New SFF gamers case: presentation and advices

mattinv said:
Hi everybody,
We are still waiting to receive a sample of the new faceplate to confirm production. But it will hopefully happen pretty soon.
I will also keep you posted on the progress being made on the Mini ITX case and the new power cords.
Click to expand...

Matt, I haven't really kept up with this thread since I bought a Da Box and I haven't even seen my Da Box since I had to have it shipped to my brother in the states instead of over here in Germany. Are you planning on shipping these replacement parts to everyone who bought a Da Box or just on a case by case basis?

Thanks.
 
gtr, i believe the plan is to send them to everyone.

the good news is, while i havent seen my box in person yet either (still overseas as well) i had it be unboxed and the power cable tested, and, incredibly, it seems to work!
 
To anyone who's considering using the Noctua NH-C12P on their build - you can do it but......
I don't believe you can use the option 140mm fan bay. I'm building with a1366 socket and the heatsink barely fits in. If you going to mount anything in the 140mm bay, it has to stay in between the frame wall and the 140mm fan/cooler mounting bracket THAT'S IF YOUR USING THE 120MM FAN. Don't even think about about using the 140mm bay if your installing the SE14 version with the 140mm fan - the 140mm bay is unusable then. Matter of fact, you have to install the 140mm fan AFTER you've installed the MB tray into the case.

One heatpipe is just nicking the bracket that the 92mm fan mounts into - should just be able to grind that down a bit

Also, I'm running two 3.5 hard drives and one of the center heatpipes just kisses the hard drive cover plate - going to see if I can just polish off a bit off the heatpipe to see if that gets me clearance
 
I am adding a second XFX 5850 to mine, and have installed a second OCZ 60GB Vertex as well. My DFI board should be back form RMA within a weeks time.
 
gtrfvb said:
Matt, I haven't really kept up with this thread since I bought a Da Box and I haven't even seen my Da Box since I had to have it shipped to my brother in the states instead of over here in Germany. Are you planning on shipping these replacement parts to everyone who bought a Da Box or just on a case by case basis?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi,
Yes, all the replacement parts will be shipped to everybody who bought one.
No case basis. We already have found that all of them have problems, some more than others. But a case per case basis would be too difficult and expensive to resolve.
 
Mr Bill said:
To anyone who's considering using the Noctua NH-C12P on their build - you can do it but......
I don't believe you can use the option 140mm fan bay. I'm building with a1366 socket and the heatsink barely fits in. If you going to mount anything in the 140mm bay, it has to stay in between the frame wall and the 140mm fan/cooler mounting bracket THAT'S IF YOUR USING THE 120MM FAN. Don't even think about about using the 140mm bay if your installing the SE14 version with the 140mm fan - the 140mm bay is unusable then. Matter of fact, you have to install the 140mm fan AFTER you've installed the MB tray into the case.

One heatpipe is just nicking the bracket that the 92mm fan mounts into - should just be able to grind that down a bit

Also, I'm running two 3.5 hard drives and one of the center heatpipes just kisses the hard drive cover plate - going to see if I can just polish off a bit off the heatpipe to see if that gets me clearance
Click to expand...
Could you send us a picture of the build? It would be interesting to see how tight the fit is;)
 
Hi everybody,

A bit of an update on what's happening.
The front bezel is still being prototyped. We will receive the first sample sometime next week and work from there. If i get a chance, I will post some pictures of the new front bezels online.
I should be getting some news regarding the power cords tomorrow. I'm hoping they will be shipped next week.
The HDD cage are still in the work. It's a very basic modification but making a few modified parts still take time (reprogramming everything pretty much).
Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Matt
 
Are the new front bezels the one with a full 5.25" openings? And also, how tightly is the exterior panel suppose to fit the case? Mine doesn't really hug the bottom well and jets out a bit.
 
What PSUs are you guys using? I am considering replaceing my Silverstone ST85F with a small unit (this one blocks the front 92mm position), ubt all that I am finding are units that have the power plug oriented the way that I don't want for this chassis (the oppostire of the Silverstone that I have) because of the right angled connection on the PSU extension cord.

