SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

My build so far 1700@stock, Ripjaws 3600@3200 stable, Gigabyte AB350N. Cooled with T318 with Noctua's A12x15.
So.. The Gigabyte board. I'm ok with RAM running @ 3200. Due to horrible voltage controll, I didn't manage to get anywhere with OCing the 1700. It runs stable @ stock, temps under load max out at 64*C. I need to play a bit with mounting pressure and I think I'm switching to normal thermal paste instead of liquid metal to see what difference it makes and well, I really am not sure if I applied it correctly.
 
Need some more advice please, I've got an msi gtx 1080 aero 8g oc and the temps can easily reach 94c or 95c while gaming. If I were to purchase a founders edition cooler and attach it to the gtx 1080 aero, would this help with temperature issues or not? And would this even be possible or worthwhile for my build?
 
Need some more advice please, I've got an msi gtx 1080 aero 8g oc and the temps can easily reach 94c or 95c while gaming. If I were to purchase a founders edition cooler and attach it to the gtx 1080 aero, would this help with temperature issues or not? And would this even be possible or worthwhile for my build?

Check if the fan spins. There have been a couple reports of that particular card coming with the fan somehow not plugged in, but the card still reporting fan speed to the system, which is mind-boggling.

If that's not the case, then yes, replacing the cooler with a FE cooler should be both possible and better performing.
 
Honestly I don't remember what they were before, it was probably a month or two ago. I sealed it up almost immediately when I built my system in Sentry. But generally you can get 5C to maybe 10C better for both cpu and gpu. But more than just lowering temps it creates positive pressure, forcing exhaust out as well as helping keep dust out.

It is possible to go overboard with sealing up the fans and case vents. I'm still tinkering with a Lian Li pc-q01 case to find what works best. Too much positive pressure leads to really noisy fans that don't actually move much air because you reach their static pressure limit.

The mock ducting I did following your method Ej24 helped CPU temps ~5 degrees C and 1080Ti gpu boost clock ~100MHz (from around 1500MHz to around 1600MHz).
 
Need some more advice please, I've got an msi gtx 1080 aero 8g oc and the temps can easily reach 94c or 95c while gaming. If I were to purchase a founders edition cooler and attach it to the gtx 1080 aero, would this help with temperature issues or not? And would this even be possible or worthwhile for my build?

You can get a 1080 FE cooler on ebay for $30. Don't pay much more than that though. It's usually people selling them after watercooling so they're usually barely even used. I got one for $30 and put it on a 1070 FE for a friend. Much better than the original 1070 FE cooler. The vapor chamber is what makes it as good as it is. I almost bought the same card you have until I found it didn't have a vapor chamber.
 
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Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

This week packages from 5th shipment were finally taken by transport companies. We sent almost all of them and could start assembling process of cases for 6th transport.


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We sped up some things with accessory boxes for this transport and now they are ready. Tomorrow we will start screwing steel Sentry bodies and preparing everything for another packaging process.


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We were usually sending one colour in each transport (alternately), but this one will be different. This time we have some Sentry cases in black colour, some in white, some black and some white double packs and also several mixed black+white packages. It means that logistics process will be a little bit more complicated. We will let you know how it went :)

Please also remember about sharing with us and with other backers an information about the condition of delivered packages. We are gathering this data to improve future shipments. Thank you.
 
Exactly how universal is a 1080 FE cooler? Wouldn't mind slapping it onto my 1060 ftw+ that I should have bought as a blower style.


The case badge numbers are randomized right?

I assumed they went according to our order number which was offset by the many people who refunded.
 
Still kicking myself for canceling my order. Thought I’d chime in and see if anyone had one (or an extra) for sale. :D
 
Exactly how universal is a 1080 FE cooler? Wouldn't mind slapping it onto my 1060 ftw+ that I should have bought as blower style.

Hmmmm. I know that the 1080 and 1070 have the same reference PCB, and I wouldn't be surprised if the 1060 did as well...

