• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Worklog: the SuperLan case

K

kronchev

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Feb 23, 2001
Messages
12,051
Background: I have a computer. I dont have a case I like. I cant afford a good case. At the same time, I like to LAN. I will at whim carry my comp to a friends house for the night. However, I am lazy. I wasnt too happy lugging even an LCD and normal case. So I decided: lets satisfy EVERYTHING. I will make a nice, all-in-one computer, which will have everything I can think of in it, and will look damn nice.

Part 1: "Planning"

I had used the alum cases from Home Depot before. I had the old style one, which they dont sell anymore. Luckly, I helped a friend do a mod with the new style ones, which is the exact same one as I acquired.

caseout.jpg


Not bad. Comes with a kickass carrying strap which feels secure enough. A little small, but its good.

What I am putting in this case SO FAR. I will undoubtly find other stuff to cram into this :D

Asus A7N8X Deluxe
AMD Barton 2500+
1 gig PC2700
1 80 gig HD
Radeon 9600
500 watt PSU
Wireless NIC or PCI card (more below)
Possibly a router
Compaq 15 inch LCD, model 5010

No CD drive, you say? Right now, I cant see where I'll put it. CD drives are the one thing I cant take apart and fudge around with really. They need their space, and they usually need to be horizontal.

One thing about this case, is that the top will always be open. This is good for cooling and for stealth, as I wont need to cut ANY blowholes. I SHOULD, but I'm not going to. Right now I have no fans in my case except the HSF (Zalman 7000CNPS AlCU and my system temp is 96, sitting here. It should be fine.

And about the wireless...I have both a card and USB dongle. Well, I dont have the dongle yet. Its on the way. The dongle, obviously takes up the least amount of space. The PCI card, doesnt have an internal antenna, so needs this weird lookin thing hooked up to it. Its not a big card at all, its tiny, but that antenna is a little weird for me. If the USB is good enough (and by good enough, I mean I can get into my router wirelessly from down the hallway), then Ill just make an internal USB bracket.

OK, so more pics.

caseintop.jpg


caseinbot.jpg


The case open. Notice I stripped the foam off the top. I probabily will for the bottom, but the first thing I'm doing is mouting the LCD. The plan is to get a board, put the screws in headwise into the board, and then epoxy the mount in place. The screens will be attached by the nuts (sounds painful :p). Also notice that the case its really just thin alum over wood. The wood is damn strong so I am not concerned, and this is good for modding: working with wood is hella easier than working with metal.


LCD Front, thats a piece of hair on the top left:

lcdfront.jpg


LCD Back:

lcdback.jpg


LCD Side:

lcdside.jpg


A quick show of it in the case. That scratch on the bottom right...is real. It came like that. Damn you $100 on ebay:

lcdin.jpg


And finally, a quick outline of the basic layout:

wizadry.jpg


I won't be cutting out the IO ports. Although this will be open when being used, I dont want wires coming in and out of it when its hooked up; so I will be making extensions. The monitor will hook in inside the case, no need for any kind of port; one of the USB will be fed into a 4 port hub that will have an opening. I will extend one of the network jacks. The PS/2 is tricky. I need to find pretty short extending cables. Not impossible, but I dont have any on hand. I dont think Ill extend out the serial or parallel ports, although I do have a serial extender if I want it. Finally, I have a bulgin switch I will be using for power and HD light.

Part 2 to come sometime in the next week, I will be going away for the weekend
 
Originally posted by monster.under.thebed
i personaly would never take apart a lcd monitor, to much money just to throw away if i mess it up...
Click to expand...

Hes l337, hes not going to mess up!

btw cool so far..
 
No offense but, why is it everyone builds their breifcase PCs into these cheap-assed cardboard cases? For the amount of time it is going to take plus the dollar value of the parts I just don't understand.
 
looks like it could turn out pretty nice.

i've always wanted to do something similar to a monitor, but first i'd need an lcd and a big enough monitor.

good luck.
 
Originally posted by PS-RagE
No offense but, why is it everyone builds their breifcase PCs into these cheap-assed cardboard cases? For the amount of time it is going to take plus the dollar value of the parts I just don't understand.
Click to expand...


$$$

I found nice real alum cases online for $50 but I really am trying to do this on a budget. I get what you mean though.
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
Have you though about using wireless keyboard/ mouse?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-126-124&catalog=63&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1
Click to expand...

Yeh, I did. I'm selling a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse of my friends, I was thinking of just buying them from him. But theyre $80, and don't work without drivers (so no BIOS or windows setup), and theyre kinda big. I have a small 88 key keyboard and a microsoft optical mouse, thats all I need.

I may however buy a bluetooth adapter for like $20, and have it in there, just so I can say its there :D
 
Originally posted by kronchev
Yeh, I did. I'm selling a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse....
Click to expand...
The Logitech ones don't have that problem- atleast thats what I've seen from my friends setup.
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
The Logitech ones don't have that problem- atleast thats what I've seen from my friends setup.
Click to expand...

I know, this is the Microsoft one, which not only doenst have hardware bluetooth, but also has a dongle which doesnt work with other devices. as in, its only bluetooth for the keyboard and mouse. my friend replaced it with the logitech one, in fact im at his house typing on it right now.
 
It would be awesome if you had a little compartment in the suitcase to fit the keyboard and mouse so all you had to do is plug in the power and lan cable in the back :D

Also, you should consider finding a way to put a power strip internally so you would only have one power plug to drive all the peripherals while always having surge protection on board.
 
Originally posted by killernoodle
It would be awesome if you had a little compartment in the suitcase to fit the keyboard and mouse so all you had to do is plug in the power and lan cable in the back :D

Also, you should consider finding a way to put a power strip internally so you would only have one power plug to drive all the peripherals while always having surge protection on board.
Click to expand...

