k'nexinator 5000, building a K'nex pc case

[tomaatvk]

Let me start off by saying this, it may not be usefull but I did it because I could. I don't care about the dust and if you do this too, I am not responsible if you screw up.

 

 
For some long time I felt the desire to create a custom pc case coming from a Cooler Master K-380 with a few small mods here and there. Most of the time I thought about wood and acrylic but the raws were not worth my money (as a 17 y/o without a job) or I thought of a Lego case but I either had to mix colours (I hate that) or buy a lot of extra pieces (again the money). After some time the thought of building a case out of K'nex instead and after a bit of research on the internet for possible problems I decided to start designing and building the case.

 

 
My idea was to have a few main compartiments, I wanted to put the motherboard with everything in it flat on top with the PSU, the HDD, SSD, optical drive, card reader and front USB-hub (ripped out of the poor K-380) in one layer underneath it making it a low profile machine.
 
My specs are:
i7-3770k @4.8GHz
inno3D iChill gtx 970 airboss X3
Asrock Z77 extreme 4
CX750 (non-modular)
Deepcool gamer storm Lucifer
Samsung 840 evo 120GB
WD caviar black 1TB
Creative sound blaster Z

2x4GB ICIDU 1600MHz ddr3 value ram (OC to 1866MHz)

1x8GB Crucial 1600MHz ddr3 value ram (OC to 1866MHz)
Also some random optical drive, some LED strips, a card reader ripped out of a 13 y/o pc, the front USB-hub from my old K-380, the fan out of a Coolink corator DS LGA2011 I had lying around and 2 scythe slip stream 120mm 1900rpm fans

 

 

Once I had figured out how I wanted it to be I grabbed my boxes filled with K'nex and started piecing everything together slowly.

I started with the construction of the lower compartments, I built the cage for the HDD with the right above it and with the PSU next to it for the rear of the case and after that I made the front with the cable storage for the non-modular PSU and the cage for the optical drive including mounting places for the card reader and front USB-hub. After I finished them I linked them together with a little bit of space inbetween for cable routing completing the bottom part of the case rather 'quickly' (took me only several hours to build).

 

 

At this point you might ask: "How d*f*q is a motherboard gonna sit on that?" The answer is: "Not." If I were to just mount the motherboard on some knex it would cause static electricity when I were to put it on the floor burning everything (in case it isn't clear, I don't want everything to burn, yet...). I got a really old PC case (the same one I got the card reader out of) and took the motherboard backplate out of it. I was gonna tie the backplate on the top of the K'nex case with some isolated iron wire and mount the motherboard on the plate once I had the whole thing put together. After I mounted this and connected everything I stood on it and started picking up stuff while standing on it, it can hold at least 90kg of weight on the top without components inside. Also while drilling some of the connections out of case I got the plate out off I broke a drill bit.

 

 

 

Quite soon after I finished this I realised I completely forgot to mount the on/off and reset button together with the HDD and power LED's, so I grabbed it, went outside and started drilling and glueing, it may be scrached but come on, it's homemade, it can't be perfect. I got the LED's out of an old, broken mouse (one blue and one red) and the buttons out of another old case (at this point I have 3 metal cases in my room and one K'nex made one and none had any components in).

 

 

It was time to start putting everything on the case so once I took everything out of the K-380 I started building starting with the lower compartment and everything besides the motherboard. After putting everything in it I hooked up the cables I already could and did some quick cable management. I also used isolation foam tubes to reduce the HDD noise as you migth or might not see.

 

 

Once this was put together all that was left to do was to just drop the motherboard plate on top of it, mount the thing, connect the last wires and done, weeeeeeell, NO. Connecting all the K'nex connectors in the middle was a straight up B*TCH with spaces being as tight as 2cm while being right in the middle of the case with all the components around it leaving no room for my hand to reach and connect them. Eventhough it was K'nex my hand hurt like hell afterwards because it got jammed multiple times and all I could do was yank it out. However, once I did manage to connect every single one of those little sh*ts I mounted the motherboard on it, hooked up all the cables, added a 3rd fan to the CPU with the same wire used before and it was done. Sadly during the installation of the motherboard one of the reset button pins bent but I managed to get it straightened out enough for the reset button to fit over it.

