SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[SaperPL]

On 8.04.2016 at 9:35 PM, LLOYD-AF said:

Any updates guys?

 

@SaperPL

@ZombiPL

Be patient 

47 minutes ago, bernat17 said:

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

You either need single slot gpu or standard, short SFX power supply with ITX sized to fit 3.5" drive but the support for those was dropped since the mounting points for them made a lot of mess in the gpu air inlet. You should be able to fit one going through the hole in front of the power supply.

[SaperPL]

The white unit photos has been added to the gallery:

 

We were supposed to send this unit to LinusTechTips for review, however there were some technical difficulties with manufacturing for this one and we've had to slightly update final design. There's also a functional fix for cable management with that design update.

 

We have ordered first production batch of 25 units. Some of them will be sent as review samples. While waiting for those we've got to figure out packaging.

[LLOYD-AF]

1 hour ago, SaperPL said:

While waiting for those we've got to figure out packaging.

 

Get the packing correct or @LinusTech will not be happy

 

Looks nice in white.

[Beeeyeee]

@SaperPL may I get a review unit? my channel isn't that big but I would love the opportunity since i've been backing this from the start:)

[ZombiPL]

9 hours ago, Beeeyeee said:

@SaperPL may I get a review unit? my channel isn't that big but I would love the opportunity since i've been backing this from the start:)

I've ordered those 25 cases last Monday. Since then we've got over 100 pm's and emails, and in some of them we revealed we made such first, bigger test order (maybe we shouldn't write this information). Believe me... at this moment You are at the end of the long line of people, who also wants to make a review for us  We will have to think about it. When we'll get our order and everything will look fine, than we'll decide what to do next. 25th of April is the date when i should pick it up. Please be patient.

[ZombiPL]

10 hours ago, LLOYD-AF said:

 

Get the packing correct or @LinusTech will not be happy

 

Looks nice in white.

We'll probably go for 2 carton boxes. One in the style of ATX motherboard's boxes (with the special SENTRY printing) and 2nd, bigger one with bubble wrap for transport purposes (only some 'be careful' signs). We've made a design of those cases, but we are still waiting how our first batch will look like. I'm sure @LinusTech won't complain about the box. As You know, he's never complaining...  We'll wrap everything with MacGyver tape.  And You know... bubble wrap... a lot of bubble wrap. Who would complain about that?  He'll be fine  

[SaperPL]

9 hours ago, Beeeyeee said:

@SaperPL may I get a review unit? my channel isn't that big but I would love the opportunity since i've been backing this from the start:)

 

25 minutes ago, ZombiPL said:

I've ordered those 25 cases last Monday. Since then we've got over 100 pm's and emails, and in some of them we revealed we made such first, bigger test order (maybe we shouldn't write this information). Believe me... at this moment You are at the end of the long line of people, who also wants to make a review for us  When we'll get our order and everything will look fine, than we'll decide what to do next. 25th of April is the date when i should pick it up. Please be patient.

I think Zombi oversimplified things a bit in this answer

 

If you're here on the LTT forums and you're interested in making reviews then you have probably seen multiple times Linus explaining how to get review samples. Those units send for review are not a marketing freebie like samples of shampoo or perfume given to every(or some) interested potential client but their purpose is strictly return on investment - exchange of manufacturing cost for marketing value.

 

On the other hand selling unit for a review is a bad idea because it gives a statement that we made you pay for a review sample. At the same time if we prioritize people having youtube channels in sales it's also not good for how we're perceived by potential clients. That said, of course you can buy one at launch and make a review of that but it's not the same thing as being given the designated review sample for marketing purposes.

 

As Zombi already said we're getting a lot of inquires like yours of people wanting to be first in line and review the case, but we've already said we want to give Linus the privilege of being first and take his time to review it.

[Beeeyeee]

12 hours ago, ZombiPL said:

I've ordered those 25 cases last Monday. Since then we've got over 100 pm's and emails, and in some of them we revealed we made such first, bigger test order (maybe we shouldn't write this information). Believe me... at this moment You are at the end of the long line of people, who also wants to make a review for us  We will have to think about it. When we'll get our order and everything will look fine, than we'll decide what to do next. 25th of April is the date when i should pick it up. Please be patient.

okay thank you for letting me know:) you guys are doing great!

[LucasTheRed]

So I just noticed: is there no audio input/output?

[Tedster]

13 minutes ago, LucasTheRed said:

So I just noticed: is there no audio input/output?

If there's none on the case, it'd usually use the audio ports on the back of the motherboard.

[LucasTheRed]

I should have clarified: front panel.

[ZombiPL]

On 28.04.2016 at 0:32 AM, LucasTheRed said:

So I just noticed: is there no audio input/output?

There is no audio output/input on the front panel. You will have to use back I/O panel. We were thinking about adding some of those jack inputs, but it's a community project, and people wanted to keep the look of the front as clean as possible. 

 

If You can look into our gallery, You will notice that, there is also lack of space for such additional I/O board (maybe in the gpu compartment, but it would reduce the space which we reserved for "up to 305 mm graphic cards")

[ZombiPL]

Oh, i almost forgot:

On Tuesday we received our test batch of 25 Sentry cases. At this moment we're still testing them in terms of repeatability.

