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[Survey] mITX Builders, Tell Us About Your Needs!

esplin2966
By esplin2966
in Power Supplies
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Posted

My name is Ray. My group is designing a small form factor (SFF) PC case and we want to know what are some attractive features to you. We have created a very short survey to gauge this:

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1K1XcfruCTMAJWuPATf7UtwQrX4FBoxdrYekw_Ly23WE/viewform?usp=send_form

 

Please fill it out! Any comments are appreciated. Thanks a lot for your help!

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I'd be interested to see how this turns.

Though I'm not going to give my email address for security reasons...

Filled the form anyways :)

 

Thanks a lot!  :D

 

We have a few preliminary designs right now. Just gotta see what the people want and then modify accordingly.

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Thanks a lot!  :D

 

We have a few preliminary designs right now. Just gotta see what the people want and then modify accordingly.

Price is also  an issue for me. How much are you guys charging?

Remember a wise man once said, "You'll most likely hear/see more bad reviews from products than good, because if they get a good product, they won't bother to write a review, and if they got a bad product, they'll complain about the product" ~ SoftenButterCream

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If you'd some renders for public pls quote/pm me :)

Will do! We'll come up with renders of a few deseigns after gathering the poll results, and then there will be a second round of selection for the best case.

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Price is also  an issue for me. How much are you guys charging?

Unfortunately, I have no way of answering this question right now. Determining price is an iterative process with the design. It all depends on the features that people want and how good we are at designing something that is easy to manufacture.

 

We should be able to have an answer in a few weeks though, so hang tight!  ^_^

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Unfortunately, I have no way of answering this question right now. Determining price is an iterative process with the design. It all depends on the features that people want and how good we are at designing something that is easy to manufacture.

 

We should be able to have an answer in a few weeks though, so hang tight!  ^_^

You should guys should make a 3 tier case. 1 budget case with no compromise, one mid tier,and a high tier. Hope it goes well for you guys  ;)

Remember a wise man once said, "You'll most likely hear/see more bad reviews from products than good, because if they get a good product, they won't bother to write a review, and if they got a bad product, they'll complain about the product" ~ SoftenButterCream

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Is it actually going to be small? Or is it something more like the size of the Prodigy?

 

Corsair did a survey like this a while back and they pretty much met everyone's wants (good PSU support, easy to build in, nice HDD mounts, good cooling, etc.) with the 250D except the thing is huge.

 

Designing a truly small case necessitates compromise, so you're better off finding a certain use case and designing around that.

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You should guys should make a 3 tier case. 1 budget case with no compromise, one mid tier,and a high tier. Hope it goes well for you guys  ;)

Thanks man! We will probably have 3 tiers of cases for a down selection in a few weeks or so. If it so happens that each one garners enough support, I see no reason not to produce 3 different cases!

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Is it actually going to be small? Or is it something more like the size of the Prodigy?

 

Corsair did a survey like this a while back and they pretty much met everyone's wants (good PSU support, easy to build in, nice HDD mounts, good cooling, etc.) with the 250D except the thing is huge.

 

Designing a truly small case necessitates compromise, so you're better off finding a certain use case and designing around that.

To be completely honest, I want it to be very small, but it will probably sacrifice some features as you said. The way we're probably gonna do it is have 3 different sized designs, each accommodating different amounts of features, and then see which one is most popular.

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Thanks man! We will probably have 3 tiers of cases for a down selection in a few weeks or so. If it so happens that each one garners enough support, I see no reason not to produce 3 different cases!

Ok, BTW you guys should add support for longer PSUs down the road.

Remember a wise man once said, "You'll most likely hear/see more bad reviews from products than good, because if they get a good product, they won't bother to write a review, and if they got a bad product, they'll complain about the product" ~ SoftenButterCream

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When you say "longer", are you talking about something like this?

 

http://www.amazon.com/TC-1U40-Single-Supply-Rackmount-Server/dp/B005CBXF90

No something as long as the EVGA G2 would be nice, also something nice looking to hide the psu cables

Remember a wise man once said, "You'll most likely hear/see more bad reviews from products than good, because if they get a good product, they won't bother to write a review, and if they got a bad product, they'll complain about the product" ~ SoftenButterCream

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Hey man, love the idea and that you asking real people what they want.

How's this for an idea though. Why not build something that's conpletely customizeable and build around one frame that supports all the mods.

So have one basic skeleton that fits all the parts, that if I want sound proofing I can buy side panels with sound foam, but if that's not important to me I can buy the basic side panels or window panels

If I don't want any HDD cages than just one on the back of the mb tray but I can buy cages later and front loading/ side loading cages just.

