GHOST S1 - When both size & performance matters

Pachalski said:
Yes! Now more than ever!

Sorry for the long period of quietness. We are on track and working hard to keep our promis!
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Good to hear! Do you have a exact date for when the Kickstarter will launch or is it just July? Also, will the white version be part of the Kickstarter? And lastly, when will Sweclockers get their hands on it?
 
It would be better if you get a manufacture to collab with you and make it world wide available- share profites with someone big already known in pc cases game.
 
Ziths said:
Good to hear! Do you have a exact date for when the Kickstarter will launch or is it just July? Also, will the white version be part of the Kickstarter? And lastly, when will Sweclockers get their hands on it?
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No exact date for the kickstarter as of now, it is important everything happens in the right order and that the case gets reviewed before/during the campaign.
The proven high demand for the white version is keeping it in play even though it will be more expensive to manufacture. How much we will know soon and then be able to make the final decision.
Sweclockers will get it as soon as possible - no exact date yet
 
Calrez said:
It would be better if you get a manufacture to collab with you and make it world wide available- share profites with someone big already known in pc cases game.
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This would defiantly be an easier and probably more profitable way to go.

From the very beginning we have been convinced that the stand alone PC industry deserves to leverage new ways of designing and manufacturing. There are many new manufacturing techniques that are yet to be leveraged in the PC chassis design. For this to actually happen, making this paradigm shift, we need to put some skin in the game and take more risk.
 
In our “PAUSING FOR PERFECTION”-mail we said: “Take this opportunity to address all your feedback, update the product designs, get a new pre-production batch out of the factory, put it in the hands of reviewers…”

We have been busy bees the last couple of months delivering on that promise. After involving you guys in rehashing the feedback and the need for adjustments we have spent a month or so tweaking the constructional concept and finally locked it in. We are excited and proud of the solutions and are eagerly waiting to materialize them and present them to you as soon as we have them back from the drawing board. As swedes tend to go for long summer vacations we believe that we’ll have something to present in early August.

Our time plan ambitions now look as follows:
Aug: Detailed construction specification and Alpha Prototype
Sep: Final adjustments, Manufacturing specifications and pre-production batch
Oct: Reviewers and launch
 
I'm also interested in how things have progressed... Hopefully we can see a much better resolved solution.
 
Jonas Mellkvist said:
On Swedish forum he sayed Kickstarter in October and 8-10 weeks after KS ends delivery.

So February 2018 delivery i think
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Thanks for this, i don't use facebook so I never joined the group which they emailed out after cancelling the Kickstarter earlier this year.
 
Good to see you are holding us to what we said earlier!

The last couple of weeks have been hectic but we managed to send all the blueprints to the manufacturer before the weekend. Now awaiting the feedback for a final review meeting on Wednesday before we order the new Alpha-prototype. The purpose of that unit will be to test everything in practice, both in terms of functionality and performance. It will be a CNC milled version without surface treatments, so don't expect a beauty.

After the review meeting on Wednesday we will be able to start sharing the details of the updated design. Some features have been radically changed but the overall dimensions and format are roughly the same.
 
Pachalski said:
Good to see you are holding us to what we said earlier!

The last couple of weeks have been hectic but we managed to send all the blueprints to the manufacturer before the weekend. Now awaiting the feedback for a final review meeting on Wednesday before we order the new Alpha-prototype. The purpose of that unit will be to test everything in practice, both in terms of functionality and performance. It will be a CNC milled version without surface treatments, so don't expect a beauty.

After the review meeting on Wednesday we will be able to start sharing the details of the updated design. Some features have been radically changed but the overall dimensions and format are roughly the same.
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Thanks for the update, looking forward to seeing what you guys have come up with.
 
