Computer Hope
Other => Computer Hope groups => Self Built Computer Club => Topic started by: Dead Reckon on June 28, 2009, 04:19:55 PM
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Was thinkin', I got all this junk laying around, PII's, PIII's, PIII Celerons, P4's, heck I think I got a core duo 1.8GHz somewhere, anyway, I was thinkin', I could build a Pentium 4 Northwood based system, got the junk to throw in it, but I wanted to do something custom for a case. As of current, I have no idea what I'm going to use. Anyone got any idea's they'd like to throw my way?
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What sort of materials do you have/want to use?
My experience with custom cases runs as far as a shelf with the hardware slapped on it and a load of fans pointed everywhere to cool it - I did and do have more ambitious plans but don't have the time, equipment or skills yet.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/patio/sky-puter.jpg)
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/patio/sky-puter.jpg)
Genius!! lol
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Note the AC control box on the wall...for regulating cooling !
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Note the AC control box on the wall...for regulating cooling !
I competely missed that :D I was to busy laughing at the speaker at the top. I want one!! ;D
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I dunno, I was almost thinking of making a wooden case 'cause I've got some 3/4" plywood. I have a saw I bought recently, Nikita mutli-speed two way battery operated drill, and a belt sander. Wooden box would be pretty sweet I think. Could get my father to help me stain it, I've only stained a couple things and I'm honestly not that good at it.
Heh, I could make a wooden cube. Nice uh.. Wire rig.. by the way...
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I dunno, I was almost thinking of making a wooden case 'cause I've got some 3/4" plywood. I have a saw I bought recently, Nikita mutli-speed two way battery operated drill, and a belt sander. Wooden box would be pretty sweet I think. Could get my father to help me stain it, I've only stained a couple things and I'm honestly not that good at it.
Heh, I could make a wooden cube. Nice uh.. Wire rig.. by the way...
your limits are your imagination and ventilation of course.
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Heh, ventilation would be no problem, plenty of fans, some vents, make it look retro probably. Like an old cube shaped floor standing radio.
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Alright, got a basic design lined up, uploaded it below.
It'll have plenty of venting and I'll use some 60's or 70's looking cloth as a fan filter, might use a prefabbed motherboard tray and PSU mount out of a case I have laying around, or atleast to make a stencil. The lid will open to the left or rear, not sure which, but there will be a lot of empty space in this thing. Good for later modifications, so I can keep reusing it and maybe one day water cool it or something. Also going to add something to the bottom, legs, or something for it to sit on. Further note, its not exactly to scale but I think the box is going to be about 2.5x2.5x2.5ft, or 3x3x3ft, maybe a lil larger if I have enough wood. The design will likely change as I'm working on it to suite needed modifications, the four rings on the front represent the buttons and LED's
From left to right the front button layout will be:
Power switch, Power LED, HDD LED, Reset switch. the vent below the switches will be the hard drive bay. The two vents on the sides will be front 80mm or larger intake fans. The mesh around the rest of the case will not be filled with fans, most of it will be covering wood, some of it will be intake. It will be removable and washable.
As a final note, I'm doing this for my love of the Fallout series, something about that Puppet PC hanging from the ceiling tripped in my head "Wooden Retro PC"
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Think the specs are going to be a 3.0GHz socket 478 pentium prescott or a 3.40GHz Socket 775 Pentium 4 prescott, GPU will be a 512MB 128b AGP 8x 7300GT, or, if I can coax my PCI-E 1.0 16x 256MB 128B 7600GT back to life, I'll use it. If I use the 775 P4, I'll need to get more DDR2 RAM, but if I use the 478, I can just toss in a couple 512's I got around here and be done with it. Think I'm going for the 478 P4 once I get my friend to repair the motherboard I intend to use with it. Its got some bad capacitors. The power supply I'm using is a 550W 35A rosewill ATX PSU, hard drive will be a 320GB ATA-100 WD3200 series. Don't have another DVD burner at the time, I'll have to get one.
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Like the design and the idea.
Good luck and keep us updated.
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Calum didn't you do a wood case somewhile back ? ?
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Started off trying to, but decided it was too much effort.
