What do you think of my "water cooling" case design?

[grasskicker509]

I think price would depend heavily on materials. Aluminium is going to be much more expensive than steal. Would you prefer a high priced aluminium case or a lower priced steal one?

steel...cause with all the wc gear inside it, its gonna be heavy no matter what, so might as well save some cash and put that towards some wc gear

[Mabyboi]

my thoughts exactly. it would cost alot less. and plus your not moving your case around every 5 minutes anyway. and if you are, i suggest you stop doing that.

[bentleya]

Plus with black powder coating it will look the sex , mick i think i will have to come vist

[Hockeydude]

This thing looks great. It seems to be the perfect watercooling case. I also think it should be made from steel to keep the cost down.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

aluminum because it is not cheap and your gonna kick yourself in the pants for not using aluminum when you try to pick it up off the workbench. Also ALU is cheaper and easier to waterjet.

you could make this case out of plastic and it wouldn't be cheap to make, its gonna be expensive because its custom so you might as well do it right the first time.

[CmB]

@Mick64+This case design looks awesome! Is the front intake fan 120mm or 92mm? I kinda hate 80mm intake/exhaust fans. I personally think you should go aluminum, personally I would never buy steel again. Have you checked out WiNDY/House of Sloldam cases? Some people are willing to spend $500 or so including shipping on those cases and some of those MM and Silverstone cases aren't cheap either.

I think you should at least look into production costs, even though you are Uk based I would still be interested (I get huge int'l shipping discounts so i don't take quite the hit on shipping). I'm have an extremely difficult time deciding on a case myself right now grrr. Great work!

[naokaji]

I think price would depend heavily on materials. Aluminium is going to be much more expensive than steel. Would you prefer a high priced aluminium case or a lower priced steel one?

Dunno, how about steel frame for stability and rest alu to keep weight down?

Anyway, where do I line up for preorder?

[Mick64]

@Mick64+This case design looks awesome! Is the front intake fan 120mm or 92mm? I kinda hate 80mm intake/exhaust fans. I personally think you should go aluminum, personally I would never buy steel again. Have you checked out WiNDY/House of Sloldam cases? Some people are willing to spend $500 or so including shipping on those cases and some of those MM and Silverstone cases aren't cheap either.

I think you should at least look into production costs, even though you are Uk based I would still be interested (I get huge int'l shipping discounts so i don't take quite the hit on shipping). I'm have an extremely difficult time deciding on a case myself right now grrr. Great work!

Thanks mountain. The intake and exhaust fans are 120mm. Anything smaller is too noisy IMO. As the feedback I'm getting is very good, and there are several people that would buy it if it were available, I will see if I can get made. I haven't got the facilities myself, so I will have to see if one of the case manufacturers would be interested. Alternatively, I will have to raise my own funds and get a sheet metal fabricator to make some up for me to sell. Of cause, this option depends on how much I can get them made for and how much I can sell them for.

[Maxw]

I'd be willing to buy one, depending on the price.

[CmB]

Thanks mountain. The intake and exhaust fans are 120mm. Anything smaller is too noisy IMO. As the feedback I'm getting is very good, and there are several people that would buy it if it were available, I will see if I can get made. I haven't got the facilities myself, so I will have to see if one of the case manufacturers would be interested. Alternatively, I will have to raise my own funds and get a sheet metal fabricator to make some up for me to sell. Of cause, this option depends on how much I can get them made for and how much I can sell them for.

Thanks for the answer. If you can keep it at or around $300 - $350, +shipping etc. I'd be game. Before you submit your design you may want to patent/protect your design before letting a case company take a gander. it kinda reminds me of a MM tower, but I like this design better so far.

[turbotrey]

I'll buy one if you can get it in the $80-100 range. It looks pretty sweet.

[Hockeydude]

I'll buy one if you can get it in the $80-100 range. It looks pretty sweet.

I'm sure it will be more than that.

This case looks great, I really hope you are able to get it built. I can definitely see people buying this case for water cooling over a lot of the current favorites. Hell, maybe even give a case manufacturer a call and ask em to buy the design from you!

[TheParadox2]

damnit, this is exactly what i need.... i can't find a case, and when i saw the pic in your avatar, i thought i had finally found the case i was looking for.... its pretty sweet looking.

[Aldur123]

Hey. I clicked the link to read this thread. After seeing the first few posts roll in, I downloaded Google SketchUp and knocked This up in an hour or so. Thanks for the inspiration to spend some time encouraging my artistic side lol.

[Mick64]

Here's another look at my design. Changed the position of the switches and ports, and added the side panels. Let me know what you think....

[bentleya]

top notch, add mounts for monsta and the other rad rails, instead of holes for fans do the whole thing as a line so you can mount any size rad from any manufacture

[Stoner133]

It doesn't really matter if its Aluminum or Steel, its a design. It's not real and he's not going to be able to build it. It would take a completely different set of skills to fabricate the case the whats needed to design it. Getting someone to do the fab work for one of the design would be cost prohibitive because it would require all the work to be done by hand. At the prevailing wage for such work your looking at around $1000 for the case based on getting the job done in ten hours and I really don't think it could be done in 10. To mass produce it would require millions and then you also run into copyright infringment problems. Silverstone claiming it looks to much like one of their cases, Lian Li claiming the hard drive cage is theirs.

