Monolith - The 8L M-ATX Case

[colinreay]

 

 

Hey everyone, I hope you are having a great day, and thank you for checking out my build log! I have been working on this project for a while, and actually made a forum post a very long time ago (which has been deleted), but progress has been slow until a week or two ago, and I’m stoked to finally be able to post about it! I’ll first lay out everything I’ve done up to this point, and then update this log regularly as I make progress. Without further ado, let’s go!

 

Background: I’m a highschool student in the Bay Area, and really love PC modding. Apart from a relatively simple and small mod, I haven’t done much - most of my interest is perpetuated by reading/watching other people’s excellent build logs. Hopefully this can be my sort of gateway into the realms of PC modding, and be the first of many projects!

 

Goal: I’m a stickler for clean, understated builds. Don’t get me wrong - I love the builds that go all out as well, but something about that slate, flat appearance really appeals to me. In addition, I love SFF stuff - trying to cram all of your components into as small of a footprint of possible is a challenge (plus materials cost less!)

 

With this build, I’m trying to capture the essence of both, creating as small of a PC case as possible given my current hardware, while maintaining a clean and subdued aesthetic - “monolithic” even (which is where the name came from.) As a side note, this build’s name is completely unrelated to MetallicAcid’s Monolith, which I didn’t know of until this build was underway.

 

As of right now, the build measures in at (273.65 x 112.9 x 264.84mm, 8.18L) excluding the feet, and 8.8L with them included. As it stands now, I believe this is on track to be the smallest M-ATX case built that supports Dual-Slot GPUs (255mm Max), and a fully internal PSU (no DC-ATX Converters.) My intentions aren’t to be the first in the world or anything, I just designed the case around hardware I had (either bought used or donated by friends), and it ended up being pretty small.

 

Materials: The case is made out of a combination of ⅛ and ¼ inch P95 matte acrylic sheets from Tap Plastics. This stuff looks absolutely gorgeous, the way the matte side catches and swallows the ambient light is really something unique. As far as fastening the panels together, I am using Parvum Mod Cubes, in conjunction with various lengths of button head M3 screws, which make the case look pretty industrial/clean IMO. I also used M3 standoffs and nuts to secure the motherboard to the case, and am 3d printing several brackets to mount the GPU and SSD.

 

Parts:

 

Like I stated above, most of my parts either were free from friends, or bought used (on hardwareswap). I’ll list everything I have now, and update it as needed.

 

PC Portion:

 

CPU: AMD A10-7890K (Have)

Motherboard: MSI A88XM Gaming (Have)

RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill Bare Black PCB RAM (Have)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9A (Have)

SSD: Intel 320 120GB SSD (Have)

GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti FTW ACX (Have)

PCIe Riser: 3M 500mm PCIe x16 Riser (Have)

PSU: Seasonic M1U Flex ATX 300w (Have)

 

Case Parts:

 

Laser Cut panels: Tap Plastics P95 Matte Black Acrylic ¼ and ⅛ inch (Have)

Window: Tap Plastics Cast Clear Acrylic ⅛ inch (Have)

Mod Cubes: 2x Sets Parvum Mod Cubes (Have)

Screws: 6/10/16mm Black M3 Button Head Screws from Amazon (Have)

Standoffs: 6+6mm Black Nylon M3 Standoffs (Have)

Nuts: M3 Nuts Black (Have)

M3 Washers: Black 8mm M3 Washers (Have)

3d Printed Parts: Black ABS parts printed with a Zortrax M200 off of 3d Hubs (Shipping)

 

Sleeving Parts:

 

Sleeving: Paracord Planet 550 Paracord Black (Have)

Wire: Buywireonline UL1007 16AWG White (Have)

Connectors: 24 Pin Female, 18 Pin Female, SATA Crimp connector, PCIe 6 Pin Female, 4+4 Pin EPS/CPU Female (Have)

Terminals: MainFrame Female ATX Terminals (Have)

 

The Design: The case has certainly been through several iterations, and I would like to believe that the latest design (the one I am using) has benefitted from things I have learned along the way.

