SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

Oops. I forgot to make this document public and I received a lot of emails from people requesting access. I have gone ahead and made it public. I will make a backup private version to ensure the information is backed up.

Once again here is the link.
I added an entry for my 7700K. I had to call it "i7-7700K Sentry" for now though, because when i go and pick i7-7700K from the list, all of the A4 entries show up too. These should probably be removed.
 
Ok thanks, i had seen the manual and in fact a good solution and remove the grid, i was thinking about that power supply because with 800w is a GTX 1080ti should be cool.
 
Ok thanks, i had seen the manual and in fact a good solution and remove the grid, i was thinking about that power supply because with 800w is a GTX 1080ti should be cool.
You won't need 800W to run a system with a 1080 Ti. 600W is more than enough. Theoretically, your system shouln't go above 450W under full load. :)
I can highly recommend the SF600. Dead silent, works without modifications and cables are somewhat workable.
 
Hey guys, couldn't seem to find an answer through search, but I wanted to know the maximum amount of space for memory clearance IF I do not install the 2.5" bracket. Specifically, I wanted to know if the Sentry has room for the Corsair dominator platinum series memory. Hard to find the exact clearance of such memory online, but once installed, seems the clearance is around 51mm.
 
Hey guys, couldn't seem to find an answer through search, but I wanted to know the maximum amount of space for memory clearance IF I do not install the 2.5" bracket. Specifically, I wanted to know if the Sentry has room for the Corsair dominator platinum series memory. Hard to find the exact clearance of such memory online, but once installed, seems the clearance is around 51mm.

I have checked that for someone once and the max height in theory is something around 51.5 mm while corsair dominator platinum are 55 mm tall, so those will definitely not fit.
Also note the fact that you may need to fit some cables above the RAM sticks depending on your setup, so getting ~50mm tall ram is quite risky.
 
The X370GTN board is here :)

X370GTN.jpg X370GTN_2.jpg X370GTN_3.jpg

Quick check on RipJaws show that they indeed are fitting under the bracket, I'll make more photos later.
 
I added an entry for my 7700K. I had to call it "i7-7700K Sentry" for now though, because when i go and pick i7-7700K from the list, all of the A4 entries show up too. These should probably be removed.

The Unigine Heaven chart should also probably be removed as those are also all A4 entries.
 
The X370GTN board is here :)

View attachment 25525 View attachment 25526 View attachment 25527

Quick check on RipJaws show that they indeed are fitting under the bracket, I'll make more photos later.

What cpu cooler are you using out of interest? As I'm going to attempt a build very similar to yours.

One other thing, was installing the cpu difficult and did you use thermal paste? This is my first custom build which is why I'm asking.
 
What cpu cooler are you using out of interest? As I'm going to attempt a build very similar to yours.

One other thing, was installing the cpu difficult and did you use thermal paste? This is my first custom build which is why I'm asking.

I did not install the cooling yet. I'll plan on using the noctua NH-L9i with custom designed bracket, before noctua's AM4 brackets are widely available.

As for the wifi problem with X370GTN:

WLAN.jpg

I think I'll figure something out :)
 
I did not install the cooling yet. I'll plan on using the noctua NH-L9i with custom designed bracket, before noctua's AM4 brackets are widely available.

As for the wifi problem with X370GTN:

View attachment 25532

I think I'll figure something out :)
Very cool. Lack of wifi had put me off the board and i'm waiting on parts to do my new i7 build :)
 
What cpu cooler are you using out of interest? As I'm going to attempt a build very similar to yours.

One other thing, was installing the cpu difficult and did you use thermal paste? This is my first custom build which is why I'm asking.

Putting together a custom build is super easy, even if it's your first time. If you put together LEGOS as a kid, you can build a computer.

I strongly suggest going to youtube and finding a "how to build a computer" guide from a reputable channel - newegg, NCIX, and LinusTechTips all have good ones.

Watch that video once all the way through, and then go back and watch it again, pausing to complete each step in your build.