A rendering of the smallest and the largest model.

ghosts3.png
 
just out of curiosity.. what made you change the design to have the power button and indicator there?
before it was on the top of the case if i am not mistaken.
does it mean with the tophats that only the usb moves up?
also i didn't think there were any issues before having the button on top so i am wondering why it has been changed.
wondering if this could lead to better cable management.
 
power button on the front is a no no
unless you redesign it and put couple of usb 3.0/usb c ports one on each side of the power button- kinda similar to the ncase
but still prefer the old look tbh
 
busterben said:
just out of curiosity.. what made you change the design to have the power button and indicator there?
before it was on the top of the case if i am not mistaken.
does it mean with the tophats that only the usb moves up?
also i didn't think there were any issues before having the button on top so i am wondering why it has been changed.
wondering if this could lead to better cable management.
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This has to do with the updated design, it does not allow for a top mounted power button that moves up with the TopHats. We will start going through the updates in a couple of minutes where this will become more clear. Cable management is also slightly better this way.
 
Calrez said:
power button on the front is a no no
unless you redesign it and put couple of usb 3.0/usb c ports one on each side of the power button- kinda similar to the ncase
but still prefer the old look tbh
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Sorry to hear, some say they like it.
 
Time to go through the updated design. The Alpha-prototype has been ordered and we are eagerly awaiting to hold, test and feel it.

We still have some possibilities to adjust certain aspects and are happy to hear what you all think. However, every adjustment at this stage will need to be carefully assessed before implemented. Be honest and direct but also aware of the implications.

We start with a fundamental change, the adjustment of the outer shell. One of the early challenges we set out to overcome was to create something small that also provided a fast and easy build experience. The solution was a self-supporting inner “Spine”. After we gained some new perspective we thought “It is made from beautiful material using advanced manufacturing methods, why cover this beauty up?”. So the outer shell layer is now ditched. A bonus side-effect is that this increases the inner volume by eliminating the additional layer of material.

The front and rear gable, as well as the side panels are manufactured using extrusion. This allows for a rigid and nifty locking mechanism in the corners of the construction. The side panels now slide down into the spine, together they form the outer shell.

sidepanel.png

sidepanelbw.png
 
Pachalski said:
This has to do with the updated design, it does not allow for a top mounted power button that moves up with the TopHats. We will start going through the updates in a couple of minutes where this will become more clear. Cable management is also slightly better this way.
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thanks for the reply
i am peeved to see as to why it cant move up with the rest like the usb front io
so i am going to hold comment and wait when it becomes more clear.

i do love the redesign on the other shell!
 
Spine


The spine has been updated in several ways, it is now composed from three main components, a front gable, a blade and a back gable.

* Blade is made from steel
* The spine has been widened thanks to the elimination of the outer shell
* Magnets have been integrated in the top of the gables that hold down the Grill or keep the TopHat in place during build before it is screwed in place
* Standoffs are now stainless and pressed in place in production
* The PSU bracket has been slightly redesigned and strengthened
* The wall thickness of the gables has been slightly increased – all in all resulting in a stronger construction

spinerender.png


spinebw.png
 
These look really nice! The only question I have is if you have thought about making an matx version too? I am not sure if that would be SFF though. Cant wait to see the prototypes!
 
Gulvan said:
These look really nice! The only question I have is if you have thought about making an matx version too? I am not sure if that would be SFF though. Cant wait to see the prototypes!
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One of the key factors that is allowing us to manufacture the case using these materials and methods is the relatively small size of the case. mATX motherboards are significantly larger (+100%?), making a case that would house an mATX MB and that was made using the same materials and methods as the Ghost would imply significant cost increases.

I'm not saying no but rather that it would probably mean a fundamental redesign of the case and possibly the layout.
 
Pachalski What's your current stance on a White version, as I know you mentioned a while back it may only be Black and Silver at launch?
 
Hudbox said:
Pachalski What's your current stance on a White version, as I know you mentioned a while back it may only be Black and Silver at launch?
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Hudbox painting is not really an option anymore as we have chosen the slide in side panels, paint is not precise enough and will leave scratch marks etc. The only option we are left with is to anodize and die the the material. To our knowledge there is one manufacturer in the world that can anodize and create a white color. This it is a more expensive surface treatment but we have not given up on it yet, we are negotiering with them right now!
 
