build a custom case while i wait?

[RedZoneOS]

I have my 50 inch plasma mounted to the wall. underneath I have a wooden desk that has 2 slide out drawers (side by side). Under the slide out drawers are open compartments with glass doors for my AV receiver, blu ray player, cable box etc.

I'm thinking about using one of the slide out drawers to mount my hackintosh build.

Advantages:
no visible case.
no need to worry about space since the drawer is big enough for the parts I'll start with, and has plenty of room for expansion.

disadvantages:
no computer portability, since it'll be fixed to my entertainment center.
If I do decide to move it out to a case, that drawer will be useless!!!

Other thoughts???
interference from other devices; shielding? mounting electronics directly to wood?

Anyone suggestions/comments/concerns????

 

[flipit23]

I don't have too much of an in depth answer here, but I would be hesitant about mounting anything directly to the wood. Maybe it's fine to do so, I don't think I would though.

 

[grndplane]

It sounds like a cool idea(pun intended), but make sure you have enough air flow around and thru your computer. I did something similar but too much heat is building up inside, so now I am removing the back from the entertainment center.

 

[Mieze]

I have my 50 inch plasma mounted to the wall. underneath I have a wooden desk that has 2 slide out drawers (side by side). Under the slide out drawers are open compartments with glass doors for my AV receiver, blu ray player, cable box etc.

I'm thinking about using one of the slide out drawers to mount my hackintosh build.

Advantages:
no visible case.
no need to worry about space since the drawer is big enough for the parts I'll start with, and has plenty of room for expansion.

disadvantages:
no computer portability, since it'll be fixed to my entertainment center.
If I do decide to move it out to a case, that drawer will be useless!!!

Other thoughts???
interference from other devices; shielding? mounting electronics directly to wood?

Anyone suggestions/comments/concerns????

Sounds like a really bad idea! First, wood doesn't provide any shielding of EMI so that your machine might impact other devices or gets influenced itself. Depending on where you live this also might violate regulations. Second, wood is a bad heat conductor. There will be nearly no passive cooling through the case and you will need sufficient air flow to guarantee proper cooling which means a lot of noise.

Mieze

 

[powerpcg5]

Get a mobo tray. Install everything on the tray. Put the tray inside the drawer. (still no complete shielding though, but will be easy to move it somewhere later and you don't have to ruin the drawer by drilling holes/etc.

 

[RedZoneOS]

based on all the feedback here and elsewhere it seems heat may be the biggest issue. I'm building a very simple hackintosh though with no add on cards and only 1 ssd... I think I will be able to manage the heat (i3 2125, onboard graphics, 200w psu, 8gb ram, no plans to add anything else)

@grndplane,
the nice thing about my slide out drawer is there's about 3 inches of room behind it after it's closed before hitting the back of the entertainment center, so I can mount some exhaust fans directly in the back

@Mieze,
Do you think interference will be that much of a problem? The only reason I considered this is because there are TONS of all wood pc builds I've seen online (from old school radios/clocks to full on computer cases).


@powerpcg5,
thats what i was planning on doing. I have an old pentium collecting dust so I was going to use the mobo tray on that to mount the motherboard on.

If interference is that much of an issue, I can probably cut out the panels on the case and line the drawer with it too??

Can you guys think of any functionality issues with this besides the transporting/ruining the drawer possibility??

 

[powerpcg5]

You would still need to drill some vent holes, maybe in the back for cooling. Heat I think will be your biggest issue here.

As for interference, maybe yes, maybe no. Heck..... a cellphone has a lot more power and gives off a lot more interference than computers! Plus, it's not like the FCC will be barging in your door with SWAT teams because your computer exceeded EMI/RFI. If you want, buy some copper tape, then tape the whole inside of the drawer, (all six sides) with the copper tape.

Now, if you're still using rabbit TV antennas, then you may have a big problem with interference But I'm assuming you're not using rabbit TV antennas, right?

 

[Mieze]

Do you think interference will be that much of a problem? The only reason I considered this is because there are TONS of all wood pc builds I've seen online (from old school radios/clocks to full on computer cases).

It depends on your environment. You might be lucky, but there is no guarantee! I have a degree in electrical engineering and I know what I'm talking about. Back in the 1990's when I was a student I spent 3 weeks debugging a driver for a self-designed add-in card until I finally discovered that the cause for the frequent system crashes wasn't a software problem but a consequence of improper shielding. Whenever someone flicked a switch or plugged/unplugged another device within the house the system froze.

Mieze

 

[powerpcg5]

You need more 0.1uf bypass caps and ground guard rings around the edge

 

[Mieze]

You need more 0.1uf bypass caps and ground guard rings around the edge

I wish it was that easy!