Gauging Interest for Wooden Micro-ATX Cases

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Spotswood

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Is there any interest here for a micro-ATX made out of wood? I'm trying to gauge whether there is a market for such a thing, especially if the cost turns out to be quite a bit more than most of the mATX cases that get recommended here on this forum.

If you think its a good idea then please tell me what the case must have and must not have. And if you hate the idea, let me know that too. :D

Thanks!
Rich
 
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IMHO wood retains temperature too much (for instance - saunas are always made of wood); I can't imagine having a box made of wood as a computer case. I applaud your enthusiasm but I don't think it's a good idea myself. :eek:
 
zero2dash said:
IMHO wood retains temperature too much (for instance - saunas are always made of wood); I can't imagine having a box made of wood as a computer case. I applaud your enthusiasm but I don't think it's a good idea myself. :eek:
Click to expand...

+1

only reason i would use a wood case is to "hide" it in a setting where stero casing(like HTPC cases) or a normal case wouldnt use....though some wood cases do look good IMO
 
zero2dash said:
IMHO wood retains temperature too much (for instance - saunas are always made of wood); I can't imagine having a box made of wood as a computer case. I applaud your enthusiasm but I don't think it's a good idea myself. :eek:
Click to expand...

actually, case material has a negligible effect on case temperatures relative to airflow and heatsinks. The more pressing issue would be grounding; making sure all the usual grounding methods are maintained. This would easily be solved by building a wooden frame around a removable metal motherboard tray/backplate.

Would have to see some sample renders though.
 
kencheeto said:
actually, case material has a negligible effect on case temperatures relative to airflow and heatsinks
Click to expand...

I disagree; metal cases seem like they release heat slightly, depending on material. (Aluminum being better than steel in this regard, since it's thinner.)

Problem #2 I see with a wood case is weight. You'd have to use at least 1/2" thick wood for the frame itself (you could do the outside in 1/4" or 1/8" probably), but that's going to add quite a bit of weight. I'm not a wood crafter or a carpenter by any means, but I've built several arcade joysticks with wood boxes and they're not light...and size wise that's peanuts compared to a computer case.
 
zero2dash said:
I disagree; metal cases seem like they release heat slightly, depending on material. (Aluminum being better than steel in this regard, since it's thinner.)
Click to expand...

Disagree all you want, the effect is close to zero. Given two cases where the only difference is material, I doubt you'd even see half a degree difference as long as airflow is maintained.

Problem #2 I see with a wood case is weight. You'd have to use at least 1/2" thick wood for the frame itself (you could do the outside in 1/4" or 1/8" probably), but that's going to add quite a bit of weight. I'm not a wood crafter or a carpenter by any means, but I've built several arcade joysticks with wood boxes and they're not light...and size wise that's peanuts compared to a computer case.
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Weight shouldn't really be a huge issue; you won't be getting cases in the LL weight class but Antec and other manufacturers make plenty of heavy ass steel cases.
 
Though I love the look of wood, I don't quite know if it's enough to substantiate the cost of a quality wooden case.

Also, if I were to spend money on a wooden case, I might as well have some fun and build it myself (though your craftsmenship is probably infinitely better than mine).

Personally, I woulnd't care much about its weight or heat retension (even if these are problems); instead, a few things I'd look for are simplicity, mod-ability, cost effectiveness.
 
I would only like a wood case to have equivalent features to other chassis. If I picked a wood chassis it would have to have:
- CPU retention hole
- Modular removable drive bays
- Simple tool free internals (no wood screws)
- Modular fan attachment points
- Water cooling support for 240 or 120mm radiators
- 8 PCI slots
 
Icejon,

I've never seen a micro ATX case with 8 expansion slots. I think your expectations are unrealistic.
 
