Crazy idea of the day: flat-pack, 19-inch rack compatible PC cases

1

My favorite PC case isn’t being made anymore (Silverstone FT02) and I can’t seem to find one that doesn’t suck in some way…

So I started to think about what it would be like if I designed my on PC case…
Basically, it would be entirely modular; 8 identical corner pieces, 4 short pieces (5.25 inches) with 19-inch rack holes, and 8 longer pieces with holes for 5-1/2 drives.

Then there would be inserts for motherboards, fans, drive racks, etc, and finally the side panels would be customization so you can have steel, glass, wood, holes for fans, etc.

The longer pieces could be available in multiple sizes to make different size PC cases possible.
In addition, the same pieces could be used to hold 3 1U servers (or one 3U server).

In addition to be fantastically customizable, a PC case would this would flat-pack like IKEA furniture, thus costing less to ship places than traditional PC cases.

2

And the feet would screw into the corner pieces and could be replaced with casters.

3

Sounds like you’ve given this some thought😜

4

What about a no-case build? If you’re using water cooling, it gives a lot more freedom to set things up just the way you like.

5

Seems like it would be loud, fragile and not my style.
I don’t really want to see or hear the insides of my PC.
Also, I stopped messing with watercooling many years ago, but it’s fairly easy to do nowadays, so I would consider it to make my PC quieter.