Wooden Case

[pc-gamer-dude]

well im using pine, it is actually quite strong wood when its cut right and everything. the wood is going to be 3/4" thick. ive already cut out the basics (the 2 side panels, top & bottom, and front & back). all i need to do now is plain them down to size, sand them smooth, and start cutting out the holes for the fans, the mobo i/o panel, and the psu spot. im going to be using door hinges for the right side panel so i can get into it easily.

@ clocker: its just a theory im going to be testing out, if it doesnt work i can easily just change the fan around so its blowing in again. so thats why im trying it out. and i plan on using filters for the front 2 fans, the botton 2 fans, and the big 120mm fan in the right side panel behind the processor socket.

suggestions / comments welcome.

[ck-uk]

That'll take off mate with 11 fans

you'll have post img's when its done.

[pc-gamer-dude]

its gonna be way to heavy to take off. but hell yeah im gonna post pics! im have to show off my rig!

[kaiweiler]

I bet it's gonna be pretty noisy though, don't you think?!

[pc-gamer-dude]

noise is not an issue at all. my current case runs at 50dba from 2 ft away. and i cant hear it (im always listening to music, even when i sleep. i wouldnt ever be able to handle a quiet case, itd scare me). so noise is not an issue. im even going to be using a vantecn 80mm tornadoe for an intake fan running at max speed. and also wood is a great sound absorber. im thinking about using 2 92mm tornadoe fans for the front intakes just so that the airflow from them will travel the whole case, but im not sure yet. ill figure out what all im going to use for fans later, for now the best i can do is mess around with this case that i have now, do tests on it (im getting awsome results right now btw), and use the stuff that wokrs in the new case (im still gonna test other ways when i finish the wooden case). idk, but noise is not an issue at all.

[kaiweiler]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 17:21
noise is not an issue at all. my current case runs at 50dba from 2 ft away. and i cant hear it (im always listening to music, even when i sleep. i wouldnt ever be able to handle a quiet case, itd scare me). so noise is not an issue. im even going to be using a vantecn 80mm tornadoe for an intake fan running at max speed. and also wood is a great sound absorber. im thinking about using 2 92mm tornadoe fans for the front intakes just so that the airflow from them will travel the whole case, but im not sure yet. ill figure out what all im going to use for fans later, for now the best i can do is mess around with this case that i have now, do tests on it (im getting awsome results right now btw), and use the stuff that wokrs in the new case (im still gonna test other ways when i finish the wooden case). idk, but noise is not an issue at all.

I see, well then Good Luck mate!
I'm lookin forward to when you get it done and get some pics up! I'd like to see it!

[tesco]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 16:21
noise is not an issue at all. my current case runs at 50dba from 2 ft away. and i cant hear it (im always listening to music, even when i sleep. i wouldnt ever be able to handle a quiet case, itd scare me). so noise is not an issue. im even going to be using a vantecn 80mm tornadoe for an intake fan running at max speed. and also wood is a great sound absorber. im thinking about using 2 92mm tornadoe fans for the front intakes just so that the airflow from them will travel the whole case, but im not sure yet. ill figure out what all im going to use for fans later, for now the best i can do is mess around with this case that i have now, do tests on it (im getting awsome results right now btw), and use the stuff that wokrs in the new case (im still gonna test other ways when i finish the wooden case). idk, but noise is not an issue at all.

sounds like youve got most of it under control but i have a couple suggestions:

first off, i would make the wood 1/2 inch becuase 3/4 inch seems a little big to me.

another one is that you should make the i/o port cover thingy on teh back of the computer removable and also make it really thin otherwise you wont be able to connect the wires that need to be connected. It should be removable incase you get a new motherboard in the future and need a different cover.

and buy a few speed control knobs from a radioshack or other store like that and build them into teh front of the case to control the fans speed, incase noise becomes an issue in the future.

and build a reset cmos button like clockers.

[pc-gamer-dude]

well my teacher wont let my waste anymore wood, and i dont think pine would be strong at 1/2". altho it seems to be doing fine now at 3/4". idk, if i could convince my teacher to let my plain my wood down to 1/2" i would. but 3/4" isnt really all that think, it just means i need longer screws for the fan mounts and everything. im going to be using a metal i/o panel that my current motherboard uses, so when i upgrade i can just switch the panel with the new one. im not going to worry about buying a fan speed control yet, ill cross that bridge when the time comes. im not to worried about a reset cmos button, altho the idea is sounds really cool. im not really a heavy overclocked anyway, and my ram wont go any higher then it is now (running a 166mhz ddr chip at 200mhz) at any latency settings. so i just run it at 2.5-3-3-11. oh and also... im using my current motherboard tray and just making it removable for when the new form factor comes up. kinda cheating but i dont want to have to build a new back panel for it when i end up upgrading to the new form factor.

but thanks for the suggestions, and keep them coming everyone!


btw... does anybody have a guide on making your on fan controller? cuz i want to make one that supports 8 fans without using up 2 drive bay spots.

[tesco]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 17:20
well my teacher wont let my waste anymore wood, and i dont think pine would be strong at 1/2". altho it seems to be doing fine now at 3/4". idk, if i could convince my teacher to let my plain my wood down to 1/2" i would. but 3/4" isnt really all that think, it just means i need longer screws for the fan mounts and everything. im going to be using a metal i/o panel that my current motherboard uses, so when i upgrade i can just switch the panel with the new one. im not going to worry about buying a fan speed control yet, ill cross that bridge when the time comes. im not to worried about a reset cmos button, altho the idea is sounds really cool. im not really a heavy overclocked anyway, and my ram wont go any higher then it is now (running a 166mhz ddr chip at 200mhz) at any latency settings. so i just run it at 2.5-3-3-11. oh and also... im using my current motherboard tray and just making it removable for when the new form factor comes up. kinda cheating but i dont want to have to build a new back panel for it when i end up upgrading to the new form factor.

but thanks for the suggestions, and keep them coming everyone!


btw... does anybody have a guide on making your on fan controller? cuz i want to make one that supports 8 fans without using up 2 drive bay spots.

I made one, it isnt too fancy but it gets teh job done...

i have one switch that switches between 7volts and 12volts and one switch that switches it on and off. The 12v line on the molex connects directly to the fan. The 7v and ground on the molex go into the 3 way switch and the output on the switch goes into the on\off switch which finally goes into the other wire of the fan. It works and is good for now until i get a dimmer switch or something and use that instead.

oh and btw, the wires for the fan (one from on\off switch, one is the 12v on molex) is split to connect all of my case fans (3) and my graphics card fan.

here is a diagram of the three way switch:

Image Resized
[img]https://filesharingtalk.com/sigs/threewayswitch.JPG' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'>

the five volts when combined with the 12v makes 7v.

and here is a diagram of a speed controller with a dimmer switch:

Image Resized
[img]https://filesharingtalk.com/sigs/dimmer.JPG' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'>

oh the simplicity!

[pc-gamer-dude]

ill have to mess around with that sometime. i really like the dimmer switch idea... sounds pretty cool. maybe my grandpa can rig up something similar to that for me.