Building a custom HTPC case

[Fallen Kell]

Ok, so I have finally had it with the available full ATX HTPC cases and I am seriously thinking of building my own custom case. I just don't understand why no one is building a case for large tower heatsinks like the Noctua NH-D14, 120mm rear exhaust fan (with 140-160mm side fan optional), and with hard drives that are suspended via some mechanism like bungee cords with room for 4 or 5 internal drives. It would be great to have some type of color LCD display, but not absolutely required.

That said, I suck with metal working skills, and am really not that handy. I am, however, an old school lego fan, and being that I saw a tower case built out of lego blocks not too long ago (2008?), I am thinking of doing the same thing for this.

I plan on using Lego's Design software to prototype it in software to check everything out. I want to have good quiet airflow (so large slow moving fans) with anything that moves softmounted/suspended so as to not cause vibration noise.

That is unless someone else knows of a case with similar capabilities. I have already previously owned or tried the following: SilverstoneTek LC-10, LC-17, CoolerMaster CM Media 282, Antec Fusion Remote MAX. SilverstoneTek was on their way to making what I wanted with the Crown series, but it never fully materialized.

 

[Zap]

I just don't understand why no one is building a case for large tower heatsinks like the Noctua NH-D14, 120mm rear exhaust fan (with 140-160mm side fan optional), and with hard drives that are suspended via some mechanism like bungee cords with room for 4 or 5 internal drives.

The problem is that it would end up huge. Judging by the popularity of mini ITX rigs serving as HTPCs, I'd imagine most people would want something small.

I certainly don't want anything big. The funny thing is that I really want my HTPC to be able to play games (currently has GTX 250 in it) but I never actually use it for such purposes. I just use mine at this time strictly for playback of media files, so I could get by with anything powerful enough to play back up to 1080p without GPU acceleration (in case of strange playback software/codec). Heck a cheap Athlon II x2 would suffice, in a slim ITX case.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, I have been slowly working on it. As for it being huge, it is going to be able the same size as my audio/video pre-processor, and my amplifiers, with it being maybe 1-2 inches taller than my DVD player.

 

[DaveSimmons]

D'oh, I was going to suggest the Antec Fusion and NSK desktop cases but you've already ruled those out.

SilentPCReview had a recent mini-ITX file server build using a larger Lian-Li case that might be closer to what you want.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, I am slowly (really slowly) getting there. The Lego Design software really sort of sucks in a sense. The camera angles/position are horrible (well the angles and rotation are fine, but there is no way to change the position of the camera, so you are stuck rotating around the same fixed place which makes it really difficult to place pieces at times.

I am seriously considering writing my own software at this point. Once I got the physical dimensions of the pieces, I have a general idea of the frame, and am currently working on the hard drive mount points. Unfortunately, I am not sure how I am going to do 120mm fan mounts, the mounting holes used for 120mm fans are in a 105mm square, and you can't quite make that exactly (I will be 1mm off in height, and .5mm off in width, hopefully I can be within the margin of error).

 

[alaricljs]

Google Sketchup might come in handy.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

The problem is that it would end up huge. Judging by the popularity of mini ITX rigs serving as HTPCs, I'd imagine most people would want something small.

I certainly don't want anything big. The funny thing is that I really want my HTPC to be able to play games (currently has GTX 250 in it) but I never actually use it for such purposes. I just use mine at this time strictly for playback of media files, so I could get by with anything powerful enough to play back up to 1080p without GPU acceleration (in case of strange playback software/codec). Heck a cheap Athlon II x2 would suffice, in a slim ITX case.

Hahah I'm the same way with my HTPC. I just got a 5770 off a guy in the FS/FT forums for it, which really is overkill for just about anything I'm using it for.

I should switch that out for my gf's 8800GTX's in SLI and throw those in this system now that I think about it though...

 

[Fallen Kell]

I use a 5750 fanless in the HTPC at the moment. I don't plan on changing it for the time being. It does what I want (blu-ray, some hardware decode, HD audio bitstreamming) and doesn't add to the noise.

Started to rethink how I plan on doing this. At the moment I have been designing how the hard drives will sit in the case and cooling for them (plan on building a vent/gap in the front/bottom of the case which will allow air to be pulled in by a 120mm fan sitting horizontally and blowing up/in over the hard drives). The front will have a hinged compartment for allowing me to hide front mounted USB and firewire connections. Since I will need to build them myself, I will probably use USB3.0 rated ports if I can find them.

So far I have ordered an I/O shield for use in the case and will be probably drilling custom mount holes in it to allow me to secure it using standard lego technic pieces (posts and gear spacers). Having done quite a bit a lego robot designs and builds in the past, I feel pretty confident in my ability to design a structurally reinforced case using the technic pieces connected using pin connectors to act as locking blocks preventing the other pieces from getting pulled loose.