SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

I liked the first one more, at first. But after looking how complex it is, I liked the second one more.

So #2 gets another vote.
 
I like #2 also.

You should make a version with white panels, would look kinda like the turrets from Portal :)
 
#1st version is more complicated, but You don't need to disassemble it with screwdriver when You want to take Your PC with you. What is more, it doesn't scratch the surface.

#2nd is obviously cheaper and easier to make. The problem starts everytime when You want to open Your case. You have to start with removing the screws from the stand. And in this version it will be scratching the surface (until we will put some angled feet).

If removing the screws from the stand when You will want to change the position of the case (V/H) or to open it isn't a problem, than #2 option is the right one. We will have to work with those "legs".
And i like the "Portal painting" idea. Maybe we will make several coloristic versions :)
 
Have you verified whether #1 is actually manufacturable? I ask because those compound bends seem like they might not be possible with a press brake.

#2 is something I considered, but the small contact area with the ground can damage it, as you mention. I'm also unsure about relying totally on the strength of the material (rather than strength through structural design of the stand) to carry the weight of the case. I suppose if it's a thicker steel or even aluminum it may not be an issue.
 
You mean like this?
Nf9lmCR.png

DJsqidx.png
 
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Necere said:
Have you verified whether #1 is actually manufacturable? I ask because those compound bends seem like they might not be possible with a press brake.

#2 is something I considered, but the small contact area with the ground can damage it, as you mention. I'm also unsure about relying totally on the strength of the material (rather than strength through structural design of the stand) to carry the weight of the case. I suppose if it's a thicker steel or even aluminum it may not be an issue.
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#1. It is manufacturable but with special stamp in press. But as i said before... it's very complicated.

#2. We see that most of people like this design, and i think we will "fight" with this one.
 
I vote on stand #1, of course (since I asked for it), but it looks more complex than it has to. It would be great not having to screw-mount the stand, and I don't fancy the look of stand #2 (and its table-top scratchyness). But sure, the Portal turret variant is hilarious! :D

I hope it would be possible to mount the case upside-down, i.e. having the gpu at the bottom, cpu at the top? That would make the most sense to me, since the hot air exhaust from the cpu cooler and psu would go straight up and out of the case then.

Like this, if not obvious:

TR9dIzA.png


As it is now, in the renderings, the psu would push its exhaust downwards (possibly indirectly feeding the cpu cooler with warm air) and the cpu cooler exhaust would probably go up into the gpu area, which is the least ideal situation IMO.

Also, how will the gpu air intake be designed?
 
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I didn't thought about it that way but at the same time the hot air from the gpu might go up to the cpu and the gpu is hotter.

This configuration I thought was better because of the weight I think PSU + CPU + board heatsink would be heavier than a VGA and also the USB ports would be on the bottom this way.

As for the GPU air itake it will probably be both from the side and the bottom(in horizontal position) because we don't want to fry the cards with just side intake.
 
Yea you're going to want the GPU on top, if for no other reason than the PSU+motherboard is going to weigh more, and thus the center of gravity will be lower so it won't tip over so easy.

I like #1, mostly because i won't ever use it vertically and i'd rather not have screw holes for when using it horizontally.

So far i think it looks great. 48mm is the lowest "perfect" space for a CPU cooler. Enough to fit a NH-L9i (23mm) + 25mm thick fan.

Whoever ends up making this case first will get my money, there are 2 or 3 people now working on a case like this.

The only thing that kinda erks me, and i don't know how hard it would be to "fix", is it possible to center the power button? It looks a little off center when horizontal, and it makes my OCD go crazy.
 
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As for the case stand, I say go for #2. It's just so much better from an industrial design as aesthetics perspective.

I'd also seriously look into centering that power button. If you go for a black and powder grey color options, how about a gunmetal/military dark grey to have a contrasting stand? The single dark grey also means a single part SKU between case colors.

SaperPL said:
We're not going to mount hard drives over the GPU. Also moving down GPU would make problems with its installation.
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So where are you going to put the 2.5" drives then? Putting them over the motherboard will kill very needed airflow.

Speaking of storage, make sure you have enough space in the motherboard standoffs to handle M.2 SSDs on the backside of the motherboard. This is very much a thing on miniITX.

