I don't like standard system units. They are large, have a lot of empty space inside and take up a lot of desk space. I need the block to stand on the table, since I often have to climb into it. Well, yes, I’ll climb in and sit there. No, for example, to connect foreign screws or something else. In general, when I look at it, I want to take half of it and saw off. That's what I did. I bought an old case from the consignment department for 300 rubles, removed the side walls, sawed off the excess metal with a hacksaw and made this compact turret. Its dimensions are 175x220x425 mm. I even painted it, but of course, that’s the most important thing.
There are mATX motherboards with a width of 170 mm. This is what I installed in this case. Otherwise it's ordinary office computer, nothing special. ASRock LGA775 G41M-VGS3 board, dual core intel E6600. Inexpensive processor cooler with two heat pipes. I've been using it at work for several years now. Here you can take a look inside. The hard drive fits onto the back wall and makes it impossible to use the PCI-e slot; the PCI slot is available. If you still want to use PCI-e, the hard drive can be mounted above the DVD-RW.
Instead of a side wall, the door has a latch and is easy to open and close.
The front panel was glued together from plexiglass and wooden rulers. Let's look at the BIOS, the processor temperature doesn't matter. Well, yes, the fan makes a lot of noise, and the room where it is used is not quiet, so it doesn’t interfere.
So we open the door, attach a foreign hard drive and work calmly.
It is quite natural that, as a lover of small system units, I was interested in motherboards of the mini-ITX format, size 170 by 170 mm. Let's look at my first design on such a scarf. What we have inside. System Intel board D945GCLF – 2 with built-in dual core Intel processor ATOM 330. Power supply FSP250 – 50 GLV. DVD-RW NEC AD-7590S slim. Winchester Samsung HD200HJ. DDR2 memory – 2 gb. For this computer, I designed and manufactured the case entirely from aluminum myself. The interior space is divided into two parts by an aluminum partition. In one part there is the motherboard itself, which is mounted on this partition.
In another power supply, hard drive and DVD-RW.
It is closed with a U-shaped lid made of the same metal. This building is packed to capacity, no free space there isn't. Temperature normal, everything works great. Size – 140 X 220 X 230 mm. This is such a modest machine for surfing the Internet, office tasks, photo processing, and so on, it coped with its tasks quite well. This was a long time ago, even before that first turret. Here's another view from the rear, and the whole machine itself.
And finally the last brainchild. Motherboard with socket FM1 GA-A75N-USB3, mini-ITX form factor, AMD chipset A75, AMD processor A8-3870K, integrated in the processor AMD video card Radeon HD 6550D, DDR3-4 gb memory, Scythe Samurai ZZ processor cooler. Scythe Kaze Master Ace fan speed controller. In this computer, I used a Samsung 830 SSD with a capacity of 64 GB for the system and software, and for everything else a 2.5 Hitachi 250 GB hard drive. No DVD. I use it if necessary external USB. First, I managed to cram it all into a case measuring 230x200x170 mm. I had to use a non-standard power supply and the cooler for the processor was another Scythe Kozuti, it is much more compact. In principle, everything worked fine in such a case, but all the fans were spinning at full speed, the processor temperature was at 50 degrees. IN in this case I wasn't happy with it. It makes noise like a vacuum cleaner does not howl, but hisses like an angry cat. Therefore, the case had to be made differently. More spacious. And it became 240x220x360. As you can see, the space occupied on the table has hardly changed, and the height of the case has grown significantly. Well, let it grow. This is what he looks like
.
Here's another background.
The internal structure of the building is two-story. On the ground floor there is a standard power supply, fan speed controller, SSD and HDD. On the second floor there is a system board installed horizontally.
The processor cooler does not push air inside the case, but takes it from outside through an air duct that I glued together from cardboard and covered it with foil. One end of the air duct is put on the fan, and the second is inserted into the frame of the window, which is located on the back wall, goes outside the case and is covered with a metal mesh. On the front wall there is an 80X80mm fan that blows out warm air from the case, you can warm up.
Now everything is normal. And it does not make noise and the temperature of the components is normal, it increases during some heavy tasks, for example when converting large video files, the processor heats up to 47 degrees, which is also quite low.