However, I do know that the FTW+ series, as good as they are, don't use a reference PCB, so I'm afraid you're probably SOL.
 
Jeeze. If this is you staying positive, I surely don't want to see it when you decide to whine.

Let's face it: Australia gets screwed. No two ways about it. Why are you taking out your frustrations at your own customs bureau on the people who are working so hard to bring you what's pretty much the perfect SFF case? (At least in a lot of our eyes, and I'm willing to bet yours as well, since you bought one.)

It's been explained that the 'estimated delivery date' got changed over from what it was when the campaign started: 'estimated start of shipping.' It's also been made VERY clear on the forums and elsewhere exactly what the schedule is for shipping, and it has been since the start of the campaign. There was even an infographic covering exactly that.

As for how much it costs... Did you forget that you live in Australia? You're gonna get screwed, both on shipping time and expense. That's not the fault of the people making the product, it's the fault of teutonic plates moving you guys way the hell out in the middle of nowhere.

Sorry that you're frustrated, but put that frustration where blame is due:

Either go yell at your government or at the ground beneath your feet.
Two months on and I'm lead to believe that my case shipped as my Indiegogo order details change to "Fulfilled" over the weekend and I received a Sentry shipping information email.

I read your unboxing and build and happy for you that you got yours all up and working. It's increasingly frustrating reading builds though and I gave up visiting the forums a month ago so for me the positivity has gone, I've yelled at my government and the ground beneath my feet as you suggested and looking back at my post my ETA of October with a 6-8 week delivery from now will be very close.

Maybe it's an omen to have waited so long as the 6-core Coffee Lake CPU is scheduled to be released next month and motherboards on the Z370 chipset in September, hopefully an M-ITX one at about the same time my case arrives.

Probably won't visit the thread much now till my case arrives mid to late September due to frustration.
 
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Exactly how universal is a 1080 FE cooler? Wouldn't mind slapping it onto my 1060 ftw+ that I should have bought as a blower style.

.


1080 and 1070 are interchangeable because they're based on the same silicon. They're both GP104. The 1060 is GP106 so it's not likely to be compatible. The few reference blower 1060's Nvidia made have short pcb's not even close in size to the 1070/1080.

Are you having gpu or cpu temperature issues?
 
OT:

Anyone from third batch in west coast started to receive their packages?

Local USPS folks have no info.
 
White case arrived in mint condition. Plastic on outside was very slightly torn. East coast US. Ohio. Pics and mods will follow.

Seconding this. East coast, Indiana. First white batch. Package arrived with slight tearing of plastic and one small ballpoint pen sized hole. Did not get farther than the outer cardboard layer.
 
Two months on and I'm lead to believe that my case shipped as my Indiegogo order details change to "Fulfilled" over the weekend and I received a Sentry shipping information email.

I read your unboxing and build and happy for you that you got yours all up and working. It's increasingly frustrating reading builds though and I gave up visiting the forums a month ago so for me the positivity has gone, I've yelled at my government and the ground beneath my feet as you suggested and looking back at my post my ETA of October with a 6-8 week delivery from now will be very close.

Maybe it's an omen to have waited so long as the 6-core Coffee Lake CPU is scheduled to be released next month and motherboards on the Z370 chipset in September, hopefully an M-ITX one at about the same time my case arrives.

Probably won't visit the thread much now till my case arrives mid to late September due to frustration.

Fair enough. I can certainly understand the frustration, and I'm sorry to hear about it.

Hopefully the cargo ship has a fair tailwind on its way to you. :)
 
1080 and 1070 are interchangeable because they're based on the same silicon. They're both GP104. The 1060 is GP106 so it's not likely to be compatible. The few reference blower 1060's Nvidia made have short pcb's not even close in size to the 1070/1080.

Are you having gpu or cpu temperature issues?

