SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[ZombiPL]

I've got some news about our SENTRY newsletter:

 

After analysing hundreds of subscribers, we saw that more and more Microsoft e-mail accounts are being activated to our newsletter. Actually only 7,5% of all subscribers didn't activate their accounts, and almost all of them are people with MS mail. At this point we think that everything is OK with our provider's e-mail sending system. If someone is having problems with getting activation e-mail within 24hours, then he should check his e-mail filtering options, because in some cases our activation e-mail won't be even in a SPAM folder.

 

We are talking with our newsletter provider about an option of sending again activation e-mails to people who did subscribe, but had problems with spam filtering in their email accounts (at this moment you have to wait 7 days, after your e-mail address will be deleted from our database, and you can register it once again). We'll see how it goes.

[byalexandr]

When will this be available? I myself fabricate my custom chassis, but it would be great if I could get something pre made once again. I've been looking at the Node 202 but this is quite a bit smaller.

[ZombiPL]

6 hours ago, byalexandr said:

When will this be available? I myself fabricate my custom chassis, but it would be great if I could get something pre made once again. I've been looking at the Node 202 but this is quite a bit smaller.

At this moment we're waiting for the carton transport boxes, power cables and aluminium badges with individual numbers, and when we'll get them, we will send first case to Linus for a review. If he won't roast it too much, then we predict we'll launch preorders at the end of July / early August.

 

Here You have a link, where i posted what we still have to do before the preorder stage: Link

[ZombiPL]

Hey guys, i think we need Your help again,

 

Many of You are asking us to make comparison photos side-by-side with PS4 and XBOX ONE. So we will try to make You happy. And this is the place where we have a problem. We don't know if it will be legal to make such side-by-side photos of our SENTRY and those console boxes. In Poland we have a very strict law, which of course allows such "advertising", but if You do something wrong and You get sued, then You could pay a lot. That is why "comparative advertising" isn't so popular here. 

 

We would be very grateful if You could write how is it in your countries. What kind of photos, which compares SENTRY to consoles can we post. Or maybe we shouldn't post such photos?

 

Thanks.

[mapegl]

26 minutes ago, ZombiPL said:

Hey guys, i think we need Your help again,

 

Many of You are asking us to make comparison photos side-by-side with PS4 and XBOX ONE. So we will try to make You happy. And this is the place where we have a problem. We don't know if it will be legal to make such side-by-side photos of our SENTRY and those console boxes. In Poland we have a very strict law, which of course allows such "advertising", but if You do something wrong and You get sued, then You could pay a lot. That is why "comparative advertising" isn't so popular here. 

 

We would be very grateful if You could write how is it in your countries. What kind of photos, which compares SENTRY to consoles can we post. Or maybe we shouldn't post such photos?

 

Thanks.

I understand the problem, but what you could do is set up a home entertainment center and just add all three devices underneath. Don't mention the consoles specifically at all and maybe even cover up the logos of each console. That way you could argue that you are showing a possible scenario of a living room and how your product could add to that, but your are not directly comparing the products. 

 

I am no lawyer, but I guess there shouldn't be anything bad about that. 

 

I just know that in Germany, usually what they do is to get an unmarked, most NB often white, plain product to compare to. Everybody knows what it probably stands for, but your can't tell for certain. However directly comparing to a different product would be illegal I think. 

 

In the whole issue here, you have to consider though that your product is not really competing with a console. I mean you cannot game on a case like on a console..... you could argue that you are only using the products for scale as they would appear in a similar situation in a living room, but you are not trying to pushinto the same market, which you are actually really not doing imho.

 

 

I am just blabbing along here, but I hope it got clear what I think. I wish you guys good luck going forward with your project.

[Clonzoo]

I read earlier in the topic that Linus would be getting a review unit, how are those plans going along? I'd love to see Linus' opinion on it.

[SaperPL]

5 hours ago, Clonzoo said:

I read earlier in the topic that Linus would be getting a review unit, how are those plans going along? I'd love to see Linus' opinion on it.

We should get the boxes next week so we're pretty close to shipping it to linus. We also cant wait to see it

[ZombiPL]

Today we've made a video showing the assembling process of the pc components inside our SENTRY. We're going to put it somewhere on our website, but we wanted to know what do you think about it.

 

We hope you'll like it

 

 

[ZombiPL]

Little Update!

After many e-mails asking about making a "live" size comparison with consoles, we've decided to add some new photos to SENTRY gallery.

 

At this moment we are only waiting for new power cables and we're ready to send SENTRY to LTT for a review.

[Beeeyeee]

On 6/21/2016 at 3:30 AM, ZombiPL said:

Little Update!

After many e-mails asking about making a "live" size comparison with consoles, we've decided to add some new photos to SENTRY gallery.

