DNK-H Thin Mini-ITX PC case on Indiegogo

[rawrr]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dnk-h-thin-mini-itx-pc-case

Not my project; only sharing because it looks interesting.

This guy's fundraising for his own custom HTPC case. It takes thin-ITX boards. What's interesting about this particularly is that he's got a custom cooling solution for the CPU which is integrated into the case. He's also got a custom PSU too, which is 150W (enough for a GPU-less system).

It certainly looks very attractive - a mix of polycarbonate parts and aluminum. Not too expensive either - $76 for the base model, $126 with the aluminum top.

Oh yeah , and it's small: 200 х 200 х 53 mm, or 2.12 L.

He's looking for $46 000, and has 30 days left. I hope he makes it; the case looks really promising.

 

[Aibohphobia]

Injection molding is expensive so I'm pretty sure they're just selling an existing chassis because $46,000 seems way to low to cover the cost of molds and developing a custom PSU.

Maybe I'm wrong but just my $0.02.

 

[SaperPL]

It looks interesting but is there really a market for crowdfunding such a case? I mean if you want to go for gaming you'll need a dedicated gpu and if you only need it as htpc you could go for NUC.

I like the idea of internal brick though.

 

[Zap]

Injection molding is expensive so I'm pretty sure they're just selling an existing chassis because $46,000 seems way to low to cover the cost of molds and developing a custom PSU.

Don't know about the PSU. My initial thought would be that they take an existing part and slightly mod it. Also, don't a lot of the thin ITX boards have integrated PSUs?

For injection molding, tooling is the high cost. I think the cost can range depending on size and complexity. Trying to remember from years ago, but I think to customize a case face ran around $20,000.

Of course the unit price after that was very good.

 

[Phuncz]

Yeah the $46,000 seems unreasonably low for the kind of mass-production manufacturing that this seems to have. Unless he is planning on having them all 3D-printed in a very high quality, but those circles on the black plastic part seem to indicate injection molding, meaning he already has the moulds.

So it's a good assumption Aibohphobia made, that it's an existing chassis.

But this case seems superfluous, 150W PSU is about a 100W more than needed, considering the cooling and the single 2,5" drive. What use is that power to drive an i7-4790K when the cooling is only capable of keeping it below 90°C with the fan at 100% ? This wil be best used with a T-series CPU so you can actually enjoy it without a loud fan. $76 (for plastic one) still seems like a steal for a case like this with a PSU though.

Don't know about the PSU. My initial thought would be that they take an existing part and slightly mod it. Also, don't a lot of the thin ITX boards have integrated PSUs?

Yes, from DC 19V to 12V and 3.3V, but not from AC 110V-230V to DC 19V, that's what the PSU is about.

 

[rawrr]

It looks interesting but is there really a market for crowdfunding such a case? I mean if you want to go for gaming you'll need a dedicated gpu and if you only need it as htpc you could go for NUC.

You have a point, but lots of people do still seem to build their own HTPCs. I suppose that this case offers more customization (to an extent), and (imo) looks nicer than a NUC.

Don't know about the PSU. My initial thought would be that they take an existing part and slightly mod it. Also, don't a lot of the thin ITX boards have integrated PSUs?

For injection molding, tooling is the high cost. I think the cost can range depending on size and complexity. Trying to remember from years ago, but I think to customize a case face ran around $20,000.

Of course the unit price after that was very good.

The PSU that they're talking about is the AC-DC unit. Yes, thin ITX boards do have integrated DC-DC, but this is basically taking an external brick and putting inside the case.

 

[raymondo]

Looks decent in his video.
A bit like an aftermarket Mac Mini case though far too plasticy...plasticky...too much plastic.

 

[rawrr]

Looks decent in his video.
A bit like an aftermarket Mac Mini case though far too plasticy...plasticky...too much plastic.

Lots of plastic... but it's also only $76. I think the aluminum top cover does compliment it a lot though.

 

[iFreilicht]

I think its awesome! It's small, looks clean and has a built-in PSU, basically the thin mITX case of my dreams

Keep in mind, guys, this thing comes from Russia, labour cost is probably pretty cheap there, so manufacturing cost may not be as high as we think it is.
Still, that low of a price for everything? The case is not the only thing to be manufactured here, the CPU heatsink, fan, front panel PCB and the PSU are completely custom made for this case. Maybe they've already financed the tooling themselves as they seem to have a completely finished prototype already.

I'd love this to become funded, but I don't really have any need for it. I want a dedicated GPU in my system.

 

[tkuhs]

Thanks for sharing. I love the size, looks and internal PSU. The only thing worries me is the ID-Cooling fan, my previous experience with ID-Cooling wasn't the best. But replacing it should be possible without too much modding I guess.

if the campaign is successful, I'll share some impressions of the case with the aluminium top

 

[Phuncz]

I don't think the cooler is easily replaced with another type:

Considering the very strict dimensions and integrated fan, it's going to be difficult to find an alternative.

