SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[MRP0P1NFR3SH]

I want to buy one. But I already have vacation costs this month. Decisions decisions

[ZombiPL]

Single BLACK Sentrys from the 1st batch are sold, and many people are asking us about this Long Run perk. As everyone knows, "one image says more than 1000 words", so we decided to make a small visual update how we expect this production scheme will look like. 

 

[SaperPL]

Mr Zbigniew made some more nice photos of Sentry. The source is here:
http://www.imgrum.net/user/yetanothertechchannel/2215416713

 

You can see how perfectly shaped oversized GPU looks like with properly recessed PEG connectors here as well.

I've embedded them for you in the spoiler below - enjoy

 

Spoiler

 

 

[ZombiPL]

24 minutes ago, Cvet76 said:

Looking good! *Excitement intensifies*
Also, @ZombiPL. I know I'm getting annoying with this, but are the cases going to be numbered?

Yes, they will be numbered, just like prototypes were.

[ZombiPL]

1 minute ago, Cvet76 said:

Can I get mine to say 76 then? Please! You can switch mine (37) with the whomever got the 76, if they agree. That would be amazeballs! But if it's not possible, I'll also live to see another day

I could bet you will ask about it. If we would allow picking the numbers, then many people would like to get the same number. What then? Then we will need the 2nd type of numeration to know which pc-case belongs to which backer (for example, in terms of warranty), and this starts losing sense (plus bigger problems with logistics, possibility of mistakes during packages shipment, etc.). Maybe later we will allow option to get another laser engraved badge with the number you want, to switch the standard one, but it would be definitely after the whole campaign.

[Okjoek]

Is there any way to mount this case to the back of my monitor to make it like an all-in-one? Because my monitor has the screw holes in the back of it that would allow me to mount it to the wall and I was wondering if there was any kind of low profile case that could be mounted back there.

[SaperPL]

2 minutes ago, Cvet76 said:

I was expecting an answer similar to this. It does make sense. But well, I'll just have to customize it, then Thanks for the response!

 

The laser engraved batch is something you can order online for like $3 - you'll need to remove the current batch by drilling two rivets 

 

1 minute ago, Okjoek said:

Is there any way to mount this case to the back of my monitor to make it like an all-in-one? Because my monitor has the screw holes in the back of it that would allow me to mount it to the wall and I was wondering if there was any kind of low profile case that could be mounted back there.

 

Sadly, but no. The Sentry based PC will be similar in weight to any other SFF PC and attaching something this heavy to the back of monitor is not the best idea since it might tip the monitor over depending on how its base is constructed.

 

Note the fact that there are air inlets on both sides that would be blocked as well if you mounted it directly to the monitor.

 

On the other hand you should be able to make a wall mounted setup like this:

 

 

You can attach the case to the wall using screws with rubber feet holes in the case bottom. You should use some distances on the screws to let the air get inside on the back of the case when doing that.

 

The only limitation here is that it's not going to be a quick mount/detach setup unless you figure it out how to hang it properly and make it easily removable.Using hook-screws bent upwards on the upper side (hanging the case by the GPU compartment) and some straight bolts on the bottom might do the trick.

[Okjoek]

14 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

Sadly, but no.

Okay thanks.

[ZombiPL]

I don't know if you are fans of DIY videos, but YetAnotherTechChannel just uploaded two of them, with Sentry involved:

 

 

 

[Beeeyeee]

2 hours ago, ZombiPL said:

I don't know if you are fans of DIY videos, but YetAnotherTechChannel just uploaded two of them, with Sentry involved

Thats sweet! maybe i'll do something like that in the future.

[knfa.28]

Hi @ZombiPL @SaperPL,

Can you enable paying through PayPal in your Indiegogo campaign? I only have a prepaid value card, and the only way for indiegogo to accept any sort of payment from it is through PayPal. I originally planned on purchasing a single Black Sentry early on but had some CC problems. So it seems like I'll be buying one in the long run if ever you do allow PayPal transactions. Which I really hope you do cause I want a sentry so bad :'(

[Narnash]

54 minutes ago, knfa.28 said:

Hi @ZombiPL @SaperPL,

Can you enable paying through PayPal in your Indiegogo campaign? I only have a prepaid value card, and the only way for indiegogo to accept any sort of payment from it is through PayPal.

I don't think that they can do that easy, they disabled it because of Paypals behavior to block/freeze accounts which generate a lot of sales in a very short period (to prevent money grab on community founded projects). 