If anyone could tell me what they're using, I'd appreciate it.
 
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sabregen said:
What PSUs are you guys using? I am considering replaceing my Silverstone ST85F with a small unit (this one blocks the front 92mm position), ubt all that I am finding are units that have the power plug oriented the way that I don't want for this chassis (the oppostire of the Silverstone that I have) because of the right angled connection on the PSU extension cord.

If anyone could tell me what they're using, I'd appreciate it.
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The biggest modular supply you'll get with standard ATX size (square PSU) is probably the Silverstone 1000W Strider.

Then, the Seasonic X750, followed by the Corsair HX650.

The HX650 is enough to run most everything.

Modular is must on these. I don't know about orientation on the plug, but does it really matter?
 
I am currently looking to replace the Strider (old one) 850 that I have with the new series (STxxF-P) because of the decrease in size, and compatibility with the PP05 short cable set (a must for cable management). The plug orientation is important, as the incorrect orientation causes cable kinking, stress on the cable and socket, causes cable routing issues, and decreases the usable length of the cable (due to having to make a 180).

Current options I have found are:

Silverstone ST75F-P, ST85F-P, ST100F-P
Seasonic X Series - 650w or 750w

There's a Seasonic 850w on sale @ Newegg right now for like $130, which would be great, but it's not fully modular, which is a requirement, for me. Anyone else think of a fully modular PSU, at least 700w, 4x 6pin PCI-E from a decent company with a decent warranty?
 
The SilverStone ST75F-P with short cables is a good bet. You don't have 2 GPUs so why go any higher? Get the short cabled set and you got yourself a nice SFF system. I'm told the PP05 does not need the capacitors that you find in the cables of the ST75F-P.

Seasonic makes a good PSU though.
 
I was planning on building a new rig sometime soon. What I'm looking for is to have a rig with a small footprint, that is light, and that is still a really good gaming rig. I go to LAN parties quite a bit.
I know this case is small, but I was wondering around how much you guys' systems weigh all together?

What do you think the lightest PSU is that will still run the Radeon 5000 series? Is there a specific brand of PSUs that are generally lighter than the other brands?
 
Steeeeve said:
The SilverStone ST75F-P with short cables is a good bet. You don't have 2 GPUs so why go any higher? Get the short cabled set and you got yourself a nice SFF system. I'm told the PP05 does not need the capacitors that you find in the cables of the ST75F-P.

Seasonic makes a good PSU though.
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This is what I'm using and it fits great - don't see how you can use anything larger than this and have everything fit. Virtually no space between the psu & the 92mm front fan, and with the hard drive cage. It's practically the perfect fit
 
Steeeeve said:
The SilverStone ST75F-P with short cables is a good bet. You don't have 2 GPUs so why go any higher? Get the short cabled set and you got yourself a nice SFF system. I'm told the PP05 does not need the capacitors that you find in the cables of the ST75F-P.

Seasonic makes a good PSU though.
Click to expand...

The second GPU is on the way. In a weeks time (approximate) I will have my DFI P45 Jr. back from RMA, and will be swapping CPUs (though they're both Q6600 G0's) out to test the OC ont he newly acquired one. I have also added a second OCZ Vertex 60GB SSD for RAID-0, and am adding a second XFX HD5850 to the mix, as well. So, basically, I have to tear it all down and build it back up again. If I'm going to be doing that anyways, I might as well plan for the PSU swap now. but, I do need at least 4x PCI-E 6pins for GPUs, at least 600W (prefer 700+), fully modular (prefer the short set of cables), and under 6.5" long.
 
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mattinv said:
Could you send us a picture of the build? It would be interesting to see how tight the fit is;)
Click to expand...