Spotswood, not sure which micro ATX market segment you're aiming for since there are two; those who want LAN boxes/tiny PCs that house full-size vid cards, and those who just want small PCs that use integrated/onboard graphics. I'd be in the market for both if the price was reasonable and the quality was solid. Here would be my reqs list for the LAN box:
  1. Can house a 12"+ vid card. Heck, lets call it 13 inches just to give some breathing room for near-future gpus
  2. 2x 12cm fan intakes, minimum. Larger fans and/or another 1-2 intakes preferred.
  3. no case fans smaller than 120mm. Big 'uns or not at all.
  4. at least 1x 12cm exhaust fan. I'd prefer to use a Corsair H50 so room for huge-ass CPU coolers isn't important to me, but probably will be to other [H] members. Also, feel free to use unusual mounting schemes for the fans as seen in Langear's Da Box 100.
  5. good airflow to the CPU and vid cards.
  6. dust filters for the intake fans (and PSU if it's sucking in air via an external duct). Pain in the ass to integrate into an SFF case, but it can be done. This requirement is not a deal breaker, but having it would be a HUGE bonus in my eyes. Like, I'd pay extra to have it vs not.
  7. mounting locations forl 1 ssd and 2-3 hdds.
  8. maximum of two external bays. 2x 5.25 or 1 being a 3.5" doesn't matter to me.
  9. not a requirement, but in the interest of conserving space, it might be nice to have room for only a single slot load external DVD/BR drive and you can skip the other external bays. This would probably limit interest though because it would require many users to buy a new optical drive.

If you're looking for more ideas, Spotswood, do a search at bit-tech.net or the ars technica forums. In fact, ya might do well to post this in those places as well to get a few more people interested since both those sites have a solid demographic for this stuff. Also, I gotta mention the king of wood cpu cases, the stylish slipperyskip. If you need any help, he's pretty friendly from what I've seen.


zero2dash said:
IMHO wood retains temperature too much (for instance - saunas are always made of wood); I can't imagine having a box made of wood as a computer case. I applaud your enthusiasm but I don't think it's a good idea myself. :eek:
Click to expand...
kencheeto said:
actually, case material has a negligible effect on case temperatures relative to airflow and heatsinks...
Click to expand...
zero2dash said:
I disagree; metal cases seem like they release heat slightly, depending on material. (Aluminum being better than steel in this regard, since it's thinner.)
Click to expand...

Aluminum cases vs steel make zero, yes zero, difference in temps and this has been proven beyond any doubt by silentpcreview. Google it. As for wood, kencheeto is right. Perhaps if you run your computer hard all day during the summer in a humid climate, maybe you'll see a degree or two of difference, but it's unimportant enough to be irrelevant to all but the most aggressive overclockers. Shielding/grounding/dust etc are more important factors, and even those are situational given how many hardware sites run open benches or mount computers to a board for testing


Icejon said:
- 8 PCI slots
Click to expand...
dijgizmo is right, 8 slot micro ATX mobos don't even exist because that is not part of the micro ATX specification. The max allowed is 4.
 
Disregard the haters. Go for it. If you get a slick design I will purchase one. I have been toying with the idea of building a wooden case. I have some cases laying around with slide out MB & psu trays. I would just use the metal chassis and construct a wooden frame around them in my project. Then again I have not started mine other than dream planning.
 
I have a wood case. Curly cherry.

The front has a DVD drive opening. The power switch is a very small push button on the side.

8 Sata hard drives, 3 IDE hard drives, IDE DVD drive.

8 USB ports and the usual output ports on the rear. Might have as many as 5 expansion slots in the back. 7 USB HDTV tuners.

2 120mm fans on each side set to slow.

Temps are reasonable. Noise is reasonable.

Lovely
 
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions!

I'm currently working on a box shaped case design and am struggling with its height. Which do you prefer, a tall-ish case that can handle large heat sinks, or a shorter one? (The tall-ish design would have the power supply mounted over the expansion slots, otherwise the PS would be mounted above the IO plate.)
 
Spotswood said:
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions!

I'm currently working on a box shaped case design and am struggling with its height. Which do you prefer, a tall-ish case that can handle large heat sinks, or a shorter one? (The tall-ish design would have the power supply mounted over the expansion slots, otherwise the PS would be mounted above the IO plate.)
Click to expand...

Could you give us a rough guesstimate on the difference between the "tall-ish case" and the "shorter one"?

