Case-less PC Project

Danjos · 9 Oct 2008 at 12:32

So i was thinking of buying a new case.. and then i thought about the possible merits of mounting the whole PC on a flat board of some kind. Along the lines of butchering a cheap case i have and cutting out the mb mounting plate and upright section behind the cards to secure sound/gfx, etc...
attach mb to plate, plate to board, psu/hdd etc to the board, board to a wall, all fans firing upwards, mount fan on board to blow a light breeze up over the whole lot.

pros:
would save money, save space, should run cooler than any case, i like little 'projects'.

cons:
will look like poo

im sure its been done before, anyone have any suggestions? or is it a dumb idea

Nix · 9 Oct 2008 at 12:34

Well two cons I can think of straight away are that (a) your cooling is going to be diminished as it's not in an enclosed space with good circulation, and (b) it will have no protection from particulates, thus potentially damaging the hardward much faster than normal.

domthecondom · 9 Oct 2008 at 12:50

nothing is protecting your components, if you have animals/little kids they can easly be licking components, you accidently spill your drink?

in my eyes it is a stupied idea

Danjos · 9 Oct 2008 at 12:51

yeh i was thinking about that: the cooling aspect i would like to think would be improved as theres no enclosed space for heat to build up, the heat can just rise off the board, even well ventilated cases seem to contain warmer than ambient air in my experience, especially with modern gfx cards chucking out huge amounts of heat.
I would use a couple of low rev 120mm fans to blow air accross the board dont forget.

dust yeh.. i could just hoover it sometimes !

dont think my wife will like it too much either

Danjos · 9 Oct 2008 at 12:53

domthecondom said:
nothing is protecting your components, if you have animals/little kids they can easly be licking components, you accidently spill your drink?

in my eyes it is a stupied idea

will update my list:

pros:
would save money, save space, should run cooler than any case, i like little 'projects'.

cons:
will look like poo
someone might lick the components!

hehe, fair point i suppose

domthecondom · 9 Oct 2008 at 13:22

yeah you know how tempting it is to lick your components

My asus striker extreme looks like candy

misterPK · 9 Oct 2008 at 13:44

I've had a similar idea, but I haven't yet had the time/money/skill to do it.

My design was to mount the pc on a wall like a geeky work of art, with a perspex front to protect it. Some fans along the top would pull air up through the case so it matches with the heat rising kind of thing.

To be honest I'd thought of this more as a HTPC kind of set up rather than a hardcore gaming rig, but I doubt there'd be much difference.

PK!

bledd · 9 Oct 2008 at 13:45

Danjos said:
w

pros:
should run cooler than any case

wrong..

won't have a fresh airflow, having a sealed case with good airflow is far far better

Danjos · 9 Oct 2008 at 14:15

bledd. said:
wrong..

won't have a fresh airflow, having a sealed case with good airflow is far far better

how so?

WILD9 · 9 Oct 2008 at 14:31

Danjos said:
how so?

You will be relying on convection and air currents to shift air around, that would provide nothing like the 100 odd cfm of air you would have blowing through a case. A good case works more like a wind tunnel than a hot box. Cold air in the front, hot air out the back.

Danjos · 9 Oct 2008 at 14:53

WILD9 said:
You will be relying on convection and air currents to shift air around, that would provide nothing like the 100 odd cfm of air you would have blowing through a case. A good case works more like a wind tunnel than a hot box. Cold air in the front, hot air out the back.

well thats not quite true, as i have said there would be a couple of fans blowing over the board.

i had the antec 900 as my last case, fairly respectable cooling, but even that would drop the ambient and cpu temp a few degrees when i removed the side.
in my experience, my pc cases never perform anywhere near as good as a windtunnel due to all the nooks and crannies and irregular shapes, cables etc.

I appreciate the replies and im not disagreeing, just discussing

maybe i will build a bespoke case instead... an 35x35cm elongated cube, 35cm intake and outtake fans, mb components in the middle, psu+drives mounted on the exterior! it will be a beast heh

WILD9 · 10 Oct 2008 at 15:37

I said, works like a wind tunnel, I wasn't suggesting you use it to design an F1 car. The case temps in my CM710 rise with the side off. I suppose you need 2 things for a good design, a way to seperate hot exhaust from the intake air and something that will remove warm air as fast as your components can heat it. The second design you mention sounds pretty good.