SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[SaperPL]

If it were made from aluminium it could've been lighter by 1~1.5kg but it would mean completely different construction hence the cost of welding - note that aluminium cases are made with internal frame put together with rivets, but that doesn't change the fact that GPU, PSU and CPU cooler have a bit of weight of their own so the final weight would still be around 5kg which is still a tight fit within airline carry-on baggage limits.

[ZombiPL]

11 hours ago, michaelmitchell.co.nz said:

That is a little disappointing, I was hoping for something lighter since my main requirement is portability and that is pushing the limits for what I would like for flying.

What is the "target weight" of Your RIG?

 

Saper didn't mention it, but in his pc-case only his GTX 970+PSU+CRYORIG C7 weights together ~2.8kg (according to technical info). Everything depends what You will install in Your pc.

[michaelmitchell.co.nz]

So it would have been more expensive to build the case from aluminium if I am understanding correctly or just outside what you are able to achieve at this time? I would still love to see that 1-1.5 kg disappear and I would be more than willing to pay for it many times over, either way its still 500 grams lighter than the RV02 I have now and your case seems to be the only one around in its form factor so I am not exactly complaining, Dans A4 is quite light and comes in at a weight I would have expected for the case size but not well suited to put in a laptop bag because of the shape.

I imagine mine will never be much more than what you mention but I would love to see a future revision in aluminium, basically if I could buy the same form factor case but 1-1.5kg lighter even if it was more expensive I would opt to save the weight especially when it translates to 20-30% weight reduction, unfortunately it is a new market with very few options right now.

 

I am a huge fan of this case http://nfc-systems.com/shop/s4-mini-chassis but unfortunately it is only made with ITX GPU's in mind and the designer/builder is only interested in that form factor where as I personally would rather have a slightly longer case since small high end cards aren't that common and also the DC-DC power supplies used to replace the large internal ones are only as good as their scarcely available power bricks but I am giving it serious thought because of how well it has been designed and tested including FCC emissions testing and thermal imaging etc.. there are a couple things from its design I think you could adopt for quick or future enhancements to the Sentry that would definitely push me back into the Sentry camp where I belong.

For example... adding optional 120mm fan mounting brackets over the motherboard/cpu area and GPU area can allow for a bunch of decent cooling options that I think this case lacks right now, one of my personal favorites from reading S4 builds is a combo of the Zalman CNPS2X (rated to 120TDP max) with a 120x12mm Scythe Slipstream fan above it giving much greater air intake to the CPU cooler as well as all the other neglected components and in the sentry because of the additional 8mm height for coolers compared to the S4 you could even put a 120x20mm with the 28mm tall Zalman to add as much as 60CFM or more intake to the case, you could also for example remove the stock 92x15mm fan form the cryorig c7 and mount a larger 120mm fan or various other combinations to better cool the entire area and increase airflow in the case which will otherwise be severely lacking.

Another build I saw with the S4 in order to increase cooling and keep things quiet was to strip the GPU's down to the heat sink and mount larger 120x12mm fans which lead to slightly lower temps but much less noise, it would also create a water cooling option for someone who doesn't need the GPU bay, either way the fans would introduce much more air into the case than the stock GPU cooler fans could and the shrouds are pretty much pointless in a case of this size anyway.

I think you are doing a disservice to airflow by mounting the SSDs where you currently have them and the grill area on the motherboard side looks as though it should be larger than it is to take advantage of bounced air on the PCI-E and other cables that would otherwise exit the case and has worked well in the S4 otherwise that air will be trapped and pool under the SSDs and cables. If you extended the vented area by as little as 2-3cm to the middle mounting bracket you will get much better venting in all orientations and move the SSD mounting above the GPU where you have plenty of space like the S4 does in a case that is 8mm thinner, you would be able to fit an additional SSD or even two quite easily that way even with an SFX-L PSU.

