Created a custom itx case - need support and opinions!

[hjens]

Hi,

This is my first post here, but I've been lurking around in the forums and on the LinusTechTips-youtube channel for at least 4 years. I am well known for writing a bit too much.. So I am just gonna say if you need to skip to the bottom part, then yeah - do it! But it might become sort of a enjoyable story, I don't know.. hopefully some will find it an interesting read!

Just a "short" introduction..

I built my first custom PC 5 years ago and when I first started it, smoke came out and i threw it outside through the door - But other than that it works to this day!

For almost 2 years I have been working a small case for desktop PC's - and yes I know there is a lot of them, but I don't get that "wow" feeling if you know what I mean.

It first started out as a hobby project of mine, I have a friend that visits my home town every summer and we usually play a lot of games during that time and what I usually do is I bring my laptop to his house and he brings his - And then we try to play games at a decent frame-rate (usually like 15-20 FPS) - I use a asus zenbook that is 2 years old that I bought for $500 and my friend uses a similar laptop (pretty much the same model, just different specs).

But after a while I got sick of not being to play the games or use the software's I use at home (cinema 4d, 3ds max etc).- I started to look for options!

I wanted a small PC with the performance of a desktop, or more performance than a "normal traditional" one. Something I could bring at LAN-parties/work or school. I didn't want to buy a gaming laptop, they are expensive, i mean they are and when they break - they break.  I have done several motherboard repairs on laptops in the past but geez, it grows on you - after 3-4 times (especially when you do it for yourself).it kinda takes the fun out of it.

I also wanted it to have everything included, no extra cables, no need to bring a screen, keyboard etc - But it was really hard to find one, especially at the right price - I wanted a real gaming desktop pc for less than $700 with everything I mentioned above + similar size to a laptop (not wideness but in length and height) - after 2 weeks of constant searching and looking, I gave up.. Nothing I found was really something I would want on my desk.

Here comes the part that actually is on topic!

Luckily I have access to 3D-Printers and lasers so I started to CAD-model a mini itx case that would be suitable for printing and laser cutting. I also looked through materials that I use and I got stuck on stainless steel and wood.

I have probably made over 25 different cases and it wasn't until recently when I actually took a good look at all of them and realized that I must be a bit insane. But well it did the job, I now have a final design that I really think is the one.

I literally was/is a bit mad at myself and couldn't imagine why on earth I would insist on making so many bad decisions and mistakes throughout this long process.. But that's life.

Here is a picture of some of the cases from start to finish, the final design is made in dark oak.



This is what I imagine the case too look like with different colors etc (with a rubber "list" on the edges)



The case is 21x23x10 cm is or roughly 8x9x4 inches and has uses no custom manufactured computer parts, only custom cables (that I was able to get produced - thankfully!) - Which means that by using what resources I had and putting it all together myself -  I managed to build a case for less than $500 that has an i3 8th gen, 16gb RAM, GTX 1050, 400 W power supply and with an M2 250 GB 3000 mb/s disk.



You are probably wondering how I could waste 2 years on just spitting out different models and designs.. Well I would say at least a year has gone into the cooling part of the case.

I have always been interested in peltier cooling, graphene and cool stuff (I think everybody is interested in cool stuff however..At least I hope so) and since I have access to  manufacturing graphene I decided to make a "heatsink" in aluminium coated with graphene and use a custom built peltier cooling plate.

It turns out that in full load with a GTX 1080 and an i7 8th gen processor the processor and gpu reaches about the same temp as room temperature or even less in some cases.

I was at my neighbors showing off one of the cases and he thought I had brought a "wine bag in box" thingy - So i figured well, it looks like one so let's make it one...

My wood case is built with a gtx 1050 and an i3 it is even cooler (roughly 10 degrees Celsius/48 Fahrenheit) - that is kind of a good temperature for drinks! I had a little spare space left in the case so I decided to make it into a bag in box with the components inside! And it turned out to work very well!

 

 

A screen also fits onto the case, along with a small bluetooth keyboard - I will probably make a bag for it so I can put the small keyboard in a pocket or something.

 

 

The case also has a battery which lasts up to 8 hours (I just took 2 laptops batteries - basically 8 Tesla batteries, hooked them together and use the standard power cable to power the power supply with a control board in the battery to give exact amps and charging etc)

Anyway, that was fun and all. But now I have put A LOT of energy and resources into this.

So I am writing here today, to see what you think - Have I wasted 2 years of my life doing something that really is the worse you have ever seen or do you think it could lead to something cool and awesome?

I visited my friends company some week ago and one of the employees took a look at the wood version of the case and he just said that it would catch on fire and that I was a hippie.. But you know - what's the word? Stay strong, I think..

However since the case never reaches high temperatures (and the wood version is actually a mix up of real wood and 3d-printed PLA WOOD) it can't really like catch on fire, maybe if I buy one of Elon Musk's boring company flamethrowers, then maybe, just maybe it will actually be a nice campfire.

I have seen a couple of  mini itx cases that Linus has done some reviews on here, but I don't know, they are usually very metal-like and boring. But maybe I am just a weird person and don't know anything at all, which probably could be true - Or I am just insane, which I usually say if people don't know what to think of me.

Probably going to summarize all of this here, I have a small case with the specs I wanted, I think it actually has worked out pretty OK actually.

So I would like to proceed with this and make into something really great.

Here is the case beating to music (if you want to see the RGB led lights in action)

 

 

 

[Imbellis]

What PSUs does it support?

What GPU length does it support?

Number of HDDs, SSDs etc.

 

 

I've been working on something similar to this for around a year - and have my "final prototype" being printed this week.

Edit: It seems like your post was blocked for a while and then unblocked. Pretty odd.

[hjens]

It supports mini itx PSUs and 21 cm in maximum gpu length
Number of hdd/sdd (2,5) that are supported is two (2)
And supported m2 disks (which i use instead of ssd/hdd's) depends on board but 2 at the moment

Cool! Didn't see any pictures but I hope it turns out into a cool looking case!

Yeah, well I did put a bit too much information about me at first (work etc) that I deleted

[ZcanKal]

Wait, a mITX PSU is a thing?

[TVwazhere]

@LinusTech @nicklmg @AlexTheGreatish @GabenJr batteries, a screen, and a GTX1080

[Emily Young]

3 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

@LinusTech @nicklmg @AlexTheGreatish @GabenJr batteries, a screen, and a GTX1080

Thanks for @'ing me on this - I can honestly say this thing is freaking cool. No promises, but I'm totally bringing this up when I get in the office today, and I can't see Linus not loving it.

 

@hjens - How many of these do you have that are build-worthy, currently?

[hjens]

@GabenJr I am glad you like it! Been working very hard to make it to what it is, at the moment I have roughly 5 finished cases in wood, plastic and stainless steel - the only thing left is to achieve a really nice surface finish, I really want the case to look really amazing. I am also thinking of making it in titanium and copper (3d copperfill material) when brushed in the proper way you really start to see the "metal" in the material and it looks really great.

I use modified 3d-printers to be able to print in fast speed but still achieve a some-what good quality, it takes roughly 4-6 hours at the moment from start to finish (depends on what material is used when printing).