As long as the case is shorter than 24 inches or so, height doesn't bother me. In fact, I'd rather have a tall case w a small footprint rather than a short case that takes up more space in terms of depth/width/length. Something like a scaled down version of the Thermaltake Mozart cube or Lian Li pc-x1000 for mATX boards would be HOT. Even better would be if you could rotate the mobo 90 degrees w/ a bottom-to-top cooling layout as seen in the Silverstone FT02/RV02.
 
A while ago, I was very interested in wooden cases. But after being unable to find anything "affordable" on the market and finding the work involved to do a good job to be beyond me, I gave up and just got an Antec Fusion.

Anyway, what your case needs depends on the target market. If you go for the budget or mainstream PC market, most of the following doesn't apply. But if you consider the growing mid-range HTPC market, your kit needs to fit in with good quality living room furniture designed for holding electronic equipment like LCD/plasma TV stands and Hi-Fi receivers/amplifiers racks often made of high quality wood and glass.. Let's be realistic - average home theater type setups with proper surround sound either in the living room or a dedicated room, is likely to be complemented by furniture that doesn't say "computer person" to guests.

So your case, if you go for this market, needs to be made of good wood with a high quality finish and the end product must must blend in with living room furniture used for holding audio/visual equipment and must not look too 'flashy' (think lian-li not alienware)". And needs to be fairly quiet so look at 120mm intakes/exhausts. This is optional, but take note that a shorter horizonal setup tends to fit A/V racks and Plasma/LCD TV stands better than a vertical case (think Antec Fusion here).

As for prices, well, don't compare your prices to "computer" cases, it's going to have to be higher end but affordable. Think of A/V funiture prices as a guide.

p.s. I don't see the budget or mainstream PC market going for a wood case. They're likely to stick to steel/aluminium.
 
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echn111 said:
p.s. I don't see the budget or mainstream PC market going for a wood case. They're likely to stick to steel/aluminium.
Click to expand...

As long as Spotswood can make enough money from building these cases to be worth whatever he deems his time/effort to be valued, the "budget or mainstream PC market's" don't matter. The guy isn't Antec or Dell, this is clearly a niche product all the way.

Start small, think big. It's proven road to success.
 
Okay, here is a preliminary design. I would anticipate that this case would be very quiet because there are no external ventilation holes, other than a slot on the bottom front of the case to feed cool air to the front air duct.

xMicroATX2.jpg


xMicroATX2Bottom.jpg


xicroATX2back.jpg


xMicroATX2Top.jpg


I could build this case out of all wood, all aluminum or a combination of aluminum and wood.
 
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really your not that far off a yy 0221 (the case i have been useing forever)

13.4W x 17.3D x 13.4H

http://www.yycase.com/yy-0221.htm

where as yours is
12.21w x 14.75d x 9.67h (to the inside),

i don't know that i would call micro. as the storage space afforded by the yy is about the same as a full tower atx case... not trying to shoot it down or anything, i like the idea... but if your going this route, i figured maybe the yy would give you a little design inspiration
 
Spotswood, great pics. A thousand words indeed and the design looks good.

Pros:
~ definitely like the baffling idea for the front fans. Simple but effective.
~ all 120mm fans? HOT! I mean cool!
~simple design will make it easy for users to customize mod as needed, and should be easy to crank out w/ jigs

Things I'd like to see:
~ round off the external edges of the top and corner supports. Not a deal breaker though, some users might prefer squared edges and I can router 'em myself.
~ given the excess of room inside the case, another external bay would be nice for a fan controller/odd. If that's a problem, maybe room for a slot load dvd and 5.25 external could be a compromise. Even if the extra slot isn't used for an external drive, it could still serve as an internal ssd location since those don't need the cooling of a mechanical hdd.

Comments and musings:
~ it's a bit smaller than the nzxt rogue which may be too big for some people, mainly because of the footprint.
~ the 120 in front of the pci slots is gonna need to be positioned very carefully, and perhaps that fan could be replaced w/ a 140mm slot. This is because...
~ ...in your current pic, it looks like it'll prolly need to be slid as far to the left side of the case as possible to keep dualie gpu configs cool. In sli/xfire, the far left card might be in danger of starving for fresh air, especially w/o a side panel air intake.
~ maybe some recessed notches could be made to the bottom-side of the front panel area to allow for the placement of an air filter strip. Of course, that's assuming enough people even care about dust filters to make it worth the trouble.