The configuration of this machine suits me quite well; no modernization is expected. In addition, socket FM1 is no longer being developed and has given way to FM2. Of course, if necessary, you can change the hard drive for a more capacious one, and if you decide to switch to a 64-bit OS, you can increase the capacity random access memory, so it's a complete design. Now about the body. It's made of wood. Glued from pine slats and corners. In general, everything is quite simple. We cut out a board for the base, glue the mount for the legs to it, the front and back walls with PVA glue, and approximately in the middle we screw an aluminum plate on which the motherboard is placed and which provides additional rigidity to the structure.
The side walls are removable and slide into the grooves of the back and front panels. This ensures access to the internals. They are also glued together from longitudinal and transverse slats, the ventilation holes are sealed with a metal mesh, and the inside is covered with foil. All this is closed on top with a wooden lid.
That's it, here's a short review, thank you for your attention, be healthy.
In the century computer technology It is impossible to imagine life without a computer or any other multimedia gadget. Those who understand computer hardware assemble their own computers, giving them certain characteristics that they need to complete their tasks. Some modify their computers, so to speak, in their original shirts, and some go further and manufacture system units in various variations. So the author decided to independently upgrade his system unit, giving it an exclusive, attractive and creative look.
For the base of the system unit, the author used a wooden rounded square. This can be found in subwoofers. They are naturally longer, but if you have a hacksaw or an attachment for an angle grinder, reducing it to the size you need will not be difficult.
The next step is to make a groove around the entire perimeter of the workpiece into which the wall of the system unit will fit. For this you will need a chisel and a hammer. If the farm has a milling cutter, then things will go even faster, and the result will be much better.
Next, in the upper part of the workpiece, we begin to cut out an opening for two fans using an electric jigsaw. In the presence of more and more places can be installed. It won't hurt. The location of the future cut is marked and either electrical tape or masking tape is placed along the edge of the cut. This is to prevent chips and burrs on the surface. Drill a hole for the jigsaw blade and cut it out. We insert the fans and see how they are located. If everything suits you, then good. If not, we bring it to mind - polish it and so on. For further work, it is necessary to remove them and put them aside for a while, because They will interfere with you when carrying out other work.
Next, we determine where and in what order the remaining connectors will be located - USB, space for hard drive and so on. Everything is cut out in the same way as described above.
One of the walls of the system unit is installed.
Next, all components are installed. They fasten everything with small wood screws.
The metal wall is attached to the base and fixed. From the inside they are also attached to the corners.
Now a hole is drilled in the wall for the power button.
We assemble and fasten the strips on which all the connectors are located.
Next we make the legs. They are cut from the same material that you use to build the body. Glue them to the bottom and wait for them to dry. For a more durable connection, you can drill through holes in the legs and not through holes in the body. And put it all on self-tapping screws.
connect the power button and install the wall in place.
The author made the second wall from dark transparent plastic. Placed around the perimeter LED strip. When you turn on the computer, it lights up and all the insides are visible. Quite beautiful and unusual. When turned off, the system unit has a strict appearance.
“The need for invention is cunning,” says the old proverb, and computer enthusiasts have never complained about a lack of creativity. Unusual computer cases are one of the manifestations of developed imagination and resourcefulness. These people are not stopped by the fact that after purchasing suitable hardware there was no available funds for a housing for it. “Kulibins” prove that a lack of funds is not an obstacle when assembling a computer. This material about cool PC cases is dedicated to the creations of such creative people.
I bought a case, but didn’t have enough for hardware
There are also situations when you have a high-quality case at hand, but there is nothing to put in it. What to do in such a situation? You can find a set of iron “from the time of dinosaurs” at a flea market, but not everyone will like this approach. Such components make noise, collect dust, consume electricity, and can even break at the wrong time.
American enthusiasts have developed a Raspberry Pi mini-computer, priced at about $30, which is slightly larger in size than a credit card. The board of this little thing contains a filling comparable to that of an average smartphone, and when installing the Linux OS, such a PC can be used for watching movies, surfing the Internet and other simple tasks. In the example given, just such a computer is installed in a desktop PC case.
The supermarket will help us
Do you have access to old fruit containers at the supermarket or green market? Then you can make a cool PC case for just a hundred rubles. A potato box, some cable ties, and the case is ready. 
This PC can be called an example of minimalism and ingenuity rolled into one, but there are stranger computer cases.
All my life I dreamed of a laptop
Do you want a powerful laptop, but you don’t have enough money, and taking out a loan is not an option? Then a toolbox and a matrix from an LCD monitor come to the rescue. A little ingenuity, and with a flick of the wrist the whole thing turns into a laptop. 
