SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[ZombiPL]

While waiting for a new gallery, i have something more for You:

Atm we're uploading new photos for our gallery. In few minutes/hours You'll get everything.

[Patrick3D]

Hard to tell from the photos but it appears the front USB ports are upside down, FYI.

[SaperPL]

They might be, they can be mounted both ways anyway

[SaperPL]

The gallery is up - enjoy. 

 

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

[TheMatrix17]

1 hour ago, SaperPL said:

The gallery is up - enjoy. 

 

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

Been following this project from the other forum for a while now. Really cool stuff! I like it, however, how did you guys manage to solve the dust filtering issue? I know you guys mentioned something about it a while back, but I can't see any dust filters in this prototype. Will there be accessories like Silverstone did to the RVZ02 and we can stick them on the sides? I'd buy the case right away, but the lack (looking at the pictures) of any sort of dust filtering is an issue, at least to me. 

[SaperPL]

The problem with lack of filters was that we had big laser cut holes that could let a lot of bigger objects inside of the case and we couldn't get the punch machined holes like the ones in this prototype are made already. Since we changed the metal shop and they've made it possible we could do this instead of using filters. Cleaning the case should be possible simply with vacuum cleaner going over it because the internal space is small and cramped.

 

Also we simply can't achieve same quality with our assumed minimum order quantity like big case manufacturers since quality filter producers require minimum orders of 10 000 sets or more. Common low quality plastic filters are simply blocking most of the air coming inside and we can't do that to the gpu in our case.

[TheMatrix17]

10 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

The problem with lack of filters was that we had big laser cut holes that could let a lot of bigger objects inside of the case and we couldn't get the punch machined holes like the ones in this prototype are made already. Since we changed the metal shop and they've made it possible we could do this instead of using filters. Cleaning the case should be possible simply with vacuum cleaner going over it because the internal space is small and cramped.

 

Also we simply can't achieve same quality with our assumed minimum order quantity like big case manufacturers since quality filter producers require minimum orders of 10 000 sets or more. Common low quality plastic filters are simply blocking most of the air coming inside and we can't do that to the gpu in our case.

I see, thank for your quick reply! When will it be available and for how much (CAD)? Oh and what is the colour of the led light? Thanks!

 

P.S. Could I use my AR06 CPU cooler from the RVZ02? If not, what is the maximum cpu cooler height? 

[SaperPL]

We'll have to tweak few minor details and order final white prototype this or following week, that we're going to send to Linus. After that we've got to manage the whole sales, quality control and shipping processes so it's not something we can easily timeframe yet considering this isn't our day job

 

Looks like AR06 won't fit - RVZ02 is a bit thicker. Max cooler height is around 48mm which will fit stuff like box intel cooler and cryorig C7.

 

Default led color is red but it might be possible to order different colours if there's enough people per colour - we've talked about it earlier.

 

The final price is not definite yet.

[ZombiPL]

I just paid for another white version (with grainy structural powder coating) of production prototype V, which will be sent to Linus. 

Things are moving forward...

[s90011]

When will the pre-order now? Probably take a few days make good days?
Before I look at how the price is 149 dollars 159 dollars? What is there to change it?
More than in February it? Substantially fixed screws will be attached it?

[SaperPL]

10 hours ago, s90011 said:

When will the pre-order now? Probably take a few days make good days?
Before I look at how the price is 149 dollars 159 dollars? What is there to change it?
More than in February it? Substantially fixed screws will be attached it?

We're not yet ready for pre-orders, sorry. It really takes time preparing such thing as a part time project.

 

We should have the final white unit that has final manufacturing fixes included made on Tuesday according to the metal shop. We're planning to ship this unit to linus for review after making the white version photo-shoot.

 

We were targeting between $99 and  $149 initially before testing out different solutions and talking over those with people here and on hard forum. People want to pay a little more to have the best product we can make rather than paying less for something imperfect.