I'm just a bit anxious with this card and how it will fare in the Sentry. Not entirely impressed but I may mod the case anyway like you so we'll just wait and see. I'm so new to this stuff, though, so I'm likely pretty naive.
 
I got my Sentry from the first white batch last week, and just finished migrating! It looks amazing and performs fine with my specs. It's unit 24!

Here's what I've got running in mine:

CPU: i5 6500
GPU: GTX 1060 Turbo (Asus blower-style card)
Mobo: MSI B150I (Note that the USB header on this mobo conflicts with the psu-side hard drive, and it takes a ton of work to jam it all in correctly)
Drives: 480GB ADATA ssd + 2TB Seagate HDD
PSU: 450W Bronze SFX
RAM: 16GB (2x8 DDR4)

It's nothing too fancy but it runs most of the stuff I throw at it just fine. Mostly used for PUBG, Quartus, and Solidworks :)

imgur mirror of album: http://imgur.com/a/pIgPk

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Thanks Dr. Zaber! This case is pretty swaggin. Everything fits nicely together and it's clearly well planned out.
 
GLS is really bad at updating their status. I've got 10 status messages for the same location of which 5 are "parcel reached" and the other 5 are "Parcel left" and I got 2 status messages that say "The parcel has reached the location GLS \ 3B the parcel label is not readable.". I hope my Sentry is OK.
 
Hey Guys!, so I was in the first batch of black Sentry's (number 019), but of course had to leave for work for 5 weeks and my Sentry arrived 3 days after I left. Had some tearing on the plastic and a small hole on the outer box but no damage to the case box. I'll add to the praise of how nice the packaging and packing of the case is.
Finally got the build done and man was it a doozy. SFF building is a challenge and the Sentry was a challenge but not impossible. It was easier than the silverstone ML08B I had before simply because the build quality in the Sentry is so good, i didnt have anything misaligning. Doing the GPU riser was a little tricky just to get it in place but everyone here on the forums has been helpful with their tips and experience, so it only took a few minutes to wrap my head around it and then there was no problem. My GPU and CPU are even getting better temps than in the ML08B. I think that's due to better vent placement and not having a sub structure that obstructs cpu ventilation.
Overall, really great build, exceptional case, and cant wait to use it for years to come.

If anyone has custom cable lengths they think will fit my system, please let me know.

CPU: i7-7700K (Delid)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake LP53 w/ Noctua Fan
MOBO: Asrock z270i Fatal1ty
RAM: 32GB
PSU: Corsair SF600
GPU: GTX 1080 FE
SSD: 1TB M.2 Crucial
HDD: 2TB Seagate Firecuda

Thanks again!

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Hey guys,

I have been watching this tread for a long time and I just wanted to make an account so that I could post an update and hopefully help some of you waiting for your cases.

My order ID in indiegogo is 191 and I just retrieved my case from USPS in Texas, United States. They tried to deliver it yesterday but there was no one home to receive it.

My case was on the second shipment (first batch of white sentry cases) and it took 8 weeks to arrive at my house from the time it was shipped from Poland (May 29th)

Here is an imgur link that shows what the tracking currently looks like and the condition of the box - http://imgur.com/a/bytjr

Do note that USPS hasn't updated the tracking just yet as I retrieved it about an hour ago and for some reason it no longer shows the entire log from when it left and then arrived on the east coast. As for the box, there is no damage, just the plastic is torn in a few places and the edges are a little rough.

Anyways, I hope this helps a lot of you guys who are wondering how long it will take to to get yours. Just be patient, is on its way (or will be soon :) )

One more thing, I will be building out my new system this weekend in this case. Once is done I will post here again with a small and simple build log.
 
My Sentry from 5th batch just arrived (The netherlands). The inner and outer box are in perfect condition but there was no black bag around the outer box. I will post pictures of the Sentry sometime this week.

