A revolution in mid-tower cases - the Defcon One

[NicolaZanarini]

Great news guys! the campaign got full funds yesterday!

Thank you all for your support!

There are still many perks available such as flash drives, t-shirts and more, so feel free to contribute and grab one if you want to help us make it even better!

 

 

[CiccioBraun]

Prezzo previsto?   
Sia per noi poveri italioti, sia per gli allegri americans? Anzi, lo chiedo anche in inglese per correttezza verso gli altri  :lol: 

Projected price?

[NicolaZanarini]

Prezzo previsto?   

Sia per noi poveri italioti, sia per gli allegri americans? Anzi, lo chiedo anche in inglese per correttezza verso gli altri  :lol: 

Projected price?

Hahahaha

Retail will be between 150 and 200, will know for sure once prototyping is done

Will have a lower price during the production run on Kickstarter

[bcredeur97]

I would buy this. I like the idea and the look would be perfect. 

 

Like another user said, just give us a more simple window design. Other than that, its pretty much perfect.

[NicolaZanarini]

Final hours guys!

with many perks still available, almost 200% funded, before we send out all the thank you emails and start on the prototypes, we'd like to thank all of you for your support! Couldn't have done it without you

 

 

 

 

I would buy this. I like the idea and the look would be perfect. 

 

Like another user said, just give us a more simple window design. Other than that, its pretty much perfect.

Glad to hear you like it! 
By more simple what do you refer to the GPU of motherboard side? or both?

 

[Guest Strangerbob]

Rather wait for the zotac zbox with a 970m (thats enough performance for me) and vesa mount that on the back of a big monitor like the 34um95 (it has a free vesa mount).

 

Then i can play all the good games (ones people are actually playing for more than a few hours), and not have a PC case AT ALL while im doing that.

[NicolaZanarini]

Rather wait for the zotac zbox with a 970m (thats enough performance for me) and vesa mount that on the back of a big monitor like the 34um95 (it has a free vesa mount).

 

Then i can play all the good games (ones people are actually playing for more than a few hours), and not have a PC case AT ALL while im doing that.

To each their own, but do keep in mind that while the 970M is certainly a great card (ha d 560M back in the day) it's still about 1/2 the power of a Desktop card

Indeed with laptop hardware ont he back of the monitor the case stays hidden and all, but this one is really not that big and allows for very powerful and cool build unlike any other

[Deletive]

Buying it 

[NicolaZanarini]

Buying it 

Thanks for the enthusiasm man! Hopefully we can hit retail before xmas

[Guest Strangerbob]

To each their own, but do keep in mind that while the 970M is certainly a great card (ha d 560M back in the day) it's still about 1/2 the power of a Desktop card

Indeed with laptop hardware ont he back of the monitor the case stays hidden and all, but this one is really not that big and allows for very powerful and cool build unlike any other

 

No it isnt. The 970m is in the middle between desktop 960 and 970 in performance, closer to 960. Thats pretty good.

And the 980m is exactly as fast as the desktop 970. This is glory of maxwell.

 

That performance is enough, considering it will let you play 99.99% of games maxed out and the 10-20 most demanding games would need to be played on medium/high settings.

If you are the kind of guy who only ever uses one video card at a time, and its not the most expensive one - and most people are JUST that - then this would be a perfect solution that would give enough performance and make the disgusting PC tower case disappear entirely.

 

I dont think you understand that with the improvements in efficiency we are slowly moving to this weather you like it or not. And the tower PC case will be a thing of the past, just like room-sized calculators are now.

[NicolaZanarini]

No it isnt. The 970m is in the middle between desktop 960 and 970 in performance, closer to 960. Thats pretty good.

And the 980m is exactly as fast as the desktop 970. This is glory of maxwell.

 

That performance is enough, considering it will let you play 99.99% of games maxed out and the 10-20 most demanding games would need to be played on medium/high settings.

If you are the kind of guy who only ever uses one video card at a time, and its not the most expensive one - and most people are JUST that - then this would be a perfect solution that would give enough performance and make the disgusting PC tower case disappear entirely.

