Console sized clear acrylic case

[super dank]

This project has been bothering me for a looong time, and since the first ideas, I figure I can solve the heat problem of compact units by keeping both the cpu and gpu watercooled, and I was originally going to construct it with an A64 and an Agp x850 video card. I ordered a 90 deg Agp riser, a 2.5in hard drive to experiment with, and a laptop size dvd-rom. I found that with the 90 degree riser card, even the small Evercool waterblock I wanted to use was too big to fit between the video card and pci slots. I never bought the extra riser to continue the project, and I never made any more effort than to think about the project. The other day I decided to see what kind of Pci-e riser cards were available, and I found one with an 11cm cable so I will probably take another shot at this before trying anymore pelt work. I killed one x1900xtx with a pelt when after many days of flawless performance, condensation finally got in and killed a card. I returned it to the store immediately, so it wasn't so bad, they don't have 8800's locally, so I can't swap one, so before I put another pelt on it, I want to get this acrylic case out of my system

Before last night I hadn't made any drawings and tried to handle everything by thought process only. I tried to find a free CAD software, but didn't find anything that didn't make you wan't to pull your hair out, so I used Quake Army Knife I haven't used this program to make a map in years, but I felt that at the time, it was the most powerful mapping tool, as it's ease of use makes mapping as swift and easy as drawing in sand. I tried two different ways of laying everything out, one with the video card turned at 90 degrees on it's vertical axis, in this one the card simply paralell to the board. This way seems to look like it will work better. There is going to be a layer or two of plexiglass in the middle of this sandwich, with the right areas carved out I think I can make something actually feasible with 2.5in hdd's and a slim optical drive.

I have some good Ideas of how simple brackets of soft, plate steel, and long screws used with tubes for spacing, along with some rubber washers in the right places, could make the unit quite solid, yet forgiving to vibrations and minor shock. I bought some watercooling parts, though I'm worried the pump I chose due to budget and it actual size, may not provide the kind of flow I'm after.

If all goes as well as the planning did (I already have the acrylic and ordered everything else today) the unit will have two slim 120mm radiators with the air pulled through them by fans elsewhere, one rad for the cpu, one for the gpu, and one pump driving the entire (short) loop. It should be able to keep midrange watercooled temps, yet it's size should not be (I would say) much larger than an ATX motherboard. Any larger and it might as well have 3.5in discs I suppose.

Also if all goes well, and this thing seems solid enough to keep perhaps a thousand dollars worth of sensitive electronics safe and sound, I will send you guys a few pre-cut kits, and you can tell me whether they were so tough to assemble that people don't even want to look at them, or perhaps that it might not be so difficult, and that someone might actually want to keep the thing (Gonna be a tight fit, hopefully assembly won't be painful) I think a clear unit would look very good with a chosen color scheme, whether cathode nor LED

I'm not really building them to satisfy anyone else, I have wanted one quite awhile first and foremost , I would offer you guys a few un-assebled plexiglass kits if you wanted them, shipping is very affordable nowadays and I would happily send them, I get a kick out of this site, and I see alot of innovation and new idead here, so I would be returning the favor in a way really. I would also understand if you guys are very busy individuals and can't be distracted by something so trivial, but if you wouldn't want them I would still offer them for you to gift upon someone you think would like it. The idea is for the unit to be something someone can assemble without having to "re-work" how things fit, and without frustration of having to fix something that is brand new. Many people have little time for such frustration

The unit could possibly be run with a 1U air cooler on the CPU, and use one radiator, I think video cards will just have to use a waterblock to be so cramped. The unit will require the user to either remove their psu from its case and fit it, or someone purchasing the unit could buy one with a psu installed. I think it's just got to be done.

I still have alot of work to do, but I can almost taste this one, and I can also imagine being able to find a means of a slightly larger unit being able to fit an SLI or possibly even crossfire system. I hope I'm not misunderstood I would only offer a person a quality product that I think could keep someone's hardware safe and temperate (tropical is the intention ) One of my favorite properties of acrylic cases is how easy it is to drill holes anywhere you need them, and as long as Ati doesn't release something much larger than 8800, the cases could possibly be "updated"



Quake 2, HL, and beyond

[Delph1]

Damn!

I'm actually looking to build an HTPC later on this year, either that or get into hardcore CPU overclocking once again. Haven't realyl decided yet, but I'm surely going to follow this one closely

Very nice work so far!

//Andreas
_________________
"I'm sort of a postmodern vegetarian, I eat meat ironically"
"You are our Swedish superhero "

Forget everything, knowledge is your enemy, it's only going to make you second-guess yourself."

[super dank]

I haven't gotten much more done yet, I have been distracted by another project of mine, an analog synth, but I have more tools now as well :]

I think this will work out

[Delph1]

Neat

//Andreas
_________________
"I'm sort of a postmodern vegetarian, I eat meat ironically"
"You are our Swedish superhero "

Forget everything, knowledge is your enemy, it's only going to make you second-guess yourself."