Of course, in terms of weight, such a machine will be 2 times heavier than a laptop, and you also need to carry the keyboard and mouse with you. But, of course, this example deserves a place in the selection of the most unusual computer cases.
Making an iMac with your own hands
Apple computers are not cheap, and Lenovo all-in-one computers, although they cost less, are also more expensive than a desktop. But what if you want an all-in-one PC? You can tighten your belt and save up on an iMac, or you can just take the stuffing from a laptop with broken screen and a desktop monitor. A little double-sided tape, a couple of self-tapping screws - and we’ll meet new model iMac. 
For a complete ambience, all that is missing is a bitten apple, as well as a silver color. But this is not a problem either: a trip to the building materials store (for a can of silver) and the grocery store (for a kilogram of apples) can solve the problem. At the same time, vitamins into the body after a long winter. 
Another example of how to make a candy bar with your own hands. 
Second life of a cardboard box
In the era of the development of online stores, a huge amount of packaging containers in which purchases are delivered gradually accumulates in everyone’s home. Sometimes it’s a shame to throw away good boxes, and the space in the pantry quickly runs out. You can breathe a second life into the box by using it as a PC case. This is especially rational if the brand new hardware in it came from the store. 
This approach is very popular among the people; the Internet is replete with pictures showing such unusual computer cases. 
If you don’t have time to do handicrafts or if you forgot all the skills learned in labor lessons in elementary school immediately after graduating from school, you don’t even have to bother with scissors and tape. 
And that will do. And even like this: 
Subtle and tasteful
Sometimes unusual computer cases can pleasantly surprise you. Sometimes this is the fruit of careful work, and in terms of price they are comparable to factory models.
The production of such a case, made in the spirit of minimalism, probably cost several hundred rubles per plexiglass. And considering that all the parts were neatly fitted, the owner also spent more than one hour working on it. 
And this is actually a masterpiece, and making such a cool PC case definitely cost the craftsman a pretty penny. 
Poor fish
Effective heat dissipation and a stylish look rolled into one also deserve a place in the selection of unusual computer cases. We can only hope that the owner purchased the aquarium specifically for the PC, and the fish did not have to set off on a free voyage. 
By the way, if someone wants to repeat this step, they need to take into account that water cannot be poured as a liquid. For these purposes, synthetic or mineral oil, for example, transformer oil, is optimal. In any case, the liquid must be electrically inert.
Computer in a canister
Another example of using outdated containers, this time plastic. Such a machine would fit seamlessly into some fuel warehouse or car service center. There, such a strange computer case would not stand out against the background of the general situation. 
Cooling is never too much
This was probably the slogan that guided the owner of this strange computer case made entirely of fans. But such a large number of turntables consume quite a lot; they probably require another power supply. And one can only imagine the noise that rises in the room when such a monster is turned on. 
Once and for all
This is exactly what you can call such an unusual computer case. Polyurethane foam is very difficult to remove from surfaces, and if any part fails, you will have to sweat to get to it. 
By the way, this is another example of recycling vegetable boxes.
For those who are tired of constant laptop overheating
It seems that the owner of this laptop is tired of constantly cleaning his computer from dust, regularly changing thermal paste and dealing with overheating. Otherwise, why else would there be a need to install a powerful water cooling system on a laptop. 
True, it is difficult to call such a design a laptop, because we are not talking about any mobility. That is why this masterpiece of “engineering” was included in the selection of the strangest computer cases.
Hello everybody!
It so happened that the case of my laptop (HP pavilion g7 2330 sr) did not stand the test of time, a corner broke off,
where the cover bracket with the display is attached, and attempts to find a new one at an adequate price were unsuccessful.
There are no whole used cases either, because this corner breaks for everyone. As a result, it was decided to turn the laptop into a desktop PC.
I immediately threw out the laptop case. DVD drive, battery, display and keyboard put up for sale. Eventually
What's left of the laptop: motherboard, hard drive HDD drive And wifi antenna. To cheer you up a little
original components, took another 120GB SSD for the system. To connect the HDD to the connector DVD drive,
I ordered a small adapter from Ali.
Since I work with wood at work, I decided to make the body from plywood. Drawings were made in CorelDraw,
because I was cutting plywood into laser machine.
The dimensions of the case were 33x27x11cm. I made the case more thick, then I want to install another cooler or completely replace the original cooling system. The body itself was cut from 6mm thick plywood, and the decorative elements were made from 4mm plywood. All parts required two sheets of plywood approximately 50x50cm, and the total length of the cut was almost 42 meters.