 

Since that we've decided to change:

- flexible riser: from standard 18cm cheap unshielded riser to high quality 5cm shielded riser

- structural powder coating that hides welding spots and environmental effects such as dust and fingerprints

- high quality perforation instead of huge laser cut air inlets because using filters was impractical and impossible for us to manufacture

- we've added quite complex internal piece to the case cover that helps thermals and brings case to safe temperature when gpu is running on full load

All those pieces came together as notable increase in manufacturing cost.

 

We're not yet sure about final price though since our currency fluctuated a bit recently since administration changed and our internal costs might change because of that and we have to take that into account.

 

I don't think we're ready to start pre-orders yet as we have some work-related stuff on our hands.

 

I'm not sure what do you mean about the screws. Can you explain?

 

[s90011]

 

 

Chassis assembly screws
This means that it will be postponed until March?
I recommend using full CRYORIG C7
Play GTA5 open all small and quiet shape effects

[ZombiPL]

13 hours ago, s90011 said:

Substantially fixed screws will be attached it?

 

Chassis assembly screws

 

I'm also not sure if this is what You want to know, but i will try to reply.

Probably You saw that some of the pc-case designers give a price for their pc-box, and after that they say it's only price for metal parts, and to make Your pc-case usable You have to additionally pay for screws, stand, switch, pci-e riser, etc, etc. We're not going to go that way. 

 

When You will buy our SENTRY pc-case, You will get:

- body of SENTRY,

- top cover,

- stand for vertical installation,

- hdd/ssd mounting for GPU chamber, 

- pci/gpu slot covers,

- rubber/plastic feet for horizontal installation,

- some additional rubber/plastic feet (in case You will lose one or two),

- plastic covers for the holes if You use a stand instead rubber feet,

- assembly screws (for the case itself, for motherboard, ssd, USB 3.0, pci-e riser, etc.), 

- some additional assembly screws (in case You will lose some of them),

- screws for the stand,

- additional screws for the stand (in case You will lose some of them),

- rubber O-rings for the stand,

- additional rubber O-rings for the stand (in case You will lose or damage some of them),

- rubber feet permanently attached to the stand,

- power switch,

- high quality pci-e shielded riser,

- USB 3.0 cable,

- USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter,

- internal IEC C13->C14 power cable,

- manual including CE declaration (paper, cd or digital version on our website. We still didn't decide),

 

I hope this answer satisfies You.

 

[SaperPL]

5 hours ago, s90011 said:

This means that it will be postponed until March?

I recommend using full CRYORIG C7
Play GTA5 open all small and quiet shape effects

Looking at how much time is left in February I think March is very optimistic target and we can't say anything for sure.

 

I've ordered E3-1231v3 for testing along with cryorig C7 however the shipment is delayed till Tuesday because those cpu's are out of stock at this moment.

 

I'm not sure about GTA5 currently, I haven't played it recently but from all what we've tested till now I don't think our case stays behind in terms of performance behind common standard tower cases so in the end it depends on what will you put in it.

[LucasTheRed]

This looks amazing!  Do you have any idea when Linus will get it?

[Samuli]

This is exactly the kind of case I have been searching for. Perfect for vr game dev who travels a lot. Good luck, I'll get one for sure.

[ZombiPL]

***Q&A UPDATE***

Hi guys,
We recived some questions in forums and by private messages, so we decided to make a little update. Below You will get answers for some of Your questions.

 

Q: When i will get my own version of SENTRY, can i make a review of it and publish it somewhere?
A: We can't imagine how we could forbid doing something like that. If You buy our PC case You can do with it whatever You want (within the warranty:)). 

 

Q: Will You be making or selling Your own backpack/bag for SENTRY?
A: Probably not. Adding a bag or backpack to the package will increase the price of shipment so bad, that it won't have any sense.
 
