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SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

You guys do a great job. I'm building a htpc now, i can't wait until your case is ready until then I will get a Silverstone ML07. Your design reminds me a bit of the HAL 9000.
 
Mind you that this case is a Steambox (Games, Valve's Steam), it isn't designed as a HTPC. So no optical drive, a lot of room for a dedicated large GPU and limited storage options.
 
Yea this is exactly what i want. Oh I didn't know htpc stands for home theater pc :p, thought it's the general definition for a small pc. I'm a gamer and I'm focusing on game development for virtual reality. The moment I saw the Steambox I wanted it :).
 
Phuncz said:
[...]and limited storage options.
Click to expand...

That is not fully true: we will allow 1-4 x 2,5'' hdd. It depends of Your configuration. For example with 1 slot GPU with low, sided cooling, motherboard with centered CPU socket and normal SFX PSU (not SFX-L) we will allow 4 x 2,5'' HDD. But if You will have 2 slot GPU, than with SFX PSU and centered CPU socket we will allow only 2 x HDD. Also if You will use SFX-L PSU the maximum number of HDD's will be 3. It will depend of what kind of motherboard and GPU will You use. For example: with SFX-L and 2 slot GPU You will need motherboard with centered CPU socket and normal-low cooler (below 48mm or 38mm with CPU socket next to PCI-E) to connect 1 x HDD.

Storage limit depends on the other components you will use. We will also allow in some cases to instal 1x 3,5'' HDD.

You have to wait a little bit more, because we are finalizing our desing and we will be sending CAD files to the laser cutting companies to get the best price. We hope it won't kill this project...
 
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Ah nice to hear you can manage so many storage options !

I guess most of us are eager to know what the end price will be.
 
Initially we wanted to start campaign sometimes around Christmas, however it looks like we won't make it with campaign. We of course want to do this asap.

I think we have the complete design, but the prototype phase will show required adjustments for things like metal works accuracy and part fitting. So we need to make a prototype first and we don't want to rush things with this. There's just few things with the part suppliers we need to get straight.

There should be some photos first, marketing materials and hopefully prototypes sent to the hardware media, sharing pre-campaign news and the product page, and then we'll launch the campaign.

I know it's painful to wait when you want to build this rig now, but for a campaign product we must be 100% sure we're ready.
 
Love it, the white one with the stand reminds me of the sentry turrets from Portal.
 
Is there a way not to have this blue usb connectors, but white instead? it would look much nicer.
 
Even if there are white USB3.0 connectors I don't think we have the luxury to pick them just for the looks.

They are pricey already and this would mean probably additional price.

We're using standard connectors like this:
internal_usb_motherboard_connection_2_port_usb_3_0_female_to_20_pin_baffle_cable_0_5m.jpg


If you're so much into making them white you will be able to replace them. Go ahead and replace them with white usb 2.0 for example.
 
Those seem to be the same ones the Ncase M1 has, with a very stiff cable to plug into the motherboard. This might be an issue with your case because of the reduced height above the motherboard.
 
We will have to check that out, but it seems that shouldn't be a real problem. In most motherboards internal connector is located near the edge that is opposite of board's IO.

This location is just below the corner of the second hard drive mount and we will need to bend the cable slightly. we've got 42mm of space between motherboard surface and drive mount surface and the plug + onboard receptacle should take around 30mm. That's tight but with the way the drive mount is shaped you shouldn't have problems plugging it in.

In some boards the receptacle will be under the edge of first drive, again it will require to fit with slight cable bend.

We will check that out and If this is big problem we'll look for other solutions.
 
Necere did note one important thing:
Necere said:
Here's a question for you guys: how big a deal is it for GPU height to be limited to roughly reference size? I'm thinking potentially even more limited than the M1.
Click to expand...

I'm cross posting what I said in his topic
SaperPL said:
It's really a problem that most of non-reference 980's have extended pcb.

I think I won't be targeting those cards, and that's the more why you LRPC should, so we'll have some diversity.

With standard pcb width there's still some cards to pick from like:
Gigabyte WindForce both 980 and 970
Gainward Phantom both 980 and 970
Reference 980's and Gainward/Palit/MSI Blower 970's

Still notice that some of those cards have extended PCB but the PEG receptacles are not extended as much so the PEG connectors will fit in the card outline. With that in mind there's still possibility to use those extended cards without much additional space required but the PEG cables will need to bend quite tightly.
Click to expand...

We've got 20mm distance from the standard sized card to the outer wall for the PEG cables - 10mm for plug and the same amount to bend the cables.

It means if standard card has 99mm pcb, then you should be able to fit 119mm card tightly if the PEG receptacles have this 20mm space for PEG cables or the PEG connector is at the end of the pcb facing card's end.
 
Quick Suggestion to your front page campaign (this thread): add compatible coolers that should work (48mm in height max).

So far the ones I can think off on the top of my head are:
Sytche Kozuti, Noctua NHL-9i (can replace stock fan with new 92mm Noctua fan), Phanteks TC12-LS (possibly fan underneath?), Zalman CNPS2X (I think there's one more Zalman that can fit).
 
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OK, I've added some, hopefully no fails over there. Anyway the topic here is not the main place for crowdfunding, but for the case feedback.

We want to send prototypes to the hardware media and reviewers, We'll ask them for their opinions and what should work and what won't. Hopefully there'll be at least a good line-up of 8-10 different coolers tested with the case.

When you see the case interior you'll understand that's not a problem to decide whether the cooler fits or not. The only problem is which motherboard type you have.

