Thinking "out of the box" when building a PC

[Mxsmanic]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case? For example,
why couldn't you, say, build some sort of wooden mounting area into a
wall or a desk, then mount all the components to it, so that you have
something that blends into the furniture and/or something with plenty
of open space to ease maintenance and keep the machine cooler? Why
does everything always have to be in a cramped box? As long as you
respect things like cable lengths, are there other limitations?

Beyond cable lengths, it occurred to me that perhaps rotating parts
like CD and especially disk drives need to rotate in a horizontal
plane in order to have a symmetric load on the bearings. Is this
true? I've seen PCs in the past with disk drives mounted vertically,
and one of them was quite new (although it failed for other reasons
later on--it was pretty cheap). Do disk drives have to be mounted in
only certain orientations?

Another concern might be EMI, but if you had a metal mesh enclosure or
something around the machine that you could close and ground, wouldn't
that stop EMI? Does anyone really have much trouble with EMI, anyway?

Anyway, what I picture is a sort of vast PC with tons of room between
components, almost like a huge rack in the style of old mainframes
into which you could easily stick your arm if you had to replace
something. Current cases are so cramped that one must pay careful
attention not to break anything when removing or adding parts, and the
air circulation never seems to be anywhere close to ideal.

Maybe something that fits under a desktop (literally) would work.
You'd have a hinged door on the desktop, and when you lift it up, you
have your PC components all nicely mounted in a roomy enclosure with
plenty of space to maintain or upgrade them, and powerful silent fans
to keep the whole thing comfortably cool. It would be the opposite of
a laptop: instead of trying to squeeze everything into the smallest
possible space, you'd be spreading it out into a very large and
accessible place that could potentially give you years of easy and
trouble-free use--and could be discreet enough that people wouldn't
even know that you had a PC (out of sight, and out of sound).

I've seen companies that build special furniture to receive a PC, but
it's always just a spot into which a standard cabinet can be fitted.
I haven't found anyone who builds PCs directly into furniture, walls,
etc.

Maybe there's no much demand for easy access. I'm the type who would
like to see subfloors and false ceilings with open cable trays and
access

 

[Al Dykes]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case? For example,
why couldn't you, say, build some sort of wooden mounting area into a
wall or a desk, then mount all the components to it, so that you have
something that blends into the furniture and/or something with plenty
of open space to ease maintenance and keep the machine cooler? Why
does everything always have to be in a cramped box? As long as you
respect things like cable lengths, are there other limitations?

Beyond cable lengths, it occurred to me that perhaps rotating parts
like CD and especially disk drives need to rotate in a horizontal
plane in order to have a symmetric load on the bearings. Is this
true? I've seen PCs in the past with disk drives mounted vertically,
and one of them was quite new (although it failed for other reasons
later on--it was pretty cheap). Do disk drives have to be mounted in
only certain orientations?

Another concern might be EMI, but if you had a metal mesh enclosure or
something around the machine that you could close and ground, wouldn't
that stop EMI? Does anyone really have much trouble with EMI, anyway?

Anyway, what I picture is a sort of vast PC with tons of room between
components, almost like a huge rack in the style of old mainframes
into which you could easily stick your arm if you had to replace
something. Current cases are so cramped that one must pay careful
attention not to break anything when removing or adding parts, and the
air circulation never seems to be anywhere close to ideal.

Have a ball. I think FCC regs and even safety regulations (or at
least company lawyers worrying about lawsuits) limit cases to the
boring, as you have noted.

As for taste, nobody's going to make a PC in a way that only one
person likes.

 

[Ed Medlin]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case? For example,
why couldn't you, say, build some sort of wooden mounting area into a
wall or a desk, then mount all the components to it, so that you have
something that blends into the furniture and/or something with plenty
of open space to ease maintenance and keep the machine cooler? Why
does everything always have to be in a cramped box? As long as you
respect things like cable lengths, are there other limitations?

Beyond cable lengths, it occurred to me that perhaps rotating parts
like CD and especially disk drives need to rotate in a horizontal
plane in order to have a symmetric load on the bearings. Is this
true? I've seen PCs in the past with disk drives mounted vertically,
and one of them was quite new (although it failed for other reasons
later on--it was pretty cheap). Do disk drives have to be mounted in
only certain orientations?

Another concern might be EMI, but if you had a metal mesh enclosure or
something around the machine that you could close and ground, wouldn't
that stop EMI? Does anyone really have much trouble with EMI, anyway?

Anyway, what I picture is a sort of vast PC with tons of room between
components, almost like a huge rack in the style of old mainframes
into which you could easily stick your arm if you had to replace
something. Current cases are so cramped that one must pay careful
attention not to break anything when removing or adding parts, and the
air circulation never seems to be anywhere close to ideal.