 

[woodoodm]

Thank's for sharing our project! Right questions, right answers here )

I don't think the cooler is easily replaced with another type.
Considering the very strict dimensions and integrated fan, it's going to be difficult to find an alternative.

I just want add my one cent to protect ID-Cooling fan It's a standard one. 75 x 11 mm, with 40 mm mounting holes. Ball bearing. We test it for a several months with high load. And we found no changes in it.

 

[JoanTheSpark]

... ID-Cooling fan It's a standard one. 75 x 11 mm, with 40 mm mounting holes. Ball bearing..

Hi woodoo, any chance for a link to that fan please?
Would like to read it's specs if available. Thanks!

 

[woodoodm]

Typically, these fans, are used to cool the GPUs:
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20150524070310&SearchText=75+mm+fan
Specs are: dementions 75 x 11 mm, 1200-4200 prm PWM controlled, ball bearing.
They don't sold fan separately in the market. They use it with there GPU cooling systems before. We agreed with them, about the change PWM characteristics from 1200-4200 to 900-4200 prm.

 

[fitzy89]

Hi all, sorry to drag up a old thread but as I have first hand experience with these cases, I wanted to share my experiences.

In March of this year I purchased 4 of these cases for a client of mine to build into some nice office computers. The company were migrating away from Macs, so the design of these cases fit perfectly with my client's aesthetic preferences.

At the time, only the white plastic version was available, I see now they also offer a aluminium version which I will be ordering two more of shortly. The white plastic version is of the highest quality, the moulding is perfect with no marks or seam lines from the moulding process. The plastic is solid and feels very well made, it feels like a very premium product so don't be put off by the fact it is made of plastic.

I chose to use a Asrock Q1900TM-ITX motherboard with a onboard Intel J1900 quad-core Celeron CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hybrid hard drive (SSHD). This motherboard is fanless by design so had a heatsink pre-attached, I had to change this for the custom heatsink which was included with the case, it fits perfectly. With a low power system like this heat was never a concern so in the BIOS of the motherboard I set the lowest speed for the 4 pin CPU fan in the case, anything more than this was clearly audible which would be my only main complaint about the case. The new version apparently has a much better and quieter CPU fan, I will let you know when I receive the latest version and test this out. A couple of other minor improvements I can think of would be the length of the wifi antenna cables and front panel cables which I found to be fairly short and it made it awkward to put the connectors on (particularly the u.FL connectors used on the antennas) while assembling the case, but it is possible with a bit of patience.

My client has now had the systems for 8 months and they have been flawless and the spec I chose is perfect for general office work including web browsing, email and working with documents and spreadsheets, even photo editing as well. One thing to keep an eye on though is the dust build up within the case, they do tend to suck in a bit of dust through the bottom rear vent which will need checking now and then but that's the same with any case really, these ones are used in a garden center which is a fairly harsh environment for any computer with the dust and humidity but these have held up well so far.

I did initially have problems ordering from Luna Design because Paypal would not allow me to send a payment to them in Russia which they deem a "high risk" country, Paypal held my payment for over 3 weeks while still making excuses not to send it so I gave up on that idea and Luna Design allowed me to order directly from their manufacturer in China (Kingta) which was much easier and quicker. Once I had ordered from China, the cases cleared customs and arrived in 6 working days which was nice. I am in United Kingdom for those who were wondering. As Luna Design was a new company and the case looked amazing compared to other cases of that size I was unsure of ordering at first, but I took a risk and they turned out perfectly.

I would highly recommend the DNK-H cases from Luna Design and will be ordering some of the aluminium ones in the next few days. Once I have received those I will update on the CPU noise once I have built the systems.

 

[VirtualBalboa]

Hi all, sorry to drag up a old thread but as I have first hand experience with these cases, I wanted to share my experiences.

In March of this year I purchased 4 of these cases for a client of mine to build into some nice office computers. The company were migrating away from Macs, so the design of these cases fit perfectly with my client's aesthetic preferences.

At the time, only the white plastic version was available, I see now they also offer a aluminium version which I will be ordering two more of shortly. The white plastic version is of the highest quality, the moulding is perfect with no marks or seam lines from the moulding process. The plastic is solid and feels very well made, it feels like a very premium product so don't be put off by the fact it is made of plastic.

I chose to use a Asrock Q1900TM-ITX motherboard with a onboard Intel J1900 quad-core Celeron CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hybrid hard drive (SSHD). This motherboard is fanless by design so had a heatsink pre-attached, I had to change this for the custom heatsink which was included with the case, it fits perfectly. With a low power system like this heat was never a concern so in the BIOS of the motherboard I set the lowest speed for the 4 pin CPU fan in the case, anything more than this was clearly audible which would be my only main complaint about the case. The new version apparently has a much better and quieter CPU fan, I will let you know when I receive the latest version and test this out. A couple of other minor improvements I can think of would be the length of the wifi antenna cables and front panel cables which I found to be fairly short and it made it awkward to put the connectors on (particularly the u.FL connectors used on the antennas) while assembling the case, but it is possible with a bit of patience.

