them maybe give or take 2 inches. For most people (I hope) it shoudn't be an issue.

- Size and weight are an obvious issue - Not only will this design be taller, it will be substantially longer if my spatial feelings are right. How long does it turn out to be? Along those lines, anything you can do to shorten it would cut material costs down seriously - I'm thinking something along the lines of the GMC Toaster that I saw pictures of recently.

As I showed above it is in fact shorter than the p182 and many cases out there but it is deeper than most cases... Well actually I feel better now. I just did a size comparison with some large cases that people seem to have no problem buying and it is only an inch and a half deeper than the NZXT Khaos and most Lian Li cases and it's much shorter and thinner. and it's dqarfed in every way by the Thermaltake Sword. which sticks out a whopping 5 inches deeper than my design. Here is a pic with the Sword and Khaos.

- Why not use some of that serious airflow in the bottom chamber to cool a single hard disk? It seems like a perfect place to put a disk, technically "outside" the case but if you set it up so the wires could be run up behind the mobo tray it would be a perfect setup for cooling the drive. This might increase the noise, however.

Not only increase the noise but it would be really hard to work on there is only 3" clearance in the bottom chamber. Plus you have the problem of dust...

- Along the same lines, the bottom chamber only pulling from the back would make me think the front-most fan would be starved for air. Possibly putting an intake in the front and ducting both sides with a serpentine pattern would balance the air flowing to all the fans. This same logic can be applied to the top exhaust, though it appears the top side may be just a large grill.

Very intriguing design! I haven't thought this hard about a case in a long time =D. Would be incredibly pricey though. And the rental cost for the forklift to move it wouldn't be too hot either.

Well I don't have an air simulator so I can't really tell you what would happen but I really don't thing the fans would be able to suck in air fst enough to keep it from reaching the last fan... that just dosn't sound right. Consider Central air systems they have a single trench for multiple vents but they all give out cool air. But again I am no physician and I don't have the ability to really test it. Not sure what you meant about the top side... the entire top panel is ventilated.

Very nice - case and presentation!

One odd question: what did you use to model this? Looks a bit like Sketchup, but I can't be sure. Which sources did you use, or is everything from scratch?

Thanks, It's all done in Sketchup. I did download models for the thumbscrews, fans, and part of the HDD cage. The rest is from scratch. I donwloaded some scale models of the components for size refrence but some of them ended up being off anyway so I had to measure allot of my own components. Luckily I had a few cases with parts in them lying around.

[CallmeRoth]

Just to clear up some confusion i think. But this case really is just a normal case with psu on bottom, flipped 90°. So theres not much differance in size or cable routing.

[5pl1n73r]

Just to clear up some confusion i think. But this case really is just a normal case with psu on bottom, flipped 90°. So theres not much differance in size or cable routing.

eh?

The psu is right up on top with the motherboard.

[CallmeRoth]

What I ment was this is just a normal case that has the psu on the bottom. Now take that case and rotate it 90°. I didnt mean the PSU was rotated, I ment the case was rotated.

[CallmeRoth]

You can actually get this case within standard dimensions but putting the disc drives below the motherboard. This way the case will be a bit higher but almost 5inches smaller in depth.

[5pl1n73r]

You can actually get this case within standard dimensions but putting the disc drives below the motherboard. This way the case will be a bit higher but almost 5inches smaller in depth.

The only problem with that would be that it would block the intake for the motherboard AND where would the HDDs go?

I realized how much simpler this case would be if I wasn't determined to keep all the intakes at the bottom and exhausts at the top... oh well.

[Eyedolon]

Well consider this. Most people have their case on the ground and alot of people don't have cases with the PSU at the bottom this means that the cables they use have to reach all the way to halfway down the case... on my design it has to reach the top and bend in. I figure it's just about the same cable length for most of them maybe give or take 2 inches. For most people (I hope) it shoudn't be an issue.

Oh I'm not talking about the inside power cables, I'm talking about say from video card to display, from psu to wall, so on so forth. PSU to wall would probably be negligible, but say something like legacy PS/2 ports for a mouse would really be eaten into, having to run all the way forward inside the top shield.

The support bar was something like I was thinking of, but as you said having it hang straight down is likely better - the only concern is is the top metal strong enough to have a beefy video card (or two) effectively hanging off of it. IIRC the last GTX260 I ordered shipped at a weight of 4lbs.

For the alternate hard disk idea I was thinking something like a horizontal orientation, facing out to the side (with the cables pointed back towards the side that the mobo is mounted to), suspended halfway up the opening by just two horizontal rails, which it is screwed into. Such a design would have serious airflow above and below it, and especially if there was a plastic C-shaped clip to slide over the leading rail it would not impede airflow or collect too much dust.

I actually had the idea about the imbalance by thinking about my house's heating ducts and my ancient M-B's AC lines. In my house, my room, which is the furthest from the heating unit, has virtually no airflow from the heating vent. The opposite is true of one of the bathrooms, which seems to get the majority of the airflow. When we effectively covered that bathroom's vent with newspaper, the heating of the rest of the house increased dramatically because the air couldn't go out the easy path. The same principle applies in older cars with A/C, closing one vent increases the airflow out of the others.

