My supersilent wooden server/internet pc

Zorro · Post by **Zorro** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:54 am

Editor's note: Jani's wood case PC project is now a main SPCR DIY story.

revloc8 · Post by **revloc8** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:22 am

Looks beautiful! I really want to make a case like that myself, but right now I dont have the time, skills, tools, etc etc. I got a one month vacation from work comin up...maybe its time... Anyways, I got a few comments and questions for you, here they are in random order:
It looks to be quite big, what are the dimensions? Is there a reason you chose to make it so big?
Im not worried about EMI, but Ive heard lots of talk about it. Have you considered doing anything to lower EMI output?
How many hours did you put into it? Do you have professional tools at your disposal or just basic power tools?
Do you think it would be possible to build it without the use of a mobo tray? Im sure I could get my hands on one, but I think it would look really nice to go without one.
You dont have to answer my questions...mostly Im just curious. Thanks

Zorro · Post by **Zorro** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:37 am

revloc8 wrote:Looks beautiful! I really want to make a case like that myself, but right now I dont have the time, skills, tools, etc etc. I got a one month vacation from work comin up...maybe its time... Anyways, I got a few comments and questions for you, here they are in random order:
It looks to be quite big, what are the dimensions? Is there a reason you chose to make it so big?
Im not worried about EMI, but Ive heard lots of talk about it. Have you considered doing anything to lower EMI output?
How many hours did you put into it? Do you have professional tools at your disposal or just basic power tools?
Do you think it would be possible to build it without the use of a mobo tray? Im sure I could get my hands on one, but I think it would look really nice to go without one.
You dont have to answer my questions...mostly Im just curious. Thanks

Thanks a lot! I made the case very big to fit my decorations and also because then I could fit a large watercooling system completely inside

Can't remember the exact dimensions but I think they were: 100cm (H), 60cm (D), 29cm (W)

I thought about soldering a wire from the mobo tray to the drive bays and from the mobo tray to the powersupply's metal plate. Many people have made their cases completely w/o metallic mobo tray so I think it's way possible.

I put propably 200-250hours to this project. I don't have really pro tools because I'm just a amateur with woodwork. I had a small upright drill and a milling cutter. Of course i had all the basic tools like hammer, hand-held drill, jigsaw etc.

edit: I misremembered the width, it was 29cm instead of 25cm

Candor · Post by **Candor** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:38 am

A really beautiful case! And planning to fit watercooling inside? That's just neat.
How are your temps? I'm particularly curious about your hard drive, because it seems to be separated from airflow. Come to think of it, I'm definitely a bit confused about the airflow in general inside this thing. Where does it come in?
And the cabinet at the bottom... Is that to house the watercooling?

Anyhow, it's got a really great look, and I bet it insulates sound really well. With all that space, you could do some major dampening, and make it as quiet as temperatures will allow. Nice work.

Zorro · Post by **Zorro** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:05 am

Candor wrote:A really beautiful case! And planning to fit watercooling inside? That's just neat.
How are your temps? I'm particularly curious about your hard drive, because it seems to be separated from airflow. Come to think of it, I'm definitely a bit confused about the airflow in general inside this thing. Where does it come in?
And the cabinet at the bottom... Is that to house the watercooling?

Anyhow, it's got a really great look, and I bet it insulates sound really well. With all that space, you could do some major dampening, and make it as quiet as temperatures will allow. Nice work.

The harddisk temp-sensor never normally shows a reading over 30C. Now because my room temp is high (about 30C) the hdd seems about 40C

The air comes in through the bottom. I was waiting for the first comment about the cabinet. The cabinet has nothing to do with the actual case, I just inserted it into the case as a platform for the hdd, because I didn't have enough long cables for putting that hdd to the bottom of the case.

I have been thinkin about dampening the case completely but haven't really done anythin to accomplish the goal

Zorro · Post by **Zorro** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:15 am

added shitloads of pictures

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:17 am

Air is also entering in through the top intake and open PCI slots. It's a negative pressure case, with two exhaust fans pulling air outside to the rear (one case fan and the PSU fan). The negative pressure turns all other openings into intakes.

Anyway, lovely case! A nice, solid piece of serious hardware!

Zorro · Post by **Zorro** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:25 am

IsaacKuo wrote:Air is also entering in through the top intake and open PCI slots. It's a negative pressure case, with two exhaust fans pulling air outside to the rear (one case fan and the PSU fan). The negative pressure turns all other openings into intakes.

Anyway, lovely case! A nice, solid piece of serious hardware!

Thanks! The airflow changes quite a bit if I'd put all intake fans (there are holes for three 120mm fans on the bottom of the case)

acyf · Post by **acyf** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 2:00 pm

Sorry, I don't think it's that eye-pleasing, probably due to the choice of wood. And it looks massive.

Gorsnak · Post by **Gorsnak** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 2:27 pm

Massive is good if you're trying to contain the sound, and aesthetics are subjective. So long as Jani likes the appearance, it's all good.

Nice work!

(possibly coming soon to a message board near you - Doug's Quiet Wood Case: HTPC Edition)

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:33 am

Seeing all these wooden PC case builds makes me think we should start a letter-writing campaign to PBS and Norm Abrams for a special episode of New Yankee Workshop. That, or I should stop posting at 4:30am...

cAPSLOCK · Post by **cAPSLOCK** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:25 am

Nice work, have you thought of putting some filtration on those bottom intakes? It's likely to act as a vacuum cleaner and fill your case with dust

I have a similar harddrive and I was scared of completely enclosing it since I had no way to see if it was overheating or not. I might just do that now though

DrCR · Post by **DrCR** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:16 am

Nice job.

Yeah, some sort of filtration is needed. A "pantyhose" filter should do the trick, or you could look into Bluefront's more advanced filter techniques.

Really nice to have so much space for a watercooling setup. A concrete&foam enclosed MD-20Z should fit in there...

sando · Post by **sando** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:07 am

Nice build, might have to give something like this a bit of a go at some point. Where did you get that motherboard tray and pci card holder?

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:37 am

Very cool.

Zorro · Post by **Zorro** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:07 am

sando wrote:Nice build, might have to give something like this a bit of a go at some point. Where did you get that motherboard tray and pci card holder?

I ripped the mobo-tray etc from an old atx-case. Thanks for comments

picture_perfect · Post by **picture_perfect** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:05 am

some birds-eye maple all over would be nice (and expensive).

one question. iv seen a couple wood cases here with no mention of motherboard grounding. just wondering if you experience any erratic behavior or connection problems.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:34 am

iv seen a couple wood cases here with no mention of motherboard grounding. just wondering if you experience any erratic behavior or connection problems.

This issue has cropped up in other wood case threads; IIRC the PSU serves as the ground and as long as your cooling is adequate you should not have any (more) problems than you would have in a normal steel case.

Gorsnak · Post by **Gorsnak** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:30 am

All those black wires in the 20-pin ATX connector? Those are grounds. If you like, you could run an extra wire between the psu chassis and a mobo mounting hole, but I haven't found it to be necessary.