That happened already for other crowd founding projects in the past which had very fast income on their paypal accounts due the fast progress of their campain, some of them got really in trouble because they ordered parts to produce their products and than couldn't pay their suppliers because of the cash freeze for several months.

The Zaber Team said befor the campain that they don't support Paypal as a paymethod cause of this conceptbraking consumer protection mechanism.

 

 

You can easily let someone you know oder it for you.

I had the same problem and used entropay.com a virtual prepaid credit card service for that (kinda pricy since they take 3,95% of the money you charge on the virtual credit card and they take a flat money fee for the left money on the card after 6 months not using it) worked flawlessly (sadly you can't charge it with paypal, that would be the ideal way ... I had to use banktransfer took 3 days to charge)

 

PS: If you would be a more known user in the forum and life in the EU (and would agree to pay for any upcoming fee) I would order one for you.

[knfa.28]

9 minutes ago, Narnash said:

I don't think that they can do that easy, they disabled it because of Paypals behavior to block/freeze accounts which generate a lot of sales in a very short period (to prevent money grab on community founded projects). 

That happened already for other crowd founding projects in the past which had very fast income on their paypal accounts due the fast progress of their campain, some of them got really in trouble because they ordered parts to produce their products and than couldn't pay their suppliers because of the cash freeze for several months.

The Zaber Team said befor the campain that they don't support Paypal as a paymethod cause of this conceptbraking consumer protection mechanism.

 

 

You can easily let someone you know oder it for you.

I had the same problem and used entropay.com a virtual prepaid credit card service for that (kinda pricy since they take 3,95% of the money you charge on the virtual credit card and they take a flat money fee for the left money on the card after 6 months not using it) worked flawlessly (sadly you can't charge it with paypal, that would be the ideal way ... I had to use banktransfer took 3 days to charge)

 

PS: If you would be a more known user in the forum and life in the EU (and would agree to pay for any upcoming fee) I would order one for you.

That's too bad. Thing is, I live in the Philippines and I have already loaded up my prepaid CC with the sufficient funds to cover the payment of both a Sentry unit as well as the shipping fee (+79usd for Philippines). And I know I'm at fault for not reading up on how Indiegogo doesn't accept prepaid CCs as a mode of payment, but that's the only thing I can manage considering that I'm still a student and could not apply for an official CC.

 

Guess the next thing I'll do is somehow refund the credit from my prepaid CC and just ask someone I know to pay in my stead.

 

Thanks for the input by the way.

[Narnash]

3 minutes ago, knfa.28 said:

That's too bad. Thing is, I live in the Philippines and I have already loaded up my prepaid CC with the sufficient funds to cover the payment of both a Sentry unit as well as the shipping fee (+79usd for Philippines). And I know I'm at fault for not reading up on how Indiegogo doesn't accept prepaid CCs as a mode of payment, but that's the only thing I can manage considering that I'm still a student and could not apply for an official CC.

 

Guess the next thing I'll do is somehow refund the credit from my prepaid CC and just ask someone I know to pay in my stead.

 

Thanks for the input by the way.

Hm ... wierd as I said my prepaid CC worked flawlessly, sorry for you but dealing with international shipping and taking the risk would be to much for me to cover.

Maybe you can arrange a exceptional order process after the campain ended, try it with PN's and per Email I guess.  sentry@zaber.com.pl

[knfa.28]

1 minute ago, Narnash said:

Hm ... wierd as I said my prepaid CC worked flawlessly, sorry for you but dealing with international shipping and taking the risk would be to much for me to cover.

Maybe you can arrange a exceptional order process after the campain ended, try it with PN's and per Email I guess.  sentry@zaber.com.pl

Oh yeah, just checked out Entropay. I think that method would work best for me.

 

Quick question though, do they charge the 4.95% fee immediately after topping up? meaning that I'll have to load up my prepaid CC an additional 4.95% in order to zero out any deductions on my target value?

[ZombiPL]

2 hours ago, knfa.28 said:

Hi @ZombiPL @SaperPL,

Can you enable paying through PayPal in your Indiegogo campaign? I only have a prepaid value card, and the only way for indiegogo to accept any sort of payment from it is through PayPal. I originally planned on purchasing a single Black Sentry early on but had some CC problems. So it seems like I'll be buying one in the long run if ever you do allow PayPal transactions. Which I really hope you do cause I want a sentry so bad :'(

We decided we will not be using PAYPAL, because it is not safe for both users and creators in terms of crowdfunding. Many of you asked to change our decision, but we made it for the good of the whole project.

