Cardboard PC case

This idea came up when I wanted to make a pc form old parts for my sister.I only had an old simple pc case but I wanted something a bit different that doesn't look bad to put in your living room.So I came up with this one..nice, blue cardboard box..

Step 1: PC parts.

Please excuse my lack of step by step fotos,but I did this before I find out about this site so I only have it finished.I gathehered the pc parts,motherboard,ram,pcu,psu hard drives etc.
The most important here is that I took the metal pc case and dremeled it to pieces.The base were the motherboard screws and the pci-agp cards go is used as is because I wanted it to be solid enough and the cardboard was not.Also this way I have a better chance with the pci cards placed correctly.As seen in the picture in the left corner,its the dvd rack with the hdd rack uderneath and the psu on the bottom left.All of the components are bolded together apart from the duck tape you see.

Comments

[iApple guy]

I am using a Pentium 4, but not the 3.00 GHZ because those get too hot. Instead I am using a Pentium 4 2. something GHZ. Runs good with Ubuntu!

[gamermod]

this is cool i got the same idea imma use my dish network dvr box lol

[Ritsuki]

I did this as well, with a Pentium 1 233. I took the power supply circuit board out of it's case, and made a cardboard enclosure for it so the PSU fan could pull air over the CPU heatsink. It's been running as my ftp and webserver for more than a year now with just one fan.

[mastelios]

Hi, a few months ago I upgraded to a Pentium 4 witch runs hotter so I added an extra 8cm fan.runs in normal temperature,concidering the summer..no fire yet :)

[Punkguyta]

Fire anyone?

[TangMu]

This looks awesome, my only concern is cooling. Perhaps with more "speed holes" and some fans on the sides you'd have less of a fire hazard

[mastelios]

Thanks!yes it did concern my too and I had a led fun to put in but after a bit testing it did fine so I went without.It's accually an old PIII not too demanding..

[Ward_Nox]

the ignition point of paper is 451 degrees ferinhight if your computer gets that hot you got bigger problems than a fire like the molten plastic ozeeing down your desk

[jwater7]

I did something similar a few years ago. But I decided to buy a real case because I didn't want to take the chance of having a fire. A power supply failure or any kind of sparking or bad wiring, anything...could cause a pretty easy fire disaster if it were inside a bunch of paper. Safest IMO, to just use a metal/plastic chassis. But fun/unique idea.

[mastelios]

In theory the risk is bigger but how often pcs catch a fire?And it does,it will also burn inside the metal box also.The difference is that it will stop inside the metal box...

[hondagofast]

I saw the PSU of a computer burst into flames because of bad wiring and over taxing it.

[Ward_Nox]

according to yoshi the risk is no worse than a regular case

[Xellers]

But a regular case isn't made of paper and will not burst into flames is a large enough spark from a power supply malfunction.

[hondagofast]

I built one too some time ago! The pic I have of mine it is out of date, it started overheating, so I added a 80mm fan to the top. It's a 366 Pentium II, it was a 233 Pentium II, with 256MB of RAM and it has a N-Vidia GeForce 2400. =P It's slow, but I don't use it. Did I mention the 5.6GB HD and that it runs Win98?

[Darkshot]

i hope your not serious with this instructble...."wanted somthing that didnt liook bad in my house" what if someone hates cardboard and wants to throw it away? if you want i'll delete this comment just give me a message

[mastelios]

I really don't get the point you're trying to make..I didn't make this for "someone who hates cardboaed"...

[Darkshot]

to tell you the truth i dont know what point i was making either i was just in a weird mood that day :P

[mastelios]

LoL Ok then...peace...do you still hate cardboard? : )

[Darkshot]

i never hated it :-)

[huit]

please can I have the keyboard's references ? :D

[mastelios]

Well it uses IR..and it is noname...

[Toulouse]

well, i think it's cute

[zougaman]

i like it.......................

[mastelios]

Thanks!

[!Andrew_Modder!]

eyhh.. idk.

[Ward_Nox]

meh i like the way Yoshi(creator of the Yoshi box or Y-box) did it on the screen savers he sandwiched the cardboard so the corigation was visible and acted as venting

[whatsisface]

O_O

It's as is you were copying me!

My Mod (Last year)

[mastelios]

Cool!how small is that box?it must have been a pain to fit them all inside..Also,did you use some kind of frame to hold the parts?because the box by itself won't.

[whatsisface]

I used a leftover piece of self-adhesive vinyl flooring to screw all of the components to. The box measures 1"1in * 4in * 8in.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze, and I added extra fans for cooling.