I do only need one plug, everything goes into the PSU.
 
might i suggest when you mount the LCD that you get a piece of plexi cut to fit the whole top of the case. Than paint it silver / black / a solid color, so that you get rid of that ugly wood inside of the suitcase. It'd look rad that way.

but you may have already intended to do that :) can't wait to see more!
 
Update-ish thing:

I am sitting here waiting for my gluegun to heat up.I'm about to attach the inverters and controller board to the back of my LCD. I'm using standoffs for spacing :D

I have decided that for now, the vid card wont be plugged in, since its too tall. Until I get 90 deg AGP connector, that is.

Once I get this in,I'll try to find some board for the screws

This is slow going, but I want it to be done well,dammit.
 
Originally posted by NickTheNut
might i suggest when you mount the LCD that you get a piece of plexi cut to fit the whole top of the case. Than paint it silver / black / a solid color, so that you get rid of that ugly wood inside of the suitcase. It'd look rad that way.

but you may have already intended to do that :) can't wait to see more!
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing, Cut a hole in the top and have the LCD facing outwards so that you don't have to open the case. It'd be cool with a piece of plexi like Nick said, and if your feeling up to it, you could get a thicker piece, and us a table router around the edges so that the plexi fits perfectly flush with the briefcase, then mount the LCD behind it. It'd offer protection and i think it's look absolutely awesome.

Sounds like a good plan, keep up the good work!
 
This would be ideal in your case, you could even put a PCI card in there for something. Too bad its $50.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
Similiar project I thought you'd like to see.
Click to expand...

that is the EXACT project that got me going to do this, I was even going to use a mini-itx board, but my friend said "what the hell, you dont have a real case for your computer and you cant do anything with the mini board, why waste all the space?"

also to everyone: I'm not going to mount the screen outwards because as I said, I am going for stealth. This should by all means look like a regular case on 99% of the exterior, except where there are the ports, and even then theres going to be just USB, PS/2, and power.
 
Killer: yeh I know, risers are horribly expensive

OK, another small update. I was planning on mounting the screen after I got home from school, but I had a killer headache and had to lie down before I passed out. Two hours later and i'm better, but its too late to go to my friends house (he was going to help).

I got the USB lan adapter in the mail today. I'm in my living room which is a floor down and the opposite side of my house and I'm getting full speeds. Low sig strength, but I am not having ANY connection problems. However, I do have a few PCI risers lying around, so I'm going to use the PCI card in that, and keep this for an upcoming mini-itx project, since that only has 1 PCI slot (2 at the most with the riser card).

I will be mouting the screen tomorrow after work so stay tuned!
 
Maybe you could hinge the LCD, so when you open it up, you can move it forward in the case, and have it more up front. So it's not like 4 feet from your head at a lan party.

Asf ar as keeping it closed, maybe usinga sheet of plexiglas to cover the top of the motherboard area would work nicely for that. Add in the fan holes to taste :)
 
You know I think if seen Risers at one place for pretty cheap...don't remember where, I'll look tomorrow morning.
 
Originally posted by mustang_steve
Maybe you could hinge the LCD, so when you open it up, you can move it forward in the case, and have it more up front. So it's not like 4 feet from your head at a lan party.

Asf ar as keeping it closed, maybe usinga sheet of plexiglas to cover the top of the motherboard area would work nicely for that. Add in the fan holes to taste :)
Click to expand...

Hmm I am diggin the hinged idea, but I dont know how I'd execute it...
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
You know I think if seen Risers at one place for pretty cheap...don't remember where, I'll look tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...

maybe in the FAQ? :confused:










;) :D
 
lcd.JPG

That is a view from the side, it would have the same thing mirrored on the other suide. The LCD is hinged in two places: on the slider and on the top of the other side of the suitcase.
What about this? I'm sure it can be made simpler, but this would be ideal. The stop would be adjustable so you can have the tilt just right, the spring is optional of course, but it might be cool for the case to partially open itself :D

EDIT: damn, lemme fix the pic.
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
Yeah thats the place I think. Maybe it was in the FAQ.
Click to expand...

...must...resist...urge...to...kill...







:p
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
my case:
2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg


Case is about 1.5-2 yrs old total life time, new mods since those pics include windowed psu & cdr/rw (cdrom sits on top now) with 2 seperate windows over the two. Custom acrylic faceplates for the the hdd's, 1 w/ front ports and a lcd, other with power switch/leds and a 4 inch cold cathode and some other lighting effects in the case...

But 1 question, relatively these cases aren't the strongest material (and expecially flimsy when opened up) and I don't see how your lcd will hold up over time without some heavy modding for support of the roof. You'd need some supprt that keeps the top from resting it's wieght on the rear. Some sort of rails or hydros that bolt to the lower portion sides, that stop the top before it goes all the way back? but then it'll conflict with the mounting of other hardware

And even if you run it open you'll need multiple blowholes on the sids or it will overheat, unless it may not if you have no cover over the components, but then it's just dust city +an accident waitng to happen w/everything out in open air...
 
punky: good point about the top. Ill probabily install some supports that swing up when its opened. Thanks for that advice

as for cooling, i had the mobo in a much more restricted case with 0 fans running, mounted sideways which does shit for heat dissapation, and processor only went over 100 full load when my room would get kind of warm. if it does turn out I need more cooling, Ill drop a fan or two in.
 
You know I was just thinking about this, How about gutting a Shuttle?
Since you don't have a lot of room you could mount one of those Shuttles in there .
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
You know I was just thinking about this, How about gutting a Shuttle?
Since you don't have a lot of room you could mount one of those Shuttles in there .
Click to expand...

for that you might as well just leave it as a shuttle ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top