SaperPL said:
Which reference cooler are you refering to? There's no such thing as one reference cooler, there is 30mm one, 46mm and like 60mm I think so the last one won't go for sure and also there's no cooler dimensions in cpu specs on ark.intel. Its a low profile case, it'll have limited amount of low profile cpu coolers you'll be able to install. Intel reference requires 82mm clearance from the motherboard surface to the outer wall.

Anyway we should fit 46mm cooler which I think is shipped with the low power LGA1150 processors like pentium and celeron.
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The standard 46mm cooler is used on all retail LGA1150 CPUs at this point. The 30mm unit is used on the now-OEM-only "T" low-TDP SKUs. The big 75mm unit (P/N TS13A) is strictly high-end desktop (HEDT) (e.g. Haswell-E) at this point.

As for Intel Ark, it's strictly a quick-reference site. Intel hosts much, much more thorough documentation in PDF form on their public web site.

Here's some of the docs you're looking for (especially the mechanical drawings appendix in the first link):
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww...-guides/3rd-gen-core-lga1155-socket-guide.pdf
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww...-guides/4th-gen-core-family-desktop-tmsdg.pdf

Intel does suggest a ~80mm above motherboard clearance, but you have to remember that's for a solid case wall, not a ventilated one. With the level of ventilation you're looking at, you should be good. Just don't go blocking it off with a HDD...
 
About the button - I'd center it if it was possible - we're saving every mm and every penny on this and small buttons are quite pricey and/or need pc mount while the current one is relatively cheap and needs simple hole to install. It takes some space inside so we've placed it where it won't obstruct the PSU. Also the position of the button is in the golden ratio so it shouldn't make you go OCD crazy.

As for the M.2 on mITX - can it exceed height of the IO shield? We're placing the hard drive just 2 mm above it.

Thanks for the tip on intel coolers. We'll buy few boxed processors and boards to check it out when we're ready.

We're not blocking the ventilation wih HDD, just if there happens to be a board with cpu centered closer to the pci and chipset on the far end the hard drive will obstruct area above cpu by 17mm. There are some boards like this so we'll need to think If we want to support them for "full height" coolers or leave it like this and instruct you to choose something else or buy low profile cooler. Still NH L9i fits and will be obstructed just a bit.
 
Yeah, we're going to use something like standard 6.35mm standoff or 6.5mm so it shouldn't be a problem.

What I asked was how tall they can be because I've seen boards with connectors in vertical position like this:
QEZHc4ijvU4Y8gcl_500.jpg

But I believe for mITX this should fit within IO space
 
Hello, I like this form factor case, do you have an idea when it will be available?
 
SSD's are either going to be M.2 2260's or 2280's, the 22 part is the width in mm, which is always 22mm, the second number set is length. So M.2 SSD's could be up to 80mm tall from the motherboard if they were plugged in vertically at the top of the board.
 
Yeah, but are there any motherboards with vertical m.2 installation like this? It sounds quite unrealistic that anyone would make something like this.
 
All M.2 sockets I've seen on the mITX boards and even ATX boards are parallel to the motherboard itself, so you don't need to take the M.2 SSD's length into account. The Asus ROG Impact boards are the only mITX boards (I know of) that have a riser for the M.2 but it doesn't extend further than the power-daughterboard or the soundboard. Other mITX boards have it on the rear, which make it more difficult if not directly accessible.
 
Thanks for the tip Phuncz. I don't think we're gonna make a direct access to the other side of the motherboard. I'm not really sure If this is really needed because m.2 is not something mobile like sata drives that you will sometimes want to connect to other machines and mITX is small enough and have only 4 screws so it doesn't take too much time detaching it from the case.

vzx705 said:
Hello, I like this form factor case, do you have an idea when it will be available?
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I said it in ncase steambox topic - we've got a design we're okay with but its not good for a production yet because of the metal works cost so we need to optimize stuff.

The difference between us and ncase is we'll have a product that can be made with smaller minimal batch than something strictly mass produced. From the start of crowdfunding we'll be sure to make them and depending on the order count we'll be able to get some things done better. There will probably be the minimal amount of orders required for us to be worth spending our time on them.

