Sentry SFF Case breaks Indiegogo goal in 12 minutes

[darksable]

According to the Polish news site MyGaming, the small-form-factor Sentry case recently funded their Indigogo campaign.

 

The Dr. Zaber Sentry case, which Linus recently reviewed in this video, is a mini-itx form factor computer designed to compete in size with modern consoles. It's been in development for over two and a half years, and the designers are excited that it's out of prototyping, all manufacturing and supply lines are set up, and they are ready for production.

 

According to an announcement on the Indigogo campaign, the case was extremely popular:

Quote

We could not even imagine such a great start for our campaign. It took you:

- 11 minutes to fund 100% of our goal!!!

- 3 hours to fund 300% of our goal,

- 15 hours to fund 500% of our goal.

Simply WOW!!!

 

As of the writing of this post, the project is 804% funded. A total of 667 backers have raised $156,840 USD in support of this case, with 21 days still left.

 

For those of us with interest in SFF computing, the reason this case is so exciting is manyfold. First, it's only 6.9 liters and has an industrial aesthetic that I personally find very attractive. It's designed to be extremely durable, made with 1mm steel, because it's designed with the possibility of travel in mind; the case fits into many 17" laptop bags. It's also designed to be extremely easy to build in; instead of trying to maneuver a graphics card into the frame of a more conventional case, in the Sentry, the entire top lifts off, letting you slot the graphics card in, and then functions as the PCIe slot retainer when you put it back on. (They even sourced magnetic screws after Linus mentioned it in his review.)

 

Speaking of parts compatibility, unlike other offerings in this size bracket (many of which we saw at CES 2017), the Sentry is designed to work with standard computer parts. It uses a SFX or SFX-L internal power supply (no need for power bricks that clutter cable management and make travel more of a pain), along with a wide variety of full-length and even slightly oversized graphics cards. For more information on the ridiculous amounts of power you can cram into the case, check out their Case Configurator partway down their main page.

 

The community over on [H]ard Forum and here on Linustechtips has been integral to the development of the case, and have come up with many ideas about keeping your parts cool and quiet in such a small form factor. Popular ideas have included modifying the mounting bracket on an LGA 2011 cooler to keep even a 91W CPU cooled more than adequately, and replacing the cooler of a reference-style GTX 1070 with the cooler from a 1080, bought for cheap on Ebay. This way you don't have to deal with the sub-par Founder's Edition cooler of the 1070 and instead cool it with the same vapor-chamber heatsink as handles the 250W Titan XP, all for less than a 1070FE would cost.

 

As Linus Media Group likes to point out, Kickstarter, Indigogo, and all the other crowdfunding opportunities are often things to be wary of, but in the case of the Sentry, I wholeheartedly vouch for the Dr. Zaber boys. They took their time prototyping, going through multiple machine shops and tweaking the design until they found a shop that could do what they needed. They ensured their suppliers would come through and that the shop was able to clear its other orders and just focus on making Sentry cases when the time came. After looking at all their options for selling the case, they decided on an Indigogo campaign, at least at first, in order to more easily navigate EU law and be able to get their case into the hands of fans all around the world. This is not funding their project, nor allowing them to have the funds to design it; that process took nearly three years and all came out of their pockets.

 

If you're interested in small form factor computers, I highly, highly recommend checking this out; it's the elite among the elite, standing up there with some of the best and most famous designs among the computer including the Ncase M1, The Dan-A4, and the Falcon Northwest Tiki. If you're interested, check out the links above: although the first batch of black cases is sold out, a limited-edition white case is still available, or you could opt for a "Long Run" black case, to be produced after all the first batch orders are fulfilled. The designers of the Sentry anticipate that cases will be shipping to backers within 1-2 months of the campaign's completion.

 

EDIT: If you're interested in joining the discussion about this case, the original (and most active) thread can be found here.

[Tech Inquisition]

Yup, got my backing in for the First Batch of Black Cases...

 

Bring on April  

[flibberdipper]

Hot damn mother of hype

[silberdrachi]

God i love that design of the white one, but that price just scares me off too much. If it were 100-120 i would be totally down for it. But for cases that is just out of my price range.

[Bleedingyamato]

1 hour ago, tmcclelland455 said:

Hot damn mother of hype

I kind of want one even though I'm not entirely sure what I'd do with it.  ?

[That Norwegian Guy]

How about a flipping picture?

[darksable]

2 hours ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

How about a flipping picture?

Fair enough, I should have thought about that. I guess I figured people who were interested would click on a link.

 

Here you go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[darksable]

6 hours ago, silberdrachi said:

God i love that design of the white one, but that price just scares me off too much. If it were 100-120 i would be totally down for it. But for cases that is just out of my price range.

Yeah, I feel you there. I mean, $200 is comparable to other cases developed like this, but it is a bloody lot of money.

 

I justified mine by saying that it's built so well that I wouldn't ever have to worry about a case for a long, long time. (Especially when I look over at my Raven RVZ01, which is a nice case, but... all the little plastic clips are wearing out and I'm missing a foot because they're poorly attached and my case travels a lot.)

