r/3DPPC

Hi Reddit!

Spent my youth on forums and was very active back then, and already posted this case on some other groups but this is my very first big Reddit post, happy to join a new community!

This project is about a few of the passions I picked up as a teenager: computers, music, and building speakers.

I got my first PC at 13. Five generations of motherboards, CPUs, RAM, and graphics cards later… the case was still the same one.

Because of my love for wood and speaker building, I always had this idea of one day building my own wooden PC case. But the design I had in mind was complex, so I kept postponing it… for about 10 years.

After more than two decades of ATX builds, I recently switched to ITX. It fits my needs better and I wanted something more portable. Paired with a Pico PSU, the build could be truly minimalist — and could even run in a car or off a battery (more of a fun thought than something I actually need). That was the moment I knew I finally had to build the wooden case.

As always: easier said than done.

The goal was a case that looks like it was carved from a single piece of wood. Choosing the material was the easy part. I've always liked MDF for quick speaker prototypes, but for this I went with multiplex birch — great value, beautiful look, and properties that suit a PC case well.

New tooling meant I could push the design further without it taking weeks, so I tried laser cutting for the first time. Unfortunately, despite the spec sheet, the timber dealer delivered multiplex with the wrong glue — which caused the very dark burn marks you can see in the process shots. Every project needs a first prototype, and a few lessons learned.

The design itself took its time. Like a good wine, it had to develop over the years — and I think it turned out wonderfully. The feel is something special. Compared to every other case I've held (and I've held plenty), it almost feels alive.

The front has a hidden power button, clicking anywhere on the wood will turn on the Computer. I am still working on the finish of the wood.

Removing all the burn marks was a real challenge. I had to sand so much that I went straight through the wood in one spot — you can see it on the top round corner on the left side. There are a few other small imperfections from the heavy sanding and from getting help from a Dremel too. But it can only get better from here! 🙂

In the process shots you can see just how black the wood got. I also only had two clamps on hand — four would've definitely been better, but the others were tied up on another project. (And yes, in the earlier pics that top corner was still beautiful 😄)

I've also designed an ATX version for my brother, which I'll be building next — stay tuned!

Hello,

I want to showcase a PC case I designed and built. I attend plenty of LAN parties so I wanted a setup that is easy to carry and has a comfortably large screen. I can be used with screen in bother landscape or portrait orientation. If you don't want to use the built-in screen you can just close it an place on its side to not take too much space and connect external monitor.

How is it cooled?

The air intakes on both sides open after lifting one side of the case that will then lock automatically on indexing plungers. This lets PSU, MOBO and GPU get fresh air directly from outside. There are two mesh filters mounted on magnets inside but they are optional if you want to get better airflow at the cost of collecting dust. On the back of the case there is one really brave 60mm Noctua trying to get air moving through the case but I'll probably add one more slot for 60mm fan on the GPU side
For now I am testing it with 3070 and  i5-111400 and after running for 15 minutes with max GPU and CPU load the temps stabilize at at ąbout 65C for CPU and 80C for GPU. Next I'm planning to conver my main PC with 9900X and 7900XT to this case to see if it can handle this much power.

How is the monitor powered?
The driver board takes 12V at max 36W. While it could be powered from GPU connectors or SATA (but this is really near SATA power wattage limit) I opted to just buy PSU with Molex output. Two pins out of four pins of Molex provide 12V at max 11A and this leaves a large margin to not melt the connector.

How is monitor connected?
You simply connect it by DP or HDMI cable to you GPU or MOBO. There is enough space on the back of the case to comfortably connect it through 90 degree adapter. The control panel is embedded in the case in the keyboard slot.

How is GPU secured and how are cables routed?
Zip-ties! You can even find reusable ones on Amazon

Keyboard slot
I wanted to be able to pack everything I need in a single package so on the front there is a slot for keyboard, mouse and power cord. The dimensions of the slot are 350mm x 140mm so it can comfortable fin most 75% keyboards.

How is it done?
Most of the stuff is 3d printed but the main chasis (the one you connect all the PC components to) is cut out of 1.5mm thick aluminum sheet and bent. The hinges on the monitor are just standard Kitchen cabinet (lol) hinges from AliExpress. Just because they are easy to source and have adjustable torque.

Needed to do a "sidegrade" for my main workstation, moving to an ATX motherboard so that I can add additional memory sticks as well as run 2x GPUs for VFIO passthrough.

I really liked the isometric style panels Jakob uses on his builds, so I designed some that interlock so that they could be printed in sections and have the appearance of full sized case panels. I also designed some custom feet in the style of the C4-SFX, reusing a design idea I had for a NR200 mod where the IO and power button are in the front foot.

