ThinkCentre SFF Console Case

What this is

This is the case I designed for a living room console built around a ThinkCentre m920s (Mainly)  SFF motherboard.


Compatibility: m920t, m720s, m720t, p330, ideacentre 510 pro and t510a 

Possible compatibility: m910s, m910t, m710s, m710t, m725s

The Thinkcentre SFF only takes low profile graphics cards, and when I started this project the low profile options that were actually powerful were all Nvidia, with poor Linux support at the time. Instead of settling for that, I designed a case that gives the board a full-size GPU.

The design is split into two halves that bolt together:

• Motherboard section — holds the board, a Noctua NH-L12S cooler, the stock rear I/O panel, and two 80mm fans.

• GPU section — holds a full-size graphics card mounted on a riser cable, plus a Flex ATX power supply and a third 80mm fan.

It was my first project of this size in FreeCAD, and it went through five full redesigns before I was happy with it. It is not a professional design, but it works and it has been running as my living room console.

Hardware used

• Motherboard: ThinkCentre M920s SFF

• CPU: Intel i5-8500

• CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L12S

• RAM: 32Gb DDR4 (runs at 2666, board limit)

• Storage: 1Tb NVMe (main OS, Nobara) + 256Gb NVMe on a 250mm LINKUP riser

• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GDDR6 on a 50mm LINKUP riser

• PSU: 500w Flex ATX

• Fans: 3x Noctua 80mm

• DIY power button

Non-printed parts you'll nee

• screws
    - 4 units    M3x4mm
    - 83 units  M3x8mm
    - 12 units   M3x20mm

• M3 inserts
    - 99 units M3xD5xL4

• Neodim Magntes:
    - 30 untis 10x5mm n52

• LINKUP PCIe 4.0 riser, 50mm (GPU)

• LINKUP PCIe 4.0 riser, 250mm (second NVMe)

• 3x 80mm fans

• Power button + wiring

The screws and inserts are approximate; I recommend buying more than listed here.

Print settings

• Printer: Bambu Lab P2S

• Profile: 0.24mm Standard @BBL P2S

• Layer height: 0.24 mm

• Material: PETG for the chassis, panels and shields — TPU 95A for the feet

• Filaments: PETG Black, PETG Brown, PETG White, PETG Blue, TPU 95A. White and blue are only used for the Steam logo, as a colour change in the slicer.

Walls

• Wall loops: 2

• Alternate extra wall: off

• Detect thin wall: off

Top / bottom shell

• Top surface pattern: Monotonic line — 100% density

• Top shell layers: 4 (1 mm)

• Bottom surface pattern: Monotonic — 100% density

• Bottom shell layers: 3

• Internal solid infill pattern: Rectilinear

Infill

• Sparse infill density: 15%

• Sparse infill pattern: Grid

• Infill anchor length: 400%

Supports

• Enabled — tree (auto), hybrid tree style

• Threshold angle: 35 degrees

• On build plate only: yes

• Remove small overhangs: yes

• Raft layers: 0

Total print time: ~51 hours (2d 2h 50m) across all plates, split into two project files.

Note on material: there is a power supply and a graphics card inside this case. If you print it in PLA, keep that in mind — I printed it in PETG.


Credits

• The GPU section of the "MODCASE HYPER" model by designer Haydn Bao was taken.

• The backplate "ATX IO-Shield blank (for FreeCad) ready for Remix" by designer Dante was taken as a basis.

• The Steam logo was taken from the "Steam Logo Shopping Cart Coin" model by designer KnoppersDE.