The venting appears to be lacking in general, for example the GPU in the horizontal position where air intake will come from the bottom is likely to become trapped toward the top of the case where there is inadequate venting and in the vertical position CPU heat travelling upward can only be expelled from the top vent or the GPU intake but is more likely to be sucked into the GPU as hot air or remain stuck, I suspect this is why the S4 uses completely vented sides to deal with heat and maybe why ncases decided to cancel their case in this form factor because they couldn't solve the heat problem.

I much preferred the old vent style, they looked great and I assume allow much greater airflow and I would honestly prefer to see that style of vent entirely up each side like the S4 to ensure proper cooling solutions for high performance builds. It is also probably well worth punching a few holes along the top of the IO bracket like you have for the GPU bracket for additional venting in that area.

I am no expert so take what I say as a grain of salt, either way I can mod the case to include the 120mm fans I want fairly easily and work something out to move the SSD but I am still concerned about your venting even more so after the latest changes and since that is not something I could mod myself I would be much more hesitant to buy the case straight away. I know I can run a i7-6700k at 90 TDP and a R9 Nano 175 TDP in the S4 without much trouble due to sufficient cooling and venting but at this stage I would be surprised if the current venting is adequate for the Sentry to do the same (happy to be proven wrong).

Keep up the good work.

[ZombiPL]

10 hours ago, michaelmitchell.co.nz said:

Spoiler

So it would have been more expensive to build the case from aluminium if I am understanding correctly or just outside what you are able to achieve at this time? I would still love to see that 1-1.5 kg disappear and I would be more than willing to pay for it many times over, either way its still 500 grams lighter than the RV02 I have now and your case seems to be the only one around in its form factor so I am not exactly complaining, Dans A4 is quite light and comes in at a weight I would have expected for the case size but not well suited to put in a laptop bag because of the shape.

I imagine mine will never be much more than what you mention but I would love to see a future revision in aluminium, basically if I could buy the same form factor case but 1-1.5kg lighter even if it was more expensive I would opt to save the weight especially when it translates to 20-30% weight reduction, unfortunately it is a new market with very few options right now.

 

I am a huge fan of this case http://nfc-systems.com/shop/s4-mini-chassis but unfortunately it is only made with ITX GPU's in mind and the designer/builder is only interested in that form factor where as I personally would rather have a slightly longer case since small high end cards aren't that common and also the DC-DC power supplies used to replace the large internal ones are only as good as their scarcely available power bricks but I am giving it serious thought because of how well it has been designed and tested including FCC emissions testing and thermal imaging etc.. there are a couple things from its design I think you could adopt for quick or future enhancements to the Sentry that would definitely push me back into the Sentry camp where I belong.

For example... adding optional 120mm fan mounting brackets over the motherboard/cpu area and GPU area can allow for a bunch of decent cooling options that I think this case lacks right now, one of my personal favorites from reading S4 builds is a combo of the Zalman CNPS2X (rated to 120TDP max) with a 120x12mm Scythe Slipstream fan above it giving much greater air intake to the CPU cooler as well as all the other neglected components and in the sentry because of the additional 8mm height for coolers compared to the S4 you could even put a 120x20mm with the 28mm tall Zalman to add as much as 60CFM or more intake to the case, you could also for example remove the stock 92x15mm fan form the cryorig c7 and mount a larger 120mm fan or various other combinations to better cool the entire area and increase airflow in the case which will otherwise be severely lacking.

Another build I saw with the S4 in order to increase cooling and keep things quiet was to strip the GPU's down to the heat sink and mount larger 120x12mm fans which lead to slightly lower temps but much less noise, it would also create a water cooling option for someone who doesn't need the GPU bay, either way the fans would introduce much more air into the case than the stock GPU cooler fans could and the shrouds are pretty much pointless in a case of this size anyway.

I think you are doing a disservice to airflow by mounting the SSDs where you currently have them and the grill area on the motherboard side looks as though it should be larger than it is to take advantage of bounced air on the PCI-E and other cables that would otherwise exit the case which works well in the S4 otherwise that air will be trapped and pool under the SSDs cables or force upward toward the GPU. If you at least extended the vented area by just 2-3cm to the middle mounting bracket you will get much better venting in all orientations and move the SSD mounting above the GPU where you have plenty of space like the S4 does in a case that is 8mm thinner, you would be able to fit an additional SSD or even two quite easily that way even with an SFX-L PSU.