 

My first concept is pretty similar to what I have now, the basic form is still the same, as well as the Parvum Mod Cube fastening method. However, the way the GPU and PSU were mounted at the back was extremely inefficient as well as the weird slotted grill on the right side panel.

 

First Iteration

Spoiler

 

 

My second design is pretty much what I have now. I tweaked things and changed the placement of the PSU and GPU to create a much smaller and more space efficient case, and changed the right side panel to have a direct grill over the CPU cooler. I explain the different aspects of the case in more detail in the spoiler.

 

Second iteration

Spoiler

Here you can see the mounting holes for the 3M PCIe Riser

 

This shows how I mount the motherboard standoffs. The motherboard tray is created out of 2 sheets of 1/8 inch acrylic sandwiched together, with clearance holes for the standoff thread in the panel closer to the motherboard, and a nut sized cutout on the back which holds the nut in place. This eliminates the need for heat pressing inserts into the acrylic or tapping it.

 

 

This is a gpu support bracket that is going to be 3d printed. Since the gpu is mounted vertical without any stress relief from the motherboard PCIe slot, I felt that a bracket was a good idea to make sure I didn't damage the GPU.
 

 

Here is the cutout for the cables going to the motherboard and CPU connectors. I love the look of integrating combs into the motherboard tray instead of cutting grommet holes.

 

 

 

This is the SSD bracket which will also be 3d printed. The final design is a bit different than what you see here, but still gives you the basic idea. You can also see the same integrated cable comb design for the SATA power cable as the one used for the 24 Pin and 8 Pin CPU.

 

 

The fan grill you see here is also going to be changed. Since I'm a dummy I forgot to include the CPU socket height when designing the case, meaning the CPU Cooler intersects with the side panel. Not to worry though, it's an easy and quick fix!

 

 

Here is the rear bracket for mounting the GPU. It's a pretty complicated part, so I'm very excited to see how it turns out when 3d printed!

 

 

What I’ve done so far: At the moment of starting this build log, I have laser cut most of the case panels, and am waiting for the 3d printed parts (I can cut the window on Friday.)

 

Here are some photos of the case as it stands right now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roadmap/Updates: This is as much for me as it is for you guys, which will help me stay on track and culminate my ideas.

 

3D model the case (Completed)

 

Laser cut the case (In Progress)

 

3D print mounts/brackets (In Progress)

 

Sleeve/Make custom cables (Planned)

 

LED light the case (Planned)

 

Finish/paint the case (Planned)

 

That’s it guys! Hopefully I’ll have some more posts up soon detailing the issues I’ve had so far, as well as explaining more about how everything works. It would mean the world to me if you followed along, and I’d more more than happy to answer any questions!

 

[HeroXLazer]

Oh, hi, I saw you on SFFF, and I saw this project on there also. I'm the guy with the custom PCB keyboard design I posted yesterday.

[RadiatingLight]

Awesome!

Looks great.

[colinreay]

1 hour ago, RadiatingLight said:

Awesome!

Looks great.

Thank you sir!

[colinreay]

1 hour ago, HeroXLazer said:

Oh, hi, I saw you on SFFF, and I saw this project on there also. I'm the guy with the custom PCB keyboard design I posted yesterday.

Yep, of course I remember you! I'll do some research on mech. keyboards first so I don't have to bore you asking about basic stuff that can be solved by a quick google search, but I'll definitely need your advice in the future!

[colinreay]

Tool Talk
 

Hey everyone, hope you are having a nice day! 

IMO, sleeving and custom cables are sort of the dark horse of pc modding - many of the top modders I see on various forums do it themselves, but readily available information about how to do it is not as abundant as I would like (and much of the guides that exist are fairly old.) That being said, there are more options than ever for sleeved cables made by another person/company, but I still do think that custom sleeving is a great if you want to really feel involved when modding your pc (it's also a great sense of accomplishment!) Here's hoping to more future tutorials - by myself or others!

 

I figured I'd share some of my favorite tools for sleeving with you guys, and I'd love to hear what you like to use as well as any questions/comments! 

Crimper

Much to my surprise/bemusement, I found a Molex Service Grade crimper for around $110 including shipping on ebay about a week ago. Not too shabby, considering the crimper is about $300-400 new! I bit the bullet and ordered it. When it arrived, I was amazed to realize these are brand new units, with all of the packaging/manuals. 