 

And look how lucky we are:

- 10th of January - Start of SENTRY indiegogo campaign,
- 11th of January - indiegogo stops cooperation with PAYPAL (link)

 

If we would decide to start the campaign with paypal, we predict that, now there would be a lot more problems with getting funds than in the situation when cooperation with indiegogo still existed.

 

Try again using your prepaid CC. Most of people can pay in that way, and usually if you have some problems, it is mostly due to lack of funds on your card account. Please check it twice, because many people wrote to us about prepaid cards and after few minutes they wrote again saying that was their mistake and everything is fine.

 

[Narnash]

3 hours ago, knfa.28 said:

Oh yeah, just checked out Entropay. I think that method would work best for me.

 

Quick question though, do they charge the 4.95% fee immediately after topping up? meaning that I'll have to load up my prepaid CC an additional 4.95% in order to zero out any deductions on my target value?

They charge you the 3,95% (not 4,95%) immediatly, I charged 225€ to be on the safe side with shipping and exchange rate (since I pay in EUR and indigogo work only with USD, exchange rate was 1EUR=1,0343 $ which isn't to bad)... at the end I got 216,11€ on the card (btw you get the virtual cc data when you topup the first time)

[SaperPL]

Silverstone sempai notices us

 

[ej24]

Indiegogo no longer accept PayPal at all. So I'd suggest contacting the Zaber team directly if you have no other way to pay. 

[Octagoncow]

1 hour ago, ej24 said:

Indiegogo no longer accept PayPal at all. So I'd suggest contacting the Zaber team directly if you have no other way to pay. 

The campaign never accepted PayPal from the start, so luckily it's unaffected by this change. I think the Zaber team has suggested prepaid credit cards as an alternative.

[SaperPL]

CONTENT WARNING! DO NOT WATCH THE FIRST 30 MINUTES OF THE SHOW!

 

IT IS SO HILARIUS THAT YOU MAY HYPERVENTILATE AND "LITERALLY DIE" OUT OF LAUGHTER

 

 

With that said, a "huge shout-out" to our project by Linus means 45 seconds of limited commentary, while Linus' balls subject took over 30 minutes before they started the news topics

[SaperPL]

Quite a lot of you are asking about the hardware selection. We've got some examples at the bottom of campaign page but those are Skylake based because of the fact that those were already in retail when we launched and that Kaby Lake mITX boards are currently only in high-end segment.

 

I'd like all of those who are going to spend literally $1000+ for hardware before we deliver Sentry to be well informed about what's below - this may save you quite a lot of cash or may let you pick more powerful CPU than what's currently available.

 

Before ordering your parts watch the video below:

(that's a rumours and info analysis, not actual pricing, but a good piece of thoughts for all of us):

 

 

My own explanation, expectations and commentary:

 

From what we can see, the intel is already being affected by upcoming AMD Launch:

- they launched kaby lake kind of fast by making wider availability on day 0 after launch

- they've broken the unspoken rules for their desktop lineup by launching Hyper Threaded Pentiums and unlocked i3-7350K

 

Why is that? What AMD has done?

- AMD has supposedly reached IPC competitive to intel's Broadwell architecture which is current architecture for the intel ultra-high end platform. Intel hasn't improved much from Broadwell to Kaby Lake either...
- With full size Summit Ridge/Ryzen SR7 being 8-core 16-threads, the 4-core 4-thread, a competition to unlocked i5 SKUs, will be so cut down from full version SR7 that it might be dirt cheap by being almost total production waste to AMD after binning in comparison to SR7. Consider the fact that may be 3 types of binned CPUs above this: 8C/16T, 8C/8T, 4C/8T. There may be even cheaper i3 competitors with 2 cores and 4 threads that may easily crush the overpriced i3-7350K.
- Also noticeable fact here is that SR7 is supposed to be a 95W TDP CPU and that may mean that 4C/8T Ryzen which could compete with 7700K may be a 65W TDP unit that can easily overclock having additional headroom over 95W SKUs on high-end boards.
- The last thing is that ZEN APU, Raven Ridge is supposed (RUMOR) to have HBM2 memory in some of the SKUs. This means finally a reasonable performing APU if the power is really balanced between CPU and iGPU in a way one won't be bottle neck the other like for example. While this might not seem to matter to people who don't care about iGPU it still might mean price drops on all the intel CPUs because intel is targeting this market as well with the same SKUs as gaming market simply because they not letting us pick a CPU without the iGPU.
- AMD states that they will keep the AM4 platform for at least another 4 years. With intel pushing new platform with each CPU generation its a great bait for them people to be able to buy now cheap AMD platform with lower end CPU and simply upgrade only the CPU after few years.
- Having the same platform for all their CPU lineup now will mean cheaper boards, especially in comparison to ultra high-end market where intels X99 boards start around $200, IF 95W SR7 can handle properly on all AM4 Boards