The venting appears to be lacking in general, for example the GPU in the horizontal position where air intake will come from the bottom is likely to become trapped toward the top of the case where there is inadequate venting and in the vertical position CPU heat travelling upward can only be expelled from the top vent or the GPU intake but is more likely to be sucked into the GPU as hot air or remain stuck, I suspect this is why the S4 uses completely vented sides to deal with heat and maybe why ncases decided to cancel their case in this form factor because they couldn't solve the heat problem.

I much preferred the old vent style, they looked great and I assume allow much greater airflow and I would honestly prefer to see that style of vent entirely up each side like the S4 to ensure proper cooling solutions for high performance builds. It is also probably well worth punching a few holes along the top of the IO bracket like you have for the GPU bracket for additional venting in that area.

I am no expert so take what I say as a grain of salt, either way I can mod the case to include the 120mm fans I want fairly easily and work something out to move the SSD but I am still concerned about your venting even more so after the latest changes and since that is not something I could mod myself I would be much more hesitant to buy the case straight away. I know I can run a i7-6700k at 90 TDP and a R9 Nano 175 TDP in the S4 without much trouble due to sufficient cooling and venting but at this stage I would be surprised if the current venting is adequate for the Sentry to do the same (happy to be proven wrong).

Keep up the good work.

Hmmm. Nice essay

 

1. Construction similar to Sentry made from aluminium would be lighter but also probably bigger (now we have 6.95L). In one of his last post, my brother said why. Because of the need of making an internal "cage/frame". Aluminium is better electric and heat conductor than steel (like standard DC01, S235, etc.). It means it is harder to use point-welding for such purpose. Aluminium case with our design would be also probably a lot more expensive. Also You have to remember that we are not working with huge pc-case manufacturers like NCase or Dondan did/do with Lian-Li. Their problem is a need to get an order of 500-1500 pcs to start the production. In our situation we can start the first batch with 100 pcs, and in the future there are also possible 25 pcs minimal orders. We'll see how it goes. But as You can see, we had to make some compromises. We decided to make a solid PC case, made in our standard industrial style (we're not a typical pc case designers but heavy industry engineers), which will handle all off the components You need for 4K or VR gaming and which will be also affordable for more people from the community, because this is their/our project. I think Saper will later write something more about this aluminium-issue, because he also likes making essays in this matter  

 

2. Bigger holes were nice, but also were more problematic, mostly because of objects falling into the case. Dust problem isn't so big, because our case is so small, that You can clean it like laptop using compressed air or vacuum cleaner (without opening it). Also small, round holes design wasn't chosen "accidentally", but we analysed INTEL's projects and designs of venting systems. Sentry doesn't have any problems with it. I won't argue about NFC case, because venting holes aren't the only S4's problem.  

 

3. Putting ssd/hdd over the heated GPU isn't the best idea (Please check the temperatures You can get there:)). This is one of the reasons why Necere decided he don't want to fight in this case factor. We solved the problem in some other way, so we're not heating our hdd's at all.

 

4. Air from the CPU chamber isn't mixing with the air from the GPU compartment (not in the way, that may be relevant).

 

5. We think we don't have problems with temperatures. This aren't a calculated theoretical data but an information/conclusion made after many tests we made. Saper made some charts in hardforum (highest possible settings with 2 different CPU's, please note that, CS:GO and DOTA are using Source Engine which likes CPU more than GPU  ):

 

6. We did also test actual Sentry RIG with SteamVR Performance Test. Saper posted the results in other thread in LTT forum, but he's sure he can do better (he has to change some of his drivers). We also think we could insert better hardware inside Sentry, but there are so many possibilities, that we left this pleasure for Linus, when he'll get our pc-case.