[CmB]

It doesn't really matter if its Aluminum or Steel, its a design. It's not real and he's not going to be able to build it. It would take a completely different set of skills to fabricate the case the whats needed to design it. Getting someone to do the fab work for one of the design would be cost prohibitive because it would require all the work to be done by hand. At the prevailing wage for such work your looking at around $1000 for the case based on getting the job done in ten hours and I really don't think it could be done in 10. To mass produce it would require millions and then you also run into copyright infringment problems. Silverstone claiming it looks to much like one of their cases, Lian Li claiming the hard drive cage is theirs.

Ah, maybe so. But I still think he should at least look into it. If I listened to doubters in my life I would not be in as good a position as I am today. You never know, he could make good money by just selling off the design! I still think its good work all the same.

[vinister]

Please extend the middle section.

reasons:

- I don't want my bottom video card that close to my power supply.... it would essentially be touching it, and forbids the use of bottom exit of full-coverage blocks on that slot, which forbids tri-fire.

- I would like to see 2 fans in front, 2 fans in back, its the norm nowadays and would be the icing on the cake for this case

- I generally just like some room around the mobo. As it is, it would be pretty tight around the mobo.

I'll buy one! I'd pay around $200 to $250 for such a case.

I also agree that the rad mounting should be universal so any rads can be used.

Also I can't tell how much room is behind the mobo tray, but if you make it about an inch, I could kiss you. It seems like every case out there is just a little shy of behind-the-mobo space for wiring.

[Mick64]

top notch, add mounts for monsta and the other rad rails, instead of holes for fans do the whole thing as a line so you can mount any size rad from any manufacture

Most 120mm rads have standard spacing; I think it's only the Thermochill rad that is different? But it wouldn't be a problem to slot the holes to accommodate any 120mm type rad. Of cause, there is the issue of 140mm rads coming on to the market, which would mean increasing the size of the case by another 40mm.

It doesn't really matter if its Aluminum or Steel, its a design. It's not real and he's not going to be able to build it. It would take a completely different set of skills to fabricate the case the whats needed to design it. Getting someone to do the fab work for one of the design would be cost prohibitive because it would require all the work to be done by hand. At the prevailing wage for such work your looking at around $1000 for the case based on getting the job done in ten hours and I really don't think it could be done in 10. To mass produce it would require millions and then you also run into copyright infringment problems. Silverstone claiming it looks to much like one of their cases, Lian Li claiming the hard drive cage is theirs.

You are correct, it would take different skills to fabricate this case, but that doesn't mean to say that I don't have these skills. What is the problem is that I don't have the facilities. However, if I can show a company that this would be a popular design, I may be able to convince them to add this case to their line up, or I may be able to convince a fabrication company to produce a small number of cases, which bring the price down. I don't think there would be an issue with copyright infringement, as it doesn't look like any other case on the market, and the hard drive cage, well I must admit, I did download this from the SketchUp website, but I could quite easily design my own!

Ah, maybe so. But I still think he should at least look into it. If I listened to doubters in my life I would not be in as good a position as I am today. You never know, he could make good money by just selling off the design! I still think its good work all the same.

Thanks for your thoughts mountain, and I totaly agree....

Please extend the middle section.

reasons:

- I don't want my bottom video card that close to my power supply.... it would essentially be touching it, and forbids the use of bottom exit of full-coverage blocks on that slot, which forbids tri-fire.

- I would like to see 2 fans in front, 2 fans in back, its the norm nowadays and would be the icing on the cake for this case

- I generally just like some room around the mobo. As it is, it would be pretty tight around the mobo.

I'll buy one! I'd pay around $200 to $250 for such a case.

I also agree that the rad mounting should be universal so any rads can be used.

Also I can't tell how much room is behind the mobo tray, but if you make it about an inch, I could kiss you. It seems like every case out there is just a little shy of behind-the-mobo space for wiring.

Thanks for you input vinister. I don't think there would be much of problem with a third vga card as there would still be space between the card and the bottom panel, also there would be a gap between the PSU and the bottom panel, so there would be plenty of air flow and extending the middle section would mean increasing the size of an already large case. I don't agree about the 2 fans front and rear, one this would take up more space and two with a water cooled system, most of the heat is dissipated by the rads so there is less heat build up within the case. Rads I've already mentioned, price who knows, and space behind the mobo for wiring should be adequate.

[Tile]

The design is OK. I would position the hard drive cage longitudinally for excellent cooling.

[Mick64]

The design is OK. I would position the hard drive cage longitudinally for excellent cooling.

I just think it's a matter of taste. IMO it doesn't matter which way the cage is mounted as the slots in the side of the cage will allow plenty of air flow. Personally I would prefer the cage mounted as show so that the cables can be routed at the back of the case....

[Mr_Mike]

the case looks sweet! and i like the hard drives mounted the way they are, hides wires better. Any way keep it up and i would buy one to if you could keep it under $500

[Aldur123]

The overall design is quite good, i like it, but im no expert. If it were to go into production, you might even consider doing a non-wc version, for mainstream users.

Also, from a superficial point of view. You might consider putting some glam on the front panel? Theres heaps of crappy LianLi cases out there with really plain fronts, be a bit different, put a bit of chunkiness here or there. Maybe even put a second panel full of USB/Firewire ports, or a built-in LCD or something. as it stands, its just a normal case with lots of room for wc, not that theres anything wrong with that.

gj though, better than anything i could do XD : http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=218122

[Power5]

What are the dimensions?