Maybe something that fits under a desktop (literally) would work.
You'd have a hinged door on the desktop, and when you lift it up, you
have your PC components all nicely mounted in a roomy enclosure with
plenty of space to maintain or upgrade them, and powerful silent fans
to keep the whole thing comfortably cool. It would be the opposite of
a laptop: instead of trying to squeeze everything into the smallest
possible space, you'd be spreading it out into a very large and
accessible place that could potentially give you years of easy and
trouble-free use--and could be discreet enough that people wouldn't
even know that you had a PC (out of sight, and out of sound).

I've seen companies that build special furniture to receive a PC, but
it's always just a spot into which a standard cabinet can be fitted.
I haven't found anyone who builds PCs directly into furniture, walls,
etc.

Maybe there's no much demand for easy access. I'm the type who would
like to see subfloors and false ceilings with open cable trays and
access

I built a case out of 1" stock (wood) with laminated plywood set in grooves
for side panels that just slide out from the front. I use it for testing
purposes at my work bench. It hangs by woodscrews under one end of my bench.
The main problem I had was the rear panel (scavenged from a case I had
setting around) and the on/off and reset switches which I also scavenged and
cut holes to match. Never thought much about EMI since I use a completely
open wooden board for testing MBs, PSUs interior components etc. I could
stain it and mount it pretty much anywhere if I wanted and it would not look
much like a PC. I use it for testing printers, USB devices and other
externals mainly. It has 802.11g so it is very functional and I have posted
here from it while working. It is an old FCPGA P3-700 @ 933 and stays nice
and cool running W2K. My workspace is small and bench room is at a premium,
but I guess I could have done the same thing with an old case I already had.
All the components are easy to get to and change since my bench is fairly
high and it is mounted with the left side panel to the front. I just have
two 80mm fans in the case and an old Golden Orb for CPU cooling. The main
drawback is that if your time is valuable, it would probably be more cost
effective to purchase a case............ On the positive side, you can
build it the way you want and make things very easy to swap out.

Ed

 

[Matt]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case?

That is unwholesome thinking.

Find a case that is easy to open and that supports easy changing of
components.

On the other hand I wouldn't want you to repress your need for
self-expression.

 

[Mxsmanic]

Find a case that is easy to open and that supports easy changing of
components.

Does anyone make such cases? Most of them seem to be designed for
looks or compact size rather than maintenance or cooling.

 

[spodosaurus]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case? For example,
why couldn't you, say, build some sort of wooden mounting area into a
wall or a desk, then mount all the components to it, so that you have
something that blends into the furniture and/or something with plenty
of open space to ease maintenance and keep the machine cooler? Why
does everything always have to be in a cramped box? As long as you
respect things like cable lengths, are there other limitations?

Beyond cable lengths, it occurred to me that perhaps rotating parts
like CD and especially disk drives need to rotate in a horizontal
plane in order to have a symmetric load on the bearings. Is this
true? I've seen PCs in the past with disk drives mounted vertically,
and one of them was quite new (although it failed for other reasons
later on--it was pretty cheap). Do disk drives have to be mounted in
only certain orientations?

Another concern might be EMI, but if you had a metal mesh enclosure or
something around the machine that you could close and ground, wouldn't
that stop EMI? Does anyone really have much trouble with EMI, anyway?

Anyway, what I picture is a sort of vast PC with tons of room between
components, almost like a huge rack in the style of old mainframes
into which you could easily stick your arm if you had to replace
something. Current cases are so cramped that one must pay careful
attention not to break anything when removing or adding parts, and the
air circulation never seems to be anywhere close to ideal.

Maybe something that fits under a desktop (literally) would work.
You'd have a hinged door on the desktop, and when you lift it up, you
have your PC components all nicely mounted in a roomy enclosure with
plenty of space to maintain or upgrade them, and powerful silent fans
to keep the whole thing comfortably cool. It would be the opposite of
a laptop: instead of trying to squeeze everything into the smallest
possible space, you'd be spreading it out into a very large and
accessible place that could potentially give you years of easy and
trouble-free use--and could be discreet enough that people wouldn't
even know that you had a PC (out of sight, and out of sound).

I've seen companies that build special furniture to receive a PC, but
it's always just a spot into which a standard cabinet can be fitted.
I haven't found anyone who builds PCs directly into furniture, walls,
etc.

Maybe there's no much demand for easy access. I'm the type who would
like to see subfloors and false ceilings with open cable trays and
access

Have you taken the time to explore case mod websites? Do a google search
for "case mod" and go from there. Some of the competitions and how-to
guides that can be found are very impressive!

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[spodosaurus]

Matt writes:




Does anyone make such cases? Most of them seem to be designed for
looks or compact size rather than maintenance or cooling.

You can hire someone to make just about anything...

