BOX (one day scratchbuild)

Project: BOX

Ok I nearly forgot about this project. It was a random scratchbuild I did one boring evening a year or so ago. It started out when I was gutting an old computer case. The system is an old LPX style Pentium I board.

So rather than pile the parts somewhere I figured I'd find a box to put them all in.

As I started putting stuff in I realized this was the system fit almost perfectly with just a little tolerance in the box.

I started thinking. Why not set everything up inside of the box so I can actually use the system. I measured and cut access to the I/O panel of the mainboard.

I found some bolts to mount the motherboard in the case with.

I also made standoffs for a little clearance for the board.

I keep working on it for a while and mounted the motherboard riser card, PSU, and the various drives.

I found and installed all the components. Also added a half height network card and a optical drive. (The optical drive is supported internally by the network card)

The case is rather small so I felt it was imperative to have good cooling in addition to the 2 80mm case fans I decided to upgrade the CPU cooler to a heatsink/fan combo I had in my parts pile.

As you can see from the top the fit is rather tight, I feel I have managed to find the perfect layout for the case.

The final result is a nice compact computer using standard components:

System specs:
-Motherboard: 1995 IBM NPX Form Factor
-Processor: Pentium I 166mhz
-RAM: 64mb
-Hard Disk: 1.5gb
-Floppy Drive: 1.44mb
-Optical Drive: 8x CD-ROM
-Network Card: 10/100 PCI
-OS: MS DOS
-Cooling: 2x 80mm Fan, Processor Heatsink/Fan

I have some more pictures of the system up and running somewhere. Any comments and questions are welcome and I'll do my best to answer.

lol, nice case dude. Just don't get it wet :P. Is that computer actually fast enough to do anything?

I love cardboard cases! That one's a lot better put together than mine, and probably roughly as quick.

Mine's a Power Mac 7600, 132 MHz/80MB RAM, similarly sized HDD.

LOL! Cardboard boxes FTW!

I've got my old server in one right now. I didn't spend as much time on it as you did though. I just used the handle holes for wires :D. No cutting, no screws, just set it in and done.

Yeah I put a decent amount of effort into the case. I've been debating on experimenting more with cardboard in future cases. I just remembered I have to temporarily relocate the components from another one of my cases. I think I'll make another cardboard case for it.

Very creative. And good recycling skills there.
+rep. ;)

Nice homemade round IDEs. I almost started cracking up when I clicked "BOX" and... it was literally a box. +rep

BOX Version 2 is now complete! It has many more advancements over the original. The new features include:
-Modern micro tower style design
-Support for the ATX form factor
-Removable motherboard tray
-LCD temperature monitor
-Lighted case fan
-2x 5.25" drive bays
-HD drive cage

The removable motherboard tray:

The case was made using a Newegg box for the main case, and a Arizona Iced Tea box for the motherboard tray and HD cage.

System Specs:
-Motherboard: Dell Dimension XPS T500
-CPU: Intel Pentium III 500mhz
-GPU: nVidia Riva TNT2
-HD: 13gb
-Optical Drive: DVD
-Operating System: Windows XP, Mandrake 10

THAT IS AWESOME! lol!

Ghetto Modding FTW!

+rep for making my already WONDERFUL day even better! :D

Love it.

haha so awesome, carboard is a very nice modding material, I used it to test the layout of a plexi case im making. instead of using plexi i used cardboard for the idea stage

I don't want to rain on your guys' parade, but this is such a fire hazard.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raz1r

I don't want to rain on your guys' parade, but this is such a fire hazard.

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what a great way to send off an old system with a big ball of fire! :D

awesome cardboard skills man, just awesome! :P

That's ****ing brilliant. Look at the funny AT power switch! I haven't seen one of them for YEARS.

i love the removable mobo tray! that is wonderful!

i so need to make me a box case

dude a box lol just is so cool i would have never thought of doing that