[mach]

40 minutes ago, darksable said:

Yeah, I feel you there. I mean, $200 is comparable to other cases developed like this, but it is a bloody lot of money.

 

I justified mine by saying that it's built so well that I wouldn't ever have to worry about a case for a long, long time. (Especially when I look over at my Raven RVZ01, which is a nice case, but... all the little plastic clips are wearing out and I'm missing a foot because they're poorly attached and my case travels a lot.)

I bought a rvz01 in November for my first itx build. But I still chipped in for a black sentry.?

The rvz01 is just too large! I wanted something impressively small. The sentry is perfect for my modest system with a standard i7 and 1060

 

yes it's expensive, but considering a good case never needs to upgrade as long as component's standard doesn't change, which is unlikely in the near future, it can last for years.

[That Norwegian Guy]

1 hour ago, darksable said:

Fair enough, I should have thought about that. I guess I figured people who were interested would click on a link.

That's the problem, when you omit a picture, you introduce an artificial reason to click a link, and then it becomes an ad rather than news.

[potoooooooo]

Wait a minute, the goal was only 20 grand?

 

Haha, what a publicity stunt

 

"Ah look guys we make 10 times our original goal!" yea of course you did when your goal is basically zero

[darksable]

2 hours ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

That's the problem, when you omit a picture, you introduce an artificial reason to click a link, and then it becomes an ad rather than news.

Fair enough, lesson learned. It's my first time writing a news post; LTT is a tertiary forum for me.

[darksable]

1 hour ago, potoooooooo said:

Wait a minute, the goal was only 20 grand?

 

Haha, what a publicity stunt

 

"Ah look guys we make 10 times our original goal!" yea of course you did when your goal is basically zero

I mean... Their minimum was 100 units. They didn't know how many people would be interested; other indie cases like this have either exploded and sold insanely well, or just sold about 150 units over the course of months.

 

They didn't know how much interest to expect, and so were excited that so many people were liking what they had designed enough to drop $200 on it.

[Dackzy]

IMO then that case is simply too small, because there is no room for a good cooler without removing the option to get a full size GPU. I can see it being used as a HTPC where you don't need a lot of power, but that is also about it.

[silberdrachi]

4 hours ago, darksable said:

Yeah, I feel you there. I mean, $200 is comparable to other cases developed like this, but it is a bloody lot of money.

 

I justified mine by saying that it's built so well that I wouldn't ever have to worry about a case for a long, long time. (Especially when I look over at my Raven RVZ01, which is a nice case, but... all the little plastic clips are wearing out and I'm missing a foot because they're poorly attached and my case travels a lot.)

Agreed, if didnt overpay for my expensive DS1 case a few years ago i would totally be down for it the next time i rebuilt my system. Though my current system would just burst into flames at idle if i tried to rebuild in it, i would have to upgrade to current generation (either amd or intel, and amd or nvidia depending how it all shakes out).

 

Cases are nice because you can (generally) reuse them for years and years. But its still hard to justify the same price as a mid grade GPU, an expensive ssd, or a decent enthusiast processor for a case.

 

AND IT DOESNT EVEN HAVE RGB (/s) though i wish they upgraded it to have usb3.1(gen2) support, or would be able to swap the front panel audio/usb panel for it.

[flibberdipper]

10 hours ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I kind of want one even though I'm not entirely sure what I'd do with it.  ?

I want one for my next build but I like the looks of the Node 202 more.

[darksable]

40 minutes ago, silberdrachi said:

Agreed, if didnt overpay for my expensive DS1 case a few years ago i would totally be down for it the next time i rebuilt my system. Though my current system would just burst into flames at idle if i tried to rebuild in it, i would have to upgrade to current generation (either amd or intel, and amd or nvidia depending how it all shakes out).

 

Cases are nice because you can (generally) reuse them for years and years. But its still hard to justify the same price as a mid grade GPU, an expensive ssd, or a decent enthusiast processor for a case.

 

AND IT DOESNT EVEN HAVE RGB (/s) though i wish they upgraded it to have usb3.1(gen2) support, or would be able to swap the front panel audio/usb panel for it.

Just as a note, you can absolutely swap the front panel usb for usb 3.1 gen 2; it's just a matter of finding one moulded to reference spec.

 

You can also buy a RGB vandal switch to replace the power button if you so desire. ;p

 

Oh, and as for cooling, Dackzy, there is the option of a modded dynatron lga 2011 cooler or the thermolab LP53 with a shorter noctua fan.

 

Are those options going to let you overclock to mad heights? No.. but they'll keep a locked i5 or i7 at perfectly cool temps.

 

It's up to you whether that trade-off is worth it for such a small case. Personally, it seems minor; small form factor has always been about which compromises to make.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

The price of the Sentry is way too insane for me.  If only it were < $150...

[dizmo]

Not bad, price is a little high though considering it's made of steel.

I'd still rather pay an extra $20 (at its full price) and get the Dancase A4. The NCase M1 is a decent amount cheaper.

