Standing PC Case

The purpose of this project was to get rid of the traditional box PC case and make something with what I had and something that is appealing to my taste.

The design just came to me one day and its soo simple. First is that, I can only use the core essentials, i.e no one uses a dvd drive or cd-rw drive. Think about it, when was the last time you used either one of those devices on a computer? Most probably can’t even remember.

I’m a big fan of efficient computing, I don’t need a lot of horse power for my computer. I can’t even remember the last time I played a game on a computer. The only requirements for me is 1080P playback (Netflix) and SSD.

*You can view this project as well as many others on my personal blog at www.diy-create.com.

Step 1: Parts Needed

• Acrylic Sheet (Home Depot) (~$5)
• Some Sort of Stand (TV Stand) (FREE)
• Pushbutton On/Off Switch (My Junk Stash) (FREE)
• Mounting Hardware (Screws & Nuts ) (FREE)
• Computer Hardware (See last page)

Step 2: Construction

I bought an acrylic sheet from Home Depot that had almost the same width as the TV stand. This is a picture with all the holes drilled in their respective locations as well as a small opening for cables. I also rounded the corners for a more appealing look. The velcro pads are for the ssd mount.




Routing all the cables while trying to keep everything tidy.




Motherboard being installed, I can tell the finish will be amazing.



All done, with the stand installed.



TADAAA!! And it's done.

Step 3: Finishing

Now its time to connect everything and test.  All cables connect well and the stand holds very well.

Step 4: Conclusion

This is a very easy project that just about anyone with any skill level can do. I’m very satisfied with the results and the best part it cost me roughly 5 to 10 dollars total which is perfect. What I’ve found is the stand attracts a lot of dust, but I’m ready to live with that. In fact that forces me to clean my desk more often.

Links

AsRock E350M1 AMD Fusion Mini-ITX Motherboard

PicoPSU 80W 12V DC-DC ATX PSU

Kingston 64GB SSDNow Drive

DIY-Create -- Standing PC Case

And as always, you can view this project as well as many others on my personal blog at www.diy-create.com.

Comments

[AubreywanP]

Some of the pictures are missing. I'd like to know how/where you are setting up the power supply.

[Roshy10]

How can I fit an H100i to this?

[satibel]

use a larger acrylic sheet, and drill/cut two 120 mm holes in it :p

[dennisjonesjr]

Any chance you could add a closeup of how you are mounting your motherboard to the acrylic? What size of screws are you using?

[amandaghassaei]

cool project! do you ever worry about static electricity buildup on the acrylic?

[SharadScience]

Nope not yet, I do believe plastics are great insulators.

[amandaghassaei]

yes they are insulators, that's why they hold charge on them instead of letting it flow to ground. I know people make acrylic project enclosures all the time, but it makes me kind of nervous, maybe I'm being too cautious though, I don't know.

[vanwazltoff]

if i remember correctly, sunbeam acrylic cases had a ground wire that goes from the mobo to the psu

[georion]

So ?????????????

[SharadScience]

It's fine, to be exact yes it is possible to have electricity buildup on acrylic but that is practically with almost any medium. However, if there was electricity buildup then it will still act as a grounding point, because the motherboard is lifted off the acrylic and is supported by five or six screws that are connected via grounding means.

[vanwazltoff]

personally i would use 2 sheets of black acrylic about half an inch away from each other and punch some cable management holes in the one that the mobo mounts to. with this design you would have cable management plus space to store more hard drives. this wouldnt work for me because i have an atx power supply and a gtx 670

[karossii]

NIce - but... I would add a word of caution to you or anyone else thinking of this... be very careful of the environment this is in, as you could easily short out a component or two, or have a bug do it for you... too much humidity in the air, bumping into it with anything conductive (including your hands), etc. No, it won't fry just by a single touch, most likely - they're built to be fairly robust in most cases... but touch it just wrong, and you're short one PC. (pun intended... ;) )

[RandomIdeaMan]

Also pets could very easily kill your PC, and a high powered PC (gaming, etc) could get too heavy and in places hot for the mounting to securely hold.

Looks great though.

[SharadScience]

Yeah I completely agree with you. Ive had this setup for about a year now and I have had zero issues but that's not to say something may happen in the future. I just make sure I don't have water anywhere close by,