Who has installed a PC without case?

[menace]

I'm curious what grounding precautions you took (if any) when hooking all the components together?  Like did the case of the power supply need to be bonded to the ground of the motherboard or the hard drives for instance?

I was pretty sure that they are all internally grounded but I thought to be better safe than sorry.

[paigeoliver]

I have decased multiple times in the past, and I did not take any special grounding precautions.

However I no longer decase, as it is not arcade correct. Modern arcade games that run on PC hardware have cases inside the cabinets, and so do my mame cabinets.

[miniyoda]

I'm curious what grounding precautions you took (if any) when hooking all the components together?  Like did the case of the power supply need to be bonded to the ground of the motherboard or the hard drives for instance?

I was pretty sure that they are all internally grounded but I thought to be better safe than sorry.

Not a computer expert, but I'd be wondering if case designs take air flow into consideration, and without it, cool air might not flow properly around the mother board.  I'm not finished with my cabinet yet, but have considered an open case with a fan blowing into the PC.  I've seen a few geeks/nerds do this to their home computers.

miniyoda

[gndprx]

I'm curious what grounding precautions you took (if any) when hooking all the components together?  Like did the case of the power supply need to be bonded to the ground of the motherboard or the hard drives for instance?

I was pretty sure that they are all internally grounded but I thought to be better safe than sorry.

Not a computer expert, but I'd be wondering if case designs take air flow into consideration, and without it, cool air might not flow properly around the mother board.  I'm not finished with my cabinet yet, but have considered an open case with a fan blowing into the PC.  I've seen a few geeks/nerds do this to their home computers.

miniyoda

I would only consider this relevant inside an enclosed case.  When in open air, the 40mm or 60mm fans on almost all video cards and processor heat sinks should be more than adaquate.  The inside of your cabinet should not get that warm if the entire cabinet is ventilated properly.

And you don't really need to worry about grounding.  It's all taken care of through the basic wiring.  No special requirements.

[TalkingOctopus]

I decased simply because I did not want to waste a perfectly good case...There is no reason to have a case inside of another case.

You can see of picture of it here:

http://webpages.charter.net/rbecker5/images/insideComp.jpg

[Mugzilla]

I've seen a few geeks/nerds do this to their home computers.

miniyoda

Guilty.

[ntjedi]

I decased simply because I did not want to waste a perfectly good case...There is no reason to have a case inside of another case.

You can see of picture of it here:

http://webpages.charter.net/rbecker5/images/insideComp.jpg

TalkingOctopus, in your picture you have two arcade buttons (black and red).  I was wondering if you hooked them up to the motherboard as power and reset buttons or are they for something else that I am not thinking of??

Just curious...


Also, just for the record I left the computer in the case.  Some of my resoning was that when I move I can just unplug the computer and take it of of the cabinet giving me one less thing to worry about breaking inside the cabinet.  Other then that I believe that it would just be a matter of preference.  

You could arguably do it either way so I guess Im not much help... i'll just shut up now.  

[RedSquirrel]

im not putting mine in a case, im keeping my case to put my new upgraded comp inside and then removing this comp to put in the arcade cab.

[Rocky]

My computer is mounted to the side of the cabinet without the case.  I took no special grounding precautions for the computer.  I did make sure that I plugged it in to a properly grounded outlet, though.


Rocky

[papaschtroumpf]

I decased simply because I did not want to waste a perfectly good case...There is no reason to have a case inside of another case.

You can see of picture of it here:

http://webpages.charter.net/rbecker5/images/insideComp.jpg

With regard to grounding you should work fine without it, but it won't hurt to tie the power supply case to one of the mobo mounting screws. I find that the biggest problem with no using a case is that you need to come up with a way to secure the PCI/AGP cards plugged in your mobo, you at least need standoffs so that the bottom of the bracket of the card doesn't get in the way.

I picked up an old beat up ATX case for free and I just leave the cover off rather than "uncasing" the comp.

I noticed the intake fans. Are those absolutely necessary? I was hoping to get away with a few intake *holes* in the back and a few venting holes in the top, with no noisy fan.  My only fan would be in the power supply (but I'm running old hardware, PII-300 with passive cooler and RagePRO graphic card with no cooling).

I don't want my mame cabinet to make any noise... unless I'm playing it!

[OSCAR]

I did this on both my upright and cocktail MAME cabinets.  No problems at all with grounding or heat.


http://www.oscarcontrols.com/unnamed

http://www.oscarcontrols.com/cocktail

[papaschtroumpf]

Nice craftmanship OSCAR! I love the wirewrap job.
I does make it easier to have a mobo with built-in graphic and sound, perfect for "uncasing"

[OSCAR]

Nice craftmanship OSCAR! I love the wirewrap job.
I does make it easier to have a mobo with built-in graphic and sound, perfect for "uncasing"

Thanks!  Yeah, the spiral wrap was more work, but it looks nice when looking in through the front window.  Better than seeing a tangle of wires, at least.

I chose that motherboard specifically for that reason.  I knew I wouldn't have room for a case, so the motherboard had to do it all.  Works just fine, too, never had a lick of trouble with it.

[TalkingOctopus]

First off, the pci cards are screwed into a piece of mdf that was left over from making the cab.  

Secondly, the fans are not  necessary - in fact I currently have them unplugged so they are a waste.  The only fans I have are in the power supply and two small ones on the cpu.  It is really quiet.

[grafixmonkey]

There are cases with removable motherboard trays.  Anyone tried finding a spare motherboard tray, or ordering one as a replacement part from a manufacturer, and using that to mount everything?

That, or you might be able to dremel out the rivets attaching the motherboard backplate to the rest of the box, and get the same result.  

I'm going to try one of those two eventually, because my PC won't fit inside my arcade box while it's still in the case.  (Everybody said "measure twice, cut once"...  but did I listen?)  At least that way, I get a nice set of screw holes that are already in the right places, and a place to screw down my PCI cards.