Cardboard PC Case

[touch ass eat grass]

So I got pretty bored and happened to have an old PC lying around and I decided "Hey! Maybe I should try to build a PC case out of... well, cardboard (and wood)." Is this a good idea?

[WarmedxMints]

Not really, neither are a great conductor of heat and unless you do a good job with varnish/polish they may restirct airflow.

They also do not conduct electriciy at all well so the case would not be earthed.

[Railer666]

Heres a company that sells them.It does look kind of cool.

http://recomputepc.com/

[Hare+Guu!]

I wouldn't put it on cardboard, simply because components get hot. Wood should be fine though.

[wirs]

Originally posted by WarmedxMints:

They also do not conduct electriciy at all well so the case would not be earthed.

Thats not a problem at all.

[_I_]

buy a $20-30 case
well worth it to not harm components or burn your house down

[SundownKid]

The cardboard cases that are sold are treated with Flame Retardant. I would imagine a typical cardboard box or wood case would be a massive fire hazard.

[Master0fBlunt]

Yeah that's a 911 call waiting to happen. The rig may not produce enough heat to burn the cardboard initially, but over time paper products become very "dried" out from the constant low level heat and causes the organic components in it to break down and become weaker to heat, eventually starting a fire. The fire point of corrugated cardboard is about 258°C, although no component should ever get that hot, NO, just NO....

[Zireth]

Make the extiterior cardboard or paint it. DO NOT put them in a box. Why? cardboard is very flammable much more than paper you will have to invest in a fire hydrant. Lack of airflow is one. Lack of places to put your stuff is another Iike those pci covers on the side or the motherboard usbs and other stuff

[RRW359]

IDK about cardboard, but I know some people have made wooden cases. I wouldn't recommend either though, as unless you REALLY know what you're doing, the heat from your average CPU and GPU seem like things that should be as far away as possible from anything flammable.

[MaddDoktor [Linux]]

One reason that computers have a metal case is to shield them from producing RFI (radio frequency interference). But I guess they are much higher frequency now than my old 1 MHz Apple ][+ which interfered with channel 3 or 4 on the TV I was using as a monitor, so I had to get a channel 33 modulator to avoid a bad picture.

I have seen videos of people who have their motherboard and other computer hardware mounted exposed on a wall panel.

[Sticky Honeybuns]

Yea don't do it unless you really don't care. The others brought up good points but another is the fact that cardboard can produce a high amount of static electricity. This could potentially fry your components as well. They do make a coating that goes over cardboard to make them ESD safe but you don't have that.

Also, cardboard will outgas as well and will contaminate your system. If I remember correctly it will outgas and form chlorine and overtime will build up in a closed environment.

Not a good idea.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You can make a case out of whatever the hell you want... if the Motherboard is not on a metal plate with stand-offs (the point of this is to ground the motherboard) then all you need to do is run a solid copper wire from a stand-off to the base of the power supply; this will ground the motherboard.