Okay lets see how this works - I ain't never posted no pictures before...
This is the fit of my Noctua NH-C12P SE14 fit on a 1366 mobo

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...?action=view&current=NoctuaNH-c12PSe14Fit.jpg

This is the general fit - could not slide into case w/ 140mm fan on. However if you remove the fan clip from the outboard side, there's enough play to where you can slide the fan inboard a bit, slide the tray in, then reinstall clip through side of case

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...?action=view&current=NoctuaCPUfanClearnce.jpg

Straight edge laid across outside of case - you have 5/16" clearance

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...d/?action=view&current=HeattubeClearnance.jpg

This is looking down on the heat tubes. ONE heat tube was hitting the hard drive (I'm using 2X3.5 drives. I had to collapse the tabs that the rear hard drive would rest on,elongate the holes forward to allow the rear hard drive to be pulled in closer to the forward hard drive.

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...w&current=Heattube92mmfansupportclearance.jpg

The outer heat tube was hitting that lower support of the 92mm fan - just had to grind off that little nub to the same angle of the rest of the bracket.

Anymore question just let me know
 
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Mr Bill said:
Okay lets see how this works - I ain't never posted no pictures before...
This is the fit of my Noctua NH-C12P SE14 fit on a 1366 mobo

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...?action=view&current=NoctuaNH-c12PSe14Fit.jpg

This is the general fit - could not slide into case w/ 140mm fan on. However if you remove the fan clip from the outboard side, there's enough play to where you can slide the fan inboard a bit, slide the tray in, then reinstall clip through side of case

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...?action=view&current=NoctuaCPUfanClearnce.jpg

Straight edge laid across outside of case - you have 5/16" clearance

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...d/?action=view&current=HeattubeClearnance.jpg

This is looking down on the heat tubes. ONE heat tube was hitting the hard drive (I'm using 2X3.5 drives. I had to collapse the tabs that the rear hard drive would rest on,elongate the holes forward to allow the rear hard drive to be pulled in closer to the forward hard drive.

http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/...w&current=Heattube92mmfansupportclearance.jpg

The outer heat tube was hitting that lower support of the 92mm fan - just had to grind off that little nub to the same angle of the rest of the bracket.

Anymore question just let me know
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pics Mr. Bill. I have the same cooler (not the SE version in my DA Box) and I will be sure to post up some pics of my p55 setup.
 
sabregen said:
The second GPU is on the way. In a weeks time (approximate) I will have my DFI P45 Jr. back from RMA, and will be swapping CPUs (though they're both Q6600 G0's) out to test the OC ont he newly acquired one. I have also added a second OCZ Vertex 60GB SSD for RAID-0, and am adding a second XFX HD5850 to the mix, as well. So, basically, I have to tear it all down and build it back up again. If I'm going to be doing that anyways, I might as well plan for the PSU swap now. but, I do need at least 4x PCI-E 6pins for GPUs, at least 600W (prefer 700+), fully modular (prefer the short set of cables), and under 6.5" long.
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A good 600-650W PSU will handle 2 5850s without a problem. Tom's evaluate 2 5850s with a 975 on Furmark at the wall at 470W AC (that's around 400W DC). And that's with Furmark (which is a GPU-warmer). Anand gives it 550W AC for 5850CF on a 920 at 3.33GHz. That's around 475W DC (I can't seem to find the description of their load scenario but my guess is that they are also stressing the CPU. They also quote the Load power on WoW - not that relevant I know - at 375W AC: around 325W DC).
Also from HardOCP:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/30/amds_ati_radeon_hd_5850_video_card_review/7
This drives me bananas when peeps recommend 850W (not to mention 1 KW) PSUs for a 5850 CF... This sillyness has to stop. <End of Rant>
 
NichoTL said:
A good 600-650W PSU will handle 2 5850s without a problem. Tom's evaluate 2 5850s with a 975 on Furmark at the wall at 470W AC (that's around 400W DC). And that's with Furmark (which is a GPU-warmer). Anand gives it 550W AC for 5850CF on a 920 at 3.33GHz. That's around 475W DC (I can't seem to find the description of their load scenario but my guess is that they are also stressing the CPU. They also quote the Load power on WoW - not that relevant I know - at 375W AC: around 325W DC).
Also from HardOCP:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/30/amds_ati_radeon_hd_5850_video_card_review/7
This drives me bananas when peeps recommend 850W (not to mention 1 KW) PSUs for a 5850 CF... This sillyness has to stop. <End of Rant>
Click to expand...