Here You can see what we can actually get from our toys (which of course isn't our limit):

 

 

We will think once again about Your ideas before releasing Sentry. 

Thanks for support.

[michaelmitchell.co.nz]

Thanks for the detailed reply I figured there was lots of good reasons for not doing aluminium case right now and I would rather you guys make something you are able to just to get this form factor moving, I hope it is super successful so more like it are made and maybe I can upgrade after the Sentry.

I don't care about dust, I hate dust filters, you still have to clean them... why not just clean the PC at the same time... but didn't really thing objects falling into the case would be a problem.

HDDs would be a problem certainly because they generate a bunch of heat themselves, but SSDs don't really generate much and the operating range is pretty decent, it can get very hot near the center of the GPU I agree but towards the rear of the card is not so bad, but if the temps are looking ok then I will roll with it, like I said, I can always make those adjustments myself fairly easy to test for myself.

Happy to see benchmarks, keep them coming please  It would be great to see some prolonged usage benchmarks like Prime95 with a GPU stress test running simultaneously and please include idle and ambient temperatures so the numbers mean more.

 

Glad to see you guys are on top of everything, thanks for setting my mind at ease, really happy with this project, I moved from PCs to Laptops a while back and I am looking forward to moving back to real PCs again!

[SaperPL]

15 hours ago, michaelmitchell.co.nz said:

I don't care about dust, I hate dust filters, you still have to clean them... why not just clean the PC at the same time... but didn't really thing objects falling into the case would be a problem.
 

The problem is we have screws on the cover and that would be a real shame if you had to unscrew 7 screws when the last fell inside  Other than that is of course safety reason like stuff that would fall inside could for example block and damage fans if big enough but small enough to get through those big holes we had earlier

HDDs would be a problem certainly because they generate a bunch of heat themselves, but SSDs don't really generate much and the operating range is pretty decent, it can get very hot near the center of the GPU I agree but towards the rear of the card is not so bad, but if the temps are looking ok then I will roll with it, like I said, I can always make those adjustments myself fairly easy to test for myself.

We've been following the thread for Ncase LRPC and it looked like Necere had quite a problem with ssd's going hot really fast with their concept of putting drives over the gpu. While SSD's can run in higher temps we still have to support those 2.5" hdd's if only for the sake of someone putting the hard drive there just because it fits so dropping the hdd support because of thermals is not a good idea.

Happy to see benchmarks, keep them coming please  It would be great to see some prolonged usage benchmarks like Prime95 with a GPU stress test running simultaneously and please include idle and ambient temperatures so the numbers mean more.

Just after the photo shoot of black unit we did a prolonged test of OCCT with R9-270X and while the gpu was reaching 85 or so degrees which is over throttle target it still remained around base clocks and the cover wasn't hot which was our priority in terms of safety so you wouldn't hurt yourself when touching the case.

 

For comparison, those small pc's with GTX960 like zotac EN970 are running hot and throttling to keep it quiet with such small form factor.

Glad to see you guys are on top of everything, thanks for setting my mind at ease, really happy with this project, I moved from PCs to Laptops a while back and I am looking forward to moving back to real PCs again!

If you're really moving from desk to desk and you need the performance then Sentry should do the job for You. I've been running like that for few years with itx cubes and the most annoying part is that they aren't flat so even with proper bag you end up with case corners poking your back or side. With Sentry, even if a bit heavier, it's a lot better especially with backpack which can spread the weight properly.

[bernat17]

On 14.03.2016 at 8:06 PM, SaperPL said:

 

Is there a realease date on this case? When preordering begins?So excited for this case.

[SaperPL]

At this point we're not trying to predict the release date anymore since so far we had too much bad luck with that. We're trying to make it as soon as possible, hopefully middle of the year.

[bernat17]

11 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

At this point we're not trying to predict the release date anymore since so far we had too much bad luck with that. We're trying to make it as soon as possible, hopefully middle of the year.

