The Pico Bayard case, Built Around a VIA Pico-ITX Mainboard by Jeffrey Stephenson.
PC cases used to come all in the same beige color with the same square shape. Time and market expansion have caused a bit of variety in the retail case offerings, but they are still fairly standard with little differences by brand or model. To break from the crowd and have something different, as a PC enthusiast you will have to create your own case, using a bit of ingenuity to bring a new form to the function of your PC.
Case Design
A PC case need not be a large box to work effectively. Your case can take on any shape or size you wish as long as you follow a couple of simple rules in its design.
Your computer peripherals have to be easily accessible. This includes any CD/DVD drives, USB port, card slots and anything that you may need to reach on a regular basis should be front and center on your case. An exception to this is if you decide to go with external devices but that can add to the complexity of your case design.
Your case must be stable. Many of the parts running in your computer do not take well to high vibration or falls. As such, your case should hold all its internal parts with as much stability as possible. For those parts that may vibrate, such as hard drives or graphics cards with fans, you will want to create a mounting that will not transfer the vibration to the case itself.
Pay attention to the airflow within your case. Make provisions for the addition of case fans, especially if the component parts of your PC may be prone to putting out large amounts of heat. A general rule of thumb is the more powerful your computer the more heat it is likely to emit, so the more fans you should make space for. Venting is vitally important even if no fans are used. Your case will need access to the surrounding air, so create vents where they are unlikely to be blocked by items around the case.
Case Materials
The choice of material is up to you. Successful case designs have been made of anything from clear plexiglass to LEGO blocks to walnut. Plastic is easy to work with and forms well to various shapes, while wood has a natural beauty to it. Working in metal can be done, with light strong metals a good choice to use.
Most motherboards come with a mounting plate for the I/O ports so your case need only include a standard-sized hole to pop the plate into. For actual internals, such as hard drives, power supply, motherboard or add-on cards, you will have to make custom mounts. It is best to follow existing case-mounting ideas, performing the bulk of your case modifications on the case shell.
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