TopHats

The construction of the TopHats has been updated in line with the spine and side panels. They are constructed out of 4 components and screwed together in the corners. Vertical screws lock the TopHats down to the spine. Just like the spine, the TopHats will have magnets that hold the grill in place. An additional set of magnets is found in the bottom of the TopHats that create a preliminary locking and simplifies assembly.

tophat2.png

tophatbw.png
 
The updated design will potentially allow for the TopHats to be mounted both in the top as well as in the bottom thanks to the symmetry. As a result of this change we don’t want to keep the IO in the top because it would be another thing that needs to be removed when opening the case - hence the front mounted PWR button and PWR LED.

The new build process is as follows: Put all components in, slide down side panels, throw on the TopHat, screw it in place and lastly add the grill. Not a huge trade-off, considering one might not need to screw the side panels in place thanks to the TopHat holding them down, for the possibility to slap a some pants on the Ghost.

The USBs will consequently been ditched all together, a tough call, but with workarounds in place and wireless solutions becoming more and more popular (joy-pads etc.) this should not be a deal breaker for everyone. What's your opinion?

Ones we have the first prototype in our hands this will all be thoroughly tested and evaluated. With some fan less PSUs appearing on the market the possibility to put case fans in the bottom might be very useful!?
 
I love the absence of front usb ports. It's so clean and pretty that way.

Wouldn't be better to incorporate the light above the power button into the button itself?
 
Calysto said:
I love the absence of front usb ports. It's so clean and pretty that way.

Wouldn't be better to incorporate the light above the power button into the button itself?
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This is defiantly possible, in our opinion the small light on top looks better though. What does the rest of you say?
 
While I prefer the aesthetics of a clean front, I feel I have to mention one point. In your original spec's you had USB and HDMI on the top front end, VERY useful for VR setups (e.g. HTC Vive). Omitting this will be a kick in the balls for people planning on a living room VR setup.
 
eggDK said:
While I prefer the aesthetics of a clean front, I feel I have to mention one point. In your original spec's you had USB and HDMI on the top front end, VERY useful for VR setups (e.g. HTC Vive). Omitting this will be a kick in the balls for people planning on a living room VR setup.
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For VR users an S-TopHat with HDMI and USBs could be a reasonable add-on!?
 
Dra1c said:
no USB is not viable
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This decision is not final but has been discussed for a long time within the team. Some of the arguments supporting the removal of USBs are:
- A cleaner look
- Tough to get it to work with the TopHats
- Alternative placements steel volume in places already used and might force us to increase the size
- Many keyboards and monitors already have integrated USB ports
- Changing standards could render the USB useless in a couple of years leaving a nasty scar on the case that screams "old"
- Less cables on the inside
 
We have been told the prototype will be here in Stockholm on Wednesday next week.

What is the Hard-community interested to see in terms of testing?

- Temps?
- Thermal imaging?
- Noise?
- Different configurations?
 
Pachalski said:
We have been told the prototype will be here in Stockholm on Wednesday next week.

What is the Hard-community interested to see in terms of testing?

- Temps?
- Thermal imaging?
- Noise?
- Different configurations?
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Pachalski

Yes - CPU, GPU, RAM, VRM, & (especially) both front-mounted & rear-mounted M.2 NVMe SSD temps...!
Yes
Yes
Yes - Would love to see a custom loop with CPU & GPU; 240mm radiator & dual 120mm x 25mm fans up top (exhaust), 120mm x 25mm fan bottom back (intake, feeding fresh air over motherboard to cool VRM, RAM & M.2), forward bottom section for pump / reservoir combo (thinking EKWB 5 1/4" drive bay sized DDC combo, maybe facing GPU side & actually visible from exterior / mounted into 'Bottom Hat' side panel)... The single pump version of the EKWB DDC combo would allow room for cables since it is not as deep as the dual DDC pump combo version... Getting the plumbing clean would be the trick...

The real trick would be to just PACK the chassis with an ASRock X299 'Little Monster' mobo, i9 CPU, Titan Xp, 800w Silverstone SFX-L PSU, custom water cooling loop (see above) & custom length cables...!

18-cores / 32-threads, 64GB RAM, 2TB RAID 5, Titan Xp, 800w of power; with a custom loop...? Crazy...!

Maybe an Extreme Top Hat, able to fit a 60mm thick 240mm radiator & four 120mm x 25mm fans in push / pull...!?!
 
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