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Chris]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case? For example,
why couldn't you, say, build some sort of wooden mounting area into a
wall or a desk, then mount all the components to it, so that you have
something that blends into the furniture and/or something with plenty
of open space to ease maintenance and keep the machine cooler? Why
does everything always have to be in a cramped box? As long as you
respect things like cable lengths, are there other limitations?

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects.asp

 

[Clyde]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case? For example,
why couldn't you, say, build some sort of wooden mounting area into a
wall or a desk, then mount all the components to it, so that you have
something that blends into the furniture and/or something with plenty
of open space to ease maintenance and keep the machine cooler? Why
does everything always have to be in a cramped box? As long as you
respect things like cable lengths, are there other limitations?

Beyond cable lengths, it occurred to me that perhaps rotating parts
like CD and especially disk drives need to rotate in a horizontal
plane in order to have a symmetric load on the bearings. Is this
true? I've seen PCs in the past with disk drives mounted vertically,
and one of them was quite new (although it failed for other reasons
later on--it was pretty cheap). Do disk drives have to be mounted in
only certain orientations?

Another concern might be EMI, but if you had a metal mesh enclosure or
something around the machine that you could close and ground, wouldn't
that stop EMI? Does anyone really have much trouble with EMI, anyway?

Anyway, what I picture is a sort of vast PC with tons of room between
components, almost like a huge rack in the style of old mainframes
into which you could easily stick your arm if you had to replace
something. Current cases are so cramped that one must pay careful
attention not to break anything when removing or adding parts, and the
air circulation never seems to be anywhere close to ideal.

Maybe something that fits under a desktop (literally) would work.
You'd have a hinged door on the desktop, and when you lift it up, you
have your PC components all nicely mounted in a roomy enclosure with
plenty of space to maintain or upgrade them, and powerful silent fans
to keep the whole thing comfortably cool. It would be the opposite of
a laptop: instead of trying to squeeze everything into the smallest
possible space, you'd be spreading it out into a very large and
accessible place that could potentially give you years of easy and
trouble-free use--and could be discreet enough that people wouldn't
even know that you had a PC (out of sight, and out of sound).

I've seen companies that build special furniture to receive a PC, but
it's always just a spot into which a standard cabinet can be fitted.
I haven't found anyone who builds PCs directly into furniture, walls,
etc.

Maybe there's no much demand for easy access. I'm the type who would
like to see subfloors and false ceilings with open cable trays and
access

Once in "Maximum PC" I saw pictures and descriptions about a guy who
build his PC in a desk. All the parts were in different drawers. Yes,
there were mods to the desk and wiring considerations. He had to make it
to get air in there for cooling, but found that separating all the hot
parts kept things pretty cool anyway.

I thought that was pretty cool.

Hey, look around on the Web. There are a lot of people that have done
some creative and/or crazy things.

Clyde

 

[Mxsmanic]

Have you taken the time to explore case mod websites? Do a google search
for "case mod" and go from there. Some of the competitions and how-to
guides that can be found are very impressive!

I didn't know what to look for; I was searching on "customized cases"
and things like that. "Case mod" does indeed pull up a flotilla of
sites. Most of them seem to be in the fantasy category (from my point
of view), but at least it's a starting point. Somebody somewhere
probably has more pragmatic "mods" to show. Thanks for the pointer.

 

[Kyle]

Check this case, or lack there of, out!!!!!

http://www.extremetech.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=1005&a=130781&po=10,00.asp

 

[DaveW]

Legally in the U.S. a computer has to have a metal case because otherwise it
outputs powerful RF signals which will interfere with your neighbors
electronics, according to the FCC. Also you would be picking up loads of
interference on your computer's internal signal cables since they are not
shielded cables by design.
In other words, no go.

 

[Mxsmanic]

Legally in the U.S. a computer has to have a metal case because otherwise it
outputs powerful RF signals which will interfere with your neighbors
electronics, according to the FCC.

I've never seen interference from a PC with the covers off. Have you?

I've heard that cell phones can bring down servers and vice versa, but
I've not personally experienced that, either.

In any case, if you really do see any EMI, you can put some sort of
mesh around the PC and prevent it. But I don't see why a PC would be
any worse for EMI than a TV set, and TV sets are typically in plastic
cases, not metal cases.

Also you would be picking up loads of
interference on your computer's internal signal cables since they are not
shielded cables by design.

Here again, any examples? I know this can happen in theory; it
doesn't seem to happen much in practice.

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Pragmatic? Like this one built into a sofa.. (article is in finnish, but
there are a few pics...)

http://www.mikrobitti.fi/nettijatkot/2003/06/sohvaservo/


--
Tumppi
Reply to group
=================================================
Most learned on nntp://news.mircosoft.com
Helsinki, Finland (remove _NOSPAM)
(translations from FI/SE not always accurate)
=================================================

 

[kony]

More and more, as I look at prefabricated cases for PCs, I ask myself:
what prevents someone from building a PC with no case?

