Cardboard Box Server

Athlon XP 2000+
Geforce FX5200
Belkin wireless-g
6GB hdd
CDRW drive
185W psu

12" x 8" x 5.5"

Construction

Built this as an experiment to see how small of a box I could fit a PC into. I decided cardboard would be a cheap way to construct the case, and I had plenty of it laying around after ordering all the parts for my desktop. Instead of using an already made cardboard box, I opted to cut out sheets for each side so I could fit it perfectly to the computer. The length and width are the size of the motherboard itself. Everything else is on top fo it. The cd drive sites on the processor's heatsink, and the harddriev site atop the cd drive. There are sheets of cardboard between any components so they don't touch each other. The power supply sits on top of the empty PCI slots and vents out the top.

Cooling

The rig is kept cool with minimal air flow. An 80mm fan is built into the side right next to the heatsink to keep it cool. The air travels around the video card to the power supply where it is exhausted. This also cools the video card because its small heatsink is rigth next to the power supply intake. CPU reaches about 43celcius idle with this setup, not much higher under load.

Operation

Well, I intended to use this as a webserver with linux running on it. However, after installing Ubuntu Server Edition, I had trouble getting the wireless card to work. It doesn't help that I don't have wired access to the router from my room. So I gave up on that, and will be putting this computer back in its original case for use elsewhere.

Lessons Learned

Cardboard alone isn't enough to make this computer rugged. Carrying it was kept to a minimum because the sides could be easily bent or broken. I did manage to keep everything still.

Securing the components inside is important. While everything was semisecure just because it was packed so tight, I still screwed the power supply into the top of the case. But even with that, I'd never tip it on its side, which is something I'd prefer my small PC box to be able to do.

Ducttape does not stick to cardboard well. It will at first, but after a few weeks, it comes off very easily. Even after the first night, some of the pieces were already bending away from the cardboard. I think shipping tape would work much better, with ducttape on top of that for extra security.

Future

I still plan to rebuilt something similar. It will probably be made of a different material, like plexiglass or wood. It will be much easier to work with as a server when I'm back in school with wired access. I probably won't use as beefy of hardware either. With any luck I can find a small cheap motherboard somewhere to use.