BIG Case suggestions ?

[Kayin]

Do what I did-make it into a piece of furniture.

That said, my board even dwarfs an SR-2. So I might have a little bit of an issue with regular cases anyway.

[PS2SP]

Good morning all - I'd like to thank you all very much for your suggestions and taking the time to post in my first thread, it's very much appreciated !

Well I've made a decision, kind of, so ..... I'll 'put up' with my Antec 1200 for now and work on some sketches I've made and go from there, not in a major rush realising how much work could be involved in a scratch built case, so I'd want to make sure everything is planned out as best as possible before taking the plunge.

Unfortunately almost all of the full tower cases are all much of a muchness size-wise insofar as changing from the Antec 1200 to a.n.other retail full tower case will be trading something that works ok now to something that will require a fair bit of time and work to transplant my setup from and to due to all of the water loops and cable management, which unfortunately I've not got much time to do at the moment, and in turn I wouldn't achieve much extra space presently or for future upgrades.

Looking at the MM cases they're huge and roomy just like I would like, but too BIG unfortunately and custom'ing something and importing it to the UK would be expensive after shipping, taxes and customs and the cost of the custom job, so I've ruled MM out.

So I'm looking at a custom ali' and acrylic monolithic looking thing measuring about 14-17" wide by a minimum 24" high and 24" deep, and ensuring it's as future proof as possible, easy to maintain and clean and offers options for the best cooling possible, (no knowing how hot NVIDIA will make it's future offerings )

Plus I generally upgrade after Xmas so this gives me 8 months to plan, collect materials and tools and check and re-check my plans and take into consideration anything I might buy.

Hopefully TBCS won't mind me hanging around and asking daft questions ? but I've been reading and re-reading many of the work logs on here and it's inspired me no end, so thank you for that also.

Cheers ....

PS2SP

[slaveofconvention]

It's nice to have someone else here on this side of the pond - it gets lonely when all those american types are taking over the joint

[PS2SP]

Long time no reply, oops

You'd think designing your own scratch build would be easy but is it aesthetics over hardware requirements or hardware requirements over aesthetics

Trying to fit 4x 120.4 or 120.3 rad's into a case without making the case too wide when you're trying to get the the mobo tray in horizontally

Back to the drawing board

Thanks

PS2SP

[Beta-brain]

Build your own, get some ally profile cut to required lengths and assemble,

add internals of choice,

and skin with plexi.

Easy.

OK, so the Silverstone looks better

[PS2SP]

Yup looks easy ..... eek

Nah I'm gonna give scratch build a go, I've done some minor mod's to the Antec 1200, mainly a 220mm fan hole on the rh side and stuff for pumps and hoses, and I'm good with my hands, I think patience and precision is what I need to order in abundance

Just trying to get something designed that's not 3' wide so aethetics over function or vice versa

[Beta-brain]

If you can take a PC to bits and reassemble it and it works then your more than half way there, you do the same just reassemble in a case of your making.
If you don't want to make everything yourself you can buy everything you need like drive bays, HHD cages and mobo mounting panels or of course use the parts from an old case.

I try and build things as simply as I can because it's easy to have lots of great ideas but if you then find that you can't easily make the parts it's easy to say "f**k it" and just scrap the project, keep things simple especially for a first build so you can make some progress which gives you the confidence and encouragement to keep going.

Example, A simple drive bay, plexi and some ally tube it's all you need

[PS2SP]

Cheers for the info' and advice

I'm also looking to get some cut offs from a plastics shop so I can play with and test things, so hopefully give myself the best preparation before committing to a scratch build, been looking at some of the guides over at Bit Tech as well, very handy, plus lots of stuff on here