Case question

[Epimetreus]

I plan to have a custom case designed for me at some point in the near future.
When I do so, I want to make a few improvements over standard design, and was wondering if any of the propeller heads in the audience could answer me this question:
are there any reasonably affordable, reasonably workable materials that have the following characteristics:
NO electrical conductivity
Metalic or metal-like
Reasonably strong at medium scale

The reason I ask is that I want to make the plate in the case on which you'd mount a motherboard something that will not conduct electricity so if ever I accidentally let the board touch the mounting it won't fry the board.
I know people who have let this happen and lost several hundred dollars, and figured if I'm going the extra mile this might save me some serious cash down the road.

Also, related to the same thing, can anybody recommend a good ionic air filter? I intend to use one to prevent dust from collecting on the heat sinks and internals of the system.

 

[Peter]

You still need it to be electrically conductive at least between the board mounting posts and the spots where this plate connects to the rest of the case. This for proper grounding of the board.

 

[Epimetreus]

Thanks for reminding me of this, but I can do that with wire or thin plating where needed.
The question still stands, since nobody seems to have thought of anything yet...

 

[f95toli]

Why not use painted metal? Maybe with some kind of "plastic" paint.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: Epimetreus
I plan to have a custom case designed for me at some point in the near future.
When I do so, I want to make a few improvements over standard design, and was wondering if any of the propeller heads in the audience could answer me this question:
are there any reasonably affordable, reasonably workable materials that have the following characteristics:
NO electrical conductivity
Metalic or metal-like
Reasonably strong at medium scale

The reason I ask is that I want to make the plate in the case on which you'd mount a motherboard something that will not conduct electricity so if ever I accidentally let the board touch the mounting it won't fry the board.
I know people who have let this happen and lost several hundred dollars, and figured if I'm going the extra mile this might save me some serious cash down the road.

Also, related to the same thing, can anybody recommend a good ionic air filter? I intend to use one to prevent dust from collecting on the heat sinks and internals of the system.

Interesting. I been thinking of doing something like this. But instead of reinventing the wheel, I was wanting to modify it. I was thinking of a more customize computer that you can put in the wall of your house/desk/etc instead of having a computer case sitting there. If you want to change whatever, you can open it up and pull out like a draw. Beautiful, and all hidden away. The next step for this is connecting the power switch to your chair. So you sit on the chair and your computer turns on. *hahahha*

Electricity/conductive material. As long as you keep the ground all over like the case does it, I don't see why it's a problem. Most components have a -/+ and if the diff between the two is more then what the component like, then it will burn out. So what the ground pretty much does is keep everything level. If the + side get add 500Volt, then the ground will make sure the - side also get a 500Volt added. So as far as the component cares, there is no different. That's why it is so important for the ground to be mostly everywhere. It's distribute the voltage and check everthing. A good motherboard would have components to make sure the ground get to check this differents on the board. So you don't have to worry about that. It is good to have a conductive material all around the component you want to protect. Electricity do jump, that's how lightnight happen. But as long as you have a conductive material around it, the protected component in the middle should be safe.

For the ionic filter, I wouldn't recommend it. To me, it would introduce noise into the computer. Best solution I would say is the air filter. Or if you want, use a water cooler outside and make your case close completely. The water cooler will pump cool water in to keep everything nicely cool.

 

[Anthony2003]

i have used the foam stuff that comes with mother boards on the back of the mobo mounting it gets air cooled by the little holes.i have doubled up on it,i also have 2 intake case fans and 2 outake case fans,my board temps have never changed even before i used the foam.good luck

 

[Epimetreus]

Interesting. I been thinking of doing something like this. But instead of reinventing the wheel, I was wanting to modify it. I was thinking of a more customize computer that you can put in the wall of your house/desk/etc instead of having a computer case sitting there. If you want to change whatever, you can open it up and pull out like a draw. Beautiful, and all hidden away. The next step for this is connecting the power switch to your chair. So you sit on the chair and your computer turns on. *hahahha*

Electricity/conductive material. As long as you keep the ground all over like the case does it, I don't see why it's a problem. Most components have a -/+ and if the diff between the two is more then what the component like, then it will burn out. So what the ground pretty much does is keep everything level. If the + side get add 500Volt, then the ground will make sure the - side also get a 500Volt added. So as far as the component cares, there is no different. That's why it is so important for the ground to be mostly everywhere. It's distribute the voltage and check everthing. A good motherboard would have components to make sure the ground get to check this differents on the board. So you don't have to worry about that. It is good to have a conductive material all around the component you want to protect. Electricity do jump, that's how lightnight happen. But as long as you have a conductive material around it, the protected component in the middle should be safe.

For the ionic filter, I wouldn't recommend it. To me, it would introduce noise into the computer. Best solution I would say is the air filter. Or if you want, use a water cooler outside and make your case close completely. The water cooler will pump cool water in to keep everything nicely cool.