 

 

 

 

After I took these pictures I still replaced the yellow sticks with gray ones and replaced the bottom white circle parts with black ones.

 

The K'nex parts used:

32 smallest black sticks

297 small white sticks

121 slightly small blue sticks

16 medium sized gray sticks

15 1-slot gray connectors

2 2-slot, straight brown connectors

22 3-slot gray connectors

3 5-slot gray connectors

8 white full circle connectors

22 black full circle connectors

120 half circle combinable gray connectors

86 full circle combinable blue connectors

2 small gray plates

17 small black plates

16 large gray rings

12 small blue rings

 

Total: 791 K'nex pieces

 

As far as the effectivity goes, the noise dampning is different, as there isn't any it is louder but because there is no case that can shake around making noise it's also quieter, I would describe the sound as different, not louder, not quieter. As for the thermal performance, all the components that kick out heat are exposed to open air giving them all the air they need to cool actually resulting in 8^oC lower temperatures. The dust is one bad part about it, simply said, it collects more of it, luckilly my room isn't dusty at all (didn't have to clean the old case once in the 2 years I had it) so I guess I may only need to clean it once a year.

 

 

 

 

Summary of the build, it was one hell of a lot of fun to do although there were some less fun parts. *mumbles quietly: "f*cking b*tches, those sh*tf*cks in the middle"*

 

Building your own case out of K'nex is a great thing to do when you have some creativity, like building, want something of your own and a lot of parts leftover from when you were little (or like me, still play with them from time to time).

 

If you have any questions, be sure to ask them and I will try to answer as quickly as possible.

EDIT: I forgot to add my RAM, I added it.

EDIT2: got a RM750i and I'm preparing to build a switching system for my LEDs and fans to easilly switch between the brightest/coolest and non-lightemitting/unhearable.

 

EDIT3: ghetto upgraded my GPU cooler with an extra heatsink: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/495262-ultimate-ghetto-gpu-heatsink-mod/

Spoiler

[TheRandomness]

Replace PSU pls... Can you solve all 3 cubes that you have? If so, what are they and how fast? c:

+500 points for creativity c:

[PlayStation 2]

@MG2R has (had?) a K'nex build.

We can see what he thinks about this.

[tomaatvk]

I am going to replace my PSU with a hybrid or fanless one once I get some money.

 

I can solve all those 3 cubes, they are a 3x3x3, a 4x4x4 and a 4x2x2, the times are 1:30, 6:00 and 2:30 respectively.

[The Official Czex]

I love K'Nex, but LEGO is where my roots are at. I might build a LEGO TECHNIC case one day. I probably have enough parts for it; seven bins of LEGO, each one holding approx. 25,000 LEGO pieces.

[Sauron]

Be careful that the plastic doesn't melt ^^

[Senzelian]

That seems to have worked out pretty well.
I would like to see the whole thing spay painted white or black, with a few tinted acrylic panels and LEDs. 

[tomaatvk]

Be careful that the plastic doesn't melt ^^

 

My current CPU temps at max load are under 90^oC and with the thick motherboard backplate inbetween the knex won't really heat up at all and if it would heat up a bit it wouldn't really matter, it'll only be a bit weaker at 90^oC, it won't melt yet at all at those temps.

 

 

I would like to see the whole thing spay painted white or black, with a few tinted acrylic panels and LEDs. 

The reason why I went for a K'nex case was so I didn't have to buy acrylic, kinda makes no sense to still buy it then, does it?

About the painting, I was actually kinda thinking about it but taking appart the 791 pieces is not something I wanna do anytime soon so how about no

 

 

 

As for the PSU, anyone got any suggestions?

[Senzelian]

The reason why I went for a K'nex case was so I didn't have to buy acrylic, kinda makes no sense to still buy it then, does it?

