BEST case ever designed?

[cirthix]

I really like sff systems, but i also like being able to stuff as much as i possibly can into a case... i'm now proud to introduce my design for a case which is small (13*15.75*8")HLW and yet can house more hardware than most large cases out there. it sports 4 120mm fans, a standard psu, a 92mm fan, 6 hdd/floppy bays, 4 cdrom bays, and a full size atx motherboard. you can stick a reasonably large grahpics card (i think its about 9" long, but i dont remember the max length you can stuff in there). tell me what u guys think and how it can be improved. i'm still working on the drive mounting, side pannel sliders, and motherboard tray sliders (yes, the tray is removable, with the pci cards in place). honestly though, break out a ruler and compare it to your case.

 

[cirthix]

crap! i dont know how to post the pic (its a 150k jpeg) its a 1024*1024 slightly photoshopped render of it soemone please help me out so u guys can look at it
edit: put it up so u guys can see it-- url is...
http://img75.exs.cx/my.php?loc...eredandmoddedcase2.jpg

 

[Demo24]

gotta upload it to a server somewhere

 

[MDE]

Register at pics.bbzzdd.com and upload it there.

 

[Jeff7]

Well, as I can't see the case, I can comment on two of the best cases I've used - Antec's SLK3700AMB and Enlight's 7237.
Pros and cons of each:

SLK3700AMB:
Pros
- Good finish
- Good airflow design - one 120mm each in front and back. Maybe it could use another intake though to help maintain positive pressure to keep dust out. And speaking of dust:
- Filtered intake
- Easy-open side panel
- Thumbscrews
- Cooled internal hard drive cage, which also slides out fairly easily
- Drive rails
- 4 LED's - Power, HDD, and 2 others
- Supports long cards (Promise SX4000) (Note: caveat below)
- Front USB ports

Cons
- The drive rails are much thinner than the Enlight's, and so they don't attach quite right all the time
- Fan clips instead of good old reliable screws. This means that if you want to slice the stamped fan grilles out, you can't attach your own grille to the outside.
- The front HDD LED's lead to connectors that all simply say "HDD LED" with no indication of which wire leads to which LED.
- It doesn't support "full-length" cards
- Top panel is riveted in place. Modding it thus requires drilling out the rivets before assembly - or else you need to empty out the case of all components if you decide to mod later, unless you want metal dust covering everything.

7237
Pros
- Nice case, easily moddable.
- Drive rails that seem to work with a variety of components
- It was a great case back in its day

Cons
- Top panel is riveted in place on this one too
- Not enough internal expansion bays for big RAID setups
- Should really use 120mm fans instead of little 80mm things
- No front USB ports

- Just doesn't have all the snazzy things that new cases come with, like those neat latches that the SLK3700 has for the side panel


So there, that's my list of likes and dislikes in my cases thus far. Now just integrate it all into your case design, and I'm sure it'll be perfect for everyone in the world.

To sum it up though, things I want to see:
No fan clips
Good airflow without needing the air-pushing ability of a standard 737
Front USB/Firewire
Wide drive rails to ensure compatibility with many devices
Screw on/off top panel, not riveted
Lots of room for expansion

Looks like you got some of that with the 6 3.5" bays and the 4 5.25"; do see about allowing a full-length PCI card though. I believe the Promise SX6000 is full-length. All those 3.5" bays are begging for a 6-drive RAID configuration.
I'll withhold further judgment though until I see a pic of this creation.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I think the OP designed a case and created renders of it. I don't believe he's talking about cases that already exist.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
I think the OP designed a case and created renders of it. I don't believe he's talking about cases that already exist.

Exactly, and the OP clearly stated that. Yet he still hasn't managed to "find" hosting. :roll:

Hmm...scary. Another PhD in the making. He can use AutoCAD to design complex mechanical devices, yet he can't cross the street unaided.

Let's see your miracle case!

 

[Zepper]

Heck, I've had my own personal web site for several years. No problem posting a pic... IAC it would be hard to beat one of these: SLK3700AMB/Compucase 6A19 (twins under the skin), Evercase 42x2, or the Kingwin 424 series.
. In another thread he claims the ultimate quantum mini-box (just a mildly exaggerant paraphrase ). You install a device into the box and press a button and the new device folds into another dimension thru an anchored micro-singularity. You can have everything you want in there and the box stays the same size. Of course interdevice commo is achieved via the quantum remote effect. (c) Sept. 2004 by W.A.H. This is all ad-hoc, extemporaneous mumbo jumbo, but it sounded so cool I've protected it with the (c) mark..
.bh.

