Gauging interest in build-your-own case kits

I know you've moved on to building the mining cases (which are awesome btw!) but did you ever take these kits any further?

I've got a little custom build idea and had stumbled on your mining stuff and was think these would be perfect and even better in this kit form.

I want to create a small atx case with 90 degrees rotated motherboard (140w 305d 244h I think), which will then have the PSU over the majority of the mobo itself (at the top) and using a PCIe riser card to have the gfx card between it and the CPU cooler.

I know it sounds like a mad build idea, but with fans at the bottom I believe air flow will be good enough to allow this, as I'm fed up of having large case with lots of HDD & ODD slots that I just don't need.
 
I know you've moved on to building the mining cases (which are awesome btw!) but did you ever take these kits any further?

I've got a little custom build idea and had stumbled on your mining stuff and was think these would be perfect and even better in this kit form.

I want to create a small atx case with 90 degrees rotated motherboard (140w 305d 244h I think), which will then have the PSU over the majority of the mobo itself (at the top) and using a PCIe riser card to have the gfx card between it and the CPU cooler.

I know it sounds like a mad build idea, but with fans at the bottom I believe air flow will be good enough to allow this, as I'm fed up of having large case with lots of HDD & ODD slots that I just don't need.

I haven't abandoned this project just yet!

Your project sounds interesting. Let me know what you need, and I should be able to help you out.
 
Awesome, i'll look at finishing up my drawing plans then.

Basic idea is to build something like http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/351/images/Image_44S.jpg but not increasing the size past the ATX spec with the PSU covering the expansion slots and using a riser cable to allow a single GPU in between it and a cooler.

Then with fans at the bottom blowing cold air through it should be fine airflow wise as everything will be blowing out the top anyway.
 
wow Phunky that looks like a perfect layout idea for a compact case. Maybe a low profile optical drive can be squeezed between the PSU and graphics card for a drop-in style disc input, it would make a nice powerful HTPC.
 
I must admit i'm not 100% sure about the layout, ideally I want smallest possible foot print for an ATX setup.

If PSU & SSD went behind the mobo it would be a lot more flexible for at expense of slight size increase, i'm starting to think that maybe the PSU doesn't need to sit over the mobo as that would only effect the depth with this being a rotated mobo design.
 
I'm interested, I've always loved the Voodoo Omen but not the price tag though. Lately I've been thinking about this sort of build and came across this thread.

I've modded a G5, and just bought another to have another shot, but I think I'm liking this idea more.

Changes I would make from the Omen,

Reduce Alu thickness to 3mm,
3-4 120mm filtered fans along bottom with access to filter from front
Get rid of screen and allow for 3 ODD with nice coverplates(before you poo poo that, read below)
Remove top 3 HDD's and place power supply there
3-4 HDD rack, that can be placed in the ODD bay if you dont want ODD's, this would allow for a very long rad along the bottom, all in a case no bigger than a Fractal R3

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/87690-hp-voodoo-omen-desktop-pc/gallery

Thinkin out aloud!
 
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So is this still a possibility?

EDIT: Nevermind...I actually found your page whilst Googling other bench cases. I will be giving it some thought.
 
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Prototype external radiator box (3x120) with CaseLabs radiator side mount (no sheeting yet)

Open%20frame%20Radiator%20box%20Paneled%20for%20Sheeting%20v1.jpg


Proto360RadBoxNoSheetingwCLRadMount-640.jpg
 
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I wish you luck..

I had idea about 8 years ago to have one off custom airbrushed computer cases to sell based on an upcoming game release and I made 2 proto types .. as these was mock ups for base cost as I had a guy that was pretty good with an airbrush as these are custom painted .

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2003_01010124-1.jpg
 
Leveraging this build material to produce modular test benches, where the area to mount the motherboard is constant, but the width can vary for different size watercooling radiators.


For front 120x3 rad:
Small%20Tech%20Station%20Front2%20w%20Optical%20Cage-640.jpg



Front 140x3 rad:
Tech%20Station%20Front%20For%20140x3%20Radiator-640.jpg



And for 120x4 radiator:
Tech%20Station%20Front%20For%20120x4%20Radiator-640.jpg



Plus, multiple tiers:
Small%20Tech%20Station%20Front%20With%20Lower%20Tier-640.jpg
 
Here is a microATX case "frame", with a bottom PSU chamber and a Lian Li microATX motherboard tray.

microFront-410.jpg


Motherboard chamber measures 12-5/8 x 12-58 x 8-1/2-inches. PSU chamber is 4-3/4-inches tall.

microBackWithMBTray-410.jpg


microBehindMBTray-410.jpg


microHorizTop-410.jpg


These are completely modular, which allows you fasten the chambers together any way you want. So, how about a vertically oriented case?

microBackVertical-410.jpg


Or, add another chamber to the front, for a 360 radiator?

microSideWithFrontBox-410.jpg


microSideWithFrontBoxAnd360Rad-410.jpg


microHorizwRadTop-410.jpg



Pricing is still TBD. Trying to gauge interest in this idea.

