TV-Server case.. Homebrew, wood, and ot 56k friendly.. (1 Viewer)

f0rmula

Portal Pro
January 25, 2006
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Ok, I'm nearly done now, and I'm feeling quite pleased. This is for my server, which runs the new TV server along with DNS/DHCP/webserver, general file server, and a small Linux VM. Stuff like that.

The idea was to have something that wont look out of place in my lounge. Or at least no more out of place than a subwoofer or other piece of A/V equipment/table/random block of pine. It'll probably be adorned with a plantpot or something equally as tasteful.

It's also as near silent as it can be (with a few harddrives) and well cooled. The CPU with no fan hasn't gone above 40C yet. It's been 100% loaded for about an hour.

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OK, so, how I went about it...

The bottom tray.. This is where all air is pulled into the case. Two 12cm fans, with inline resistors, which draw through the grill on the underside. Intake is as the bottom as that's the largest opening of the case, and I don't want to be able to hear the fans. Hopefully pointing the apeture at a carpetted floor will help with that.

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The grill? Well, that was from a disposable barbeque from the night before. It still has a little burger residue, but I'll live with that.

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The raised platform is where harddrives sit. It sandwiches a piece of foam to the bottom tray to attempt to isolate it from the rest of the case.. You can't really see that there though.

That's it nearly assembled. Foam sealy strip things for the door too.. Makes for a cushioned seal, and a pleasing thump when you close the door.

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Oh, and some little feet. That should allow it to draw air from underneath the case.

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OK. Ready to go..

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Fans in..

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Foam in the bottom.. Hopefully filter out some of the crud from my unhoovered floor.

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Butchered ATX case. Lots of chopping required.

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And now the rest of the bits. I have four SATA drives in there as well as the one in the pic. :)

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These little latches hold the door on pretty solidly.

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And no, that's not a tail.. That's the power switch that I haven't mounted to a backplate yet.. :)

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Well, there you go. Two days spent on this, but it's still not quite finished. Need to go round the edges with the router, mount the power switch, and do something with the I/O shield. When routed, it'll have rounded edges and should look all smooth :)

Phew.. I really need to find something less nerdy to do with my time :D

James
 

infinite.loop

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  • December 26, 2004
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    very, very nice!

    just one thing, i would add a fan that blows the air out of the case again -> airflow :)
     

    infinite.loop

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  • December 26, 2004
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    you have 2 very big fans at the bottom which are blowing air INTO the case, if i understand you correctly.

    the PSU blows a very small amount of air out of the case.
    which now means that the airpressure inside the case is increasing (fans start to get louder) and the airflow is realy bad.

    you should always try to get as much air out of the case as you blow in. this requires fans which blow it out.
     

    f0rmula

    Portal Pro
    January 25, 2006
    50
    0
    43
    Cambridge
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    This is the whole "fans in serial or parallel" argument. I thought it was well agreed that in something like a PC case, there is bugger all resistance to airflow. Therefore there's no reason to have fans in series. If you were to blow air through the apature at the bottom, how much resistance would you actually feel. I'd guess none.

    http://hardware.mcse.ms/archive12-2004-6-16432.html

    Logically, I should just remove the fan in the PSU completely. It's actually only reducing the airflow through the PSU, and hence the case as a whole.

    James
     

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