That way you can work in every single feature people want but they only pay for the ones they want.

Redstone:
i7-4770 / Z97 / GTX 980 / Corsair 16GB  / H90 / 400C / Antec EDGE / Neutron GTX240 / Intel 240Gb / WD 2TB / BenQ XL24

Obsidian:

MSI GE60 2PE i7-4700HQ / 860M / 12GB / WE 1TB / m.Sata 256gb/Elagto USB HD Capture Card

Razer Deathadder Chroma / Razer Blackwidow TE Chroma / Kingston Cloud2's / Sennheiser 429 / Logitech Z333

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Not exactly an SFF builder, but with budget mITX barebones kits readily available, I started looking at SFF builds...

 

Last SFF case that I found was worth well over 8000PhP from Silverstone (granted it has an SFX 450W 80+ Bronze PSU included)... It's practically more expensive than the components in one of my planned builds (PSU included)...

Mutsuki:

CPU: AMD A8 5600K @ 4.2GHz | Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 (rev. 1.0) | RAM: 2 x Kingston Low Profile 4GB 1333MHz | GPU: Sapphire R7 260X OC 2GB DDR5 2xDVI | HDD0: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM 3.5" (SATA II) | HDD1: WD Elements (WD Blue 1TB 3.5" SATA II) connected via USB 2.0 | HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm (SATA II) | DVD: Samsung DVD+RW combo drive | PSU: FSP Hexa 600W | Case: Aerocool PGS V | Cooling: DeepCool Gammaxx S40 (stock fan), 2x 120mm Aerocool fan 1xDeepCool 120mm fan from a scrapped heatsink

eMachines D732Z | CPU: Intel Pentium D P6100 | GPU: Intel HD 3000 | RAM: 2x Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 1066MHz SODIMM | HDD: Hitachi 320GB 5600RPM

Acer ES13 | CPU: Intel Pentium N4200 | GPU:  Intel HD 505 | RAM: 1x 4GB (unidentified) DDR3L | HDD: (unidentified) 500GB 5600RPM

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I'm not sure why you need support for a large PSU? You can only run one GPU, so a SFX PSU will do the job while taking up less room. I'd also ditch support for for 3.5" drives, you can fit an SSD and a laptop drive in less space than a 3.5" one. But space and cooling for large graphics cards, is a must. Also reasonable CPU cooling provision, either room for a decent air cooler or a 120mm AIO. I'd also like to be able a mount of a slim slot OD, but I may be in a minority on that one.

 

If you end up with something the size of a 250d, which is larger than some mATX cases, you've kind of missed the point IMHO.

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One thing that really put me off of making a SMF PC was finding a nice design that was combined with functionality. I really liked the Fractal Design Node 304, for example, but for it to use a modular PSU it had to be short, which was more expensive, then the GPU was more limited in its length too, a few more centimetres longer would not have harmed.

 

I think one day when I change my CPU (probably a long while off, got a 4670k) I'll get a micro or mini case, depending on what's when then.

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Completed the survey but wanted to add some more:

  • Good build quality
  • Good airflow
  • Removable dust filters on all intake areas
  • Good and easy cable management (cables should be hidden somehow for a cleaner look)
  • Non-removable thumb screws (like on the Corsair Carbide Air 240)
  • Support for fully modular ATX PSUs (typical length is 180mm)
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I'm doing this build

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/289318-mini-itx-gaming-rig-black-recluse/

and would love a case just like the air 240 but with a handle.

Just a guy who peaked at building back in the days of the GTX 980. If you see me here, assume i have technical knowledge akin to a committed hobbyist builder back then. If something's changed, you'll need to tell me(nicely plz). I'm probably asking for help with the modern build scene since I have no clue what's going on.

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Honestly i find larger SFF machines like the prodigy and the 250D to look alot better than very thin PC cases with alot of compromises. In my opinion how easy the case is to carry around, such as how lightweight, compact, and small it is, are more important than having a small foot print on the desk or floor. SFF Cubes > SFF slim PC's.

 

Edit: Also did the survey.

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights"

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Honestly i find larger SFF machines like the prodigy and the 250D to look alot better than very thin PC cases with alot of compromises. In my opinion how easy the case is to carry around, such as how lightweight, compact, and small it is, are more important than having a small foot print on the desk or floor. SFF Cubes > SFF slim PC's.

 

Edit: Also did the survey.

fancy meeting you here. lol:)

Just a guy who peaked at building back in the days of the GTX 980. If you see me here, assume i have technical knowledge akin to a committed hobbyist builder back then. If something's changed, you'll need to tell me(nicely plz). I'm probably asking for help with the modern build scene since I have no clue what's going on.

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