The vent holes are a little big, but I'm OK with that. After 6 years of using an A4-SFX, it's nice to have a build with decent cooling!

I had a realisation while building this case was that I will probably never buy another commercial case ever again. I can design and 3D print a case to my exact specifications, and it'll always be a fraction of the cost of a commercial case.

5800x3d
7900XT
32gb Corsair vengeance
Noctua NH-P1
Corsair SF1000
1 whole fixed speed fan at the back from an old case
Dirt cheap asus MATX board I’ve had for years

Been running this for about a year and it might be my favorite build I’ve had lol

I couldn’t find an enclosure to take my Aoostar ag02 on the road with me so I designed my own. It fits GPU’s up to 232mm x 145mm x 46mm. I have the design up on Etsy if anyone else wants to print one for themselves.

https://m10tech.etsy.com/listing/4500556167

The cheapest server I could build. The cost of the machine is about 7000 RUB (100$). The CPU is basically chilling at 40 degrees on full load.

Bought a dell 3880 off marketplace to run jelly fin and immitch, but the case was horrible. Couldn’t fit the hard drives or a fan. Printed this from maker world (mod case hyper). Works perfectly for what I need. I had to print a lga 1200 back bracket and made it attach to the stand offs on the case since the motherboard is proprietary (Ik this is probably the worst way to do this but it works for me).

So, first off, I want to credit the actual designer and share his Youtube channel. The original model is here.

What I did was modify his design. The original was designed for a thin graphics card, a pico PSU, and a metal IO plate.

Unfortunately, I didn't have an IO shield, a Pico power supply, or the right graphics card for this build.

So, I needed to make some changes. After printing the original case, I got to work.

I widened it by enough to fit my chosen graphics card, and installed standoffs for a mining-type power supply, and designed IO shields for both my motherboard and my graphics card. I also added a mounting point for dual USB3 ports in the front, and added a hole for my chosen barrel jack.

To build the IO shield, I found one for sale on eBay to use as a template. I took the picture, ran it through a 2d-3d converter (I forget which one), and imported into Tinkercad. I used calipers to measure my ports and distances, and the OG case model to get the outer dimensions.

For building the graphics card IO shield, I just got creative with Tinkercad 's admittedly poor measuring system and kinda winged it. It worked out OK. I removed the mounting bracket of the GTX1050ti, so that it would butt directly up against the back of the case.

This did cause me some issues. I figured I could use part of the IO bracket mounting holes, but I wasn't quite precise enough and ended up re-using some white parts from a different print to mount the graphics card by the back corner. For version 2 (if I do it), I can now take the measurements I need in order to mold the bracket.

I followed Lohtec's design philosophy with the standoffs for the power supply, and made them ramped so they could be printed in place with no supports. This worked really well.

This computer was made with whatever I had laying around from other projects. A mining power supply, a X11ssv-Q mini ITX industrial motherboard, an Intel i7-7700, and, for some strange reason, a brand-new-in-box GTX1050. I have no idea why I managed to find 2 of these cards still in the box, and the seller said they came from auction. They were cheap, small, and didn't require external power, so I'm happy with it.

I did have to buy a riser, power button, and a couple other small parts, but this entire system cost me less than $200. I believe it could be build from the ground up for less than $300 in materials.

To power this abomination, I used a 12v 25 amp LED power supply, going through the barrel connector on the back.

In some of the pictures, you can see the original model side-by-side with the redesigned version.

I started this case in pursuit of improving thermal from SGPC K49. I initially bought the DAN A4 H2O but it was too big for my pelican. Now the rabbit hole has finally ended.

Spec:

CPU 7800X3D
GPU GIGABYTE 5060 Ti 16gb (208mm)
Asrock B850i lightning wifi
Corsair vengeange 2x32 Gb CL40
Enhance ENP 7660L modular
some ssd I can’t remember

heatsink is from AXP90-53. Cooling is done with 4 9015 fans, all in exhaust direction. This way gets the best thermal performance.

Total size is 230 x 275 x 104 mm (6.6L)

Cinebench r23: 17412. Tmax 83.4. Idling temp 41C with ambient temp of 63F.

I use PBO -20, thermal 85, ppt/tdc/edc at 85/75/150k.

I disassembled a laptop to build a mini home NAS server.

I’m not a designer or architect, and not very good at drawing, but I’m trying to 3D model a case for this project.

I ordered threaded inserts and an M.2 WiFi-to-SATA adapter.

What do you think about this layout? I’m planning to build it like a sandwich

1. Bottom layer: battery + power button I/O

2. Motherboard with cooler

3. 3.5" HDD

4. Second 3.5" HDD

I’m not sure about the power I/O placement yet. If it fits above the motherboard, I’ll move it there.

I would appreciate any suggestions or references.