And yes, you should always use (a reasonably small amount of) thermal paste.
 
You could include benches from games that have set reproducible benches, like GTA V. Include CPU and GPU temps and voltages.
 
just found out about this case and it looks awesome! I have been looking for a new flat case like this that fill a full graphics card, as the s4 mini doesnt and the ncase steam machine style design wont either. If i wanted to lay this horizontal does it come with feet? or are those in this thread modded? I think this case would be awesome to have under a monitor stand in the middle of a desk.
 
just found out about this case and it looks awesome! I have been looking for a new flat case like this that fill a full graphics card, as the s4 mini doesnt and the ncase steam machine style design wont either. If i wanted to lay this horizontal does it come with feet? or are those in this thread modded? I think this case would be awesome to have under a monitor stand in the middle of a desk.
Yes, comes with feet. See here:
3.JPG


The feet you saw a few pages back are from Lian Li, see here:
I figured I'd post a photo of my Sentry in its natural habitat, the living room. I've got machined aluminum feet from Lian Li. Still haven't used my RGB switch. The black switch with red LED looks great though o I may keep it for a while. And as you all can probably see, I don't have the USB ports in. That's just a quirk of my motherboard having the header directly beneath the 2.5in drive and right where my 24 pin cable is tucked. I have a slim, 20pin usb 3.0 ribbon cable that should fix the issue, but I'll wait to put it in until I get my custom PSU cables which should free up some room.
View attachment 24864


I still have my Noctua fan tied down to the LP53 heatsink with rubber bands (y) I'll think of something better eventually.
View attachment 24865

Sd-02A. I loved them on my Lian li case and I thought they'd look good on sentry. I got the feet on Amazon for $12 for a set of 4. Way more expensive than plain rubber feet but totally worth it in my opinion. I had to cut a tiny plastic bit off so they'd fit smoothly against the case and I had to use a washer inside sentry as the fasteners for the Lian li feet we smaller than the holes in sentry. Really easy.
 
So I've been experimenting with 40mm fans...
View attachment 24912
View attachment 24916
If I decide it's worth it, I'll make a more permanent mounting solution out of ABS or Kydex plastic, but for now, a ton of electrical tape will do! I decided to try on the GPU side, simply because there is a frame on the side to mount them to, but also because the 1080 Founders Edition has a vent on the top (side?) that ejects quite a bit of hot air, which I wanted to remove from the case as fast as possible.
View attachment 24913
I've noticed the max GPU temp went down a little bit (72C vs 75C), but, it takes for ever to go back down to idle (~37C). It lingers forever around 50C which didn't happen in an open air setup. I think that's because the fans are creating a region of low pressure, drawing CPU exhaust in that direction, filling the GPU side with warm CPU exhaust. Even when the GPU is doing nothing I feel very warm air being exhausted by the fans, most likely from the CPU. My GPU alone creates no net change in air pressure because it has a seal between it and the case, so it ejects all the air it draws in from the exterior of the case. If I can come up with a way to mount some 40mm fans on the CPU side I'll see if that helps even out the pressure and eject CPU heat out the CPU side of the case. However without a frame on that side it will be difficult. I'll probably need a powered fan hub if I add any more fans though.. We'll see.

I had the same idea and bought 4 X Fractal 50mm fans. I have some plans to mod the Sentry with Tempered glass window on the GPU side. Ill post my modding process here when i start. The only thing now is..Im waiting for my long run Sentry to arrive XD.
 
Yes, comes with feet. See here:


The feet you saw a few pages back are from Lian Li, see here:

Cool thanks! I feel like id want to get those, or some other larger feet. any reason cases like this dont have the gpu facing up? just because the extension would be longer? seems like itd make a lot more sense and you can still section off the case
 
Cool thanks! I feel like id want to get those, or some other larger feet. any reason cases like this dont have the gpu facing up? just because the extension would be longer? seems like itd make a lot more sense and you can still section off the case

Longer pci-e riser means more expensive riser, higher risk of errors on the pci-e bus and in effect more often performance drops.