Q: If You're not selling a bag/backpack for SENTRY, are there any bags on the market, which i could use for this case and they won't cost ~$200?
A: Sentry was designed in the way, that it should fit in many 17'' laptop bags which You can find on the market. And they don't have to be expensive. For example we bought one 17'' laptop backpack and one 17''-18'' laptop bag, $10 each (yes, $10). The only thing You have to check before buying a bag for SENTRY are internal dimensions of the bag.
Below You can see the photos from our gallery with those two bags.

 

 

Q: I want to buy a Cryorig C7 cooler for Your PC case. Will it fit.
A: Yes, it should fit. Everything depends where on the motherboard is Your CPU located. If it is far from the PCI-E slot, then there won't be any problems. Below You can find photos with Cryorig C7 installed in SENTRY.

 

 

Q: I have a short GPU. Can i insert some additional drives in the GPU compartment?
A: Yes, You can. With SENTRY we'll send You 2 steel frames for Your drives. With 2 steel frames You can stack up to 4 x 2,5'' drives in a GPU compartment, while You will have a short graphic card. Photos below.

 

Q: What for are those 3 holes over the I/O shield?
A: Those holes are made for wifi antennas connectors. There can be some wifi cards or motherboards with such cards, which can have up to 3 antennas, so SENTRY is prepared for such situation. 

 

[ZombiPL]

Saper told me, some of you asked about a photo under a TV, to see more perspective view, so here you are
(next to the SENTRY is our satellite decoder):

[Beeeyeee]

if the black finish is slightly scratched, will is show raw silver metal? I know that can be a huge issue with some of those finishes.

[ZombiPL]

32 minutes ago, Beeeyeee said:

if the black finish is slightly scratched, will is show raw silver metal? I know that can be a huge issue with some of those finishes.

It depends how deep will it be (this scratch). Under the paint we have a galvanized cover (zinc) and, if You also damage it, then you will get to the raw metal. At this moment we are testing several paints with different graininess. We want to achieve a more durable surface + eliminate fingerprints.

 

 

Please see the zoomed picture below. On the left side is the surface we want to get. Non-glossy, resistant and ensures no fingerprints. On the right side there is a surface which can be even polished, but after taking it in Your hands You will leave Your fingerprints. Both paints are similar in the term of durability, but the paint on the left side can hide many scratches You can make, for example, during the transport.

 

 

I hope this is the answer, You wanted to hear. Don't worry. We're also thinking about such issues . But we're solving them.

[michaelmitchell.co.nz]

Looks amazing, I look forwarding to ordering!

 

This is going to make a perfect portable VR development and demo rig perfect for game jams etc... I should be able to fit a HMD the Sentry with peripherals and even a ASUS MB168B+ USB monitor all in a single 17" laptop backpack instead of forking out crap loads of money for a VR ready laptop that won't match the performance and can't upgrade.

[SaperPL]

I've got some test results on my GTX 970 running in horizontal position.

 

Tests were run on max settings at 1920x1200 minus VSync which might've capped the framerates for all games on the list.

 

Pentium 3258 Anniversary Edition was overclocked to 3.6Ghz which is the same clock speed as Xeon E3 -1231v3 turbo mode on all cores. Xeon E3 was cooled with Cryorig C7.

 

Data was captured with MSI Afterburner and then averaged for each application

 

 

 

Note the fact that Source Engine might be more cpu dependant so dota and counter strike were bottlenecked by Pentium 3258

 

Average results:

 

 

Additionally I put a constant load on the Xeon with Cryorig C7 to render frames for this 360 degree animation:

 

 

 

It was rendered in higher resolution than this gif, it took 2 hours and the CPU temperature spiked to 79 degrees with average of 70 degrees.

[michaelmitchell.co.nz]

What is the current case weight looking like without anything inside?

[SaperPL]

It's 2.8kg without components inside. Complete rig with components weights around 6kg. While it's quite heavy that also means there's absolutely no vibrations of the chassis and it's quite sturdy in transport.

[michaelmitchell.co.nz]

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.