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Newbie Question - PC Case or no Case?

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Moose13:

Hey Guys,
I've been using Mame for 5 years or so onmy PC and FINALLY am jumping into the cabinet scene. My slikstik classic controller with overlay is on order (yeah, yeah I know, good luck with the production & shipping times). I'm about to order the UAII cabinet (I'm no carpenter, nor do I have all the tools necessary). I have a montherboard, processor (Athelon 64, 3200+) and 1G of memory on order. I have a spare hard drive (100 G) and power supply.I also picked up a Toshiba 27"TV (with power return) on craigslist for $50, which shold do the job well along with a ATI Radeon 9600 128M video card. I've been starting to test front ends, and found Maximus Arcade (yeah it's $25, but I think it'll be well spent). I think it's great for the ability to run so many emulators under one roof (or program).

Things I need to buy:
I need one of those smart power strips to turn everything on and off.
A PC case.

Now there's my question. Do I really need a case? Should I mount the MB directly on one of the cabinets sides? If I do that will the CPU fan/cooler be enough?
I've read about people putting fans in the cabinet, but I don't know if it's really necessary. If it is, I'd probably have an intake ONLY, at the botton front, with a exhaust grill or cutout at the top back.

Thanks to all the people on this board for all the ideas, as I lurked for the past 2 months. And thanks in advance for advice I'm seeking, and constructive criticism, if I need it, dish it out. If I'm doing anything wrong I wann know now before it's too late.

Moose13


leapinlew:

If you don't have a case, but you already have a PC - you can mount it all in there. I keep mine in their cases since they are already in cases, if you don't have a case - don't worry about it.

As for the fans - I'd put at least 1 in there. I'd reverse it and have 1 fan pull air out of the top or back-top of the cab and a hole for intake.

also - lets see some pics!

RayB:

You don't need a case. Your cabinet IS the case.

You can see what I did in photos here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=21381.40

I didn't even bother with extra fans since the whole board is exposed, and hot air rises away from it.



SavannahLion:

I'll play devil's advocate here.

You can get away with not using a case in the cabinet like most people. I've run many PC's for years exposed to the elements in some fashion, even once hanging a PC on my wall to prevent my cats from playing with the colorful cabling (didn't work). On the flip side, you might encounter problems like what we're talking about in the Faraday Cage thread.

I'm opting for a PC case in my first cabinet. Space is going to be tight and it's going to be hard enough for me snaking all those wires everywhere without worrying about  PC itself.

unclet:

I like to keep everything in the case so if there is a problem with the computer and I need to work on the computer, I can simply pull it out of the cabinet and work on it, instead of having to unmount stuff from the  walls of the cabinet.

Also, be careful of having everything expose in the cabinet.   You could reach in there and knock something lose on the motherboard, or break something.   Worries me, so I never did it, but real arcade cabinets have eveything mounted inside .... so go figure ....

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