Something occurred to me recently:
Considering the number of people who has tin snips/Dremel rotary tools and electronics knowledge, why aren't more people using generic electronic enclosures as their case? Are there pitfalls/disadvantages to doing that (vs. a project like, say, the breadbox PC) that I haven't yet considered?
Electronic Enclosure Pitfalls?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
I don't think I fully understand your question. Generic enclosures generally exist to meet certain specs (generic ATX typically), but aren't designed for anything. Brand name cases typically have a design in mind. Most are designed to cool hardware down as much as a case can. On this forum, we typically try to quiet our PCs as much as possible.
Oh. I'm just saying, is there any reason why people don't, say, buy something like a Hammond (http://www.hammondmfg.com/scpg.htm) or Serpac (http://www.serpac.com/) "electronic enclosure" (essentially a metal or plastic box that a "circuit board" can fit in) for their cases instead of buying a ready-made one?
Granted, there are no pre-made cutouts for switches, ports, LEDs, fans, or anything like that, but I was sure some of the members of this fourm is totally capable of building a usable computer case "from scratch" using these things... I'm just wondering if anyone ever tried or can think of any reason why it's a bad idea, is all.
Granted, there are no pre-made cutouts for switches, ports, LEDs, fans, or anything like that, but I was sure some of the members of this fourm is totally capable of building a usable computer case "from scratch" using these things... I'm just wondering if anyone ever tried or can think of any reason why it's a bad idea, is all.
It's a simple matter of time, and return on that time.
You could take even a mediocre case, and with one of two modifications, greatly improve it.
With something like a serpac, just imagine the list of things you have to do to it to even make it into a mediocre case. You need to make mounts for mobo, Hdd's, CD's, PSU's, cut holes for optical drives, mount want wire switches and leds, cut slots for PCI's and AGP's, cut a backpanel opening for connectors, cut an opening for the PSU, cut openings got intakes and exhausts. I'm sure there's more, that's just what sprung to mind. And after all that the chances are that it will only perform as well as a $20 generic case.
But I do see the usefulness of custom enclosures for non-standard pc's. Putting something like a mini-its mobo into an ATX case is just as wasteful.
You could take even a mediocre case, and with one of two modifications, greatly improve it.
With something like a serpac, just imagine the list of things you have to do to it to even make it into a mediocre case. You need to make mounts for mobo, Hdd's, CD's, PSU's, cut holes for optical drives, mount want wire switches and leds, cut slots for PCI's and AGP's, cut a backpanel opening for connectors, cut an opening for the PSU, cut openings got intakes and exhausts. I'm sure there's more, that's just what sprung to mind. And after all that the chances are that it will only perform as well as a $20 generic case.
But I do see the usefulness of custom enclosures for non-standard pc's. Putting something like a mini-its mobo into an ATX case is just as wasteful.