[mchlmacdonald]

Hello everyone, my name is Mike. I've been building computers with my father for years, and I've been frequenting these forums on a daily basis for a little over a year now, posting some nonsense here and there. I've got a pretty decent rig right now as is (rog gene v, 3570k, gtx670), but it's mATX, and i want smaller, AND i want something with some more oomph. So it's time for me to present the beginnings of my very first scratch case build, Project Strongbox:



The case will be built out of 80/20 aluminum extrusion and .04" 6061 aluminum (or mild steel) sheet, with one piece of acrylic for the side window.

The case is 12"L x 7"W x 12"H, houses 5 fans, and will hold 1x HDD and 2x SSD on the opposite side of the motherboard tray.
The rest of the hardware will be:

- SeaSonic 80+ Gold SFX 450w Modular Power Supply
- ASUS MAXIMUS VI Impact
- Intel i5 4670k
- 8gigs of DDR3-1600+
- ASUS GTX Titan or 780 (i'm not sure whether the power supply can run a Titan or not?)
- Bitfenix Alchemy LED strips (X2)

This is just the initial design, i might have to increase the size of the case to allow a full atx power supply to fit in it, in case the Seasonic SFX one can't crank out enough juice.

I feel i can get the design down pretty quickly, and as soon as the Impact makes its way onto newegg i will be buying the hardware.

thanks for looking and i look forward to feeding you guys some more goodies soon!

 

[VulgarDisplay88]

Design looks really good and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

Might need to correct the motherboard name, should be Maximus VI Impact.

Found a comment on her by TwoCables:

With one GTX Titan under full load in their system, their PSU pulled 372W from the wall outlet. Their CPU was idling, so if you had the 3770K overclocked to 5 GHz and under full load at the same time as the Titan, then that would add 150W and the PSU would then pull 522W from the wall outlet. So, if the PSU is 90% efficient while pulling 522W from the wall outlet, then the computer is pulling 470W from the PSU. While gaming, the power consumption would only be about 400-450W.

 

[mchlmacdonald]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VulgarDisplay88

Design looks really good and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

Might need to correct the motherboard name, should be Maximus VI Impact.

Found a comment on her by TwoCables:

With one GTX Titan under full load in their system, their PSU pulled 372W from the wall outlet. Their CPU was idling, so if you had the 3770K overclocked to 5 GHz and under full load at the same time as the Titan, then that would add 150W and the PSU would then pull 522W from the wall outlet. So, if the PSU is 90% efficient while pulling 522W from the wall outlet, then the computer is pulling 470W from the PSU. While gaming, the power consumption would only be about 400-450W.

thanks for the correction, didn't notice that at all!

and as for the graphics card....i think i'll downgrade to a 780. i don't game higher than 1080p (at the moment, i don't have the room for a surround gaming monitor setup) and i don't think the 6gigs of memory is gonna help me much down on 1080p. so the Seasonic 450w should be able to handle the 780 just fine.

 

[mchlmacdonald]

changed the frame color and added the paneling to my design:



unsure of how i can mount the panels to the frame yet.
i want to retain the clean look of them (no mounting holes showing other than the fan ones), and make them extremely easy to remove...hmm.

 

[VulgarDisplay88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mchlmacdonald

thanks for the correction, didn't notice that at all!

and as for the graphics card....i think i'll downgrade to a 780. i don't game higher than 1080p (at the moment, i don't have the room for a surround gaming monitor setup) and i don't think the 6gigs of memory is gonna help me much down on 1080p. so the Seasonic 450w should be able to handle the 780 just fine.

Yeah the Titan is overkill for 1080p.
Quote:

Originally Posted by mchlmacdonald

changed the frame color and added the paneling to my design:



unsure of how i can mount the panels to the frame yet.
i want to retain the clean look of them (no mounting holes showing other than the fan ones), and make them extremely easy to remove...hmm.

Looks awesome with panels on

Magnetic strips?

 

[mchlmacdonald]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VulgarDisplay88

Magnetic strips?

yeah i was thinking of something like that, but i don't know how strong i'll need and how strong i can go until they might start screwin' with my fans or HDD's...

 

[mchlmacdonald]

okay, so i was havin' a hell of a time trying to arrange everything i wanted with a 12"x12"x7" case. the frame being made with 1"x1" extrusion just didn't leave enough room. i want this case to be small, but also look clean when it's all put together so all the goodies inside can be displayed through the side window. so i increased the size of the case to 14"x14"x8", which gives me the room i wanted to mount things properly. here's a new picture of the design:



i can also mount an ATX power supply if i so choose (to add a dual-gpu card or something later down the line) but for now i'll stick with a SFX.

i'm looking for a place local to me that supplies the t-slot extrusion, so i don't have to order through 80/20's ebay page.

i'll also be ordering the innards sometime this week or the beginning of next, so it should start coming together soon!

 

[VulgarDisplay88]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mchlmacdonald

okay, so i was havin' a hell of a time trying to arrange everything i wanted with a 12"x12"x7" case. the frame being made with 1"x1" extrusion just didn't leave enough room. i want this case to be small, but also look clean when it's all put together so all the goodies inside can be displayed through the side window. so i increased the size of the case to 14"x14"x8", which gives me the room i wanted to mount things properly. here's a new picture of the design:



i can also mount an ATX power supply if i so choose (to add a dual-gpu card or something later down the line) but for now i'll stick with a SFX.

i'm looking for a place local to me that supplies the t-slot extrusion, so i don't have to order through 80/20's ebay page.

i'll also be ordering the innards sometime this week or the beginning of next, so it should start coming together soon!

Looks awesome. Good idea to increase the size. Liking the window too.