ChuckFinly Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I want to build my own case from scratch! I have tons of scrap metal, wood, screws, and the tools to utilize the latter. My primary question: Since this is custom built, what should my max form factor for motherboards be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoofhearted4 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 just make it a Full Tower case and you can look up any FT Case for the dimensions. look up something like the HAF X or the Antec Twelve Hundred. both big cases. if you make your case those sizes, youll fit everything under the sun in them, with room to spare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illuna Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I seggest to make testbench type case whit glass or similar see treu material around it, 2 levels, 1 for mobo and all things on it, and sekond for psu + drives + all the rest.I thinked about this myself but i dont have materials of the tools to make it happen :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 How big it is depends on your motherboard and how everything else is mounted. Before building anything, you should probably start off making a paper, then wood (1/16" sheeting), template to lay out all the sections of the case and establish where any screw or mounting holes need to go. You'll also generally want to have a small air space on the underside of the motherboard with reasonable circulation since this helps distribute heat and keep things cool. You'll also have to probably scavenge some switches, LEDs, and maybe even a few connection ports from an existing case in order to have them. Building a working case is a bit more complicated than just a box with a few mounting points. A friend of mine tried building a briefcase computer, started out as a simple premise that got quite a bit more complicated once he realized all the stuff he needed to account for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckFinly Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) Thank you for your time gentleman (All measurements in this post are in English inches) I like the ideas and I probably will make a basic piece of whatever as my mounting object to mount my board in it. @hoofhearted4 I will definitely make it a full tower case @Illuna, I like that idea, too @Vagrant0, thanks for you buddy's personal experience, it will help me in my endeavor. Parts will not be an issue, I have many computer cases and miscellaneous accessories just lying around doing absolutely nothing lol I'm not really worried about size, I have enough stuff to make the case as big as I want, my concern is about Motherboard dimensions, or exact form factors Now my current motherboard is a ASUS M4N82 Deluxe. Its a DDR2 standard, 3 PCI-E slots, NVidia nForce 980a SLI, Socket AM2+ (I didn't think they made AMD boards with NVidia Chipsets on them, huh). That particular board is 12.0 X 9.6. On to my exact question: What are the top ten most popular form factors from MicroATX to HPTX? I already know the top three: 9.6 X 9.6, 12.0 By 9.0, and 12.0 X 9.6. Building a board that will only fit a 12.0 X 9.6 board is not very helpful to me in case I upgrade, or I decide to sell it. That is the reason I want the case to be able to hold a much bigger motherboard, such as a high-end server. Edited December 10, 2011 by ChuckFinly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoofhearted4 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) so just build a big case. it doesnt matter how big the motherboard is, as long as your mounting points are in the right place. and the mounting points are basically always in the same place. usually 6 of them, sometimes 8 on big boards. or 4 on really small ones Edited December 10, 2011 by hoofhearted4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckFinly Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) I see your point hoofhearted4, for now I will leave the board mounting for later; since I am building the case, I can always make that section later and modify or retrofit it to my case. Ok materials section The inexpensive, but possibly cheap way to build it, would be to construct it out of mostly plywood, which is what I have plenty of. The more expensive route would be mostly aluminum and possibly steel plating, but I have significantly less of it (didn't have as much scrap metal as I thought, but oh well). What are some pros and cons of each? Note: for whichever one I decide, the front and back of the case will be metal with holes for airflow as well as a mounting setup for 120mm or 250mm fans. EDIT: I decided to go with Metric measurements from now on, my case will measured in Millimeters (mm). Edited December 10, 2011 by ChuckFinly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielcook Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I've been looking into the same idea and thought this would be Ace Circuitboard Cabinet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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