About the painting, I was actually kinda thinking about it but taking appart the 791 pieces is not something I wanna do anytime soon so how about no

 

 

 

As for the PSU, anyone got any suggestions?

You could simply spray paint the whole thing as it is. You'll just have to make sure that you hit every spot

PSU recommendations. Even tho I hate the list I'll still recommend it to you.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/406160-psu-ranking-and-tiers/

Edit: There is some bullshit in this list like the Dark Power Pro on tier 4. It recieved a 9.3 from JonnyGuru. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=296

[tomaatvk]

hit every spot

 

You do realise how tiny some spaces in this case are, good luck trying to cover everything in paint without throwing 10 spray cans at it (not litterly throwing but you know what I mean).

[Senzelian]

You do realise how tiny some spaces in this case are, good luck trying to cover everything in paint without throwing 10 spray cans at it (not litterly throwing but you know what I mean).

Then do it like FPS Russia. 

[MG2R]

@MG2R has (had?) a K'nex build.

We can see what he thinks about this.

Yup. My server used to be. However, right now my water cooled gaming rig is k'nexified and my server is living in the Bitfenix.

 

@OP... nice work!

[tomaatvk]

Yup. My server used to be. However, right now my water cooled gaming rig is k'nexified and my server is living in the Bitfenix.

@OP... nice work!

Some of the sizes and ideas I got from your server build tbh but I gave them a personal twist as you may notice. I think I'm speaking for more people if I ask for pictures of your knexified gaming rig.

Also, thx for the compliment, your knex server looked awesome too except for the colour mismatching

(Senpai noticed me)

[MG2R]

 think I'm speaking for more people if I ask for pictures of your knexified gaming rig.

Unfortunately, my rig is kinda not functional anymore ATM. The motherboard is not in there and the whole thing looks like a mess.

 

I was planning on doing a complete re-build including custom braded wiring, dying the K'nex, plastidipping the components to color match, etc... However, after putting the rig in a K'nex shell I was happy with and planning out everything to the point where I just needed to buy stuff and implement, I started working and the rig became in disuse...

 

It spent over half a year in storage in the attic and when I took it out of there to use it again, I noticed that one of the fittings had cracked, slowly leaking half of the coolant. Luckily only the K'nex and some wiring was hit, so everything was still functional after replacing the fitting and filling the loop.

 

I don't know if I'll find the courage, time, and money to reboot this project any time soon (ever), but for now it's on hold until further notice.

[tomaatvk]

Some stuff has happened in the past few days and I've gotten myself a corsair RM750i to replace the CX750. When I unplug the fans and let the HDD idle after 10 minutes it is not completely quiet, unhearable.

 

However, because the hassle of un-/replugging my cpu fans all the time is too much for me to keep doing every time I want it to be quiet (after a downclock to 3,0GHz it will have max temps of 60^°C without any fans running and the gpu runs at the same temperature at non-gaming load also without fans) I decided to step my game up. I drew an electrical circuit that could have a simple switch to select if I want all fans off, only 1 fan on that runs almost unhearable at 500rpm that on higher temps spins up to 1800rpm and with a 3rd mode of the same fan running in the same config+2 more 1800rpm fans that kick in only at those higher temps.

 

I also drew some sort of a similar system for my LEDs where as in 1 mode they would all be off, in the other the HDD and power LED would be working and in the last one the case LEDs would also be working on top of the HDD and power LED.

 

The parts are currently being shipped from china and I'll get time to work on it (if I have the parts by that time) from the 2nd week of december and a whole month after that.

 

I'll provide more info if there are any questions and pictures will come up as soon as I have something to take pictures off.

[tomaatvk]

After the complete build my fingers were red and I could barely feel them but no blisters.

[tomaatvk]

Small update.

 

Out of boredom I upgraded my GPU cooler by stapping another one onto it, read the full story here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/495262-ultimate-ghetto-gpu-heatsink-mod/

I added a picture to the first post of this thread.