The case have one mount for the 2.5" drive very similar to what was done in steam machine prototype:
dsc079771.jpg

Here as you can see the drive would obstruct taller cpu-coolers. In our case the hard drive is moved little to the left(is above pic-e connector of the card) so you can fit 48mm coolers like that. The only problem is that not every motherboard has the same position of cpu socket. In that case you either choose not to install hard drive in that slot or you mount low profile 38mm max cooler on the cpu.

So once again:
cpu socket far away from pci-e slot(chipset in the middle) 48mm height max, 120mm diameter( or 120x120mm cube) should be fine
cpu socket close to pci-e(chipset far away from pci-e, cpu socket in the middle) 38mm max coolers or generally everything that fits within motherboard rear io space height.
 
Sadly not yet. We're ready with the design and we sent inquiries to potential metal machining contractors few weeks ago, but it looks like most of them didn't want to bother responding before Christmas.

Also we could've had the prototype made already from our local metal machining shop but they are quite expensive when it gets to small custom stuff. That way we would have a semi-useless prototype because we would need to order another one from the production contractor of choice to make the final metal adjustments anyway.

Some of them might be able to make better air inlets like those small hexagonal holes before laser cutting and bending which would optimize the price and tweak case looks.

It has to move early January somehow and we should know the approximated price then.


I'm really sorry though for not taking that lazy December thing ahead.


We're not releasing any media info or interior design because of two things: first is - unless we have a physical prototype there always might happen something we didn't think of and slight tweaks might occur. Also render is only a render. Secondly If we're not production and crowdfunding ready, building the hype will screw us over by giving our big competition head start to copy and manufacture.

As for the current state of the case: I'm satisfied with the utility of the case within its dimensions and looks - its totally awesome and when you see the interior its something that's totally new and game changing. There are few things that are not satisfying as much as the above, like the amount of cover's screws (8) and current air inlets - those are somehow little redneck for the industry, but that's what we had to do for the minimum order amount which could be even like 20 units if not for the additional parts retail price.
 
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The party has started :) I've just sent prototype's parts to the laser cutting company :cool:

Now we have to w8....
 
@iFreilicht - That was just weird... don't do that again :p

I hope we'll have those metal parts next week and we'll know if and how the whole concept works irl.
 
We're still working on the case :)

We're working with the metal machining shop on first prototype, but because its a small order for them, every problem and consultation on it means a setback.

Stay tuned.
 
Serious winner case here! Keep up the good work. I will be first in line to place my order when this thing goes live.
 
With the LRPC project on indefinite hold I'm banking on this happening even more than before, fingers crossed :D
 
Little big update guys:

We have just built the first early prototype. Metal machining quality is a bit off and we're waiting for the metal machining shop to update their toolset for increased bending precision. This means another setback.

The prototype lets us check out numerous little things we can now fix in the design.

The internal layout, including graphics card and riser support looks good and there shouldn't be any big revolutions here.

Prototype case just barely, but fits inside earlier mentioned laptop bag.

Meanwhile Chieftec started shipping their SFX-500GD-C (SFX-L) which is oversized by 0.5mm. Because of that, case will now grow in height by this 0.5mm to support 64mm height SFX-L PSU's which might become more common if other manufacturers follow Chieftec's lead on breaking out of the SFX standard dimensions.

While waiting for the prefered metal machining contractor to reach required bending precision we will try to order prototype parts at local shop.

Here You have a photo showing the actual size of the prototype laying on my desk. We hope You'll like it :):

TulsQka.jpg
 
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Looks great!

Is the PSU actually 64mm or are you just going off the specs? I notice some manufacturers round up the dimension.
 
I'm not sure, I don't have it yet, but to be safe we're including that 0.5mm difference to support those 64mm SFX-L psu's

Both stores and official Chieftec site states this dimensions: 130 mm x 125 mm x 64 mm
 
I wouldn't trust the specs, for a while they were claiming that unit only had a 120mm depth when it's obviously the same base design as the High Power and SilverStone.

But a bit of extra clearance is good, 0mm extra space doesn't usually work out in reality.
 
@rawrr - not happening until we have a green light to production. I think that'll be around time we'll send the prototypes to media.

Few more things to note:

Just weighted the case on simple scales, its says the weight is 3.0 kilos. That's because we're using thick 1mm metal sheet instead of 0.5mm to ensure its stiffness without putting too much expensive bends and additional support construction.

The case gives a feeling of heavy armored object at this moment, something like ATM's front panels. I think you won't need a softshell bag to carry it around for lan parties unless you're using classic magnetic hard drives which you should protect from the shock regardless of the case construction.

Case easily fits 19cm generic flex riser so there shouldn't be any problem with replacing it for different manufacturer if you were to be not satisfied with the one shipped with the case.

Case uses a lot of screws and it doesn't look like something to be opened quite frequently. This is what mainly differs it from the cases like LRPC and standard mass produced products.
 
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rawrr said:
Wow, looks nice! Pic of the inside? :D
Click to expand...

We really want to show You the interior of our box, but we will have to wait until we will get 2nd alpha prototype. First laser company didn't have proper tools for bending press, and they made so many mistakes in dimensions, that we don't know if our design is bad or it only needs better bending. As Saper said before, we've hide there several nice ideas, but we have to be sure if we can make them happen. As engineers, we know that we should't show something that can't be realized, because that can kill the final product. It means You will have to wait a little bit longer...
 
Some kind sould made a model of RVZ01 so I thought maybe I'll make a comparison render



As for the current state of works - we're finishing tweaks in our design and we'll be ordering second prototype soon.
 
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