Ionic filters are completely silent, the problem lies in cheaper models which rely on noisy fans.
As for cooling, I am considering using a thermoelectric device. Much more efficient than water or compressors, and much more compact. Not to mention probably cheaper, the assembly costs $35 + shipping from http://www.alliedelec.com
If you're interested, the manufacturer is Tellurex(Just look them up in the manufacturer index).
Of course, there are some inherent dangers, such as an improperly wired control module failing, or refersing the current.
I intend to have a small heat sink, maybe 1/4" plate steel, directly over the processor, then the thermal pad and insulation, then the conventional heat sink, then a fan. All of this would be properly stress tested and such berore installation... would hate to trash my nice new A7N8X 2.0 and Barton 2500...

As for the actual case design, this would be part of a more integrated solution, probably scaleable, for the manic, obsessive, slightly insane modder in us all. IE, something that could contain an entire home network worth of PCs so all that sticks out are interface devices, power cords, and monitor cords.
Of course, the development may end up taking an entirely different turn, you never know...

 

[TTM77]

Epimetreus, I agree with U that the ionic is totally silence. I too love to have something silence like that. But you have to see how it work. It charges the air and attract the dust, etc in the air to it. I wouldn't put anything that charges the air near my electronic equipment. The entire reason for the fan in computer is to keep the CPU/MEMORY/etc cool. So as long as you provide this cool-ness, it should be fine. For the water pump, you can put the cooling unit somewhere else and have it pump water into the CPU. Obcause long distance isn't a good fact b/c you will lose the cool (lose your cool *hahahha). So put it a good distance from the computer and have it pump cold water into your PC.

The cheapest solution is to get that thing you put in the drier, it can act like a filter and put it over your fan. Cheap and simple. Sad part is, you have to clean it out once in awhile just like your Air Unit in your house.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

As for cooling, I am considering using a thermoelectric device. Much more efficient than water or compressors, and much more compact.

Cool. I'm a real electro-layman though. Can you power this right off a molex, or do you need something funky? Also, if they're so efficient, why aren't they widely used. It does sound like a great idea, and I want to do it, but I'm not sure I understand the mechanics exactly.

 

[Smilin]

Anyone see that dude that made a computer "desk" as in the frickin desk was the computer? The front edge of the computer desk had cdrom drives in it if you looked real close.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: Smilin
Anyone see that dude that made a computer "desk" as in the frickin desk was the computer? The front edge of the computer desk had cdrom drives in it if you looked real close.

No I didn't see that desk. Do you have a pic of it? I was thinking along that line. But I would instead make the CD drive pop up. If I have $, I would spend some box and make this.

 

[Epimetreus]

I was worried about the ionization factor as well, but I'm pretty sure it's negligable. I will be doing further research before I actually impliment anything, I assure you.

 

[Epimetreus]

As for cooling, I'll have fans for airflow, and to cool the heat sinks, but I will also have thermoelectric cooling for the CPU and possibly north/south bridge chips as well.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: Epimetreus
I was worried about the ionization factor as well, but I'm pretty sure it's negligable. I will be doing further research before I actually impliment anything, I assure you.

If my chemistry serve me right, when you Ionize something you are introducing charge into it. How I understand that ionize device work is it charge up with the opposite charge of the dust. So the result is the dust attracts to it and stick to it.

You know how if you put a magnet or something close enough to the monitor, it will get affect by that magnet and produce weird things. Since the CPU run at high frequency, I am not sure it's a good idea to put something like this near it. Not to mension your hard drive also is greatly affect by any magnetic field. You can try to find out if the device itself produce any magnetic field or "charges".

That thermoelectric, I think will work. It's like you put a turbo charge on your CPU. It will suck the heat out of the CPU. But it too will get extreamly hot so you will have to put a heat sink or something to cool it down.

 

[Lynx516]

I see a problem wiht the TEC. (thermoelectric device) To cool a barton you would need a TEC rated at about 172-200+ watts. NO HSF CAN COOL THIS. You would need water cooling. and your $35 one would not be high enough rating to work. It would toast your set up.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: Lynx516
I see a problem wiht the TEC. (thermoelectric device) To cool a barton you would need a TEC rated at about 172-200+ watts. NO HSF CAN COOL THIS. You would need water cooling. and your $35 one would not be high enough rating to work. It would toast your set up.

If what you saying is true, then it would be a lot lot lot lot cheaper to stick with the old way. I mean 200 watt is a lot of power and you will pay that every time you turn on the PC.

You know, I was thinking the other day. What if we can coat or something to protect the computer components, then we just put the entire thing under water. That way, it will take a long time for the PC to heat up the water. And even better, the water will have a lot of surface for the eat to escape. Air is a very good insulator so remove it out of the picture. Metal on the other hand is very bad insulator but it also very hard to cover the entire mother board, PCI card, etc with metal and still have the fuctionality to modify and stuff. So water is the next best thing, we just need it to touch every hot part of the PC to cool it down. The point is to get the heat out and the material to get it out doesn't conduct electricity.

Ok, now you can say I am a nut head. LOL