 

I dont think you understand that with the improvements in efficiency we are slowly moving to this weather you like it or not. And the tower PC case will be a thing of the past, just like room-sized calculators are now.

Sure thing, laptop graphics are getting much better and they are managing to compete damn well with desktop ones, but as much as I like that kind of optimization and had a gaming laptop myself, desktops have their advantages, among which better heat dissipation (simple because they are bigger) and lower price (for the same reason).

I'm actually not a fan of big towers or anything, another reason why this one was designed to be as small as possible while keeping all those features.

And no need to be hostile, I sure do understand all of that, I'm on my way to become an engineer, but still for now they have their advantages

 

[NicolaZanarini]

Since the crowdfundign was  a huge success we've decided to thank you all by doing a giveaway!

To thank you all for your support and celebrate the successful crowdfunding we're giving you the chance to get your very own Defcon One for a token 1€.
 

To have a chance to win all you need to do is

1) Like our page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hydra/400905430057461?fref=ts)
2) Tag a friend in the comments
3) Click on the form link and fill in name and email
4) Share the post

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KRAg9_Ele-MgxtO0C2SUFrvPy2vJUxi11fF04U_6OOA/viewform
 

The token 1€ price is in place for legal reasons relating to Italian Legislation.

Participation limited to Europe for the same reason.

Shipping is on us and is limited to Europe.

Shipping will occur within 30 days of choosing a winner.

[Senzelian]

That's a pretty sexy case. Wonder when Thermaltake's one comes outl.

Ouh.. Someone's mad at Thermaltake >:

B2T: Looks interesting, but I don't see the point of having the two GPUs at the back. It looks nice, but I'm only going to see one side of the case anyway and it will probably be a problem with cooling I guess.

[NicolaZanarini]

Ouh.. Someone's mad at Thermaltake >:

B2T: Looks interesting, but I don't see the point of having the two GPUs at the back. It looks nice, but I'm only going to see one side of the case anyway and it will probably be a problem with cooling I guess.

It was possible to put them in front of the motherboard (that was out first design) but this way we can get lower temps in the system - additionally, not everyone can place the PC on the right hand side - this way whichever side you place it, it still showcases part of the system

Thermal-design wise, we ran simulation that confirm the design works, and will run tests in the coming weeks when the prototypes are ready

[Senzelian]

It was possible to put them in front of the motherboard (that was out first design) but this way we can get lower temps in the system - additionally, not everyone can place the PC on the right hand side - this way whichever side you place it, it still showcases part of the system

Thermal-design wise, we ran simulation that confirm the design works, and will run tests in the coming weeks when the prototypes are ready

On the pictures it looks like the Graphics cards and the CPU are much closer together than they would be usually.

Why would you get lower temperatures then?

For me this doesn't make sense. I need an explenation.

[NicolaZanarini]

On the pictures it looks like the Graphics cards and the CPU are much closer together than they would be usually.

Why would you get lower temperatures then?

For me this doesn't make sense. I need an explenation.

Haha ok, here it goes

In a regular case the the thermal design works like this  - dump the heat inside the case (especially with custom coolers on GPUs) and little outside, then let the fans create airflow and take the heat out.

In this one the way it works is:

The CPU dumps most of it's heat on the water-block of the AiO cooler,, letting about 10% of it stay in the case.

The GPUs take in fresh air from outside and then dump the hot air outside the case, again leaving a very small amount of thermal load inside the case.

Thsi thermal design allows a system of, say, 600 thermal Watts to only dissipate about 80/100 inside the whole case (about the thermal load of an old fashioned incandescent bulb) and only about 30W on the CPU side since no hot air gets in there;

because of this the air flow created by the fan of the AiO is more than enough keep the temps low (and it's not suckign in hot air because the residual thermal load is very small and the delta T is just a  few degrees.

Some did point out that not all the thermal load is dissipated by the heat sink and some does go via the PCB, but that's a very small amount as compared to the one dissipated on the heat-sink

tl;dr - the GPUs take in fresh air and then dump the hot one outside, not into the case

The CPU is watercooled and bumps very little heat inside the case.

Residual thermal load is very small.