Apathy?

That a decent case is "good enough"?

That the return, benefit from such a case is often less than
the effort in making it?

Because there are some novel products out there for niches
like this,

http://www.svcompucycle.com/techstation-case.html

 

[John Effty]

Maybe something that fits under a desktop (literally) would work.
You'd have a hinged door on the desktop, and when you lift it up, you
have your PC components all nicely mounted in a roomy enclosure with
plenty of space to maintain or upgrade them, and powerful silent fans
to keep the whole thing comfortably cool. It would be the opposite of
a laptop: instead of trying to squeeze everything into the smallest
possible space, you'd be spreading it out into a very large and
accessible place that could potentially give you years of easy and
trouble-free use--and could be discreet enough that people wouldn't
even know that you had a PC (out of sight, and out of sound).

Actually, I'm working on something like this right now. I build computers,
and I build tables, so it seemed like a natural combination. What bothers
me most is the fact that there are only certain pieces of the computer that
really need to be cooled yet manufacturers lump them all into the same case
and go about trying to cool the whole thing. Also, I hate noisy little case
fans. The world has enough noise, yo.

It seems as though the most elegant solution would be to spread the
components out as far as cables would allow, then focus your cooling and
noise reduction efforts on the components that need those things. Well,
that's my solution at any rate.

I've actually had success with tacking all the components onto particle
board, then hanging that on the wall. It's sort of artistic or something...

I'm not sure about the RF deal-i-o because I've never experienced EMI. My
project is wood, so I'm looking into RF shieldng paint. Though, actually
learning to fabricate metal might be the cheaper way to go. Places that
sell the stuff generally also sell stuff that looks an awful lot like
chicken wire.

Ultimately, I'd like to build something that goes beneath a desktop but uses
nothing but laptop parts. I like the idea of being able to use quiet laptop
power supplies, and I'd like to mount bays to recieve removeable drives
(like most laptops have) inside the front edge of the table.

It's sort of a pet project of mine.

Quiet, unobtrusive, elegant, easy to work on, etc. etc. I'm not sure
exactly what folks have in mind when they design PCs, but I can tell you
that it certainly isn't any of those things.

The time for such design considerations is well overdue.

-John

 

[DL]

Actually, I'm working on something like this right now. I build computers,
and I build tables, so it seemed like a natural combination.

Ya mean like this?

http://www.squidly.com/php-cgi/Table-PC


- -

DL

http://www.geocities.com/dicklong14_ca/fanclub.htm

"Are the Oompa Loompas the synchronized swimmers?"
- Ruby Tuesday on alt.culture.us.70s

::::::::::::::::


Halter Sucks!

 

[johns]

Ideally, a properly built PC would be about the size of a Readers
Digest
book. It would have a small transmitter-receiver for a remote keypad
and mouse, and probably be kept on a shelf or coffee table in my
living room. It would talk remotely to at least 3 monitor-TVs located
in my home office, living room entertainment center, and monitor at
work. Inside, it would have 40 terabytes of battery backed ram, and
that is the only storage medium it would need. The OS and all
programs would be in permanent ROM. No matter where I went, I
could talk to it, and it would answer in a sexy female voice that
would make my wife, and all my girlfriends insanely jealous. I
would even be able to "think" to it during quizzes and exams.
I would never have to work ....

 

[spodosaurus]

spodosaurus writes:




I didn't know what to look for; I was searching on "customized cases"
and things like that. "Case mod" does indeed pull up a flotilla of
sites. Most of them seem to be in the fantasy category (from my point
of view), but at least it's a starting point. Somebody somewhere
probably has more pragmatic "mods" to show. Thanks for the pointer.

Add a word or two after case mod. Although this isn't really an example
of what you're wanting, "case mod wood" returned this, among many
others, offering of a skate board ramp that doubles as a very large
computer case

http://www.michaelbuffington.com/archives/2005/06/parabolic_heat.html

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Mxsmanic]

Pragmatic? Like this one built into a sofa.. (article is in finnish, but
there are a few pics...)

All of these are very cool, but I was thinking more along the lines of
PCs that are integrated into furniture in a business or home-office
environment, so that they don't take up space on the desk. Maybe
something in a discreet cabinet at the workstation.

I was also thinking of something that is highly maintainable. On
large commercial computer systems, for example, traditionally
everything has been in racks or bays that you can just pull out when
you need to upgrade or replace hardware. (Tandem used to be famous
for its ability to tolerate hardware changes even on a running
system.) So some sort of custom arrangement that actually allows you
to plug and unplug components would be cool. Ideally this would
include even the motherboard. Ultimately you could unsnap and replace
any individual part of the PC without building a new enclosure or
dealing with fastenings that aren't designed to be undone.