It ended up just sitting on a shelf under my desk, so it was enclosed top, bottom and right but the shelf it sat on pulled out so it was easy to dust/poke. Worked well enough for what I needed, the successor to that machine uses the same principle but due to space constraints it's on a smaller shelf, no pull-out board, and enclosed on the left side too.
For what I was doing, making a proper case was too much effort for no real purpose, I was pulling the machine out and doing something to it a few times a week and was also gauging temps by a finger on the heatsinks (not very accurate but better than Speedfan's random readings which didn't correspond to anything, the board was supposed to have temp sensors but didn't see the need to report them to any program I tried), which is hard to do when it's in a case.
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Heh, finger testing, man that can suck. I've gotten bit many times by hot circuitry and heatsinks. Anyway, Zylstra is loaning me some server space for a blog, it'll be a slow coming project, I'll post a link when I get the blog or whatever setup.
And thanks, the design is quick, prototype, it'll change over time. My father thinks I can get some vintage stereo cloth. It breaths pretty good, that nylon stuff, but it will also catch dust good enough to act as a "Filter".
I am considering other designs as well, got plenty of time, its gonna be a week or two before I can get a 7 1/4" blade for my circular saw. That's something I don't get, why did they call it a circular saw? What else is it going to be? A cuboid saw?
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re: circular saw. Because there are a LOT of different types of saw. Hand saw, rip saw, jig saw, router (not computer router), bandsaws, reciprocating saws (the almighty Sawzall!), etc.
I highly recommend building your next PC in an old filing cabinet, like a 2 drawer one.
You can easily fabricate some wood blocks/spacers etc for the fans and stuff, and just drill out the vent holes for the exhaust. You can put all your operating CDs and junk in the bottom.
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Actually it's called a circular saw because... wait for it... YES you guessed it, it has a circular blade.
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I like to use those to change out the RAM....
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Not one for subtlety when it comes to computer building hay Quantos.
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Subtlety?
I've never been on a sub in my life...
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remember to lubricate the connection between your add-on cards and the motherboard with some good ol' fashion spittle.
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Just like se...
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It depends on how much you like your motherboard Quantos. ;D
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ROFLMFALAMKFO
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My cousin Marty got intimate with his motherboard. Although he was from the deep south, so the only thing unusual there would probably be the "board".
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That would depend on how far removed he was from it.
Were they cousins?
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remove "board" from the first sentence of that post. ;D
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Good, because I was getting bored. Or was it his cousin....
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remove "board" from the first sentence of that post. ;D
Lol ;D
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ROFLMFALAMKFO
translation?
i think a wood casse would look great
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Indeed it would. I know one guy that went so far as to build a desk around his enclosure, the computer could be accessed for maintenance and upgrades by lifting the top of the desk. The drawer front was fake, and it vented through the base of the main drawer.
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Wouldn't it be easier to place everything in a locked drawer rather than lifting the top? Just my .02$.
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Wouldn't it be easier to place everything in a locked drawer rather than lifting the top? Just my .02$.
He uses the drawer space, besides, he has the display mounted inside the desktop. I wish I could find the pix of it, it really looks incredible.
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I know this is several days late, but I'm still unsure of the exact design I'll use, if I build it. Its just an idea at the moment. Seeing as I'm broke, saving for a 50CC motorcycle, and don't want to spend on anything else (except a 5" Ka-Bar I'm getting), I'll put it on the backburner. I do like the filing cabinet idea though. Mount the whole friggin' thing in the drawer. Problem? Yank it out, presto, I'd run a power cable internally, one end spliced to a C14 inlet, the other to a C14 outlet. The outlet end would plug into the PSU, and the inlet would be fixed to the back of the filing cabinet. So when I open the drawer it doesn't come unplugged. I'd do the same for everything else, USB, PS/2, audio, D-Sub/DVI/S-Video. Simple but effective system it would seem like. Chasm of a case too, could fit anything in it. Thanks for the idea, I'll consider that. Atleast noone will have the brains to steal it.
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Clik Here... (http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/jukebox/)
I've always loved this site...some pretty creative projects.
They use however the mini-ATX form factor but you still may find some inspiration...
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Yeah, that's where I got inspiration for a lot of cases. Interesting builds, I'll probably turn this laptop into some crazy web browser once it gets several more years on it.
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hehe is htis what you mean? http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/tech/case-mod.html