If you turn the card this way you either have to make more room for the pci-e riser to bend on the card's end or you have to go with riser under the motherboard - you either need more space for the card or you have motherboard mounted higher meaning less space for the CPU cooler.

In current position we're saving quite a lot of space by the fact that pci-e slot of the card with its connection with the riser is getting into the area of motherboard which isn't restricted. It's also easier to mount it from the side that can be open - if it was to be facing upwards we would either have to make a bigger case just so you can maneuver the card inside the case, or we'd have to make some kind of huge contraption holding the card before being installed in case such as the one in RVZ01 that wouldn't be cheap to manufacture.
 
Hello everyone. I just found out about the Sentry and I'm absolutely thrilled since I've been looking for the smallest-possible PC case for quite a while now and the other options are all too big for my taste. It's unfortunate that it seems to be virtually impossible to get my hands on it at the moment, so if anyone wants to sell his/her case/spot, I'd be very much interested. Just contact me if you don't want/need yours anymore. Thank you! :)

As I said: It looks stunning. Great work.
 
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So where do you order the NH-L9 + the mounting kit?
The combo is coming out this summer I believe. The cooler I got from Amazon. If you have already bought the cooler and a Ryzen CPU and/or Motherboard, there's a form on Noctua's website linked in my previous post you can fill out to get the mounting kit for free. There's a link to the form on the bottom of that webpage.
 
USPS tracking has been saying Origin Post is Preparing Shipment for two weeks now, yet the Polish tracking has said that it's left Poland. I'm super excited for the case, but the conflicting tracking information has me a bit worried. If anyone has information about this, I would be incredibly greatful.
 
USPS tracking has been saying Origin Post is Preparing Shipment for two weeks now, yet the Polish tracking has said that it's left Poland. I'm super excited for the case, but the conflicting tracking information has me a bit worried. If anyone has information about this, I would be incredibly greatful.
I might have some peace-of-mind help for you. I am in the US Navy, and I have lived overseas for over four years now. I just moved from Hawaii to Japan last year, and I have extensive experience with overseas shipping. If something is shipped across an ocean and it goes by surface (say when I was in Hawaii and got stuff shipped from "the mainland"), it could take in some cases over a month to arrive (once it took a full two months). That's just the way it is, ships are slow. They're also the cheapest way to ship things across an ocean. I've also experienced shipping out here in Japan from the 'states. I'm quite used to USPS tracking not getting updated --ever. These shipments will take a little bit, but they will arrive. The other potential holdup is it could sit for a few days in the USA before updating to your final destination, awaiting customs to clear the package. This is normal, I've experienced that out here in Japan as well. I had stuff ship from Hong Kong direct to Japan, right across the East China Sea, and wait Japan customs for a few days before heading to me.

tldr: Shipping via surface (ship) across an ocean takes up to a month (or more), it'll arrive.

Hope this helps.
 
I might have some peace-of-mind help for you. I am in the US Navy, and I have lived overseas for over four years now. I just moved from Hawaii to Japan last year, and I have extensive experience with overseas shipping. If something is shipped across an ocean and it goes by surface (say when I was in Hawaii and got stuff shipped from "the mainland"), it could take in some cases over a month to arrive (once it took a full two months). That's just the way it is, ships are slow. They're also the cheapest way to ship things across an ocean. I've also experienced shipping out here in Japan from the 'states. I'm quite used to USPS tracking not getting updated --ever. These shipments will take a little bit, but they will arrive. The other potential holdup is it could sit for a few days in the USA before updating to your final destination, awaiting customs to clear the package. This is normal, I've experienced that out here in Japan as well. I had stuff ship from Hong Kong direct to Japan, right across the East China Sea, and wait Japan customs for a few days before heading to me.

tldr: Shipping via surface (ship) across an ocean takes up to a month (or more), it'll arrive.

Hope this helps.
Thanks man. This helps a lot. Now I'm not worried.
 
