Custom 3D printed Fallout Nuke Case.

[Lynxman]

After watching the LTT nuke video I wanted to make my own custom case. I designed it for 3D printing and with room for an ITX board and a mini GPU and SFX PSU. I have only test fitted a non working motherboard and a GTX 1060 6GB and it fits. There's room for a 120 mm fan in the bottom and in the top, but 90° HDMi cable bends are required to clear the fan in the top. As well as the two fans pushing air through the whole case I placed the PSU next to the CPU to such some air from the CPU heatsink. I hope it runs cool enough like this. For overclocking I think it would be a good idea to place the PSU outside the case and run the cables inthe back, and install a big heatsink on the CPU. The case fans should provide plenty of airflow through the CPU heatsink.

I liked the color scheme Luke chose so I went with the same red band. 

[King_of_Oz]

Noice. Looks good.

[JaegerB]

Looks pretty cool, good job.

[Lynxman]

Thanks. It needs a flat clear coat, but I have to wait until it stops snowing.

I'll post more pics when I install the components.
 

The components are:
ASRock Z270M-ITX
i3-7350K

MSI Aero ITX GTX 1060 6GB
8GB DDR4 2133

M.2 256GB SATA SSD
Chieftec 450 W SFX PSU, or Corsair SF450

[Lynxman]

A shot of the rear. It will have a fully accessible IO shield. The three slots in the top are for HDMI/DP-cables. The one slot in the bottom next to the IO opening is for the power cable to the PSU.

The white brackets next to the bomb are the internal mounting brackets for the SFX PSU.

[Frankie]

The paint job and weathering are really well done.

[Lynxman]

Here's a shot of how the motherboard fits. It's a perfect fit in the slots in the bottom. I have a home made heatsink that I will try, but a Noctua NH-L9i will fit as well. Also a close up of the top.

I need a longer PCIE extension than the one I had so I'll have to wait until it arrives before I can install the GPU. I hope it will fit without trouble. It will be a pretty capable gaming PC with the i3 7350k and GTX 1060 6GB. 

the M.2 ssd I bought used refuses to initialize for some reason even though it's recognized in both BIOS and windows, so I ordered a new drive last night. 

[Lynxman]

Still waiting for the new SSD  and PCIE extension to arrive. I hope I get it before christmas. I'd like to upload the design to Cults3D for others to buy and print as soon as possible. I did receive a Cooler Master Sickle Flow 120 fan with green LEDs that glow out of the bottom air inlet (not the one pictured above). It's pretty powerful so I think it will do the job of cooling the system.

[Lynxman]

It works. I used a 350 mm long PCIE extension. Very high quality cable. I folded the cable so that it would route around the GPU and under the motherboard to reach the PCIE slot. Then I hot glued the cable folds and glued the cable to the bottom of the Nuke. The aluminum tape is just there to maybe spread/reflect the heat radiation and provide a minimum of shielding.

 

 

Once the GPU was installed (GTX 1060 6GB) I taped a thin sheet of fiberglass to the back of it to prevent shorts against the motherboard should it get bumped or something.

 

The motherboard fit neatly in place, and there's no room to spare behind the motherboard. I did not use the heatsink screws provided by Noctua as they protruded way too much out on the back. Instead I used some countersunk M3 screws which fit perfectly.

 

The top down view shows how there's room for an SFX power supply. A HDPlex PSU would probably be perfect.

 

It's alive!
The reason the atomic symbols are two different is because I'm using an external PSU at the moment. The red/yellow symbol is the parts I made for external PSU. I haven't received my SFX PSU yet.

[Lynxman]

It's looping the Heaven demo now to check GPU temps. 83°C after a couple of loops. It still boosts itself to 1949 MHz core speed so all is well.

[Lynxman]

I addition to running the PCI cable below the motherboard, I have also revsed the design to allow the PCIE cable to run directly around the side of the motherboard for shorter cables. This should let the GPU run cooler too as the cable won't block the airflow from the bottom case fan. CPU cooling will be blocked slightly though, but I doubt that's a problem.

BTW. Up to 92°C now on the GPU.

[Damascus]

NAISU NAISU CEASER CHAN

[Lynxman]

I received a SFX PSU now actually, so I installed it. There's only about 3-4 mm clearance between the PSU and the cpu fan, but the cPU still only rose to 93°C under the most intense Prime95 test, so that's good. I'm running Heaven and Prime95 at the same time now. It's working great so far. The PSU takes up most of the free space, so it might actaully help with cooling the GPU since more air will be directed behind the motherboard... hopefully.

 

I ordered an even lower profile Silverstone CPU cooler, but it might not be necessary.

[Lynxman]

Here it is. 

It eventually reached 100°C CPU and  91°C GPU with Prime95 and Heaven running simultaneously.

[Lynxman]

I uploaded the design here: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/nuclear-bomb-pc-case-nuke

The uploaded design has some improvements over the prototype to give slightly more clearance around the GPU, and also make printing the bottom third easier.

[SlipperyPete]

@Slickyou will probably enjoy this

 

also... damn this is sick

[Lynxman]

Thanks. It was an interesting project. I would like to make something else with room for a PC inside now.

[Lynxman]

Green glow from the bottom intake case fan.

[Lynxman]

Maybe I should design a case that looks like the Apollo 11 command/service module.

[Lynxman]

I got a Thermaltek 300 mm PCIE extension today and installed the computer with the cable around the side instead of under. GPU temps now max out at 82°C. That's about 10° drop from runing the cable under the motherboard. It's very hot in the room, 26°C, so that that into account.

 

I also received a lower profile CPU cooler which I will try next. The Noctua has only a few mm of space between the fan and the back of the PSU, and the CPU reaches 100°C after extended Prime95 running.

My printer just finished printing the last piece of my second Nuke, with the updated parts, same as I posted on the Cults page. I'll paint them once it stops snowing.

[Lynxman]

Here's a shot showing the PCIE cable coming around the side of the motherboard. I also replaced the noctua cooler with a Silverstone cooler. The CPU now reaches a peak of 96°C in Prime95, which is acceptable for such a load in this for factor. The ideal cooler for this case is probably a Thermolab ITX30. If a Pico PSU is used instead then a larger CPU cooler can be used of course.

I wanted to install the 250 W PSU instead of the 450W one in there now, but the 250 W PSU doesn't have a PCIE power cable and I didn't want to solder any now. It should be enough though as the combined load of Prime95 and Heaven demo pulls 200 W from the wall socket.

[Lynxman]

Here's both next to each other. 

Earlier today I laid the finished one on its side to look under it, and it looked awesome sitting there, so I'm going to design  a cradle for it to have it sitting on its side as an option.

[AlexTheGreatish]

Looks sick

[Lynxman]

My arsenal is growing.

[Lynxman]

Here's a trick for improving fan efficiency. I have done this with two fans in different applicatins now, and the gains are pretty significant. By reducing the gap between the fan blades and the fan housing I rediced the load temperature of the GPU in the Nuke by 4°C. I did the same on a CPU cooler in my other rig and it lowered the temp by 2,7°C.