Understood, and agreed. I am looking for 750W as a median (700 would be fine) just in case I do something ridiculous and mod a bunch of stuff into the case. Plus, I like overkill.
 
sabregen said:
Understood, and agreed. I am looking for 750W as a median (700 would be fine) just in case I do something ridiculous and mod a bunch of stuff into the case. Plus, I like overkill.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. I do understand. It's just the people recommending flat out ridiculous PSUs that get on my nerves.
 
Is it not worth building without replacement parts? I have mine laying around ready to go but I've been hesitant to take the time to put it together due to the erector set comments and the feeling that its a hassle (biggest perceived unexpected downer to buying this case). System is doing OK in open air at the moment. Should I wait before bothering?
 
NichoTL said:
A good 600-650W PSU will handle 2 5850s without a problem. Tom's evaluate 2 5850s with a 975 on Furmark at the wall at 470W AC (that's around 400W DC). And that's with Furmark (which is a GPU-warmer). Anand gives it 550W AC for 5850CF on a 920 at 3.33GHz. That's around 475W DC (I can't seem to find the description of their load scenario but my guess is that they are also stressing the CPU. They also quote the Load power on WoW - not that relevant I know - at 375W AC: around 325W DC).
Also from HardOCP:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/30/amds_ati_radeon_hd_5850_video_card_review/7
This drives me bananas when peeps recommend 850W (not to mention 1 KW) PSUs for a 5850 CF... This sillyness has to stop. <End of Rant>
Click to expand...

unless of course you intended to put dual 5970's and a dual loop watercooling setup in.

obviously this is a pretty rare scenario, but products consume more power with every new revision, so is it really that silly to want to futureproof your PSU a little bit? especially considering how much time it takes to properly route a full set of PSU cables? or, if you're really nuts, mod the cables to be a perfect fit?

i guess the point is, why do you care? a 1000w psu pushing out 550w of power will generate less heat generally, and certainly operate at both higher efficiencies and less fan noise than a lower rated unit at higher load percentage.

im not arguing that its overbuilding, but isnt that the point at [H]? and its not like it will net you no gain whatsoever, so why rail against people trying to cram the most horsepower they can into their machines.

obviously you wouldnt pick a high wattage PSU at the expense of quality or at the expense of another component that would net tangible performance gains immediately, but thats not really the issue here, is it?
 
jarhead said:
unless of course you intended to put dual 5970's and a dual loop watercooling setup in.

obviously this is a pretty rare scenario, but products consume more power with every new revision, so is it really that silly to want to futureproof your PSU a little bit? especially considering how much time it takes to properly route a full set of PSU cables? or, if you're really nuts, mod the cables to be a perfect fit?

i guess the point is, why do you care? a 1000w psu pushing out 550w of power will generate less heat generally, and certainly operate at both higher efficiencies and less fan noise than a lower rated unit at higher load percentage.

im not arguing that its overbuilding, but isnt that the point at [H]? and its not like it will net you no gain whatsoever, so why rail against people trying to cram the most horsepower they can into their machines.

obviously you wouldnt pick a high wattage PSU at the expense of quality or at the expense of another component that would net tangible performance gains immediately, but thats not really the issue here, is it?
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Future-proofing for dual 5970s? The question was about 5850s in Xfire. If you say to me that you are going to run 5970s in Xfire, then yeah 1kW maybe. I am not discussing the sanity of your setup. No I have nothing to gain. ANd people do what they want. But I am trying to tell people the reality, the sensible view.
You are wrong about someone running 5850s in Xfire on a 1kW PSU: not only is the PSU much more expensive, a lot bigger, but you are not optimizing your efficiency. The numbers I was quoting in my previous post are almost exclusively Furmark numbers. In real life (and that's from Anandtech, [H], and Tom's alike) you will be maybe around 100W lower while gaming. So you are gaming at 400W AC and let's say they test with PSUs with 85 to 90% efficiency. That's 340W to 360W DC maximum usage while gaming. And what about idling, your Windows desktop? Maybe 160W DC!!! You will then spend 99% of your time below 40% usage, and idling below 20%, which depending on what you do with your computer could take on a non negligible part of your time.
 
