DIY Wooden PC case info/advice thread.

ScrooLoose

The plan is to build my own wooden case from scratch, and i want it to be as silent as possible (without having to resort to water cooling), as little as resonance as possible and a good airflow
I'm not planning on building some "special" case, just the same shape as any other case but just a bit bigger probably.
I'm looking to build a case with a good looking finish, not some cheap plywood look.

Now what i'm asking is any sort of advice u guys can give me about anything i might come across building it.
I already got some ideas from the internet people who build wooden pc cases but any ideas, suggestions and whatnot u might have are welcome.

I particularly like some advice on soundproofing and minimizing resonance from all the components.

Some ideas:
- HD's suspended in air using rubber straps or normal strings or whatnot to avoid any resonance.
- Air intakes on the bottom for plenty of air (so the case is going to be on legs) with/without low noise fans to help it suck it in.
- "channels" to further improve the airflow in the case, this will require a bit of space i reckon.
- Use Plexiglas instead of wood what will result in a transparent case (will probably me next project if this wooden 1 proves fun to build )

I'm not planning on building anytime soon (although i have a knack for pushing to get things done when i have some idea in my head), i just want to get organized and get everything i might need before i start building.

I might have 1 or 2 weeks vacation in 3-4 weeks so that might be a good time to start

In the meantime post anything u might think i need to know/consider doing this. :cool:

Here's a quick sketch of the airflow design i'm aiming at, what do u think of the side fans in combination with bottom fans ?


Hmm i have the HD's placed vertically in the sketch, does that harm performance in any way ? bad for the disks health ?

nibble

Sounds like an interesting project, you seem to know where you're going. Suspending disks is always a good idea, it really can make a difference noise wise. I'd say stick with wood, acrylic can be hard to work with and not to mention it's difficult to pull of a clear case and have it look good. Nicely finished wood has a quality feel and look to it, timeless even. I presume by channels you mean some sort of ducting? This could be used to isolate cpu or gpu airflow. I wish you luck anyway.

ScrooLoose

Here's a quick sketch with a better use of side fans cooling the hd's (which are now in normal horizontal position) and providing air for the CPU cooler.



Thoughts ?

I realize the case is getting quite a bit wider then normal ones but i don't care really, as long as it gets good cooling this way.

nibble

I'd isolate the cpu completly if possible, maybe have the side intake with a curved duct to the heatsink. What hardware is going inside? Depending on the HD's you might not need active cooling on them at all, just some ventilation.

ScrooLoose

Well i pretty much finished the design except for the front and side panels :rolleyes: , i think it looks good (as a concept on paper anyway)




The 80mm fan at the GPU is going to be a bit "above" the GPU from this angle, plenty of room for that anyway since the case is going to be a fair bit wider then normal cases (22cm?) i will prolly hit the 30cm mark
not really happy about the palcement for the 120mm fan behind the CPU cooler, it's going to be lowered a bit prolly, we will see if thats possible once i actually begin constructing.

The DvD tray will be a tricky 1 to get right i think + button.... i dont want to see the whole thing just the tray and the button.

Not sure how i will mount the HD's in the bottom yet, i was thinking of suspending them somehow but with 3 HD's (2x 500gb and 1x 150gb raptor) thats going to be tricky.
I do want to minimize resonance from them so something with rubber sounds good, think that will be deceided once i get to it at building.

As for the side panels.... i don't think i'll ad windows in it, i do want to do something with leds there.... prolly my initials or my interweb nickname on both sides.

As for case color.... I'm all ears for idea's .... i'm thinking in a Black and white glossy paint theme of some kind w'll see :cool:

Theres also going to be a switch somewhere to turn the fan leds off.... maybe in the front somewhere, plenty of space anyway.
Haven t decided on led color yet also, i think blue for the fans and then red for whatever i am going to do with the side panels.

Whaddayathink!?

KamiKazi

looks good, may i ask why your going for amd?

ScrooLoose

Because thats the gear i allready have
Allready a year old now :rolleyes:

L31mr0d

why are you making it so big? Why not make it as small as possible. Also that thing is going to be far from silent.

requiem1

This is a link to a guy who built a wooden case and theres loads of people on the forum doing similar things so give them a read

Link

It looks great and best of luck:D