I wish the best,I was thinking of switching to a gamer laptop becasue i needed some portability.I even considered the rvz02 and node 202 to big to walk around with.Than i saw this case,looked very good and when i saw that it fits into a bag/laptop bag i immediately changed my mind about switching to laptop!Already started sparing money for the case! Plz be sure to announce here as soon as the preorders are available.

Have a good day!

[1Revenger1]

This is looking awesome. If I ever have a need for a LAN pc or something, then this is likely going to be one of my choices.

[ej24]

Is there a mailing list or something for receiving automatic updates on availability? I'm torn between this and the A4-SFX. If this was available first I'd probably jump on it immediately. Currently I've got a customized Lian-Li PC-q12b which is an amazing all aluminum case at 6.6L but I can only fit a half height, single slot GPU (Radeon HD7750) which has become a real bottleneck. I simply refuse to increase my case volume so this really intrigues me! 

 

Only questions are, are there any known compatibility issues with certain motherboards? I have the GA-Z87N in which the CPU socket is right next to the PCI slot (some of the photos look like the Z97 version of the board which swapped the position of the PCH and CPU), it looks like the 2.5in drives may be mounted over where my CPU cooler would be. Can anyone confirm if this is a possible issue?

 

Also, will the power button be easily replaceable (ie. any 15mm button will do)? I definitely don't want the gawdy gamer red look, and prefer a button that is flush with the surface of the case (like many Lian-Li cases)

 

The only other thought I had was, it would be cool if there were included screw covers to cover the body screws to hide them and streamline the look of the case. Are the exposed screws countersunk? It looks like the ones on the front face of the case are. It'd be great to smooth them out for a cleaner, slightly less industrial look.

[SaperPL]

We're figuring out the mailing list. We'll try to be ready with it before LTT get our review unit but all of it gets constantly delayed by a lot of stuff since it's a side project apart from our day jobs.

 

As for the motherboards - yes, we've addressed that multiple times: if you're going for a motherboard with cpu socket next to pci-e slot you're either going to use low profile cooling or you'll have to use other storage options like msata/m.2 or mounting the drives in the vga bay, hopefully not all of them out there.

 

The power button will be replaceable, we've had many questions about that, but if you want a flushed in button then you'll need to figure out your DIY mounting for it since our button is just something like a screw put through a hole and fastened with a nut.

 

The screws are not countersunk. We can't make them countersunk with holes having some leeway on the cover. The problem is if the screw holes aren't round it won't look good with countersunk screws and we can't make perfectly round holes since we need some leeway to make the whole thing possible to manufacture. Front screws are sunk in the front as a part of design. And no, we're not planning any screw covers.

 

If we launch successfully then maybe some day down the road we'll be able to hide the screws somehow but not at this point with a low minimum order quantity.

 

We're targeting 100 units minimum but it's possible for us to launch with even 25 orders so there shouldn't be that crowdfunding start blockage when people are not yet sure whether it will even get there with campaign. For comparison similar current project "cerberus" launched on kickstarter need 600 unit orders to kick-off and I think dondan might have similar MOQ's with production at LianLi.

 

The weirdest thing about a4-sfx project, I think, is that dondan could've figure out some kind of deal with LianLi to make the case a mainstream unit in their portfolio, but at the same time LianLi might not want to share revenue from their own marketing and supply chain just because he designed awesome case based off their designs. Anyway I wonder if dondan's really going to launch that soon.

[ZombiPL]

***Little update***

Some of you asked about sound measurements. So we did them.

(don's ask me why Saper bought so big antennas... probably he's stealing wifi from another continent or something...)

 

Test conditions:

We thought about making measurements in an ultra-quiet sound measuring box, but the information which we would get won't tell you anything. So we decided to make our test in a typical home conditions (test in a closed room, some people in other rooms, some road-traffic outside the house). What we wanted to register is a Sound Pressure Level (SPL) which should be <20dBA (for HTPC). It means that, noises made by PC shouln't increase SPL in our room more than 20dBA over ambient SPL. Please note that, the "computer SPL" isn't a measured value showed on the sound meter during the test, but it is a "deviation" from the ambient background sounds measured when your PC is off.