Question" what program did you use to create those images?
 
coconutboy said:
Spotswood, great pics. A thousand words indeed and the design looks good.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

Pros:
~ definitely like the baffling idea for the front fans. Simple but effective.
~ all 120mm fans? HOT! I mean cool!
Click to expand...
Yes, all 120mm fans.
Things I'd like to see:
~ round off the external edges of the top and corner supports. Not a deal breaker though, some users might prefer squared edges and I can router 'em myself.
Click to expand...
The final design of the externals of the case is still up in the air i.e. I have waaaay too many ideas floating around in my head. No matter, I could work out the exterior of the design with the client on a case--by-case basis.
~ given the excess of room inside the case, another external bay would be nice for a fan controller/odd. If that's a problem, maybe room for a slot load dvd and 5.25 external could be a compromise. Even if the extra slot isn't used for an external drive, it could still serve as an internal ssd location since those don't need the cooling of a mechanical hdd.
Click to expand...
You SFF guys crack me up. "...excess room inside the case..", sheesh, yeah right.
I left some space between the PS and expansion slots and the external and internal drives. And you think that is too much room?

MicroATX2WastedSpace.jpg


MicroATX2WastedSpace2A.jpg

Comments and musings:
~ it's a bit smaller than the nzxt rogue which may be too big for some people, mainly because of the footprint.
~ the 120 in front of the pci slots is gonna need to be positioned very carefully, and perhaps that fan could be replaced w/ a 140mm slot. This is because...
~ ...in your current pic, it looks like it'll prolly need to be slid as far to the left side of the case as possible to keep dualie gpu configs cool. In sli/xfire, the far left card might be in danger of starving for fresh air, especially w/o a side panel air intake.
~ maybe some recessed notches could be made to the bottom-side of the front panel area to allow for the placement of an air filter strip. Of course, that's assuming enough people even care about dust filters to make it worth the trouble.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm, would the cfm of two gpu fans exceed that of the two 120mm intake fans?
Question" what program did you use to create those images?
Click to expand...
I used Google Sketchup.
 
Spotswood said:
You SFF guys crack me up. "...excess room inside the case..", sheesh, yeah right.
I left some space between the PS and expansion slots and the external and internal drives. And you think that is too much room?
Click to expand...

After seeing your pics from a different angle, I stand corrected. ;)

Also, I really, really, gotta recommend you post this at arstechnica as well as bit-tech.net or similar fora. Heck, even the anandtech boards would be a good place. Wood cases are such a niche thing that it's hard to drum up much interest from a single forum, but if word gets around there'll be a lot more people interested in buying from you. The arstechnica fora in particular isn't that great for case enthusiasts, but there is a heavy percentage of the over 30 tech industry crowd which would probably be a prime demographic for this kinda thing. At worst, I'll toss up a post for you as this project gets further along assuming you don't mind.
 
I would love to see black lacquered wood to go with my Jerker desk. So far from what I can tell, you're design is a somewhat modified (albeit improved) V351 which is a good thing. My biggest issues with the V351 are obviously the limited choice of CPU coolers, the lack of headroom above the expansion slots, and the 80mm fan. I would love to add third party coolers to my graphics cards but am somewhat limited to my choices because of the dual slot dimensions and lack of space above the cards. So far it seems you've addressed those issues.

Have you considered side mounting the 5.25" bay? Or maybe a tower style MicroATX (a la Antec NSK) case on Lian-Li style casters? I would love to see that. :D

Thinking of a case like the one on the bottom but much shorter and in black (taken from 2010 Workstation thread posted by NukeULater, thanks for the pic btw!):

_DSC9139.jpg
 
Just piping up to make sure you have room for the pci express power plugs on the video card between itself and that fan. The render angle may just be misleading me.
 
Spotswood said:
Oh I'm real good at making wood black and shiny.