:moon:

 

[MrK6]

I have to agree the SLK3700AMB rules, especially once a side 92mm intake is added. The design works, but the two 120mm intake are in the wrong position and would totally screw up the air flow. You need at least one of them to be in the front.

 

[cirthix]

well, what i was thinking was that the 92mm woudl cool the hdds and then have its air sucked out the power supply and out the bottom of the case. i didnt think the two 120s looked right where they were, but i figured that it could cool the chipsets, video card, and the cpu heatsink all at once. so practically every component has plenty airflow around it, all coming right from the outside. its almost like two seperate coolign loops, but i have little/no experience in desiging cases (jsut lots of mods to my ones) anotgher thing: i have an old slower burner, so i wouldnt know about the new ones. do high speed burners/dvd burners or toher optical drives need to have airflow around them? mine stays cool, but as i said errlier, its old. on emore thing about the fans' placement: they are 1" thick fans, but have space to be upgraded to 38mm fans, jsut if ur wondering
edit: wow, i didnt even notice how that went hand in hand wiht my sig.. big fans are good, but a bad addiction. fyi: laugh if u want, but i'm now looking for an eight inch dc fan for my case. lol

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

I'd put the power supply back in the normal position, just to make sure all the cables reach the appropriate slot.

I'd change the front fan to 120mm and put the I/O ports where the power supply is currently shown.

I personally don't like side and top fans so I'd get rid of those and maybe put 2X 120 fans on the back panel.

I definitely like the 4X 5.25" and 2X 3.5" exposed drive bays (3.5" good for floppy and card reader).

I'd use rubber sheets or a metal cage with rubber grommets to hold the HDD's in order to isolate their vibrations from the rest of the case.

Overall, it looks pretty nice.

-D'oh!

 

[cirthix]

well, the problem wiht puting the psu back where it normally is, is size. it would add another 3 inches of hieght to the case, effectively turning it into an antec super lanboy thats just a little smaller. i think its small enough that the wires will all reach to every corner of the cease, but i am worried about the temp of the psu, it may overheat. but hopefully the 92 wont pull the psu's exhaus and put it back into the system, cause that would cause major problems. i think it will probably work, but may need tested first, and this is only a render. i might add that only the components are in this render, none of the frame ormountings are included, i'm suprised nobody noticed that stuff was jsut floatingin place! as for the drive cage, the 5" and 3" drive cages are one actually, just a long bent piece of metal. i have not decided wetehr to attach it to the bottom of the case to make it REALLY solid, or to have it suspended from the top with some rubber grommits absorbing the shock. a third plan for the drive cages is quite original: the front pannel is the drive cage, the metal is just bent in and holes drilled into it, meaning that if you remove the front pannel, you have the drive cage with it. this solves many problems such as making it not necessary for a removable motherboard tray or having even a removable side pannel(on the mobo side). with the front removable, the top, bottom, far side, back, can all be one piece. you could effectively take your case and unscrew it into two pieces (hows taht for weird?)

AnnoyedGrunt, check out the antec superlanboy, you'd love it, it perfectly fits what you asked me to improve upon. i've personally worked with both super and non super lanboys, and they were nice cases. metal was kind of thin and flexible, but it was VERY light. the super version had almost everthing u wanted. there not too expensive either.

 

[cirthix]

bump

 

[Zepper]

You don't need all that fan in such a small case. All you really need is a well thought out airflow pattern. As you have those 120 fans set up the air would just come in and go out w/o doing much cooling. Back to the drawing board - AFTER considerable skull sweat...
.bh.

:moon:

 

[Sonic587]

Well, it looks good except for a few things.

1. Take out the top exhaust fan. You won't need it.

2. Take out the top 120MM intake fan on the side, but leave the bottom intake. My case actually has 2 120MM mounts on the side just like your design. The top one is for the most part useless. However, the bottom 120MM mount is GREAT for cooling hot videocards.