 

Here You have a table showing the strength of typical ambient background sounds:

And here are our test results with ambiend background sound pressure ~45dB (Photoview is a rendering engine for SolidWorks which we used for making a full load on CPU. OCCT test was taken for GPU full load). Measurement distance @1m:

 

Quote

Sentry with GTX970 in horizontal position

Idle - 45.0 dB

Heaven - 47.5 dB (2.5dB increase over ambient SPL)

Photoview - 50.5 dB (5.5 dB)

OCCT - 48.5 dB (3.5 dB)

 

Sentry with GTX970 in vertical position
Idle - 45.5 dB (0.5 dB)
Heaven - 47.5 dB (2.5 dB)
Photoview - 50.5 dB (5.5 dB)
OCCT - 46.5 dB (1.5 dB)

 

Quote

Sentry with R9-270X in horizontal position

Idle - 45.5 dB (0.5dB)

Heaven - 50.5 dB (5.5 dB)

Photoview - 50.5 dB (5.5 dB)

OCCT - 48.5 dB (3.5 dB)

 

Sentry with R9-270X in vertical position
Idle - 45.5 dB (0.5dB)
Heaven - 46.5 dB (1.5 dB)
Photoview - 50.5 dB (5.5 dB)
OCCT - 47.5 dB (2.5 dB)

I'm sure you've noticed that the SPL didn't change more than 0.5 dB when our pc is turned on. This is because of the high ambient SPL. Does it mean, we can't hear our pc when it's in Idle? No, we can hear it, because its sound has different frequency than other ambient sounds (even if its SPL isn't increasing the ambient SPL).
Maybe in the future we will send our test PC inside Sentry, to some laboratory for better, more accurate SPL tests, but we think this isn't needed at this moment.

[Dabombinable]

2 hours ago, ZombiPL said:

***Little update***

Some of you asked about sound measurements. So we did them.

(don's ask me why Saper bought so big antennas... probably he's stealing wifi from another continent or something...)

 

Test conditions:

We thought about making measurements in an ultra-quiet sound measuring box, but the information which we would get won't tell you anything. So we decided to make our test in a typical home conditions (test in a closed room, some people in other rooms, some road-traffic outside the house). What we wanted to register is a Sound Pressure Level (SPL) which should be <20dBA (for HTPC). It means that, noises made by PC shouln't increase SPL in our room more than 20dBA over ambient SPL. Please note that, the "computer SPL" isn't a measured value showed on the sound meter during the test, but it is a "deviation" from the ambient background sounds measured when your PC is off.

 

Here You have a table showing the strength of typical ambient background sounds:

And here are our test results with ambiend background sound pressure ~45dB (Photoview is a rendering engine for SolidWorks which we used for making a full load on CPU. OCCT test was taken for GPU full load). Measurement distance @1m:

 

 

I'm sure you've noticed that the SPL didn't change more than 0.5 dB when our pc is turned on. This is because of the high ambient SPL. Does it mean, we can't hear our pc when it's in Idle? No, we can hear it, because its sound has different frequency than other ambient sounds (even if its SPL isn't increasing the ambient SPL).
Maybe in the future we will send our test PC inside Sentry, to some laboratory for better, more accurate SPL tests, but we think this isn't needed at this moment.

TBH, its better a test that's more representative of a real world scenario than one that is done under controlled conditions in a laboratory.

[LLOYD-AF]

Some nice updates, thank you. I could not see any pictures for the vents on the GPU side, do you have any to show us? 

 

@SaperPL

@ZombiPL

[SaperPL]

But there are photos of the vents on the gpu side: one with case upside down showing the bottom and the rubber feet, one with the case on the stand showing the gpu side with plugs instead of those feet and one showing just the side with gpu exhaust vents - the side without locking holes for vertical stand.