Speaking of optimizations:

We're looking for optimal pattern for air inlets that won't look like crap. Less number of openings is better but there's also restriction that you shouldn't be able to put a finger through it

This one is optimal but standard and boring
35514QM.png


This one is suboptimal but has something in it
NMi9lWA.png


what do you think?
 
Definitely don't do the horizontal slots. The diagonal slots looks much nicer but still not particularly good looking IMHO. How optimal are holes as far as performance and manufacturing cost? Like these,

hadron-03b.jpg


I think it is hard to beat that style of venting as far as aesthetics that won't be too polarizing.

EDIT: Just saw that a few pages back you originally had holes for venting, but I think the large size of the holes really detracts from the aesthetics.
 
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If it's being cut on a laser, holes are much more expensive to do. I like holes for vents too but that would only be cost effective if it can be done with a CNC punch.
 
any chance of using the stand to house a water cooling unit? you only need to change the back of the case by using a cutout plate that you can secure with 2 thumbscrews(obviously the stand would need to be altered as well). This would allow you to pass the pump through to install on the socket and allow the lines in/out to the cooler. Just an idea to further make use of space and cooling.
 
Aibohphobia said:
If it's being cut on a laser, holes are much more expensive to do. I like holes for vents too but that would only be cost effective if it can be done with a CNC punch.
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I see. I would love to see it as an option at least. The rest of the case design is actually really great, and I would hate to see it ruined by ugly venting. I would gladly pay more for a better styled case. I'm pretty ignorant on this manufacturing stuff, so I am unaware of how much of a price difference it would actually be.
 
SaperPL said:
what do you think?
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I think the diagonal slots conflictswith the rest of your design language have going and, frankly, looks like ass. Your original hex mesh and "optimal" slot designs have much, much better aesthetics.

Speaking of cooling, here's a list of coolers I see most users trying and should be checked for fitment to put on the HCL:
- AMD stock
- Intel stock
- Noctua NH-L9a/NH-L9i
- Prolimatech Samuel 17 w/ Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 12
- Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B & Kodati
- Silverstone AR04/AR05/AR06
- Thermalright AXP-100
- Thermolab ITX30 & LP53

Any I'm missing that people would realistically be interested in?
 
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Definitely don't do the horizontal slots. The diagonal slots looks much nicer but still not particularly good looking IMHO. How optimal are holes as far as performance and manufacturing cost?
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As Aibohphobia said, we want to cut everything on a laser. Of course we could make it with the CNC punch/press, but it would rise the starting price by +50%?+100%? More? Design and mold of CNC stamp costs a lot. Our target is to make a case which is cheaper then most of Your CPUs (AMD's 8-core units starts below 200$). At this point, price between 100$ and 200$ can be reached, but how high it will be depends on our optimizations. We have signals that if we make it for 199$ it will be great. Some of You are saying 150$ is the best price. 99$ would be awesome. We have to check and calculate every option.

To understand how "laser-cutting price" works, You have to add material+number of interactions with material+time of interaction. By "interaction" i mean "start and stop" of the laser. Every hole is such a "start and stop". Before the optimizations from the last renders we had something like 450 holes in the material (in just one part). It means that laser had to "start and stop" 450 times. Now we have something like 90-100 holes in that part, thanks to this ventilation reorganization. We expect that, when the number of holes decreased from 450 to 100 we will get 25%-40% cheaper part. We have to re-calculate it with the laser-cutting company.

And about vent's performance: It depends of the area of the flow-surface and the type of the flow. The best type of the flow is a linear one. Every mm of the material on the path between cooler and the "external" air, makes the flow more turbulent. More turbulent flow equals lower cooler's performance and higher temperature of the cooled part. So the optimal version is to make holes in the case as big as the coolers we will have in :) Of course we can't do that, so we are searching for the best option. When we will get several designs of this ventilation holes, we will make flow simulations to check which is the best. At this point, our venting looks good from the performance side, but as some of You said, its "look" is far from good.

If You have some better ventilation options, we will try to check it, if they have a sense.

p.s.

