Introduction:

It's been 3 years since I started VH and modding my very first case, the AOpen HX08 Project back in April 2000. Eversince then, I've been modding quite a lot, be it for my personal use or for friends or family members. The modding scene/community has also grown from the select few or underground to a more mainstream scene.

And amongst the community, there has been a lot of modders who have stand out with their creations and innovative ideas. There's too many to mention but know this, I certainly respect them for their ideas and creativity and at times, they have inspired my mods as well. And amongst these elite group, there are some who go all the way and created their own cases, from scratch.

Building from the ground up certainly takes a lot of planning and skill and the people in these group are the ones that are at the forefront of the modding scene. After so long, I too have decided to move on to building my own case and taking another step in the journey of mods. I didn't want to start with something big, seeing how this is gonna be my first attempt. So I decided to build the case around a Micro-ATX motherboard. They're small enough and with the right components, can deliver enough punch for an average gamer like me.

So without further a due, I present you Project Black Qube.

The Parts

I decided to go with a cube design case as it's quite simple and as for material, I chose acrylic as they're very easy to work with. Plus, I already have an idea on how to get the different parts of the case together, using existing screws, other hardwares and what not I already have in my toolbox. Hardware wise, here's a list of what's going into the custom case.

• Gigabyte 8SIMLH Micro-ATX P4 Mobo

• On-board 10/100 LAN (for broadband surfing of course!)

• Intel P4 1.8GHz CPU

• 512 PC2100 DDR

• Visiontek Geforce 2Ti 64MB AGP Card

• SB Live! DE5.1 Sound Card

• Skyhawk Slim 1U 180W PSU for P4

• WD 60GB HDD, 52X Generic CD-ROM

• Matrix Orbital 20x4 Graphical LCD

• Fan, grills, etc...

Mobo, CPU and RAM

Skyhawk Slim PSU

180W

Wanting to keep everything in a nice small package was an initial headache to me. I wanted to run a P4 but we all know that standard PSUs are bulky and that fact alone deters the creation of the Black Qube.

So while browsing around at the local PC heaven, I saw a 1U server case with a motherboard meant for a P4 and saw that it comes with a slim PSU. I told myself that if I could get that PSU, the problem would be solved. I searched high and low for a separate 1U PSU unit but I'll either have to buy it with the 1U case or it'll alone costs a bomb! I was finally given a lifeline when I found out that the company that had provided me with the Skyhawk MSR-4620 Case for review actually carries slim PSUs for P4 and AMD! Rated at 180Watts, these slim babies could power even a P4 2.8GHz system. Needless to say, I immediately purchased one for the project. w00t!

Once I had all the parts ready, I got to work in figuring out how to place everything in the custom case that I'm about to build. I didn't really have a well thought out plan. My idea was to get everything ready, take a quick measurement, draft out a simple sketch and purchase the acrylic sheets. I wanted to see how fast I could do it and do it right too.. heheh! Anyways, once I got all the necessary items in hand, the actual work begins.

The acrylic sheets

Difference in thickness