 

At this moment we are only waiting for new power cables and we're ready to send SENTRY to LTT for a review.

oh wow. I was expecting a size a bit more like the PS4 but its actually slightly bigger than an Xbox One. interesting! not that its a bad thing:)

[SaperPL]

Volume-wise sentry is smaller than XBO which is significantly thicker but a bit shorter. PS4 is unstoppable in size here but at the same time remember that it's a SoC with everything embedded with performance of GTX 950 tops

[Beeeyeee]

On June 22, 2016 at 2:08 PM, SaperPL said:

Volume-wise sentry is smaller than XBO which is significantly thicker but a bit shorter. PS4 is unstoppable in size here but at the same time remember that it's a SoC with everything embedded with performance of GTX 950 tops

Of course! I didn't intend for that to come across negatively. I just kind of expected it to be slightly smaller, still! It's the smallest case you can honestly get! And with much more power than a console. Stick a 1080 in there and it's a 4K gaming machine.

[Tech Inquisition]

@SaperPL, love your work guys... keep us posted...

[MattLY]

Looks a lot like a cable box, nice form factor but aesthetically speaking brushed alimuminim and diffrent pattern vents would be so much cooler

[SaperPL]

If we've only had own experienced pc case factory or world needed more of $300 computer cases then why not?

 

Its different than what you can find already on the Market but that's how it was supposed to be. You simply can't make something that everyone will like.

[ej24]

SaperPL, don't forget to let us know as soon as you ship a Sentry to Linus. That way we can stop pestering you about and start badgering Linus to review it asap! 

[TBash]

Do you think the strix 1080 will fit in this case or is it just two much wider then the founders edition to be viable?

[SaperPL]

Little update and call for feedback.

I'm currently doing a manual for Sentry and it would be awesome if you could check it out and give us your thoughts, especially about what you may not understand.

The manual is in Work In Progress state so it's still incomplete.

Most recent file will be held here: http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/manual.pdf

 

5 hours ago, TBash said:

Do you think the strix 1080 will fit in this case or is it just two much wider then the founders edition to be viable?

It looks like it might fit but we won't be sure until somebody checks its dimensions for sure. The manual should explain it properly how the card dimension should look like.

[U474U]

It may be nitpicky and pretty subjective, but I find it slightly hard to read longer instructions in your fancy font. It's fine for the header, page number etc, but it feels a bit awkward in "wall-of-text" places like the PSU grill compatibility and safety warnings.

 

Otherwise it seems to be clear and concise, maybe minor omissions or ambiguous descriptions will become more obvious while actually assembling a system in there. ^^

[SaperPL]

WEBSITE UPDATE:
We've figured that a lot of you didn't notice the fact that there's a tool on our website explaining how components fit inside the case.

 

That section has been updated to even more encourage you to play with this tool. Go and check it out on the website: http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/

 

There's also new GPU Compatibility section added to the specification on the website with card dimensions explained like this:

 

 

By the way we have finally launched the new company website and ditched the old one so if any of you are interested in what our company is doing on daily basis then you can check it out here: http://zaber.com.pl/

 

STATUS UPDATE:
We're going to package first review units today and we'll be shipping them as soon as possible, most likely on Monday to LTT

[Sheepy7]

Hi,

 

so do we have to wait until Linus actually reviews it? Because with the arrival of Polaris & Pascal I am very much ready to build this thing already, even in a prototype case. Please update us with the status quo.

[SaperPL]

Yeah, that's right. We know you'd like to have it already but we want you to get the best possible knowledge about the product before entrusting us with your money and we think Linus is someone who can honestly and deeply analyse our product. We'd rather have less clients, only those that precisely know the product limitations and its performance and are okay with it rather than having skyrocketing sales and having to handle random returns from people who didn't understand the product before ordering. 

 

I think Zombi should be sending the package today - it is packed since Saturday but we've had some formal issues with shipping the package as review sample. This should be solved today, hopefully

[ej24]

On 7/20/2016 at 1:05 AM, SaperPL said:

Yeah, that's right. We know you'd like to have it already but we want you to get the best possible knowledge about the product before entrusting us with your money and we think Linus is someone who can honestly and deeply analyse our product. We'd rather have less clients, only those that precisely know the product limitations and its performance and are okay with it rather than having skyrocketing sales and having to handle random returns from people who didn't understand the product before ordering. 

 

I think Zombi should be sending the package today - it is packed since Saturday but we've had some formal issues with shipping the package as review sample. This should be solved today, hopefully

Is LTT explicitly aware the case is coming? I feel like I've seen a few of their videos that start out with, "hey look what we found in a box, buried in storage, nobody knows what's in it. Let's check it out". I'd hate for the Sentry to be misplaced for weeks. Or not be scheduled for weeks. 

 

The sooner it's reviewed, the sooner I can buy it. I'd buy it right now honestly. Regardless of the review. 

[SaperPL]

Yeah, Linus knows. Zombi did contact him last week and Linus did respond to that. We'll also notify (pester ) Linus when we get the info that package has been delivered.

[ZombiPL]

7 hours ago, ej24 said:

Is LTT explicitly aware the case is coming? I feel like I've seen a few of their videos that start out with, "hey look what we found in a box, buried in storage, nobody knows what's in it. Let's check it out". I'd hate for the Sentry to be misplaced for weeks. Or not be scheduled for weeks. 

 

The sooner it's reviewed, the sooner I can buy it. I'd buy it right now honestly. Regardless of the review. 

I talked with Linus and he personally sent us their address last week. Yesterday i sent the package and it's on the way to Canada. I straped it with an eye-killing red tape, so i'm sure it is very visible