FYI on Windows 7......

I don't know how many of you are loading Windows 7 on your box. I jumped straight from XP to Windows 7, so it was very much is different.

While the install is much quicker, & easier than XP, I definitely had a WTF moment & cursed Microsoft.

This is for anyone who plans to partition their drives. You can't set the partition size for the OS during install, so Win7 will use the entire physical drive for C:\ (less 100MB or so for a little systems drive). Well Win7 allows you to shrink the drive only if there is no data to be moved, and as I'm sure you all know, defragging is an inexact science & usually will not do the job. I had 600GB on my C: drive and could only shrink C: by about 20 GB ( I had already loaded schtuff on the drive, but even after uninstalling everything i could, this is all I could get).

What worked for me, was after the 1st startup, before even loading MB drivers, was to shrink my C: drive. This allowed me to shrink C: down to a manageable 50 GB. After doing this it was loading mobo drivers and off to the races.

This may be old news to you folks being I'm late to the OS party, just thought I'd share though
 
Mr Bill said:
FYI on Windows 7......

I don't know how many of you are loading Windows 7 on your box. I jumped straight from XP to Windows 7, so it was very much is different.

While the install is much quicker, & easier than XP, I definitely had a WTF moment & cursed Microsoft.

This is for anyone who plans to partition their drives. You can't set the partition size for the OS during install, so Win7 will use the entire physical drive for C:\ (less 100MB or so for a little systems drive). Well Win7 allows you to shrink the drive only if there is no data to be moved, and as I'm sure you all know, defragging is an inexact science & usually will not do the job. I had 600GB on my C: drive and could only shrink C: by about 20 GB ( I had already loaded schtuff on the drive, but even after uninstalling everything i could, this is all I could get).

What worked for me, was after the 1st startup, before even loading MB drivers, was to shrink my C: drive. This allowed me to shrink C: down to a manageable 50 GB. After doing this it was loading mobo drivers and off to the races.

This may be old news to you folks being I'm late to the OS party, just thought I'd share though
Click to expand...

You can set the size of the C:\ partition during install, but you have to go to "Custom" instead of "Install Now" or "Upgrade Existing". From XP to 7 huh? Wow, that would be a huge jump. Been running Win7 here since it hit TechNet in August.
 
sabregen said:
You can set the size of the C:\ partition during install, but you have to go to "Custom" instead of "Install Now" or "Upgrade Existing". From XP to 7 huh? Wow, that would be a huge jump. Been running Win7 here since it hit TechNet in August.
Click to expand...

I"ll have to remember that for next time - sure didn't see it going through it. Was that where it asked about setting up the system partition? I thought that was just something a little different MS was doing, and not for the OS load. That was all I saw for setting any kind of size on the install path I took. Will definitely look for that next time round...

Yeah I was tired of the 3GB RAM limit and I wanted to try going with higher physical RAM and not use a pagefile. So if I was gonna spring for 64bit, may as well make it Win7.

Thanks for the info sabregen
 
You're going to need 8GB+ to avoid using a pagefile, FYI. Well, I should say that you can ALWAYS not use one, but 8GB is the recommended minimum for doing it. Also, it pisses some programs off pretty bad. I keep a 1GB pagefile just for this reason.
 
sabregen said:
You're going to need 8GB+ to avoid using a pagefile, FYI. Well, I should say that you can ALWAYS not use one, but 8GB is the recommended minimum for doing it. Also, it pisses some programs off pretty bad. I keep a 1GB pagefile just for this reason.
Click to expand...

I'm running 6GB with a small 400MB pagefile for dumps - see how that works for me - thanks for the info
 
I think it depends on how you prefer to build. If you are the build it once and be done with it type, then I would say to hold off on it. I really think it makes good sense to do a test build so you can test how well all of your components fit. I ended up switching to a smaller heat sink to make things a bit more manageable. I plan on sleeving all my cables and shortening the ones that are too long as well, so I kind of needed to do a test run.