To the best of my (limited) knowledge, the air flowing in would tend to take the first fan up simply due to that being the path of least resistance. The last fan would be pushing air indeed, but I would hazard the flow to be less then the first. I did miss the ventilation in the top panel, yes =).

[5pl1n73r]

Oh I'm not talking about the inside power cables, I'm talking about say from video card to display, from psu to wall, so on so forth. PSU to wall would probably be negligible, but say something like legacy PS/2 ports for a mouse would really be eaten into, having to run all the way forward inside the top shield.

Well I measured the length from the cable entrance at the top back of the case to the very farthest edge of the I/O shield plate... 1' 4"... So yes It would eat up quite a bit of cable. I guess when picking out a case there are always considerations. Motherboard size restrictions, Video card size restrictions, CPU cooler size restrictions, Power supply size restrictions and others. This has just got to be one thing that everyone that wants a 90 degree motherboard case will have to consider... I don't see a way around it...

For the alternate hard disk idea I was thinking something like a horizontal orientation, facing out to the side (with the cables pointed back towards the side that the mobo is mounted to), suspended halfway up the opening by just two horizontal rails, which it is screwed into. Such a design would have serious airflow above and below it, and especially if there was a plastic C-shaped clip to slide over the leading rail it would not impede airflow or collect too much dust.

Hmm I'm not much of a verbal visualizer. any chance you can make a rough draft in sketchup?

I actually had the idea about the imbalance by thinking about my house's heating ducts and my ancient M-B's AC lines. In my house, my room, which is the furthest from the heating unit, has virtually no airflow from the heating vent. The opposite is true of one of the bathrooms, which seems to get the majority of the airflow. When we effectively covered that bathroom's vent with newspaper, the heating of the rest of the house increased dramatically because the air couldn't go out the easy path. The same principle applies in older cars with A/C, closing one vent increases the airflow out of the others.

To the best of my (limited) knowledge, the air flowing in would tend to take the first fan up simply due to that being the path of least resistance. The last fan would be pushing air indeed, but I would hazard the flow to be less then the first. I did miss the ventilation in the top panel, yes =).

Hmmm but your house probably has on giant fan creating the airflow for all the vents... take that out and replace it with a fan at each vent and each one will have whatever airflow that fan can provide... I think. I'm really just talking out my ass... I really need to find a physics guy... I think I know one on a another forum. I'll ask him.

[judge56988]

I actually had the idea about the imbalance by thinking about my house's heating ducts and my ancient M-B's AC lines. In my house, my room, which is the furthest from the heating unit, has virtually no airflow from the heating vent. The opposite is true of one of the bathrooms, which seems to get the majority of the airflow. When we effectively covered that bathroom's vent with newspaper, the heating of the rest of the house increased dramatically because the air couldn't go out the easy path. The same principle applies in older cars with A/C, closing one vent increases the airflow out of the others.

To the best of my (limited) knowledge, the air flowing in would tend to take the first fan up simply due to that being the path of least resistance. The last fan would be pushing air indeed, but I would hazard the flow to be less then the first. I did miss the ventilation in the top panel, yes =).

Hmmm but your house probably has on giant fan creating the airflow for all the vents... take that out and replace it with a fan at each vent and each one will have whatever airflow that fan can provide... I think. I'm really just talking out my ass... I really need to find a physics guy... I think I know one on a another forum. I'll ask him.

Air behaves in much the same way as electricity and water in that it will take the path of least resistance when flowing from a high to a low pressure environment. The air being exhausted by the fan furthest from the intake will usually encounter more resistance from obstacles and friction on it's way through the case. Therefore to equalise the airflow, the furthest fan would need to operate at a higher static pressure to overcome the extra resistance. Alternatively you could introduce more resistance to the flow in the most direct path. It would be virtually impossible to calculate the flow pattern so a trial and error approach would be the way to go. The only way of getting air to go somewhere it doesn't want to, is to force it, either with ducting or strategically placed fans.

In this instance all the intake fans are essentially open to the atmosphere and would all get the same amount of air through them.

(This is based on my distant memories of studying mine ventilation at college years ago, I'm sure your physicist could give a better explanation)

[5pl1n73r]

Okay I fixed the airflow problem without sacrificing too much sound (I hope) I just basically opened up the bottom with lot's of ventilation... this should provide enough airflow for all the fans right?



I also, at your suggestion, replaced the fan controller with a 3.5" drive bay... I couldn't fit a 5.25". Unless you have another idea of what you would like to see there.



I guess I was always planning on having a version with a door and a version without and I was just wondering for the version with a door should I extend it up over the new 3.5" drive bay?

[thejamppa]

Maybe those designs could be dropped to Antec design depertment or something... Looks very nice case ^^ I'd buy one for sure.

[5pl1n73r]

Maybe those designs could be dropped to Antec design depertment or something... Looks very nice case ^^ I'd buy one for sure.

Honestly I wouldn't even care to get money for it. If someone just built the darn thing that would be awesome. Hell if any of you guys know of a site (I have looked) or someone personally who can build cases in pretty good quality I would pay them to build me one.