Building small ATX tower

[nimbyfaygo]

I decided to build an ATX tower that will hold a Coolermaster 212, GTX275, full size power supply, DVD drive, and card reader.
This is my first Iteration of the case. Mostly trial and error, and to test fitment and cooling of the components. I have a 140mm NXZT fan in front, with exit being the 120mm power supply fan.
Painted with some cheap spray cans.

I used 3m tape to attach an old bay cover to the front of the DVD drive.

Here I have used the side of a mesh trash can to make fan grilles. I simply cut out the piece, and hammered it until I had the shape I wanted. It only took about 15 min per grille.

As you can see, the front grille is finished.

Upper grille. I had to add a fan on top to help keep the GPU's cool. I'm using this to fold 24x7.

Here I have finished with the "body work" and I sprayed the case with Shopline filler primer.

These pic's are pretty bad, but its an experimental paint color. PPG 1 part Platnium, and 3 parts PPG gloss Black.
I'm going to sand it down again, and go with Black and White, similar to the first finish.

 

[Greg-O]

Nice work, one question is that spray painted plexi glass? not hating just curious.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

1/4in MDF board.

 

[criccio]

Subbed. Looks pretty cool.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

I have the "mostly" permanent color scheme that I'm going to go with.
I just want to add, that I'm NOT a professional painter, and I'm using sub par equipment. I'm using a Lowes brand mini sprayer.
I'm quite happy with the results, and I believe that this is the smallest a full ATX case can be using full size parts.
I'll be taking it back apart eventually to wet sand and buff the case.

Regardless of the insane orange peel to sand out, its pretty reflective.

See in this pic that everything fits quite nicely. I didn't take into consideration cable management so not much room for the cables.
I didn't bother with making the paint on the inside nice, mainly because its a closed case.

And finally some good lighting outside.

 

[PixelsGC]

Loving the case man, Simple Clean and elegant! That is a Perfect case bro. Good job so far!

 

[nimbyfaygo]

Crap it's a big fan! Its a match to the 140mm in front. All I have to do it add the white leds.
What to do what to do.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

I'm not real sure what I can do with this fan. There is room up top for me to mount it, provided that I flush mount it. I wouldn't be able to rear mount it on top, because it would hit the top of the motherboard.
That would mean that for me to keep it clean, I would have to cut off the top mounting tabs and flush mount the fan.
On the other hand I could mount a slim DVD drive facing the right side or top of the case.( Top mounted slot loader might be cool)
That would give me room for the fan on the right door, and a lot of breathing room for the video cards. (There is about .75" between the gtx275 and the front of the case. Considering the internal depth is 12.25" that leaves me enough room.)

Moving the DVD drive opens up the possibility of adding a window to the right door. Removing it completely is also an option, I have a usb drive that stays with my laptop, and I haven't even used the stupid drive since I last loaded win7.

I'm going to start getting some white LED's ready to go on the underside of the case. I've an idea that might work well, using a small plastic angle strip to run the length on both sides on the bottom. If I mount the LED's under the plastic strips it would help to diffuse the light and make it look like a glow. I think that simply using LED's to fire down would look tacky.

If that works I think that making some little frosted plastic "dots" to place in front of the Fan LED's would help smooth out the light.

Either way I'll have some updates done this weekend.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

Well, I don't have any build logs of this part. I have a real bad habit of forgetting the camera untill the very last minute.
I did some work this weekend, I installed a plexi window. I used .220 stock from home depot. I simply cut the plexi using a straight cut router bit, and flush mounted it using 3M double sided foam tape.

I ended up removing the DVD drive, due to the size of the case, and the amount of airflow being blocked.
I went back to using rear mounting for the front fan, I didn't really like the screws through the front of the case.
I mounted 2 white LED's in the bottom of the case, and I used a small frosted piece of plexi to make a diffuser for them.
I changed the way the door mounts to the case. I removed the screws, and used velcro to attach the door to some "shims" that I added to the inner walls. I ended up having a very difficult time getting the spacing for the door correct. I ended up getting frustrated and just accepting the results.

And last but not least, I decided on a new black and white paint scheme. This has been a learning experience for me, its nowhere near perfect but its a good start.
BTW I actually had to notch the back of the fan a little so it would clear the heatsink.
The tower usually sits on the floor next to the desk, I just have it sitting up to for pictures and testing.

 

[mrbrad]

Very clean, and I am a fan of the black/white design, in general. I was going to comment that the white area in front really hides the white optical drive, but I just realized that it's no longer there. One nitpicky thing: when you switched to white on the right side, though, the door-to-case edges are much more visible. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

Very clean, and I am a fan of the black/white design, in general. I was going to comment that the white area in front really hides the white optical drive, but I just realized that it's no longer there. One nitpicky thing: when you switched to white on the right side, though, the door-to-case edges are much more visible. Not sure how I feel about that.

I know, it drove me crazy trying to get the door and the case to align perfectly, somehow I warped the door. I don't have any idea how.

I'm going to remake the door. I'll keep the design the same as I like the way it came out. The bonus to making a new door, is that I can simply use all acrylic, and paint it accordingly.
That way I can also avoid the slight gap around the window. I'll also be able to keep the fan rear mounted including hiding the screws.

On a plus side, it does a very good job of cooling, and its not loud at all. I was able to turn the fan on the GXT275 down to 65% and still keep temps under 80c.
The 9600 is only running at 55c with the fan at 35% .
The processor is at 52c running at 4.1ghz, and the NB is at 54c
Keep in mind that I fold on it, and all the systems are running 100% 24/7

 

[zer0gravity]

It's a very different case look! Hope you keep adding too it!