Ask Lemmy

I'm not normally in the "just buy one" crowd but I'm gonna be honest, if you're crowdsourcing the dimensions for your hole, I'm not sure you have the skills to do this safely.

If you leave any metal shavings unaddressed you could cause a short at a later date. You could also injure yourself depending on how you make the hole.

I'm gonna recommend you spend a bit of time on Newegg or Aliexpress and get a cheap, similarly sized, case that already has an acrylic or tempered glass panel installed.

Alternatively, if you're gonna do it anyway:
Whatever you choose is subjective, but you'll probably wanna trace where the gray metal is visible and keep all that behind the black panel, cut out a large void with a cutting wheel (if you have the right safety gear, seriously those things can easily take an eye out) or a hacksaw. Use a drill to make relief holes all around the inside of your trace before cutting to make it easier.

Your case has vent holes, those are directly over your cpu. In this configuration, if you cut those holes out and replace them with acrylic you will be suffocating your cpu. This means you need to add an exhaust fan to help carry hot air out. Most cases have space for 2 40mm or 80mm exhause fans in the back near the IO shield.

Would it not be better to mount standoff screws onto the case frame and put the holes in the acrylic?

• Little brain: Plain metal case
• Regular brain: Buy a case with a pre-cut window
• Glowing brain: Cut your own case window
• Galaxy Brain: Leave the whole side panel off

However you want to do it. Keep in mind that the vent positions are there for a reason (unless it's a shitty case). Proper airflow should be a priority. This does not mean, "open hole = more flow"

What do you mean by "correct"? It's whatever you want.

Dremel with metal cutting wheel. Cover the rough edge of the sheet metal with trim molding from a PC modding store. Cut window material larger than hole. Epoxy the acrylic onto the inside of the sheet metal.

If the hole is square, before cutting with Dremel use a drill with a large bit to cut holes in the corners. Then draw tangent lines to connect the holes so you have a square/rectangle with rounded corners. This makes cutting easier and installing the trim molding easier because there are no 90 degree angles.

Not sure where to find the trim molding. It's been 25 years since it cut a hole in my case and it was for adding mesh.

I'd suggest using an acrylic mesh or preserve the metal one.

If you eliminate that mesh your limited cooling will be worse.

But if you left a quarter inch around the panel and had a suitable chunk of acrylic that would probably be fine.

So you'd need to measure twice the space you'd like to use. Don't try to use woodworking tools on metal. Perhaps ask a trusted friend or family member to help you. Your internal space will be very small, so outside may be easier.