 

If you guys want to get into sleeving, or already do it and don't have this crimper, I would STRONGLY encourage you to pick this up from the same place I got mine from. Granted, things like the MFC Crimper are half the price, but honestly this crimper just blows them out of the water, and will last you years (it also makes short work of UL1007 16AWG wire, something many cheaper crimpers struggle with.)

 

Crimper(s)

Spoiler

 

What a beauty.

 

Here is a picture of the crimping jaws. This is one of the reasons I think this crimper does so well, as the jaws slide up and down. This system looks much more similar to the professional Molex terminal presses that are used to make OEM PSU cables than the diagonal clamp system cheaper crimpers use.

 

 

Here's a shot of the terminal locator. Really handy for positioning male/female atx terminals, and can be easily removed when crimping terminals that it doesn't support.
 

 

Holy crap, this thing costs >$50 to buy individually! I hope mine proves to be durable, it's pretty crazy how expensive a little piece of plastic can be.
 

 

My secondary crimper, made by UPC. AFAIK, this is the same exact model as the MDPC-X and MFC Crimpers, the only difference being the handle colors, the milling of the crimp jaws (all of them are milled, but done by different people), and the quality control. Quite a good all-round crimper, but begins to struggle when using thicker insulation 18AWG/16AWG wire.
 

 

This is the crimp jaw design that I alluded to earlier when comparing the Molex Service Grade crimper to the professional crimping press. Instead of the jaws pressing straight down, it closes at an angle. Although I haven't seen this confirmed, I feel that this design can exert uneven pressure on terminals when crimping, leading to problems with thicker wires.

 

 

Family photo!
 

 

I bought this crimper about a year ago. After many many sleeving projects it's beginning to show a little wear, but still a fair option for a very low price. Just search SN-28B on google, and you'll find an overwhelming amount of these things!

 

 

Here's a quick crimping demo using the new crimper!
 

Spoiler

I'll use a female ATX terminal from MFC, and some UL1007 16AWG wire from the aptly named buywireonline.

 

 

Push the terminal locator forward
 

 

Insert the terminal
 

 

Insert the wire
 

 

Crimp that sucker down!

 

 

There you have it, a perfect crimp! Piece of cake with this crimper, nothing to do with my skill or lack thereof. At first glance this may look like a bad crimp as one wing overlaps the other, but this is actually by design as per the molex specs.

 

 

Wire Stripper 
 

I can't say enough good things about my Capri wire stripper! After using the popular Knipex stripper for about a year, I bought this instead and have enjoyed it infinitely more. There is a little acrylic stop that allows you to strip 3mm lengths easily (what I do when crimping), and it has multiple holes for different wire guages. This prevents the stripper from slipping, something that I had a lot of issues with when using my Knipex. 

 

(Wire! Stripper)

Spoiler

Funnily enough this tool feels much more solid than the plastic-y Knipex at 2x the price.

 

The different wire gauge holes.
 

 

Line it up
 

 

Squeeze a little to clamp the wire
 

 

Little more pressure, and you're golden.
 

 

This gives you very good results, every time. I used UL1015 for this example, which was always a pain in the a** to do with the Knipex.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Tools!

Spoiler

Gotta love the Hakko Flush Cutters! I see these bad boys everywhere, and for good reason; they're cheap, sharp, and high quality. Highly recommended!

 

The MDPC-X depinning tool is another great addition to any sleever's arsenal. I heatshrinked mine to have a better grip when using.
 

 

Lastly, I love these little silicone finger covers that you can find on Amazon (exact model). I use these whenever I sleeve, it protects my fingers and prevents them from getting burnt when using PET or paracord.

 

 

At $4.66 shipped right now, these things are as cheap as a meter or two of heatshrink from your favorite sleeving shop and should last you several projects or more. I'd recommend picking one up!

 

 

[HeroXLazer]

37 minutes ago, colinreay said:

Yep, of course I remember you! I'll do some research on mech. keyboards first so I don't have to bore you asking about basic stuff that can be solved by a quick google search, but I'll definitely need your advice in the future!

I'm running an interest check on SFFF if you're interested.