Speaking of cooling, here's a list of coolers I see most users trying and should be checked for fitment to put on the HCL:
- AMD stock
- Intel stock
- Noctua NH-L9a/NH-L9i
- Prolimatech Samuel 17 w/ Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 12
- Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B & Kodati
- Silverstone AR04/AR05/AR06
- Thermalright AXP-100
- Thermolab ITX30 & LP53

Any I'm missing that people would realistically be interested in?
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SFX PSU is something like 63,5 mm high. Distance between the farthest end of the motherboard standoff and the face of the CPU socket is between 13-15mm. When You add to that 1-2mm for the mobo support, You won't be able to use a cooler higher than 48-49mm. The idea in the height of this case is to make it as high as the PSU + the outside cover.
 
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ZombiPL said:
As Aibohphobia said, we want to cut everything on a laser. Of course we could make it with the CNC punch/press, but it would rise the starting price by +50%?+100%? More? Design and mold of CNC stamp costs a lot. Our target is to make a case which is cheaper then most of Your CPUs (AMD's 8-core units starts below 200$). At this point, price between 100$ and 200$ can be reached, but how high it will be depends on our optimizations. We have signals that if we make it for 199$ it will be great. Some of You are saying 150$ is the best price. 99$ would be awesome. We have to check and calculate every option.

To understand how "laser-cutting price" works, You have to add material+number of interactions with material+time of interaction. By "interaction" i mean "start and stop" of the laser. Every hole is such a "start and stop". Before the optimizations from the last renders we had something like 450 holes in the material (in just one part). It means that laser had to "start and stop" 450 times. Now we have something like 90-100 holes in that part, thanks to this ventilation reorganization. We expect that, when the number of holes decreased from 450 to 100 we will get 25%-40% cheaper part. We have to re-calculate it with the laser-cutting company.

And about vent's performance: It depends of the area of the flow-surface and the type of the flow. The best type of the flow is a linear one. Every mm of the material on the path between cooler and the "external" air, makes the flow more turbulent. More turbulent flow equals lower cooler's performance and higher temperature of the cooled part. So the optimal version is to make holes in the case as big as the coolers we will have in :) Of course we can't do that, so we are searching for the best option. When we will get several designs of this ventilation holes, we will make flow simulations to check which is the best. At this point, our venting looks good from the performance side, but as some of You said, its "look" is far from good.

If You have some better ventilation options, we will try to check it, if they have a sense.
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Wow, thanks for that great explanation. Makes perfect sense.
 
Would it be less costly if you replaced the current vent options with a single round-rectangular opening that is covered with mesh, SG05 style, or some sort of filter?
 
As for the coolers - green for fitting, red for too big:
energizerfellow said:
Speaking of cooling, here's a list of coolers I see most users trying and should be checked for fitment to put on the HCL:
- AMD stock - APU(65W LP) & Heatpiped
- Intel stock 1150
- Noctua NH-L9a/NH-L9i
- Prolimatech Samuel 17 w/ Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 12
- Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B & Kodati
- Silverstone AR04/AR05/AR06
- Thermalright AXP-100
- Thermolab ITX30 & LP53
Click to expand...

I can't find the 7850K boxed cooler dimensions. Anyone has it?
 
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SaperPL said:
As for the coolers - green for fitting, red for too big:
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Heads up that the Silverstone AR04, AR05, and AR06 are 23mm, 37mm, and 58mm, respectively, so only the AR04 and AR05 will work.

Looks like the Zalman CNPS2X and CNPS80F will work as well, along with Dynatron K5 and T459.

If you guys need to enlarge the vertical height of the case, 60mm looks to be the magic number for all the "big" low-profile heatsinks out there.

SaperPL said:
I can't find the 7850K boxed cooler dimensions. Anyone has it?
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Looks like the same 50mm(?) cooler as the rest of the units.
 
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Oh yeah, my bad.

For the APU coolers - there's LP ~42mm cooler like this for 65W units I believe
8503457307_7078b30b32_z.jpg

and bigger for hotter APU units like 7800K
IMG_4485_zps9834ad39.jpg~original

Note that its radiatior is twice as big as the first one so it should be something like ~58mm tall
 
energizerfellow said:
Your original hex mesh and "optimal" slot designs have much, much better aesthetics.
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+1
And i think that's because the corners of the case are in similar style. The front face is basically an octagon...

Maybe make the holes a bit larger and put a dust filter (like demciflex) on the underside.
 
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