100% Custom Case, Looking for a Headstart

Hello, guys. It's ncie to know I can ask for help from the professionals.

I have found that not a single case online is worth my money except for the Antec P180, and that even still has a few things that annoy me. I have decided that even if it's a flop, and not worth my money, I want to make my own case. I'm not really intersted in having an fancy LCD displays, or anything else too gaudy, but I do want a case that will cool well, offer some nice features based off of usability, as well as some tough looks. I have a power supply that I really like as well a system to put inside it. The goal now is to get some armour around this beast.

I really like how clean looking the MGE Vigor Power supply is. It lights up blue, has a chrome shell, and all the wires come in sleeves and to top it off, the molex's are blue. They made this power supply a keeper for anyone using a 20 pin motherboard. I have been using it and the ability to change it's fan speed is a plus. So, I've got the power supply picked out. Sadly, none of the chassis's meet my requirements. So, here are the goals:

I want the metal to be rigid, weight doesn't matter, providing it's practical, so I'm considering steel of some kind. I don't need a door, mostly because they tend to be impractical and functional only in the aesthetic realm, and given my computing habits would only get in my way.

I want power buttons, headphone ports, and usb ports to be at the top of the case. Similar in placement to the CF Stacker. Is it possible to make the power buttons toggles? I know buttons are more practical, but are there springs loaded toggles that revert to the normal position after being pressed? I want a toggle that powers the main computer, a toggle that power some of the lighting, a toggle that powers the cooling, as well as a few other things. As I understand it, having different things on at different times may require two power supplies?

I also want to have some tempurature dials at the top of the case towards the front. (Dials, toggles, yes, I'm going for a retro look :)) These should light up blue, but not too bright, and should have tempurature displays for the GPU, the CPU, and ambient, seeing as how these are all important parts of my overclocking habits. I'd love to include other value information up there for at a glance goodness, but I also have a budget to keep in mind.

My next imperative is to brand it with my own logo. With my gaming handle being Aynjell Starwing, I'd love to use a logo fairly symbolic of that: A pentagram wreathed in wings etched into a side acryllic window, as well as possible up front (window etching, case painted, or otherwise there). The other thing, while easy to implement, is black lighting. Have any of you seen the new black vento? It's black lighting in the front vents are absolutely sexy. I'd love to use black lighting in this case.

As stated above, the case also has to have a window. This is more for a practical use, than aesthetic. I am considering watercooling or some other alternative cooling method, and being able to spot a potential or forming leak before it happens is imperative, plus it'd be a waste to have a bunch of cool looking hardware and well routed wiring if I couldn't show it off, right?

So to summarize:

I want it to look dark, functional, and retro. It will have a dark flat black colour to match my twin LCD72v flat screen monitors. Blue and black lighting as well as potentially water cooling...

I also want to focus on rigidity and noise. I want to prevent as much of it as possible.

No crazy features like toolless design, but it will be festering with thumbscrews. :)

So, you get the idea, what do I need to know?

Here is a basic idea of how I want it to look, I will work on the art a bit more so it's a bit more thorough and descriptive...

Drawing

you need to know that steel is much harder to work with than aluminum
you need to know how to use a dremel and a jig saw and if you want detail, a nibbler.
and you should do some research on water cooling or nosie canceling foam.
And lastly it doesnt get done unless you get out and do it

The Stacker is a perfect match. I will only have to add the top dials, however hard that will be. I will probably research implementing a side window.

Side windows are fairly easy.

I've learned that the first time you make a window you will screw it up, so try on an old side case.

Power went out. BBL.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aynjell

The Stacker is a perfect match. I will only have to add the top dials, however hard that will be. I will probably research implementing a side window.

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The stacker case is a nice case. You have a choice of the Mesh in the side or a window, So a window is not that hard.

Also with the mesh a friend was able to cool off his machine by at least 5 degrees vs is old case.