If I wasn't clear feel free to ask again

[Senzelian]

Haha ok, here it goes

In a regular case the the thermal design works like this  - dump the heat inside the case (especially with custom coolers on GPUs) and little outside, then let the fans create airflow and take the heat out.

In this one the way it works is:

The CPU dumps most of it's heat on the water-block of the AiO cooler,, letting about 10% of it stay in the case.

The GPUs take in fresh air from outside and then dump the hot air outside the case, again leaving a very small amount of thermal load inside the case.

Thsi thermal design allows a system of, say, 600 thermal Watts to only dissipate about 80/100 inside the whole case (about the thermal load of an old fashioned incandescent bulb) and only about 30W on the CPU side since no hot air gets in there;

because of this the air flow created by the fan of the AiO is more than enough keep the temps low (and it's not suckign in hot air because the residual thermal load is very small and the delta T is just a  few degrees.

Some did point out that not all the thermal load is dissipated by the heat sink and some does go via the PCB, but that's a very small amount as compared to the one dissipated on the heat-sink

tl;dr - the GPUs take in fresh air and then dump the hot one outside, not into the case

The CPU is watercooled and bumps very little heat inside the case.

Residual thermal load is very small.

If I wasn't clear feel free to ask again

I get how it works, cause that is how any case with an AIO for a CPU works. It's exactly as my case.

The CPU is cooled by an AIO, so most of the heat is already outside of the case.

The front fans take in fresh air for the GPUs.

The only advantage I see is that the GPU's might not heat up the radiator of the CPU, which is pretty nice indeed. But then again I wonder if that heat created by those GPUs won't cook the motherboard and CPU from behind, which will result in worse overclocks on the CPU side.

And then where to go with all the harddrives?

I really have a lot of question and I cannot imagine how it looks like until the case comes out. Really interested, tho.

Review sample for LTT? :3

:lol: 

(You should be proud to actually get me interested in new stuff. Usually I don't even care anymore. Must be something really cool so that I get interested. )

[NicolaZanarini]

I get how it works, cause that is how any case with an AIO for a CPU works. It's exactly as my case.

The CPU is cooled by an AIO, so most of the heat is already outside of the case.

The front fans take in fresh air for the GPUs.

The only advantage I see is that the GPU's might not heat up the radiator of the CPU, which is pretty nice indeed. But then again I wonder if that heat created by those GPUs won't cook the motherboard and CPU from behind, which will result in worse overclocks on the CPU side.

And then where to go with all the harddrives?

I really have a lot of question and I cannot imagine how it looks like until the case comes out. Really interested, tho.

Review sample for LTT? :3

:lol: 

(You should be proud to actually get me interested in new stuff. Usually I don't even care anymore. Must be something really cool so that I get interested. )

Hahaha, well, it's an honor then!

Well, GPUs will stay cooler, if for no other reason, because they always take in fresh air from outside

The heat from the back is really small as can be seen in this thermal imaging of a 980 AMP - http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/zotac_geforce_gtx_980_ti_amp_extreme_review,10.html

Also, between the two plates there are about 2cm for cable management

The two HDDs are on the bottom "in front" of the motherboard and the SSD are placed vertically on the motherboard front side (inside the case, non in the actual front panel).

Once we'll be done with prototyping we'll certainly send one to LTT for review (hopefully they'll like it and will want to review it )

[ericlee30]

Damn this case looks so sexy. Unfortunately it's only a M-ATX case if only it was big enough for us x79 and x99 ATX enthusiasts users, then I'd be all over this case.

[NicolaZanarini]

Damn this case looks so sexy. Unfortunately it's only a M-ATX case if only it was big enough for us x79 and x99 ATX enthusiasts users, then I'd be all over this case.

Maybe in the future we'll make an ATX version with a lot of additional feature, but since there are M-ATX boards with both the x79 and x99 chip, and most goo m-ATX boards support SLI, we figured it wasn't too big of a deal for the moment

[NicolaZanarini]

And here are the very first pictures of the very first prototype! 

Not painted and no plexiglass - we just need to see all possible fitting bugs and fix them for the next, improved prototype