What bag would it fit for sentry? Or backpack maybe better
Their website says that the case should fit in a 17 inch laptop compartment of most bags.

Many, not most - in general you can check the laptop compartment dimensions of the bag and there are quite a lot of bags that are slightly smaller in one dimension but bigger in two other so the bag will stretch a bit. This doesn't count though for the bags reinforced with metal plate around the laptop.

As for backpacks, the same dimension check should work.
 
I've been looking at this http://www.magma-bags.de/produkte/digi-control-backpack-xl-e.php
But it's a fair bit bigger than it needs to be (even the node 202 could fit i think), so i'm also looking out for better options.

Your link is dead, mate. I also can't find that bag for sale anywhere.

An alternative, if you're spending $160 on that bag, is to get a Kriega Urban Messenger Drypack, for $30 more. It's pretty much bulletproof, will fit the sentry snugly with pockets for cables, and has add-on expansion if you want to haul more.
 
One advice: Get a Sentry before you will get a bag. Don't waste money if you are not sure if everything fits.
 
Received my NH-L9a from Amazon.de today and swiftly ordered my AM4 bracket from Noctua. Cannot wait to replace that cheap Akasa cooler, it is barely keeping up with my R7 1700. (But I just couldn't wait to assemble my AM4 Sentry :kiss:)

Will also look into replacing my R9 390 GPU sooner than later. 275W TDP are ... not optimal! ;) Will wait and see whether RX Vega cards will be any good. (Preferably a Nano version!)
 
I've made a ghetto home made bracket (figured that noctua's bracket might come faster than I'd get my custom made ones) and finished the build:

IMG_20170524_124852979.jpg IMG_20170524_125815105_HDR.jpg IMG_20170524_125834013_HDR.jpg IMG_20170524_133501468.jpg IMG_20170524_133518478.jpg IMG_20170524_140130323_HDR.jpg IMG_20170524_140227796_HDR.jpg

Works so far, but I need to figure out 'how to Ryzen' because monitoring CPU temps through ryzen master app seams like a mess to me and at the same time I've got quite a lot of things to setup on new system.

I've done some quick tests for the rig after system was installed. few notes:

1) 40~42 degrees on silent idle on that noctua, 30~31 degrees when PWM is disabled (yeah, that's by default on X370GTN... )
2) quite stable 47~48 degrees on 1080p windowed Heaven with 1070 FE. barely 8% of load on CPU (just heaven), while solidworks was being installed in the background at the same time.
3) switching context, starting new app, some M$ background stuff when idle, all of those can shortly spike up the clocks and the temps will raise up to 50~54 degrees before the fan catches up and load is balanced
4) XMP 3200 on my RipJaws doesn't boot on X370GTN, hopefully yet...

I think that for gaming 1700 might be overkill and 1600 should do the same job properly while putting huge cpu load on 1700 with NH-L9i might not be perfect.
 
I've been looking at this http://www.magma-bags.de/produkte/digi-control-backpack-xl-e.php3
But it's a fair bit bigger than it needs to be (even the node 202 could fit i think), so i'm also looking out for better options.
This is a tip for everyone. I strongly recommend getting the large MOBILE EDGE CANVAS BACKPACK (60$) they are made by the same people that make the alienware backpack but they are a lot cheaper. I have owned this backpack for more than a year and its very sturdy. It can handle everything. I had my 17.5inch ROG gaming laptop with the huge power brick inside and it fit just fine although not in the laptop compartment. This bag is not huge, so it actually looks very nice because it has a decent size while still being large enough to fit a 18 inch laptop. It will not fit too many things but centantly enoguh for your sentry and PC equipment plus 1 or 2 notebooks while still looking small. I has very standard look and doesn't scream expensive computer like the alienware backpacks. The material doesn't feel cheap and it has a lot of padding all around.

It's also eco friendly, if you care about saving the environment.

I do agree that you should get the backpack once you have your sentry and all its accessories and you are certain everything will fit (look at the dimensions on the website).
 
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