DotaBox

[-=SpH!Nx=-]

Hello guys!

 

I just wanted to share my scratch build PC case called "DotaBox". This build was meant to be a HTPC type build with a little bit of Dota 2, in max settings.

 

Specs:

AMD A10-7850k

ADATA XPG SX900 128Gb SSD

Kingston HyperX PnP 8gb DDR3 1866Mhz

Gigabyte F2A88XN-wifi

Corsair H80i

Cooler Master JetFlo 120mm fans

Bitfenix Spectre Pro 200mm fan

Silverstone 450w fully modular SFX power supply

 

 

Some of you might have already saw this, but might as well share it here.

DotaBox is basically a cube with Dota2 logo all around it. I have been playing Dota for 6 to 7 years now and I wanted to make myself a "Trophy" if you may, as a fan and avid player (Although I am still bad I guess since I really don't care if we win or lose, all I wanted is to have fun but not in a "Trolling" way of fun.) I wanted the trophy to have that certain "Flare" to it whenever some one sees it, an "Eye Candy" in my room. A few months from now, I will become a full pledged Dad, and I might quit the game so might as well give myself a "farewell" gift. And I wanted it to be as functional as possible, not just an ordinary room display. So I started making a concept of my own using AutoCAD 2015, and I ended up having this kind of design.

 

This design was also inspired by Bill Owen and Cheapskate's scratch build "Nvidia Ion Cube". For a newbie modder like me, having a cube design is much easier compared to having those sexy curves on some other builds. I wanted to start on basic shapes first.

 

Next, I started thinking of the materials that will be used for my scratch build. Since buying tools for cutting up aluminum is kinda expensive, I ended up buying a Jigsaw and a Rotary tool as my main arsenal for my build. Instead of aluminum, I ended up going with wood as my main material for this build (Pine wood and Hard Board). For the walls of the case, I used a 1/4" thick Hard wood and for the logo, I used a 3/4" thick pine wood.

 

 

First, I printed out a 7"x 7" Dota 2 logo, slapped it on a 8" x8" pine wood cut out, and started to cut the side of the logo using a Jigsaw.

 

And then, after I finished cutting up the sides of the wood, I started to make 2 holes that will fit the blade of the Jigsaw to cutout the middle part of the logo, sand it a little bit, and went straight to the first paint coat.

 

 

After the paint dried out, I made a 8"x 8" cut of Acrylic sheet UV green and did the same thing except that I did not make the holes in the middle of the logo.

 

 

 

The next day, I kinda wanted to see how it will look like so I went outside and stack the wood and the acrylic sheet together to see how what it will look like.

 

 

 

This was the "Glow Test" that I tried before I started to make 3 more logos just to make sure that it will achieve the glow that I wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

After the glow test, I started to make 3 more cutouts of the Dota 2 logo on the Pine wood, and same with the Acrylic Sheet. While waiting for the paint to dry out, I started to make the cube case with the Hard Wood.

 

 

I used a 200mm BitFenix Spectre Pro fan as the top exhaust since at first I was planning on using the Noctua L9a for CPU cooling. Having a huge fan directly on top of the cpu cooler might help to move the hot air away from the case so I decided on that kind of layout.

 

 

 

Here are the other 3 Dota 2 logo cutouts with the acrylic sheet.

 

 

 

 

 

I then went to paint the whole cube case with semi-gloss black paint just to make sure that it will give me the look that I wanted. Although I still need to make some holes for the 3 120mm fans, I still wanted to see what it will look like with the logo all around the case. Aaaaaaand....

 

 

 

After all the testing for the "Looks" department, I went in and started to make the fan holes for the 120mm fans, the motherboard I/O shield and mounting hole for the power supply. I then used 1/4"  (L) spacers between the wall of the case and the logo for some air flow. I made a small motherboard tray from acrylic sheet, used some left over hard wood to hold the tray, and voila!

 

 

After the case is 90% done, I proceeded to do some test fit of all the components that will go inside the case.

 

 

The plan on using the Noctua L9a got changed since the H80i went on sale for a good price so I went in and grabbed the deal. 

I have modded the pump/block cover of an H80i to go with the theme of my build.

 

 

 

The original plan was to mount the H80i vertically in front of the motherboard, but since I miscalculated the measurements, I ended up deciding to put the H80i underneath the motherboard.

 

 

The H80i fits perfectly (barely) underneath the motherboard with barely enough room for the cables of the power supply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The SSD went underneath the motherboard tray since I still have enough room for it. You won't see it here, but it's there!

 

 

 

 

After all the test fits and what not, I disassembled the whole case, and finished the paint job. 

 

 

 

When I started to finish the paint for the case, it started to rain with some gusty wind. I already started to paint the case when it rained, so, since it was windy on that day, I made myself a small "painting area" just to finish the second coat of the paint.

 

 

 

 

 

After 2 days, all the paint is dried up and the case is ready for re-assembly!

 

 

 

 

 

The system is up and running! Just need to install steam.

 

 

 

 

I have then decided to add a pedestal for the case, which is just made out of a 3"x 3" wood with a turn table that I bought from Ikea.

 

 

 

 

Well, thank you for the time for taking a peek on my scratch build. I am currently working on another project of mine, which is a DeskPC. Although I still don't have a name for it. 

 

See you on my next project!