Scaling upwards from the previous project, I'm moved up from the Mini-ITX board to a (nearly) full sized ATX motherboard. The larger motherboard required a few more fastener locations but was not a significant challenge. The new challenge in this version was the addition of the GPU and properly securing it to the case.

back

Given the triangular profile of the frame, it took a little effort to design the triangular frame to fasten the GPU metal bracket against. At least, as compared to the normal rectangular computer cases. Thankfully CAD software like Onshape have no fear of trigonometry calculations.

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It all works together but I've lost most of the size advantage over the standard mid-tower case. Here it is standing in front of the case that used to contain these components.

sizecompare

While the overall volume is still smaller than the generic PC case, it isn't smaller by a whole lot. Yes, I do incorporate a screen while the standard case does not, but like the standard case I have a lot of unused empty space in my volume. Even though this made cable management easier and neater, a lot of waste is left over.

I decided the previous Mini-ITX version was on the "too small" side, and we've overshot into "too large". The next iteration of this experiment will try to shrink the design and work towards "just right"

The small 3D printed brackets seen on this page were designed in the OnShape project "Easel PC", which is available as an OnShape Public Document.