3. Change the front intake to a 120MM fan.

4. Undervolt all fans.

5. I'd try and put the PSU back where it belongs. Lower the back 120MM exhaust and try to fit it into the design.

 

[Cerb]

Not the best case ever designed. For one thing, it will be loud, with no good way to quiet it. I tried the fans on the side and top...you can 5v them to your heart's content, and still hear it all clear across the room. I can't do that fancy 3d stuff, so I'll try paper and pen and see if I can get the scanner to work .

 

[CraigRT]

my favorite ease of use case is my Antec SX600II

fantastic in every way.. it's made with quality and ease of use at number 1. the only problem is that there is not a lot of room if you like a case roomy.. it's onyl a mid-tower, but man what a great case to work with.. the ONLY cons I can think of are the weight of the case, sharp edges on the door only, and non-removable mobo tray... otherwise everything is great.

 

[0roo0roo]

looks like the air goes in..and right back out without doing that much. better to flow a little over the drives.. guess that would require positive pressure and some weird front exhaust grills.

not sure whats the point of sff if its gonna be loud though. put it on your desk and annoy yourself... or put it on the ground where size doesn't really matter.

 

[klah]

Build a carboard mockup with the psu and fans in place and then test the airflow patterns with smoke.

To turn on the PSU without the motherboard present simply connect the green wire from the 20-pin connector to any of the black ground wires.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
looks like the air goes in..and right back out without doing that much. better to flow a little over the drives.. guess that would require positive pressure and some weird front exhaust grills.

not sure whats the point of sff if its gonna be loud though. put it on your desk and annoy yourself... or put it on the ground where size doesn't really matter.

yeah...

your side fans and exhaust fans are too close together...

the point of having fans in the front and then those on the back and top are to exhaust the hot air..

with the way you have them positioned, the cooler air would come right in and then just leave immediately through the exhaust bypassing th mobo and the hsf

 

[Zepper]

Here is a practical design Suntek 9511 that's already on the market (for more pix, click on the links near the bottom of the page). It doesn't have the drive space, but I don't think anyone looking for a compact system is projecting having many drives anyhoo.
.bh.

:moon:

 

[ponyo]

Best practical mass produced case ever designed is the Chieftec full tower case. My Antec PLUS1080AMG case uses that. Best case ever and many companies use that case and rebadge it.

Antec SLK3700AMB is a nice mid-tower design. Very inexpensive too.

 

[Mday]

you're exhausting fresh air...

 

[billycat]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Heck, I've had my own personal web site for several years. No problem posting a pic... IAC it would be hard to beat one of these: SLK3700AMB/Compucase 6A19 (twins under the skin), Evercase 42x2, or the Kingwin 424 series.
. In another thread he claims the ultimate quantum mini-box (just a mildly exaggerant paraphrase ). You install a device into the box and press a button and the new device folds into another dimension thru an anchored micro-singularity. You can have everything you want in there and the box stays the same size. Of course interdevice commo is achieved via the quantum remote effect. (c) Sept. 2004 by W.A.H. This is all ad-hoc, extemporaneous mumbo jumbo, but it sounded so cool I've protected it with the (c) mark..
.bh.

:moon:

So how change CD/DVD without getting sucked into the vortex?

mmmm... sucking.....

 

[cirthix]

ok, i see your point about the uppermost 120mm and upper side 120mm fan. i've removed them in an effort to help quiet the case. i've now designed the entire front pannel, which is acutally an extension of the drive cage. i have most of it on paper, rest is in my head, but not too much detail is put into the rendering (not very good at the program i used) i've also decided on my design for mobo tray (nonexistent), sidepannel, io on the back, opposite side pannel, and front pannel. the case is made of 4 pieces of metal bent, cut, and drilled to make the shape properly. piece one is the frontpannel/drive cage, piece two is the opposite side of the drive cage, which is permanetly attached to the front pannel, third piece is the side pannel, fourth piece is the mobotray/opposite side pannel/top/bottom/back of case (helluva lotta folding, but shoud make it strong), only thing i'm still thining about is how to fill the hole made by bending a piece for teh card holder. anyways, due to the simple nature of the case and the lack of the drive cage being used as a stiffiner, i think the aluminum should be a little thicker, in the realm of 1/16th of an inch. any mechanical engineers have an idea of wether this is overkill or insuffecient? i'd like to thank everyone for thieir input on this case. i've simplified the construction a good bit, so maybe i'll be able to build it (my dad is friends with a local machine shop owner and can operate all machines in his shop) hopefully you guys can all see pictures in the future.