Thoughts?
 
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Neat! I am not sure if it was mentioned earlier, and naturally that would increase the price, but anodized aluminum kits in different colors would be great!
 
Very cool idea. Kind of niche market but that is what we are. Tough but interesting.
 
Chambers can be attached even without adjacent beams/posts. Here is a PSU chamber attached to the side/bottom of a motherboard chamber.

With:
microBackVerticalSidePSU-410.jpg


Without (the top middle beam could also have been removed):

microBackVerticalSidePSUNoAdjacent-410.jpg


With:
microSideHorizBottomPSU-410.jpg


Without (the side middle beam could also have been removed):

microSideHorizBottomPSUNoAdjacent-410.jpg
 
I'll be building a frame for a small 3 slot rig next week. What design/layouts(s) do you guys want to see e.g. Nova, M1, Compact Splash, Parvum? Or, maybe a 3-slot version of an ATX-sized case?


Edit: SFX or ATX PSU?
 
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Hi, this is my first post in this thread as I just found it a few days ago.

What do you mean by a "3-slot version of an ATX-sized case"?
Do you mean an Mini-ITX case with 2 extra slots just like M1?

So far I have really liked the 10 HDD box in post #54 and also teh mATX case with bottom mounted PSU and a compartment for a dual rad in the front as in post #58.

I'm waiting for Nova to be manufactured but in the meantime I'd like to see a compact case that can accommodate a 12" x 10" motherboard (slightly larger than the ATX) board with an SFX PSU and mounting options for two sets of slim 240mm or 280mm rads + 25mm-thick fans on them. The PSU location will be similar to either M1/Nova (front top) or Compact Splash (across from the CPU). No long GPU cards in mind. I know I'm in the minority who want such a case, so have been thinking of modding an existing case.
 
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Hi, this is my first post in this thread as I just found it a few days ago.

What do you mean by a "3-slot version of an ATX-sized case"?
Do you mean an Mini-ITX case with 2 extra slots just like M1?

So far I have really liked the 10 HDD box in post #54 and also teh mATX case with bottom mounted PSU and a compartment for a dual rad in the front as in post #58.

I'm waiting for Nova to be manufactured but in the meantime I'd like to see a compact case that can accommodate a 12" x 10" motherboard (slightly larger than the ATX) board with an SFX PSU and mounting options for two sets of slim 240mm or 280mm rads + 25mm-thick fans on them. The PSU location will be similar to either M1/Nova (front top) or Compact Splash (across from the CPU). No long GPU cards in mind. I know I'm in the minority who want such a case, so have been thinking of modding an existing case.

What I meant by "a 3-slot version of an ATX-sized case", was to use the layout of an ATX (7 slot) case and reduce its size to a 3 slot, for example Lian Li's PC-A05 (bottom front mounted PSU, or one of Silverstone's vertically oriented mb cases, etc.).
 
Very nice, I'm interested to see what you come up with.

You can build anything you want, which is part of the problem. :D But, I figure I would start with a basic motherboard chamber sized appropriately to fit an SFX PSU and a CaseLabs 120.2/140.2 (240/280) radiator side mount.

My%20Micro%2015mm%20T-Slot%20Case%20V18.jpg


With an additional PSU chamber, that could then be easily transformed into a case with a layout similar to a Parvum or Carbide Air, or a HAF XB, or FT02, RV02, etc.
 
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I'd like to see an ATX case that's just tall enough to fit a low-profile video card and designed to accommodate a watercooling (at least aio, maybe full) setup. Was thinking radiator over cpu/ram, and two/three fans blowing air into the case from one side. Or one big (220mm+) fan over cpu/ram, and radiator along one side of the case.

I guess the only issue with that design would be the video card (if present) blowing all the air out before it gets to the radiator, or just constricting flow...but with (a big) enough fan(s) that shouldn't be an issue, imho.
 
Started to build another SFF case, mostly to verify that the CaseLabs IO bracket will work...

mITXBack1-640.jpg


mITXBackIOCU1-640.jpg


mITXVertSide1-640.jpg
 
this looks really good.... do you have prices? or are you just going to sell the pieces individually and you buy as much as you need?
 
this looks really good.... do you have prices? or are you just going to sell the pieces individually and you buy as much as you need?

I'm currently thinking that a pre-fab'd kit would be the way to go. With possibly the option to tweak the overall dimensions a bit.
 
I'm back on this project...First up is series of frames built around CaseLabs' 3-slot IO plate. (There will be others based on their 2-slot and 5-slot plates.)

mITXBackVert1-640.jpg


There will be horizontal and vertical oriented frames.

CaseLabs%203slot%20IO%20panel%20v6.jpg


The overall size of the frames will be available in 30mm increments. These will be tapped, drilled and milled (to accept square nuts, post assembly).
 
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