That Tiki case is pretty cool! However, after pricing it out...they seem to think it's worth $1,100. No thanks.

 

6 hours ago, potoooooooo said:

Wait a minute, the goal was only 20 grand?

 

Haha, what a publicity stunt

 

"Ah look guys we make 10 times our original goal!" yea of course you did when your goal is basically zero

Eh, 20k USD is quite a bit for producing something in Poland.

You say publicity "stunt", they likely see it as a marketing campaign. How else would you get huge exposure?

100 units is likely the best cost to unit ratio, where they finally start to see a profit.

4 hours ago, Dackzy said:

IMO then that case is simply too small, because there is no room for a good cooler without removing the option to get a full size GPU. I can see it being used as a HTPC where you don't need a lot of power, but that is also about it.

The 1070 is a pretty powerful card, and the mini fits in there quite nicely...

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

The 1070 is a pretty powerful card, and the mini fits in there quite nicely...

eh, the ITX versions of the 1070 have rather meh cooling, it is going to be a hot little box. This is a case that I mainly see for HTPCs and maybe mid-range PCs.

[Scruffy90]

Something tells me I should've waited to back this before building my new rig.

[Bleedingyamato]

3 hours ago, tmcclelland455 said:

I want one for my next build but I like the looks of the Node 202 more.

Picture for comparison please?

 

3 hours ago, darksable said:

Just as a note, you can absolutely swap the front panel usb for usb 3.1 gen 2; it's just a matter of finding one moulded to reference spec.

 

You can also buy a RGB vandal switch to replace the power button if you so desire. ;p

 

Oh, and as for cooling, Dackzy, there is the option of a modded dynatron lga 2011 cooler or the thermolab LP53 with a shorter noctua fan.

 

Are those options going to let you overclock to mad heights? No.. but they'll keep a locked i5 or i7 at perfectly cool temps.

 

It's up to you whether that trade-off is worth it for such a small case. Personally, it seems minor; small form factor has always been about which compromises to make.

What's so great about that CPU cooler that modding it to attack to other socketed motherboards would be worth it?

 

I mean surely there are other low height CPU coolers that would do just fine in this case without the extra work to make them compatible?

 

Like a Cryorig C7.  I've got one on my 6700K currently (stock speed so no OC) and it seems to work well enough.  If I got this case assuming a C7 would fit and I didn't find a better option, quieter and better performing, then I'd probably use a C7.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Okjoek]

From what I hear it's a great case. I'm just not prepared to spend nearly the price of a console for a case that one would use to create a console killer. It kind of defeats the point, but If the market favors this case and it could come down to around half that price I'd be very willing to buy.

[MageTank]

5 hours ago, Dackzy said:

IMO then that case is simply too small, because there is no room for a good cooler without removing the option to get a full size GPU. I can see it being used as a HTPC where you don't need a lot of power, but that is also about it.

They do still make good coolers for SFF. I personally use the ID Cooling IS-VC45, which is a 45mm vapor chamber (2mm smaller than the stock intel cooler) but managed to lower my temperatures compared to the stock cooler by 20C. Granted, I am running a delid on my 6700k with CLU on the die, it still performs perfectly and I am able to pass some of the hottest stress known to man (48k FFT Prime95, LinX at 24576mb ram, etc). This is with me running heavily overclocked ram at 3600 c14-14-14-28-2, adding about 8C to the CPU package under these loads. 

 

I use an overclocked GTX 1070 (2050mhz on core) in my box as well with axial fans, which is likely only making it harder on the CPU, but it still does fine. My Node 202 is only 10.2L, roughly 30% bigger in volume than the Sentry, but it's not much bigger in terms of thickness. The Sentry is 2.6 inches thick, while the node 202 is 3.2 inches thick. People are just going to have to deal with the fact that if you want high performance in a small form factor, a delid (or soldered chip) is required. You will also have to forego any overclocking, but that's fine on something like the 7700k which can boost all 4 cores to 4.5ghz anyways. A 4.5ghz quad core should be plenty enough for anything a normal consumer would need to do. 

[darksable]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

eh, the ITX versions of the 1070 have rather meh cooling, it is going to be a hot little box. This is a case that I mainly see for HTPCs and maybe mid-range PCs.

Actually, most of the "ITX" versions of the 1070 are terribly designed and don't fit this case anyways - they're much, much taller than PCIe spec.

 

The case will happily accommodate a full-sized GPU, be it reference or a reasonably sized open air cooler.

 

You seem to have made a snap judgement and are wanting to stick to it, but... Who in the world is going to spend $200 on a case for a media PC?

 

Personally I'm going to stuff it with the fastest 65w quad core out there, a full-sized GTX 1070 or 1080, and use it as my main rig - while being able to throw it in my bag and take it over to a friends'.

 

As for it being hot, look at some of the thermal tests we've done. Unless you're doing something sensationalist, like Linus did, and using a 22-core CPU and 250W GPU, heat is not going to be a problem.