What AMD can and cannot do with the pricing:

- they have to push the platform TO THE PEOPLE ( ) so they have to be aggressive in their pricing

- they cannot make the platform only slightly cheaper than comparable intel platforms, especially in ultra high-end because people in such scenario most of the people would stick to intel and wait until Ryzen gets stable and well received while enthusiasts won't just jump over to the red team if they already have intel based platform with same performance. They have to target people that would take i7-7700K with slightly more expensive SR7s if they want to be competitive here.

- they cannot overprice the high end boards or they cannot fail with low end boards being total junk like it was with Bulldozer.

- they pushed the hype train too much to make it not worth the hype in terms of pricing. (I believe they know what are they doing by pushing the hype bit by bit and not showing off the real number - they either have to be prepared for aggressive pricing or they won't get the proper market share with this stunt)

 

What pricing I'm expecting that would make a lot of sense to me:

$600 for black edition 8C/16T SR7 with 125W TDP (yes, I know all are unlocked, I suppose there will be some black edition anyway)

$450 for mainstream 8C/16T SR7 with 95W TDP

$250 for mainstream 4C/8T SR5 with 65W TDP

$150 for mainstream 4C/4T SR3 with 65W TDP ( if those are good quality silicon)
AND/OR
$100 for mainstream 4C/4T SR3 with 55W TDP (if those are not that good quality silicon)

 

All of this adds up to one simple phrase: WAIT FOR ZEN. We're too close to the release to overpay for intel CPUs if price drops are around the corner. The more people understand this now and wait with their purchases, the more reasons we will give to intel for finally dropping the pricing on their products. If your friends are thinking about buying kaby lake now, please just stop them, otherwise they may regret this choice pretty quick in just few months.

 

Finally note the fact that I'm not recommending you to wait for ZEN to get the Summit Ridge specifically - it may not be there for mITX on the launch date and even if X300 boards show up, the fact that the chipset supposedly takes literally no space and they haven't shown that yet, may mean the completely different layout of the board that might simply make things hard for building Sentry.

 

Sorry for the wall of text, but I really hope that's something you all should know.

[SaperPL]

Some of the backers and people that mailed us asked about the 3.5" compatibility with no GPU installed.

I've checked this when the first person asked but I wanted also let you know status on that.

 

1) 3.5" hard drives are still supported by quad 2.5" drive bracket like this:

 

 

2) 3.5" hard drive mount was removed from the GPU compartment because:
- additional mounting points were breaking the looks of the inlet.
- with support for mobility the 3.5" hard drives are something we should not recommend. The are heavy and may not have shock handling like the 2.5" hard drives have.

 

3) It is still possible to mount two 3.5" hard drives ATTACHED WITH ONLY TWO M3.5 PC SCREWS with drives slightly angled:

 

 

As you can see, you can still fit TWO 3.5" HDDs with up to 6 2.5" drives if you have another set of brackets. Note the fact that we're providing only one set by default, if you want more sets for NAS config we can give you the DXF blueprint for laser cutting.

 

 

Cables looks still quite manageable in such config. Without GPU you can also use the riser gap as some kind of an anchor for them.

 

 

Bottom of the case. Note the fact that there are only two M3.5 PC screws holding the bottom 3.5" HDD and they are not aligned perfectly making the drives angled slightly. Also note the fact that there are 3 sets of 2.5" mounts here - they are those a bit smaller holes in the vent.

 

4) WE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS CONFIGURATION FOR MOBILITY! USE ONLY WITH STATIONARY BUILDS!.

[ZombiPL]

Several days ago we received an email asking which company did we choose to make an intro for our Sentry campaign. The answer is: none It took us so long to make it, mostly because we had to learn how to do it right by ourselves. If someone is curious how the movie set looked like, here is a photo of it:

 

 

 

[SaperPL]