Designing Cases: Feedback From Your Experience and My Designs

Necromonger · January 13, 2018

So I have about a week till school starts, so to pass some time in between rage quits, I like to AutoCAD.

I have several case design ideas that I'd like to someday actually get to build and test..

Case 1: Inspired by the Apple Mac G5 / Mac Pro [late 2011]

This is a much smaller case than the Apple Mac G5... about the size of a mid tower ATX case (45x22x50 for LWH) I started leaning towards anodized aluminum, like a blue or gold/copper, reminiscent of the Apple iPod colors. Inside the case, I would like to add in sliding trays for things like SSDs/HDDs, AIO coolers/Fans, again similar or exactly the same as the G5 with its modularity. The side panels would also eject out through a plunger type lever that would push out the panels.

Another cool design idea is for the front drilled panel... I think it would be awesome to have LEDs behind the drilled hole panel that would shine through.

Case 2: Inspired by some recent Cyberpunk films and games from 2017... namely Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner 2049, and Observer. I really liked the brake light design of the Renault car that K or John uses in the film, additionally I wanted the case to look like some kind of Cyberpunk jet engine, combining design aspects from WWII fighter planes and the retro futuristic cars of Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Observer.

Now the cool thing is that the power button, reset button and side panel eject button, would be of the types used in the old cassette and CD players of the 1980s. Those big plunger type, but round-edge square buttons. Okay, so the big red accents, what are they?! Those red accents would actually be sanded plexiglass cutouts with neon-type LEDs underneath to give them an equal glow (like neon lights).

Dimensions are similar to the one above: 45x22x45 (5cm shorter)

Yeah that is a motherboard I mocked up for text fitting purposes. I made it to ATX specifications or what most ATX motherboards followed (dimensions).

Case 3: Still Working on it, but this is inspired by the JDM and tuner culture. Am drawing inspiration by the heavy accents, like anodized and colored bolts/lugnuts, strut bars, etc. Side panels will have FENDERS!!! Like a wide body kit and the fans will have covers like rims (6 spoke offset wheels).

This one is still pretty garbled up as I am at a toss as to how to translate JDM and tuner designs into a case.