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My Sentry from 6th batch just arrived (The netherlands). The inner and outer box are in perfect condition but there was no black bag around the outer box. I will post pictures of the Sentry sometime this week.

Packages sent to EU aren't wrapped with black stretch foil (we informed about it in one of our updates). Thanks to that you can see if the package was damaged by the hooks, dropped from a height or something similar happened to it. Packages for non-EU countries are still being wrapped with the black foil, because they are usually going in a long trip on an ocean, so it will be additional barrier against moisture.

p.s. Your package is still from 1st batch (all from indiegogo campaign are) but 5th transport. Units for 6th transport are being assembled right now.
 
Packages sent to EU aren't wrapped with black stretch foil (we informed about it in one of our updates). Thanks to that you can see if the package was damaged by the hooks, dropped from a height or something similar happened to it. Packages for non-EU countries are still being wrapped with the black foil, because they are usually going in a long trip on an ocean, so it will be additional barrier against moisture.

p.s. Your package is still from 1st batch but 5th transport. Units for 6th transport are being assembled right now.

You are right, misscounted the transports. There is just a small crack on one of the cardboard flaps but it hasn't damaged the inner box or the foam.
 
You are right, misscounted the transports. There is just a small crack on one of the cardboard flaps but it hasn't damaged the inner box or the foam.

Better open it and check if everything is ok. Courier companies aren't treating well those packages and some people reported that their boxes were obviously thrown from some big height, which could make some internal damage. Just please check it and let us know if everything is ok.
 
SaperPL and ZombiPL. I have some design questions regarding thermals.

I have a blower (founder edition) 1080Ti. I know cooling it isn't perfect in Sentry.

However, would it be beneficial to seal off the GPU chamber from the CPU and PSU? (I have a 7700k CPU). Logic says yes, but I would like some professional perspective.

Also! What about taping off the rear vent holes (near the rear IO of the GPU) and building a sort of fan shroud from the intake holes right above the GPU intake straight to the fan?

I have done some of my own testing with mixed results. So I'm wondering if you guys have conducted tests already.

Thanks!!! :)
 
SaperPL and ZombiPL. I have some design questions regarding thermals.

I have a blower (founder edition) 1080Ti. I know cooling it isn't perfect in Sentry.

However, would it be beneficial to seal off the GPU chamber from the CPU and PSU? (I have a 7700k CPU). Logic says yes, but I would like some professional perspective.

Also! What about taping off the rear vent holes (near the rear IO of the GPU) and building a sort of fan shroud from the intake holes right above the GPU intake straight to the fan?

I have done some of my own testing with mixed results. So I'm wondering if you guys have conducted tests already.

Thanks!!! :)

You can absolutely seal off each area (however by default it's already pretty sealed off with pci cable and psu cables), but will probably depend on your system if it makes a difference. Ej24 has experience creating positive pressure in his cases and has had improments. I also suggest removing your I/O shield if you do crest a shroud for the CPU fan so you can exhaust as much hot air as possible.
 
SaperPL and ZombiPL:

I just saw this amazing case through some builds from other people. For those that missed the IndieGOGO campaign, how / when can we contribute to the funding for another round of these cases? Really interested in building a small form factor PC and have been waiting for a case like this forever.

Thanks for your time and work.

Grant Kao
 
So, I finally got the rest of my parts in today and managed to finish up my Sentry. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results. Below are photos of the build and the specs:

Specs

CPU: AMD Ryzen 1700
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5
MOBO: ASRock Fatal1ty x370 Gaming-ITX/ac
MEM: G.Skill Flare X Series 16GB DDR4-3200
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Reference Cooler
PSU: Corsair SF600 with custom CableMod cables.
SSD: Western Digital Blue 1TB M.2
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
SATA Cable: Silverstone CP11 SATA Cable
FANS: 2x Noctua NF-A4x10


Cable Sizes

24 Pin ATX - 350mm
8 Pin EPS - 450 mm
6 + 2 Pin PCI-E - 300mm
SATA Power - 300mm


Prep Work

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Installing the RAM

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Installing the 1TB SSD

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It's always important to test everything outside of the case first just to make sure all is working. And yes I know my desk is a mess enjoy finding all the little things in it.


