The Computer Case Project

Conclusion

Final results

Finally the case is ready! All hardware installed, all up and running. Enjoy the pictures!

The computer is running with these specs:

• Intel P4 3.2 GHz
• Asus P5GD1 motherboard
• 1 GB Kingston DDR400
• MSI Geforce 6600GT
• Forton/Source 400W PSU

The fans keep the case cool on a very low setting (3-4 volts somewhere, whisper quiet). The harddisks are cold to the touch even though they are stacked so close together. At full speed it gets noisy and I wouldn't trust the IDE cables to sit firmly in their sockets for very long *wink*.

The color scheme works quite well, all the different sources of blue work together in harmony. The extra white light from the power light is quite nice.

Comments on the result

The case looks pretty good in the end and surely does what it's supposed to. The cooling is really effective, the temps even go up if you take the side panel off! The drives are cooled efficiently and the the case is fairly silent thanks to the 120 mm fans and the fan controller.

Due to time limitations we didn't get everything perfect. There are some things that are CBB (Could Be Better).

• The paintjob isn't what it should be. The clear coat we used messed up the finish pretty bad in some places, but we didn't have time to fix it. In many pictures though, there is sawdust on the case, which makes it look even more crap.
• The fan controller knobs are hard to turn, we should have made the holes a bit bigger.
• The LCD on the top front simply isn't there yet, but it won't be hard to add if we ever have time.
• There is nothing holding the expansion cards in place. Screws just wouldn't work and we didn't come up with anything better.
• We probably should make bezels for the optical drives. It doesn't look very spiffy as it is now. Thin brushed aluminum rectangles that just cover the hole would be great.
• The 5.25" drive cage is butt ugly. But at least it's on the inside.

Another thing you may now realise from the pictures is that this case is pretty huge! The 120 mm fan holes probably makes it look smaller than it acctually is. We intensionally added some extra size to it so it wouldn't get cramped in some odd place. Apparently it was enough.

So that's it! This was our first build and we've learned much from it. Some things were easier than we thought and some were a lot harder. If you have any comments please leave them in the guestbook or write me a mail.