Building Your Own Case - 2023 Edition

[BigAl01]

I'm looking for some new case design ideas for a build in the summer to fall of 2023.  I have a few ideas of items that could be used to house computer components, such as an old Klipsch subwoofer or perhaps an old cooler from the Boy Scout days of the 1990s.  I feel confident in modding an existing device, but not so much in constructing a new case out of wood or things of this nature.  I like the 'appliance' idea, but it would help to have lots of suggestions from fellow modders.  Below is that old subwoofer I mentioned, which would just barely be big enough to house a micro-ATX motherboard and a graphics card.  Where the woofer is currently located, I would probably apply a wire mesh to help with ventilation.

Do you have some ideas for me to consider?  Keep in mind that I have several months to think about this.  If there is an idea that sounds good to me but I don't have the item on hand, then it will take time to find it - that's one reason to start thinking about this now.

It would be a tight fit, but this subwoofer might work.

[BigAl01]

I took your advice @petosiris and decided fan filters would be a good idea for nominal operations, but I wanted to also show off the computer at times, so a magnetic 360mm x 120mm fan filter seemed like the best solution.  I was considering some of the Modders Mesh fan filters at Mnpctech but the four pack I found on Amazon was a great deal.

One of these should keep my kitty cats safe from the fan blades.

[BigAl01]

I almost forgot about the PCIe 4.0 riser cable.  I know I have a PCIe 3.0 cable in one of my boxes, but it would be stupid of me to choke the bandwidth of the video card with that cable.  I am now just over $3200 USD into this build.  

I think a 200mm cable should be long enough.

[petosiris]

Yeah, good things cost. Great deal on the magnetic mesh filters!

[BigAl01]

The 360mm fan filter and the riser card cable arrived safely today.  I really like this fan filter solution, because I can easily take it off for photo shoots.

This four pack of filters makes them only $2.50 each! The riser card looks like a good quality PCIe 4.0 cable. Easy to put on and remove.

[petosiris]

Looks good @BigAl01, and the cats will be safe too.

[BigAl01]

Yesterday I had a few hours to assemble a few things.  I started with the motherboard and the standoffs that it mounts too.  I've never had such a difficult time!  Some screws wouldn't screw into the provided standoffs and then the standoffs themselves didn't want to screw into the case.  I think it was due to the paint being applied after the holes were drilled and tapped.  In any case, I had to find a few more standoffs like the ones provided and then I just powered through screwing them into the case.  I wasted a lot of time going through different sets I had on hand to find a combination that worked.  I got the motherboard mounted.

Forcing a few standoffs into their holes is what it took. Maybe I should have used a tap?

Next step was to insert the two M.2 2-TB drives into their sockets.  Another pain that has never been an issue in the past!  MSI uses what they call 'bit locker' rotating plastic pieces to hold your M.2 drive tight against the socket.  I don't know why this is necessary but I ended up taking 30 minutes to get the two drives done.  

You can see that silly 'bit locker' plastic piece on the screw.

[BigAl01]

Well, this is interesting....from Maximum PC Magazine too....

PCIe 5.0 SSDs Run Hot

Users of the first generation of PCIe 5.0 solid state drives are discovering that these need proper cooling. The previous generation was happy with a passive heatsink at most, but doubling the data rates is putting too much heat into the chips. Running too hot means thermal throttling, cutting performance severely. Putting on too much pressure can lead to the SSD shutting down altogether, potentially resulting in data loss. Corsair and others will sell you naked SSDs, but the advice is that you will need to fit a chunky heatsink, and make sure there’s a fan running. One advantage of SSDs has always been their silent operation, but with PCIe 5.0 that’s no longer advisable.

[petosiris]

Yeah, I've read about that.  Not surpicing either, since the speed is increasing drastically more than the node size shrinks and the SSD's controller must work harder.

I think it was Linus Tech Tips (LTT) which tested SSDs with and without heatsinks and fans.  The best result, without going the water cooling (WC) route, was when using a fan angled to blow directly on the heatsink.

Personally, I have two different PCIe 4.0 SSDs and I bought 2x Be Quiet! MC1 PRO M.2 SSD heatsinks for them but also 2x Corsair Hydro X Series XM2 WC blocks for when I'm going to install a custom WC loop later.

[BigAl01]

@petosiris That's a serious commitment to cooling your M.2 SSD's!

[petosiris]

I don't want to take any chances with heat and overheating.  The custom loop will be my first attempt, I've only had AiO when water cooling before.  So I plan on building a loop that goes like this --

Into case --> CPU --> SSD 1 --> GPU --> SSD 2 --> RAM --> Out of case

or ...

Into case --> CPU --> GPU --> SSD 1 --> SSD 2 --> RAM --> Out of case

I'll have to see what's practical.  The SSDs are one on each side of the GPU card.
The cooler is external and should keep all the cooled components at 35 C (95 F) or less.  I plan to set the temp to 35 C to begin with so that the cooler fan doesn't run so much.