[LLOYD-AF]

46 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

But there are photos of the vents on the gpu side: one with case upside down showing the bottom and the rubber feet, one with the case on the stand showing the gpu side with plugs instead of those feet and one showing just the side with gpu exhaust vents - the side without locking holes for vertical stand.

 

I have no idea how I missed that! Looks good

[ej24]

On 3/26/2016 at 3:07 PM, SaperPL said:

We're figuring out the mailing list. We'll try to be ready with it before LTT get our review unit but all of it gets constantly delayed by a lot of stuff since it's a side project apart from our day jobs.

 

As for the motherboards - yes, we've addressed that multiple times: if you're going for a motherboard with cpu socket next to pci-e slot you're either going to use low profile cooling or you'll have to use other storage options like msata/m.2 or mounting the drives in the vga bay, hopefully not all of them out there.

 

The power button will be replaceable, we've had many questions about that, but if you want a flushed in button then you'll need to figure out your DIY mounting for it since our button is just something like a screw put through a hole and fastened with a nut.

 

The screws are not countersunk. We can't make them countersunk with holes having some leeway on the cover. The problem is if the screw holes aren't round it won't look good with countersunk screws and we can't make perfectly round holes since we need some leeway to make the whole thing possible to manufacture. Front screws are sunk in the front as a part of design. And no, we're not planning any screw covers.

 

If we launch successfully then maybe some day down the road we'll be able to hide the screws somehow but not at this point with a low minimum order quantity.

 

We're targeting 100 units minimum but it's possible for us to launch with even 25 orders so there shouldn't be that crowdfunding start blockage when people are not yet sure whether it will even get there with campaign. For comparison similar current project "cerberus" launched on kickstarter need 600 unit orders to kick-off and I think dondan might have similar MOQ's with production at LianLi.

 

The weirdest thing about a4-sfx project, I think, is that dondan could've figure out some kind of deal with LianLi to make the case a mainstream unit in their portfolio, but at the same time LianLi might not want to share revenue from their own marketing and supply chain just because he designed awesome case based off their designs. Anyway I wonder if dondan's really going to launch that soon.

Thank you for the thorough reply. I assume the noctua nh-9Li I'm already using qualifies as low profile? 

[LLOYD-AF]

1 hour ago, ej24 said:

Thank you for the thorough reply. I assume the noctua nh-9Li I'm already using qualifies as low profile? 

 

Hey, I already asked them and they confirmed the Noctua NH-L9i will fit with room to spare, think they said clearance is 48mm for a cpu cooler.

[ZombiPL]

2 hours ago, ej24 said:

Thank you for the thorough reply. I assume the noctua nh-9Li I'm already using qualifies as low profile? 

 

Go to the first Saper's post and click "Reveal hidden contents".

 

At this moment in our test rig Saper has Cryorig C7 which height is about 47mm and is almost touching the internal cover's surface. It means 48 mm will be the maximum, depending on the type of a cooler (fan blades shouldn't be the highest point of the cooler).

 

 

According to the noctua nh-L9i specification, this cooler has only 37 mm. It means, there shouldn't be any problems with it.

[SaperPL]

3 hours ago, ej24 said:

Thank you for the thorough reply. I assume the noctua nh-9Li I'm already using qualifies as low profile? 

I think that it should barely but somehow fit. I've been checking that in our cad assembly recently. Also this one is a LP but one of the tallest LP since there's a lot of LP coolers around 30mm and L9i is 37mm tall.

[SaperPL]

3 hours ago, ej24 said:

Thank you for the thorough reply. I assume the noctua nh-9Li I'm already using qualifies as low profile? 

I think that it should barely but somehow fit. I've been checking that in our cad assembly recently. Also this one is a LP but one of the tallest LP since there's a lot of LP coolers around 30mm and L9i is 37mm tall.

[filegott]

Sorry posted wrong - cant remove the post though, only edit it... Ow well looking forward to release!

[LLOYD-AF]

Any updates guys?

 

@SaperPL

@ZombiPL

[bernat17]

with a mini itx sized gpu is it possible to fit a 3.5 hdd in the remaining gpu chamber?