Wiz(nXg)

I have been wanting to build a large cube case with the motherboard laying flat for a while and now that work is slow I have plenty of time on my hands.

Pretty much I wanted something that:

Has plenty of airflow with the MB laying flat.
Quiet.
Easy to open up and work on.
Cheap and looks half way decent.

It's mostly nine-ply half inch wood with some parts scraped from an old case and it will be a pretty simple cube in gloss black. Here is the start of the case before final sanding and primer.

Front with side that opens up and three 5-1/4 bays.



(Still waiting on 250mm fan for exhaust on the top.)

Right side with fan intakes.



Left side with the back of the motherboard and opening for a power supply, I have a plate I cut from an old case that will screw into the box so I can flip the PS if I need to.



And here is the MB tray out of the box.



The PS, drives and most of the cords will be under the MB tray leaving the top part of the case open and free of clutter.

Fans should be in this weekend so I can finish up sanding/priming.

*Update 07/10*

Painting and lacquering all done, I went with Plasti-Kote Anodizit blue for a deeper metallic look



and two coats of sealer then one coat of lacquer.



Final pics in a few days hopefully.

*Update 7/11*

Fans and grills are in but I had to mount the two ultra kaze's on foam rubber pads because the vibration was echoing in the box.



I also ended up not installing the large fan on the top because it was vibrating a lot as well so for now it's just a blowhole.



*Update 7/22*

All finished, here are the final pics.

This is the system right before I slide it in and start doing the duct work.



I replaced the stock GPU cooler with an Arctic Cooling Accelero S2, like many people I had to lap it and use the stock back plate from the old heat sink or it would not cool very well.
I replaced the stock NB heat sink with a Thermaltake CL-C0034 and the Ultra 120 is from the old system.

Next I started making the ducts for the fans, they had to slide apart so I could pull out the MB tray easily.


This is the duct for the memory and NB.



The NB is usually only 5c higher than the case temp.

This is the duct for the CPU which is really only a lid to keep the air from the front fan blowing out the top.



And this is the GPU duct.






My goal was to finally get a stable 3.6GHz (9 X 400) out of my E6600 but it still crashes after an hour of prime, so for now I'm running 3.3GHz (9 X 366)
Here is a screen of prime after 2 hours with a room temp of 22c.



With all the airflow the CPU runs around 30c playing games and idles at room temp.

Still haven't sanded/buffed/waxed the front for a mirror finish but whenever I get around to it I'll update with pics.

Lombax

Very close clean cuts

Paint it like a companion cube

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Shoot me a PM if you want info or a review on it.

jeffries7

Looks nice, what sort of hardware are you putting in there? Are you painting it?

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CattleRustler

nice work

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TikiMan098

as much as I like companion cubes, i would rather see a rubiks cube that lights up to music.

oh and btw ur cube case is looking great! how much does it weigh?

tK FuRY

that would be sweeeeet

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RonindeBeatrice

Wow, I don't know if I've ever seen so many brilliant mods on OCN in a single month before. Good stuff; keep it coming.

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SystemTech

ok you have just inspired me, my next mod is so going to be a cube. Looks really cool, Im guessing its rather heavy though?

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Wiz(nXg)

Yeah a companion cube or Rubiks would be cool looking, I can totally see putting on some raised panels of frosted/colored acrylic with LED's, but I'm trying to keep this case pretty simple since it's more of a overclocking/work platform and not a lanparty/showpiece.

I'm going to paint it black but I'm not sure if I'm going to sand/buff and clear coat for a high gloss finish or paint and seal/lacquer which is how I have done the last few projects.

The one advantage to lacquer is I can print out nice labels or logos on a laser printer then stick them to the sealer before it dries then seal them in with lacquer.

Here is a base I made for the rock band drum kit, the logo was cut from a magazine and lacquered over.


(That thing has been abused)

And here is a cube I did for a friend a few years back with decals stuck on after the lacquer.




As for weight it's at 20 pounds empty so I'm thinking around 35 with everything installed. I'll weigh my current case with the parts I'm going to install and put up a side by side for scale.

Wiz(nXg)

Fans came in today and I got the top cut and installed.



The fan is a Rexus Rexflo 250mm from newegg, it moves a good amount of air by itself but the black mesh grill it comes with muffles it a lot but in this case I have so much positive airflow in the case all I really need is just a hole in the top.