UPDATE:
Project sophia is almost done, and i made a blog about it
http://projectsophia.tk/en/
check it here
Current state of project Sophia:
Hello, I'm a product designer student in brazil and i was strugling to find a case that I'd like and could afford (because prices are kinda crazy here now) and so i begun to study about case building and scratch builds.
This project has been going for half an year now and i'm really close to completion. Since i had not the time or the money to have it cut before, I have only a bunch of beautifull renders. I have a working prototype but there is still upgrades to come. slowly, of course there are pics on the posts below
disclaimer: I have not received any money from any company (but I'd love to) and the hardware parts rendered in these images were available for free on grabcad.com and picked for best aesthetics
What happend: My laptop died and I needed another pc. i got some spare parts and brought my system but i hadn't all the money for the full system and so I was left with an really ugly case that still bothers me but i learned to apreciate the fact im not working on a shoe box case
But Im a designer, and I can't stand uglyness so I begun to project my own pc case.
I wanted this project basicaly to be an open design for others to share and modify on the future, so it had to be:
- Affordable
- Customizable
- Good looking
- Modular
- common thickness of mdf
- Small as possible
List of materials :
3mm MDF or Acrilics
a power button ( i brought one from china)
a usb 3.0 internal cable for the front usb access (not shown on render)
cables from old pc cases
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS:
width : 212mm ~ 8.34 inches
height :410mm ~16.14 inches
Lenght : 362mm ~ 14.25 inches
(inches)
for those curious the system I'm going to put on this case is my current setup:
CPU : I7 4790
RAM : 16gb of ram - hyperx fury white dd3 1600mhz
STORAGE : 120GB 2.5 inch sandisk ssd plus
(used) 1TB 3.5 inch hard drive
even older 600gb 3.5 inch hard drive
POWER SUPLY : 500w ish old PSU
GPU : old and used Radeon 6770hd
cpu cooler : havik 140
CASE: old ~gamer~ look-like-a-car case
Project Sophia is for MicroAtx format, with 5 expansions slots for Crossfire / SLI (my board need the 5th slot for this so i assumed more people would like that)
This case supports up to 4 2.5 inch drives OR 2 3.5 inch drives with plenty space for another 2 or 3 ssds on the psu cover
This case has Mounting rails for triple 120 on front OR 2 140mm fans OR a single 200mm fan on front AND a single 120mm fan spot on the back.
This case has separeted chambers for the HD and the PSU
This case uses only 3mm mdf but any 3mm acrilics /ps board should work too
PSU clearence is 15cm (~ a small to normal sized psu)
Project Sophia has not : 5 inch drive support. i dont need it and it just got in the way of making it smaller.
before I leave you with the renders: Every comment helps! this project is not yet done and I'll apreciate your insights! I'll share the final project on the internet if it works so other people can use it. If you have any questions, want to see it in other colors or have ideias for the pci bracket mounting, please comment !
Thanks
the case is based on an internal structure secure by fittings and a cover with a cut that allows mdf to be bend covering the whole thing. also the front is a cutout pattern that is easly customizable and serve as air Intake with internal space for a dust filter. the side cutout is optional.
back side - stil working on the cutouts for the expansions slots
