Wood Case Design Questions

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adorecm

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Aug 21, 2006
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Updated design schematic a few post down


After several years of wanting to fabricate a wood case, I'm finally going to do it (I hope).
However, I need some advice...

My goal is to limit the case to no more than 13x12x11 (just big enough for a standard ATX case). I do not have the actual computer components (i.e. motherboard, etc.) to build the system, so I do not have exact measurements nor exact schematics. I will NOT have any optical drives in the computer -- just don't need one.

I also want this thing to be QUIET while idle.

Now, onto the pretty pictures (thanks to Google Sketch):
Wholecase
Top View
Top View w/ Sides
Top View no Sides
Side View (Cpu Side)
Airflow

Now my questions:
1) Do I have to mount the motherboard to a metal tray? From what I know, it is not necessary to do so; please correct me if I'm mistaken. [I will, of course, use standoffs and a quality power supply...]

2) Heat: you'll notice a bunch of circles underneath the motherboard; those are not fans. I'm planning on using a hole saw to cut several holes and then to conduct air from the top of the case down to the power supply/hard drive area.

If I do this, what type of fan arrangement do you think would work best? (i.e. where do I put the fans?)

3) Fans: I've looked online for a decent comparison of fans, but have only found stuff from pre-2002. Can anyone recommend quiet, yet decent cfm output fans?

4) Buttons: I've done a few searches of the forums, but have not discovered a thread that dwells on the electrical elements of making buttons. The case gallery has some amazing custom buttons, and I'd like to have some too. Does anyone have any links that explain the procedures and materials needed to make buttons?

If anyone has any advice or questions for me, please ask. I'd like this build to go as smoothly as possible. :)
 
1. I would use a motherboard tray from an old PC to be safe. Plus it would make it a whole lot easier.

2. I wouldn't cut those holes I would make 2 seperate chambers. One for HD optical drives and power supply. The second on to hold your motherboard. That way you are not heating up your cpu with all the other stuff. Remember heat rises.

3. Yate Loons d12sl-12 are highly rgarded for the silence. They are the only fans I use. Quiet and they move decent amount of air. jab-tech.com has them for $4 a fan so they are cheap also. If they don't move enough for you get panflo's. They move more air but they are a little noisier.

4. Sorry i can't help you with buttons. I know some of the casemodding stores have them. Might check some of them out.
 
I'd make a couple suggestions on your design:
--don't try to keep everything to 1 airflow path. I agree with therapist on this one, but simply because it'll be too hard to get as much airflow as you probably want if the path is that convoluted. Use that back panel by the CPU as an exhaust
--you might consider putting some sort of intake vent or somesuch over the PCI slot area. This'll let cooler air get in by your video card, then circulate around to your CPU before being exhausted. Do something similar in the bottom half, so the air goes in a vent, over the hard drives, and through the PSU
--If you're looking to minimize the size, you could put the hard drive(s) beside the PSU instead of in front of it. As in, underneath the CPU. That would let you shrink the front-to-back dimension to whatever the motherboard is.
 
as the first poster said use a motherboard tray(call antec or lian-li that should be your best bet unless you have one lying around)

use some noise reduction matting to put on the inside of the wood to reduce %age of fires or burn marks or excesive heat.(theres some other matting they use to put in the trunks of cars its silver with black text on it i would recommend that)

parts you are going to need:

matting for noise and heat reduction
mobo tray
3.5" cage for floppy and hdds.
5.25" cage for optical drives and such
rubber gromets and rubber seals for fans and powersupply
wood i would use 1/2" or 3/4" of cedar or plywood
jig saw
skill saw


well.. im sure you know the rest...

if you need any more help google wooden computer cases and look at what all they needed and used.
 
You CAN do without a motherboard tray. Make sure to use spacers with your screws/bolts to keep the contacts on the back of the motherboard from touching the wood.

In a normal case, the exposed metal rings around the screw holes contact the motherboard tray. The tray contacts the case and the case is connected to the power supply case. The power supply case is connected to the ground wire in your power cord. The groundwire is connected to ground.

Get yourself a kit from Wallyworld or RadioShack that includes a crimping tool and assorted crimp-on connectors. Crimp a round terminal to one end of a piece of wire (make it green if possible). Connect a forked or round terminal to the other end. Slide the round terminal over one of your motherboard mounting screws and connect the other end to your power supply case. This will give any errant electricity around your motherboard a path to ground.

As for the fans, I think one big fan equals 2 smaller ones with less noise.
 
i can somewhat agree on the last poster.. but if you go with big fans i would suggest the thermaltake 130mm silent wheels they push a fairly good ammount of air )54cmf or something like that) with the noise of only 16dbA quiter than a human whisper :D (the fan is 130mm but it mounts to 120mm holes.)
 
Taking everyone's advice into consideration, I've devised a new design.

Right now all the 120mm fans will be Nexus fans; I'm concerned, however, that having so many 120mm fans will just add up and make the computer loud. I'll be installing rubber bushings and etc, but since I've never worked with so many 120mm's, I'm worried.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Case Rev.2

Also, the system spec's will be as follows:
M2N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
EVGA GeForce 7600 GT KO 256MB
Seagate 7200.10 320gig
Enermax 460W Power Supply
 
Yeah, the number of fans you now have is overkill. At first glance, I'd suggest using only one fan in front of the MB (where there are currently two), and center it, so the video card splits the airflow. In this configuration, I'd suggest having the CPU HSF blow upwards, and then that hot air can go out through the 120mm at the top on that side. Speaking of which, I'd put that 120mm exhaust next to the PSU, so they're both blowing out the same side, purely for aesthetic reasons.

So the makes....one 120mm intake at the front of the motherboard, the PSU exhaust, and the 120mm exhaust both blowing out the back, and the CPU fan blowing up. Also, you won't see a great deal of difference between running your 120mm fans at 5V or 7V instead of 12--they're not working against a whole lot of resistance, so there's an opportunity to quiet them down a bit.

Just my thoughts.
 
ok just my thoughts.

1. you dont need two exhaust fans and the PSU exhaust. at the most 1 exhaust plus the PSU exhaust should be enough (especially if your going for quiet). I'm building a custom case right now for my brother and i want it to be very quiet... all i have is 1 120mm intake and the PSU exhaust (it also helps if the PSU fan is 120mm to limit the whirring sound of 80mm fans), aswell as the back of the case just being well vented.

2. as therapist already mentioned, the yate loons are very quite (thats what i use for almost all 120mm applications)... i havent tryed the nexus but i am pretty sure they are quiet aswell (just too expensive for me). Another great 120mm fan is the 9-blade silverstones

3. try to keep the intakes near the bottom and the exhaust (especially the PSU since it gives off quite a bit of heat) near the top. Your second set of plans do this, so that is good :)

4. you can start here for switches
 
adorecm said:
Something like this?
Click to expand...
Just about. If you eliminate the 120mm exhaust on the side that points to the bottom right, you'll get what I was thinking.
 
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