My advice would be to do a test build so you can check everything out. You can go ahead and remove the faceplate since that is being replaced, and toss the power cord extension to the side, because of the known issues with that. Plan to spend a few hours. I found that the second time I put it together was a whole lot faster than the first time. Good luck!
 
chirping...

how are we doing on those replacement parts? I am getting ym DFI P45 Jr. RMA back tomorrow, and the second XFX 5850 before the end of the week. I still haven't gotten the adhesive off of my burner's tray face plate.
 
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Is anyone using a Prolimatech CPU cooler? I am trying to figure out if it would fit with a P55 motherboard.
 
Hi everybody,

The update on the replacement parts. Some of them are still being made and some are shipping to the plant to be packaged with the rest of the parts.
We are getting everything together as fast as possible but we are trying to implement some better QC procedure to avoid the issues we had this first time around.
 
LATEST UPDATES
Good morning everybody,

We are looking at getting the first pictures of the new front bezels redone tonight. Hopefully, we'll get some shots and post them here.
There has been a new finish applied, along with a different cut for the buttons to make them more accessible and easier to use. Everything is going to be test fitted again.
We are also discussing the possibility of getting some custom cases made with automotive paint quality and finish. We would like to know what color you would be interested in?
So if you have ever dreamed of the candy apple metal red, silver, yellow, blue, etc... just let us know. Now is time to speak up!
Looking forward to getting your feedback!;)
 
mattinv said:
LATEST UPDATES
Good morning everybody,

We are looking at getting the first pictures of the new front bezels redone tonight. Hopefully, we'll get some shots and post them here.
There has been a new finish applied, along with a different cut for the buttons to make them more accessible and easier to use. Everything is going to be test fitted again.
We are also discussing the possibility of getting some custom cases made with automotive paint quality and finish. We would like to know what color you would be interested in?
So if you have ever dreamed of the candy apple metal red, silver, yellow, blue, etc... just let us know. Now is time to speak up!
Looking forward to getting your feedback!;)
Click to expand...

I think a Piano Black color (like a car's black), Pearly white, and light Silver would be safe options to provide. Deep, rich red, nice blue would also be good. The other colors won't be very popular.
 
Great news mattinv, i think orange would look incredible, might fit with your bag designs too.
Have you got any news about windowless cases or an estimate for the uk release date?
Thanks.
 
MJZ said:
I think a Piano Black color (like a car's black), Pearly white, and light Silver would be safe options to provide. Deep, rich red, nice blue would also be good. The other colors won't be very popular.
Click to expand...

I second! I'd really like to see one in piano black! Would be my first choice.
 
I have actually always wanted a case that was candy apple red. Haha. Idk about all the sparkles on a small case though, would look kinda fruity?
 
Anyone know of a LGA 1366 micro ATX board, released or due soon, that has both sata 6gb and usb 3.0? Kinda disappointed that the new shuttle sx58j3 won't have those, so I'm considering parts-ing together a system w/ this case... but I haven't been able to find a micro ATX to base it on, yet. Onboard audio + network preferred too, unless it's junk.

Other question- any recommendation on a water cooling solution for the da box case? I'm sick of dust-buster fan noise. :)

Hypothetical system specs:
- core i7 w/ 6gb (3x 2gb) ram
- win7pro, 64bit
- ati 5970 (water cooled?)
- x-25m SSD boot drive
- 1tb data drive
- internal (if there's room...) blu-ray/DVD/CD drive
- 600 or 750W modular ps (suggestions? I've seen a few mentioned here, any concensus on which is the quietest w/ enough output for the components listed?)

Any suggestions appreciated and welcome; I like the form factor of this case, but I'm afraid I'll need to use a full ATX to get the options I'm looking for... I've been digging thru this thread (slowly) but pointers to specific posts would be great too.

Oh- and color? Gunmetal grey or blued steel FTW.
 
I would love to see a gunmetal grey. Something like this:

2009-Wheelsandmore-Mustang-Shelby-GT500-Eleanor-Front-Angle-2-1280x960.jpg
 
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