Something different...

[xmastree]

I have an old ATX desktop case. It weighs a ton, made back in the days when they made them out of real metal, not the wafer thin ones we get now.
Anyway, it looks like crap, but that's the attraction.
I'm pretty sure a modern motherboard will drop right in. It has two 5.25" bays (three atually, but one has no front panel opening), that's enough.

I'm tempted to put something fast in there, but I'm concerned about cooling. The only fan is the PSU one and there's no obvious location for an additional case fan.

Suggestions?

Apologies for the quick & dirty web page...
http://geocities.com/xmastree_ph/case/

[Cevinzol]

I can see 4 places but none are easy.
1) Use one of the 5.25" bays. Insert a pre-made assembly for Cooling HDDs. Something like this: Hard Drive cooler - sidwinder.com
It would be easiest.

2) there is space over the sockets in back (between the P/S and the expansion slots) there might be room for a couple small fans.

3) I would at least put a hole in the top (over the future CPU's location) even if I didn't add a fan there.

4) Put a fan on the right side behind the P/S

The last 2 options are harder because your case cover is a 3-sided wrap arround case. So wiring becomes a challenge. Good luck.

[xmastree]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have plans for both 5.25 bays, so that disk cooler, nice though it is, won't be an option. :-(

Wiring wouldn't be too difficult, I would mount the fans on the chassis and cut holes in the cover to line up with them.
Hmm... intake behind the power switch, exhaust next to the power supply. That sounds like it would work well.

However, looking at those three 1.5" fans on that cooler, I'm imagining them on the back, above the connectors.

There's almost room for two 3" fans there, it'd look rough but a) it's the back so no big deal, and b) It's supposed to look like a pile of crap anyway! :-)

[xmastree]

Ok, well I've built it.
The good news, despite the case having just six mountings rather than the plethora of options on a modern case, my Asus A7V8x-X lined up perfectly.

The not so good news, I think I need more airflow. the CPU is running at 67C just now, but it drops to below 60 if I lift the cover.

I mounted one PSU fan blowing out through the unused slots at the back.

It's extracting ok, but the air coming out is cool compared to that coming from the PSU. So, it would appear to be drawing air in somewhere and sucking it out before it's passed over the important bit, the CPU.

With that in mind, I'm planning to fit maybe 3 small fans, as originally discussed. They would be nearer the CPU, and blowing inwards should provide a supply of cool air for the CPU fan. The case is noticably warmer just above the CPU.

An easier option might be to simply mount an internal fan to stir things up a little in there. I have some spare fans from dead PSUs. If I could get some fresher air over the CPU it might help. Currently the video card divides the case in two, so the CPU is in a small box, bounded by the PSU, VGA, CD and back panel.

[Cevinzol]

Can you have a blow hole cut in the case above the CPU?

[dgrmkrp]

U probably thought of this, but why dont you rebuild the back side and use 2x80mm fans back there? By rebuilding i mean cut the area where the fans would be up to the top-most u can, straigthen the metal with a hammer, bend a bit back 90 degrees (u'll know how much, depending how much of the "straight" piece extends pass the case backwall), cut the holes for the fans, bondo the surrounding to make it look as new.. then primer over it and paint it or not.. if u want it to look like crap

I would also go with the top fan intake, maybe with a duct... it will help a lot.. cool air goes in tru the duct, hot air gets out tru the back fans

Oh, another Q: do you use the floppy drive? you could remake that rack to hold one or more hdd with a cooler in front plus, the faceplate is plastic... so any hole can be made, remade with bondo etc... or if u go with a 5,25 hdd cooler pack.. bye bye 3,5 rack or whateveer u wish.. possibilities are endless... any case can be remade

[onelegout]

Can you have a blow hole cut in the case above the CPU?

This is a good idea, but not a blow hole....more of a suck hole...
That sounded kinky.

[dgrmkrp]

=))

[xmastree]

Ok, nice feedback. Firstly, I melted one hole saw and two grinding wheels trying to cut one hole in that area above the conenctors. Damn, this case is made from heavy duty steel! (Edit: i just measured it, it's 1mm thick!) I fitted one fan, blowing in, rebuilt it and the CPU runs 5 degrees cooler.
I put it outside to hide the mess made by my atempts to cut a neat hole

I tried a stirrer inside, but it made minimal difference.
Yes, I'm using the floppy drive, and both 5.25. bays.
Holes in the top? Not really an option. Nice as it would be to fit a window in there, this thing is going to be a working machine and there's gonna be a huge printer sitting on top of it.

Another couple of hacks. In the first pic you'll see at the botton left there's a lock to stop the case from being opened. I don't have the key for that, and there's no reset button on the case. So that location now holds the reset button.
It's lacking a front USB connector. Bearing in mind that the front panel comes off with the cover, I don't want to attach anything to it so I had to scratch my head a little. I could mount something on the chassis and cut a hole in the front to line up with it, but then I had a better idea. I have a hard disk caddy, and there was just enough space above the LEDs for a usb extension cable. stuck in with epoxy.

(a word of warning about that, from previous experience. If you are doing similar, keep the epoxy away from the metal part of the socket, otherwise it will seep through the holes making it impossible to insert a plug once it's set )

Other than that, the only concession to modern day bling is the blue power LED. I couldn't resist it...

[xmastree]

On a related note, the kid next door asked me if I could take a look at a computer for him so naturally I agreed. After all, my driveway needed sweeping.
So, he brought round this huge desktop box. I didn't look at the front, but spun it round to see the back. There was a very big hole where the power supply used to be. I opened it up...

OMG, a memory expansion card! Haven't seen one of those since... way back.
Found the CPU, a 386/25.

Anyway, the casing has four 5.25" bays onthe front, two with floppies and one with a hard brick, I mean hard disk.

The case was in remarkable condition, and it would make a beautiful retro-box. Here's a pic of what it was like:
http://www.cse.uta.edu/TheMuseum@CSE...ro386_25-1.jpg

Think of the potential there...