The body was glued together with Moment wood glue.
I fastened the board to the case with bolts, so as not to cut holes in the case, cut out small washers from wood and pressed nuts into them.
To also be attached to the housing wall hard disks, cut out parts from acrylic. After trying on the board
and disks, glued washers and nuts to the wall of the housing.
I didn’t bother with the power button, it has a short cable, so I screwed it to the wall of the case under motherboard, and drilled a hole in the wall.
I cut the Wi-Fi antenna to fit the size of the top wall and glued it with double-sided tape.
The power connector in the laptop was on the other side of all the other connectors, I wanted all the connectors to be on one side, so the power cord had to be extended.
On the other side there is one more USB port, I decided to leave it inside the case; I will connect a bluetooth receiver for the keyboard and mouse to it.
Next we had to work hard with adjusting the holes for the connectors. A few test cardboard stencils and we were ready to cut out the remaining walls. I also cut it out on a laser machine from 2mm thick plastic for engraving, and I did the engraving for beauty.
So, about a year and a half ago, I first came across the Clear Tech transparent case, or I don’t remember exactly what it was called. Since then, I had a vague idea that it would be nice for me to do something similar. Once again, having carefully examined it, I realized that a repetition was out of the question, especially since my financial capabilities were severely limited. Therefore, I created my own construct, perhaps not so spectacular, but quite viable, and also suitable for repetition. We can speak about this with complete confidence, since when I started making one body, I made three of them, their names are in the title.
I’ll make a reservation that guys who haven’t held a caliper in their hands are unlikely to take on such a design; perhaps they should first practice and try to create something simpler, like this lamp.
Just to learn how to cut and glue plexiglass. I probably won’t write about these simplest operations, because... this has been done many times before me.
In general, judge for yourself - making such a case is quite simple. When making it, I did not draw drawings, since I did not buy plexiglass in the store (it is a rather expensive thing), but looked for it at my work (well, for example, a sheet of red plexiglass, which was enough for the entire body of the KTP-5 ROUGE, cost into a bottle of vodka), but this led to an additional difficulty - I had to always take into account the different thicknesses of the plexiglass so that overall everything would look quite neat.
So, first you need to have material for the side and rear walls, for the side, large enough walls, you should not take plexiglass thinner than 5 mm, the rear wall must be at least 8 mm thick. Then you can start making the top and bottom covers. The bottom cover is cut out of 10 mm plexiglass, the top - 6 mm. Both covers should be absolutely identical, naturally, first I made the thick bottom cover, and then fitted the thinner top one on top of it. If possible, it is better to mill both covers in one pass. Next are 4 vertical posts. They are also cut from 10mm plex, at the bottom of each, two holes with M3 threads, at the top, one M3 hole. I drilled the front racks for the trim of the covers, the rear racks are indented for the rear wall, which is also made of 10 mm plexiglass, since it carries a heavy power supply. I must say that I have not come across plexiglass, the thickness of which would be expressed in such round numbers as 6 and 10. In fact, everywhere the thickness size came in tenths and hundredths, for example 6.35 and 10.2. So, the principle, measure twice, cut once, applies here 100%.
After these 6 parts were screwed together, I immediately screwed the plastic legs to the bottom cover so as not to further scratch the nascent case. The frame is ready, and we can say that a third of the work is done. Of course there is enough left big job, but from this moment on, everything that is done is done visually. We make the back wall, its dimensions, if you follow the above drawing, are 470x (140 minus the double thickness of the side wall). Those. if the side walls are made of 6.35mm plexi, then the width of the back cover is 140-(6.35x2)=127.3.
It’s probably worth saying a few words right away about the sizes. These dimensions are not something super-rational; I took them almost from the ceiling. And as you can see in the photos, they can be easily changed.
So the back wall. We have decided on its general dimensions; it can already be screwed into its rightful place, but that’s not all, because the back wall carries many functional loads. At this stage it’s the turn of the motherboard. It is installed on a piece of plexiglass measuring 600x290x4. This piece of plex is secured to the inner sides of the vertical posts with four M3 screws. There is no need for great precision here, and the thickness of this piece does not play a big role. But then you will need to act extremely carefully. Modern motherboards have an average of 9-12 mounting holes; I cut the same number of pieces of plexiglass measuring 10x10x8, in the center of each hole with an M3 thread. Using short M3 screws, we screw these pieces to the motherboard, naturally, screws on the parts side, plex on the smooth side. In the future, all that remains is to carefully coat these pieces of plex with glue made from sawdust of the same plex, soaked in dichloroethane and glue it in place.