My client has now had the systems for 8 months and they have been flawless and the spec I chose is perfect for general office work including web browsing, email and working with documents and spreadsheets, even photo editing as well. One thing to keep an eye on though is the dust build up within the case, they do tend to suck in a bit of dust through the bottom rear vent which will need checking now and then but that's the same with any case really, these ones are used in a garden center which is a fairly harsh environment for any computer with the dust and humidity but these have held up well so far.

I did initially have problems ordering from Luna Design because Paypal would not allow me to send a payment to them in Russia which they deem a "high risk" country, Paypal held my payment for over 3 weeks while still making excuses not to send it so I gave up on that idea and Luna Design allowed me to order directly from their manufacturer in China (Kingta) which was much easier and quicker. Once I had ordered from China, the cases cleared customs and arrived in 6 working days which was nice. I am in United Kingdom for those who were wondering. As Luna Design was a new company and the case looked amazing compared to other cases of that size I was unsure of ordering at first, but I took a risk and they turned out perfectly.

I would highly recommend the DNK-H cases from Luna Design and will be ordering some of the aluminium ones in the next few days. Once I have received those I will update on the CPU noise once I have built the systems.

I would be very interested to hear comparisons between the old/newer models. I have been scouring the internet looking for someone who has experience with these beautiful cases and so far you are the only one I can find.

Any idea what temps under load are like? I'm also wondering how loud 'clearly audible' is, is it a whiny noise?

Tom's put together a great comparison, but it only mentions the aluminum model.

The Paypal and shipping problems have me a little worried, hopefully its not too bad.


So far my build is looking like:

DNK-H Snow White (or Silvery) -- $76 ($168)
i3-6100 (or a Kaby Lake i3 if I can wait) -- $105
ASUS H110T/CSM -- $75
DDR4-2133 (2x8GB) -- $73
Samsung 960 EVO 250GB -- $130

 

[Bungle09]

I would be very interested to hear comparisons between the old/newer models. I have been scouring the internet looking for someone who has experience with these beautiful cases and so far you are the only one I can find.

Any idea what temps under load are like? I'm also wondering how loud 'clearly audible' is, is it a whiny noise?

Tom's put together a great comparison, but it only mentions the aluminum model.

The Paypal and shipping problems have me a little worried, hopefully its not too bad.


So far my build is looking like:

DNK-H Snow White (or Silvery) -- $76 ($168)
i3-6100 (or a Kaby Lake i3 if I can wait) -- $105
ASUS H110T/CSM -- $75
DDR4-2133 (2x8GB) -- $73
Samsung 960 EVO 250GB -- $130

I'm glad someone recently posted on this thread. I just built a pc in this case (the silver version). I must say i'm impressed. Built quality is excellent.

The main reason i got this case was to run a desktop i5 6600 (65w TDP) instead of opting for a U or T series chip. I originally looked at NUCs but their just not quick enough for the price, as you have to use a U or T series chip. I don't get people negative comments about ' Just get a NUC'. This are expensive and a dual core chips in 2016. No way for me. As for the 150w internal psu. This was also a plus for me. No need for a big 'brick like' external unit; and although the system will only use about 90w max, having a 150w unit actually only places about a 60% load on it. A smaller psu with higher load (80%) will run hotter in my opinion. So a 150w unit make sense.

I've offset the vcore by 0.12v (I think that's right) to reduce temps slightly.

Only 2 negatives. Their next version (2017) should come with a SD card reader and at least a fast charge USB 3.0 port (This will make the case complete). My second point is the cpu cooler fan is noisy after 1200 rpm (Although I have pretty good hearing). They should use a better quality fan.

However, i'm running the fan at the lowest possible speed (880 rpm [31%]) up until the cpu hits 47 degrees C. At this speed the case is silent during the day; although there is a very slight hum if its wisper quite at night. The picture i've posted was just taken with a room temp of 19c. My normal room temp. is 23c, and the cpu doesn't go above 43c @880rpm cpu fan speed. This is based on normal web browsing, Netflix and light photo editing in lightroom.

I think an i7 6700 will work in this system, but you will probably need to run the fans at about 1400rpm to keep heat at respectable levels.

I will do some stress testing soon, and will post back.

 

[Bungle09]

20 minute stress test results at full load. I think the Mainboard readout is f**ked. BIOS says Mainboard running at 38c after the test. The NZXT Cam software to the right of the image appears to be consistently 4 degrees off.