 

[ej24]

I'm very excited to see things are progressing. Is there a mailing list for updates or a way to sign up to reserve a case yet? 

[ZombiPL]

3 hours ago, ej24 said:

I'm very excited to see things are progressing. Is there a mailing list for updates or a way to sign up to reserve a case yet? 

We're still working on our new website which will include some newsletter subscription system. This will be at first only an information for us how many people will be interested in such pc case. After Linus review we will decide if we need to improve something, or if it's time for gathering the orders. Right now we're preparing proper packaging for our pc case.

[SalvadorSlX7]

Hi I wanted to ask the dimensions of the case I'm a bit curious and I cant seem to find them, also wanted to ask is what's the progress on the case when can i buy one. PS: this is the first time Ive been on this forum and I don't know how to send messages or such stuff so i hope that either ZombiPL SaperPL sees this.

[ZombiPL]

1 hour ago, SalvadorSlX7 said:

Hi I wanted to ask the dimensions of the case I'm a bit curious and I cant seem to find them, also wanted to ask is what's the progress on the case when can i buy one. PS: this is the first time Ive been on this forum and I don't know how to send messages or such stuff so i hope that either ZombiPL SaperPL sees this.

-340 x 310 x 66mm (6,95L) - main body - excluding stands, vertical stand and VGA bracket hold

 

If you add screw heads, vga bracket hold and rubber feet You will receive:
-343 x 322 x 74mm - total outline

 

At this moment we're finishing our new website, so everybody could subscribe for Sentry, when we'll release it. Also with our new website f.e. you will receive a sentry configurator which will help check, if your rig will fit in our case. We're also finishing design of a carton boxes so you won't receive your pc case in a 2nd breakfast bag . We're still testing and improving our project. What is more, we're still calculating the final price. We have to spend a lot of time to check if the case looks ok, and if there won't be any problems with inserting your hardware in it. As we said somewhere before (and we will also write it on a transport box), we do not use molds, robots or automatic assembly devices. Almost every manufacturing process like bending, point welding, standoff assembling, powder painting, etc. was done with human hands assist. This is the main reason why everything takes so much time. We just have to double check everything, and in "we" there are only two of us (me and Saper).

 

When we'll release our new website, we will let You know.  If You will have some other questions, feel free to ask here, or in [H]ard forum:

https://hardforum.com/threads/sentry-console-sized-gaming-pc-case-project.1832126/

[SalvadorSlX7]

Can't wait to have my very own lord GabenStation.

[ZombiPL]

3 hours ago, SalvadorSlX7 said:

Can't wait to have my very own lord GabenStation.

Don't worry. Gaben is also waiting

 

In a few days we'll start our new website with newsletter. Stay tuned

[LaboonTheWhale]

I'm glad I discovered this! Hyped! 

[SaperPL]

We have just launched the product website with newsletter subscription and detailed information about the case

 

http:// www.zaber.com.pl/sentry

 

We hope you'll like it

 

If you find any mistakes or there's anything that's unclear please let us know. Thanks!

[mapegl]

7 hours ago, SaperPL said:

http:// www.zaber.com.pl/sentry

 

The link doesn't point at the right website. After manually typing it, I was able to get there, but your hyperlink leads to "Linustechtips.com\sentry"

 

I will go check out your website now. ?

 

Thanks for being awesome, I love your case

[SaperPL]

Fixed, thanks for the tip.

[ZombiPL]

Some of you, who subscribed to our newsletter, didn't get their activation emails. Almost all of them are from microsoft mailing system. We tried to solve the problem, and here is what we found (it's my post from [H]ard forum):

 

As Saper said, we thought this problem with microsoft e-mail accounts was on our side (our newsletter provider side). Almost all hotmail, outlook, live.com email addresses weren't activated.... Almost, because today we saw one person with @outlook.com email address who activated his subscription without problems. So we digged deeper. I made my own outlook e-mail account, without changing spam filters, adding addresses to whitelists or even without changing any of settings. Just new, clean outlook account. I subscribed to SENTRY newsletter and guess what? I did recive an activation email without any problems. After clicking activation link i received a confirmation email. Both of those emails were in my standard "Received box", not in a SPAM folder.

 

To sum up: everyone who signed to our newsletter (www.zaber.com.pl/sentry) or who wants to do it and has microsoft email account (outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com, hotmail.it, hotmail.de and similar) should check his spam filter options. Accounts with unchanged (set by Microsoft) security options works fine with our newsletter. Our newsletter service provider will try to add us to microsoft whitelist, but as we checked, it shouldn't be required.

[SaperPL]

Little project update:

Stocking up bit by bit for prototypes...



Risers, USB cables, plugs and screws for prototype batch. Customs fee was a bit overkill for these small amounts.

Rubber feet aren't here yet because of small parcel free shipping

I'll be ordering the boxes soon - today maybe but more likely Friday since I'm still waiting for the invoice for that order and tomorrow is a holiday.