From an old computer case I cut out a part of the back wall with a grid for installing expansion cards. We insert any two boards into the two outer connectors of the mother, attach the grille to them and ... now it’s the turn of dichloroethane. The previously screwed frame, plus the back wall screwed to it, as well as a strip of plex (600x290x4) pre-installed in this frame, taking into account the further installation of the power supply - we put this entire structure on its side. And then we take the motherboard on which the boards and grille are installed, with pieces of plex already screwed to it, lubricate them with dichloroethane glue and glue it all onto a 4-millimeter strip of plex, so that the grille fits close to the back wall.
Since the back wall is transparent, it will not be difficult to carefully mark the holes in it. To avoid scratching the plexiglass again, I used a thin felt-tip pen. Subsequently, its traces can be erased with alcohol. Then it’s a matter of technique: we drill, saw out, and straighten the edges with a scraper. All that remains is to do exactly the same manipulations with the power supply, and the back wall is ready. On my cases, however, there are some other little things: a fan, power connectors, speaker connectors, but all these details are of secondary importance. Their installation is not particularly difficult and I mentioned them only for the sake of maintaining objective reality.
Well, I hope I outlined the process of making the back wall clearly enough, but just in case, I’ll give a small illustration. And once again I must say that having made three cases, I became convinced that there are no uniform sizes. All metal inserts were from different cases and, accordingly, had different sizes, and all three motherboards had slightly different configurations of output connectors.
Next you need to make something like a small shelf for installing hard drives and CD-ROMs. I made this thing based on installing three CD-ROMs, so if someone is not happy with this, then the dimensions will have to be changed.
So the dimensions for a tall block, two racks for mounting FDD and HDD - 323.5x130x8, in both narrow ends I drilled three holes for M3 threads. The bottom of the shelf for CD-ROMs is screwed to the top side - 170x146.5x8, the bottom end will be screwed to the 10 mm bottom cover of the case. The side walls of the CD-ROM box are made of thinner plexiglass - 5 mm, they are screwed to the ends of the 8 mm top and bottom covers. All that remains is to mark the holes for mounting CD-ROMs, as well as a 3-inch floppy drive and hard drives, but this is not difficult. But an unexpectedly difficult task for me was finding long enough screws with inch threads to secure the hard drives through 8 mm plex. I solved this problem when I disassembled some old printer.
One more thing. To make the structure rigid, I glued small plexiglass inserts to the sides of the CD-ROM box; they are screwed to the vertical posts with M3 screws. In general, my design ended up with more screws than glues. Probably some things could be simplified, but I tried to make it as convenient as possible, disassemble everything and gain access to any point of the case. I needed this, because in my cases, in addition to the computer itself, there are several other pleasant little things installed.
So, all that remains is to make the front wall. The principle is the same as with back wall- cut it to size, attach it to the front vertical posts and outline with a felt-tip pen the places where the cuts are made for CD-ROMs and floppy disks. There is also a hole for an indicator on the front panel. I fit a piece of plexi of a different color into this hole, exactly the size. This is not a very easy task, but little by little you can carefully adjust everything - it turns out very impressive, even better than on branded cases. You can glue this insert using a medical syringe with a thin needle, so as not to get excess dichloroethane on the front panel.
I used this technique several times and it almost always worked. The main thing is to take your time to adjust the insert, trying it on many times Right place. And one more thing: it is better not to saw the insert with a file, but to forcefully scrape its ends with just a piece of hacksaw blade ground off on sandpaper.
Installing power buttons, reset buttons, etc. is quite simple. I used different buttons in different cases, whichever ones I managed to get - I soldered them into the corresponding printed circuit board, which was subsequently screwed to a plexiglass holder. A small board is attached to it, into which LEDs are soldered - each strictly above a button. The holder is installed between the racks on which the hard drives are mounted, that is, it should not be wider than the width of the hard drive. I believe that anyone can design and glue such a fairly simple part themselves, in accordance with the buttons they have. And besides, the buttons can be installed not only horizontally, but also vertically. In general, no difficulties are foreseen on this side. With two side walls, everything is also quite simple - you just need to cut them to size and secure them with 4 M3 screws to the vertical posts. It would be ideal to find screws with decorative heads, but so far I haven’t come across any, although I took the time to go around the entire Mitinsky and Moskvoretsky markets.