LeftFront-480.jpg
Click to expand...

That looks much more interesting than the SFF case discussion :)

Is that a vent for a watercooling radiator up there? Any more details on this (or similar) cases?
 
echn111 said:
That looks much more interesting than the SFF case discussion :)

Is that a vent for a watercooling radiator up there? Any more details on this (or similar) cases?
Click to expand...

Yep, two 120x4 radiators are going up in the top. :D Hopefully, this case is the first of many to come. Here's another pic:

LeftFrontUncropped.jpg



The complete worklog is here.
 
I like the black wooden case mentioned. It is very nice. Is the motherboard tray removable from a thermaltake?
 
Try putting the PSU up on top (like a traditional case) Or by the GPU
eliminate the fan at the front of the gpu
install a vent for the gpu /and or PSU
allow for usb ports in the front lower left of the case (in line to the edge of the mobo)
Use slot load DVD and remove some of the height from the case
 
I lowered the case a wee bit, but then it grew when I added the bottom. This modular design provides an almost unlimited combination of materials and/or finishes e.g. brushed aluminum posts with black walnut top, bottom and sides, or wood posts with acrylic sides, or round posts with curved sides, etc.

LowMicroATX1.jpg


LowMicroATX2.jpg


:D
 
Dude that's kick ass rock on :D All that matters is that you like doing it and you do it good. I can see how that would be fun for sure
 
That's looking pretty good. So many ways to customize it for individual taste. Users can cut slots/vents as needed, and otherwise it's a solid layout. Me 'n' the woman are still case shopping, but there's a solid chance we'd go for one of these Spotswood, depending on price of course. I think what I'd do is ask you to make me one of metal/steel, and then I could line it with wood panels and inlays to really create something gorgeous.

I hope you're posting this in other forums to get some additional interest, this is great.
 
coconutboy said:
That's looking pretty good. So many ways to customize it for individual taste. Users can cut slots/vents as needed, and otherwise it's a solid layout. Me 'n' the woman are still case shopping, but there's a solid chance we'd go for one of these Spotswood, depending on price of course. I think what I'd do is ask you to make me one of metal/steel, and then I could line it with wood panels and inlays to really create something gorgeous.

I hope you're posting this in other forums to get some additional interest, this is great.
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So, how many hard drives (sizes?) would you like to see stuffed into this case? And would you want an illuminated power switch on the front, side, etc.?
 
Wow I really like the sound of round posts and curved sides. Make the unit look nice, smooth, and seamless.

I'd say the safest bet for number of hard drive spaces would be at least two. By the bye, that black case you posted earlier is freakn' gorgeous!
 
Spotswood said:
So, how many hard drives (sizes?) would you like to see stuffed into this case? And would you want an illuminated power switch on the front, side, etc.?
Click to expand...

For hdds I'd want 2x 3.5 minimum, and ideally it'd be

1x 2.5" or 3.5" for mounting an ssd
and
1x 3.5" for storage. 2-3 would be even better, but more important than the extra hdd bays is that the drives aren't so stuffed into the case as to inhibit airflow or make things such a tight fit that the case becomes a nightmare when trying to fit components.

Not sure about the power switch/leds etc hrmm.. It'd probably be better if I picked out those parts myself to customize the design, but on the other hand maybe if you get enough orders, you can get some kinda price break on switches/LEDs/wiring/etc.

I'll see what The Missus thinks since we''d probably build her a new system specifically for this case and I'd take her current gaming rig.
 
Spotswood said:
So, how many hard drives (sizes?) would you like to see stuffed into this case? And would you want an illuminated power switch on the front, side, etc.?
Click to expand...

i personally like the idea of 3x 3.5" drives, because if the HD cage has 4 sides, when you flip it sideways, it can handle 5x 2.5" drives.. be it SSD's or laptop hard drives.
 
I'm comfortable with having 2x 3.5" drives below the optical drive and 2-3 SSD drives above the expansion slots.

LowMicroATX4.jpg


LowMicroATX4a.jpg


I think in order to fit anything else would require increasing the size of the case somewhat (which I'm okay with) :D

MicroATXTower-1.jpg
 
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