Installation

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Everything installed in the case. I didn't have much issues from the case. The USB cable is super long, but I understand other motherboards have it in other spots. The Corsair cables were terrible to work with. (This will be fixed) You can see I didn't use the bracket and instead installed my 500GB SATA SSD in front of my GTX 980. You can also see the fat SATA cable on the top of the rat nest of cables.

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After pulling everything back out of the case I installed my CPU Cooler, which allowed me to finally close up my case for the first time. Though it wouldn't stay closed for long.

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As I would be getting CableMod cables for my PSU. You can also see my SSD in this photo.

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Not only can you see how I used the PCIe riser to route all my cables, but you can also see I replaced that fat SATA cable with an ultra-small Silverstone SATA cable.

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This probably wasn't necessary, though I figured why not. I put some weather sealing tape around the fan of the GPU to guide the air from the outside of the case into the GPU. (Edit: I ended up removing this as it wasn't doing anything for temps.)

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You can see the sizes on the cables weren't perfect, but I would rather have extra than too little. On the plus side these cables were MUCH easier to manage than the ones that came with the power supply.

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Similar to what I did with the GPU, but now with the CPU. The idea here is to force the CPU to pull air from outside the case instead of recirculating air inside the case. I later wrapped the outside of the weather sealing tape in heat resistant tape to hold it all together. (Edit: I moved the weather sealing to the top of the case.)

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I also added 2 additional 40 mm Noctua fans at the bottom to blow additional air up through the RAM and over the VRMs. (Edit: Connected both of these to the Chassis Fan 1 connector with a splitter seeing as the second fan connector is PWM only with no DC control. I have these on silent mode based on the CPU temp as they are rather noisy.)


Conclusion

So for temperatures I'm sitting around 44C while typing this up, 58C while running Aida64 and around 55C while playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. All in all I'm loving the new case and I'm not done quite yet. I intend to install an RGB power button and maybe even an RGB strip to shine through the vent holes. My PCB design that converts common anode to common cathode for the RGB power button was just sent to fab so I should get it in maybe next week. I will try to clean up my desk in the next few days to take a picture of my Sentry with everything done.

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Dang, nice job you did there.

What is the width and thickness of the tape you used?
 
So, I finally got the rest of my parts in today and managed to finish up my Sentry. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results. Below are photos of the build and the specs:

Nice build log. One thing that came to my mind - I'm not sure if sealing intake to blower fan is a good idea because you're limiting the airflow from the outside to the area directly under the blower intake (which is limited by the area of perforation), while it could take the air from the sides as well. This of course depends on how much of heat is radiated to the air around the card.
 
SaperPL and ZombiPL:

I just saw this amazing case through some builds from other people. For those that missed the IndieGOGO campaign, how / when can we contribute to the funding for another round of these cases? Really interested in building a small form factor PC and have been waiting for a case like this forever.

Thanks for your time and work.

Grant Kao

Hey man, I'm in the same spot. From what I've heard, they're sending out cases to every backer at the moment, so they won't be up for sale until all orders have been fulfilled. I've heard estimates of around september, but obviously can't vouch for any of those.
 
Nice build log. One thing that came to my mind - I'm not sure if sealing intake to blower fan is a good idea because you're limiting the airflow from the outside to the area directly under the blower intake (which is limited by the area of perforation), while it could take the air from the sides as well. This of course depends on how much of heat is radiated to the air around the card.

I am wondering this as well. Looks like I'm going to be doing some testing.
 
StevenMattera - One more thing - you should use black M3x6 screws for the front panel USB header as well - the same ones used for the case cover and GPU compartment bracket.
 
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