Two more weeks until the hardware comes to Dubai (hopefully intact)! Now seems like a perfect time to begin working on the case.
Diving into my scrap material, I believe I should have a sufficient amount of 10mm acrylic to construct the core of the case, so the first thing to make is the motherboard mounting plate.
Had to do a bit of measuring to ensure that both the lengths were correct, and that the sides were parallel, so pardon all the scribbling on the protective sheet. You can however see what I plan to do with the mounting plate. Given that the motherboard dimensions are 12" x 10.5", I've marked off the left and right sides of the plate and labeled them as MB1 and MB2, along with a gap between them for cables.
Currently, this is the arrangement I think I will go for. The plate will be horizontal, as I believe it would put the least amount of strain on the mobo, what with the HSF and all the cards weighing it down. Both boards will be oriented in such a way that their I/O side (where you plug in all the cables) faces inwards, meaning one board will be rotated 180 degrees. The idea is to have all the cables in one place, then moving the bundle towards the back of the case (in the photo, the back is the left side). This will also mean that the arrangement of video cards will be towards the back on MB1, and towards the front on MB2. All that said, I have not drilled any holes for the standoffs just yet, in case I get the locations wrong. This will be done once the motherboards arrive.
Now with the mobos, CPUs, RAM and video cards up top, the PSUs and drives will be located on the underside of the mounting plate. I'll still need to figure out what the best way will be to mount them there, since I will need some sort of mounting brackets to hold them in place. After all, gravity is kind on an issue on the underside. I'll probably use my threaded rods to bolt things in place.
A design consideration I must have here is that I need to be able to create something that can eventually be made airtight, since I'm quite set on the chillbox idea. However, the conversion from standard air cooling to chillbox will be done at a later stage. So, I need to make something with a decent airflow right now, but in a way that will minimise the amount of work needed to make the conversion later.
That brings me to the airflow. Where will the intake be? Where will the air go? Where is the exhaust? At the moment, I know that the video cards use the standard blower type fans, which will take air from the bottom of the mobo, and exhaust it on the I/O end. Going back to how the boards will be arranged, that means that air intakes will be at the aft left and forward right sections, with exhaust being sent to the middle where the cables are.
As a chillbox, everything above the mounting plate would need to be airtight, and a radiator would need to be located at the bottom of each motherboard. At the moment, I need to make the airflow reasonably decent, so perhaps I will mount a fan on the left and right of the case for the time being.
Now as for the entire unit, a bottom will need to be made, just underneath the PSUs and drives, and then add some caster wheels. This will not make the unit very tall. However, the chillbox will require a compressor, and several other bulky parts. Once work begins on the chillbox, the wheels will be removed, another box layer will be installed below everything, and then the wheels will go under the compressor section.
Confusing, I know. Basically there are three levels, or sections here. The airtight hardware section, the non-airtight hardware section, and eventually the compressor section. For the exterior, I plan to make the top acrylic, so that you can see into the airtight section (partly to ensure no condensation, which indicates an air leak), and every other side some high quality wood. I haven't thought that far ahead on what I will do with the wood though.
That's all for now. Feel free to make suggestions on the design. Once again, I am diving into the unknown.