Question Looking to build wooden mATX case

[CRITICALThinker]

So I purchased a mATX LGA 2011 board and a e5- 2630v2 from Aliexpress for ~90 USD, and I want to make a somewhat portable and small enclosure for it. I currently have the motherboard tray from a socket 478 P4 HP computer for mounting, and a design for 1/2" plywood construction.

As for the chinese 2011 motherboard, I think i'll make a review post at some point once I finish the system. That being said I will note I was unable to mod the bios to unlock the memory timing controls so that will stay at 1600 CAS 29 unfortunately (so much for the rated 1866 CAS 10)

If you have any suggestions of changes I can make let me know. The PCIe cutouts are missing because (s)Ketchup has a couple of bugs with hollow shapes and the order in which they are drawn. My intent is to have the rear I/O being the top of the case such that there is no need for front I/O save whatever I feel like adding to the side. the dimensions are ~ 7x13x14 inches on the inside (21 liters) and ~25 liters on the outside)

Small EDIT: will likely be swapping which sides get the full edges for construction reasons

I also plan to mount an arctic alpine 7 PWM using some 3d printed mounts when I get back to school, however a 212 EVO only adds ~ an inch to the width considering the width of the power supply. I know I could shorten the case height by a bit, but I want to leave it open to future expansion above the GTX 950 I currently have for it (probably an RX 580 so I can use it for VR if I can find one that isn't stupidly priced)

 

[13thmonkey]

What fan config are you using? Which are in and which are out? Those two fans at the back look to add little if intake (as fresh air wouldn't reach the CPU cooler, and would cause the GPU issues if exhaust.

 

[Flouro Flibboflasm]

I gave it a thumbs up just for the pretty good rendering. The project sounds kinda fun.

 

[Murdo]

What fan config are you using? Which are in and which are out? Those two fans at the back look to add little if intake (as fresh air wouldn't reach the CPU cooler, and would cause the GPU issues if exhaust.

This, completely agree. If those fans are exhaust, they will not do the GPU any good at all and if they are intake, sure, it may help cool the GPU but wouldn't do the CPU much good at all.

 

[13thmonkey]

Work out how you want the air to flow (flow is the important word, it has to go in, and move out, encouraging that movement around all of the areas with components), then build the frame to allow that to happen.

 

[cryoburner]

Yeah, with the current design, I get the impression that the graphics card may end up impeding airflow a lot. If you want a 90 degree rotated layout like that, it might be worth putting intake fans on the bottom (with feet to keep the system elevated) and at least some exhaust on top.

 

[CRITICALThinker]

That might be a good idea for airflow, and would allow me to cut nearly an inch off that side. I'm still not sure how much room to give the GPU, (s)Ketchup online seems to default to inches and I only know measurements in metric, but nothing google can't fix. As for fan orientation in the file, I was fighting with moving an object in a 3d space with 2d controls and was just trying to get it in place.

Thanks for the compliments on the render but I'll have to give the 3d warehouse credit for anything that isn't a white box

 

[CRITICALThinker]

Well I did some more modelling taking into account suggestions, i'm going to have to find something for the dust filters on the bottom, and I have no idea what I am going to use for the side, acrylic would be neat (to show off the terrible cable management. the internal volume is now around 20 liters and the external volume is 24 excluding the feet.

if I had gone for a similar power supply mounting as the Silverstone Sugo SG 10 I probably could have made it a tad smaller, but it would have required dealing with having the power supply where the one bottom/ front fan is, and I would have needed to route the cable out somewhere. Now I doubt real world tolerances will allow for some components to get so close together, however ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[13thmonkey]

do you have a height constraint? That PSU sat there scares me, if you could go a bit taller, drop the PSU to the bottom left, fans bottom and front. What are you doing about filters? They'll need cleaning and removing, make that easy or it won't get done.

 

[CRITICALThinker]

I don't necessarily have any constraints, I'm just trying to make it small and reasonably portable. What bothers you about the PSU location? I put the PSU there to allow all the cords to plug into the same side. As for fan filters I haven't looked to see what I have yet. might use some old screen door mesh held in with a bracket

 

[13thmonkey]

The weight of it looks poorly supported. Make day to day and week to week maintenance easy, else you'll regret it, hours or even days spent at this design stage will pay dividends later.

 

[13thmonkey]

Fans on the side panel that we're looking through might be easier to work with.

 

[CRITICALThinker]

Looked at the model, moving the power supply places a lot of holes in panels I'd like to keep solid, makes hard drive mounting difficult, and makes it a very tall tower even if it reduces the volume by 2 liters.

Placing the fans in the side panel isn't a bad idea, however to keep them out of the way of GPU power pins there is a possibility a recirculating cooler might end up with its own zone in the back of the case unless I put the fans in weird places.

 

[13thmonkey]

move the fans to the rear and you'll force feed some air into the narrow space that the GPU will suck from. Make the case slightly deeper and you could have 3x120mm fans in a row, no obvious stagnant pockets. Make it a little taller and the section with the fans on could be fixed and the top section hinged with maybe a magnetic latch at the top corners?

 

[CRITICALThinker]

Yes I'll have to look into some of these options. If I have Friday off work I'll start building then, looking at the layouts I have I might just leave one intake fan to pull air into the bigger section and bring the other one over to pull air over the core area of the GPU. I could also move the power supply below the GPU and use it as an exhaust, however I'm not confident that the amount of warm air it would be getting would be good for its health. both the fans will pull air in from the current open side and I'll mount them to the case walls with blocks.

 

[CRITICALThinker]

Bit of an update, I am in the process of building this, summary of progress here