SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

Can't wait! Now I actually have to decide, 2 black? Or one black and one white?

Also, I thought I'd share this super cool Rgb vandal switch I found. I purchased 2 of the 16mm today in anticipation for sentry.

https://www.tindie.com/products/Fusion/12mm-and-16mm-antivandal-rgb-colorpixel-buttons/

I thought this was kinda silly at first, but... I just bought one. The thought of a white sentry with silver fittings and screws, with the power button, graphics card, and motherboard all faintly glowing nvidia green... It has me drooling.
 
Ordered a back one.Thanks!!..

Note: I took the Dan A4 as well.
Yup, I've got the Dan A4SFX coming in a few weeks too, and am trying hard to talk myself out of buying a Sentry, but I could just use the Dan until the Sentry arrives, and then pass the Dan on to my wife and use the Sentry myself!?
 
Thank you Saper and Zombi for your support these last few months on the forums. I want to acknowledge how well you've promptly and succinctly answered people's questions. While you may try and be modest about it, we do appreciate it. There are many other crowd sourced projects that go dark and have no lines of communication. So again; Thank you.

Place of Origin: Canada
 
Thank you Saper and Zombi for your support these last few months on the forums. I want to acknowledge how well you've promptly and succinctly answered people's questions. While you may try and be modest about it, we do appreciate it. There are many other crowd sourced projects that go dark and have no lines of communication. So again; Thank you.

Place of Origin: Canada

tbh this is also our curse. We are engineers, and if someone asks, we are taught that we have to always answer in the best way we can, so the other side will get the best information to make the objective decision. This is also why we are so nerdy-talkative... did you see how long is the campaign page? Sorry for that :/
 
Hate to bring back up the blower vs open GPU cooler discussion, but on the indiegogo page you have a pcpartpicker list that has both a 1070 and 1080 with non blower GPU's. I'm just checking if the temps on these will be ok, and if not I'm going to get a blower style.
 
Hate to bring back up the blower vs open GPU cooler discussion, but on the indiegogo page you have a pcpartpicker list that has both a 1070 and 1080 with non blower GPU's. I'm just checking if the temps on these will be ok, and if not I'm going to get a blower style.

Those are both gigabyte windforce 3X based cards with TDP up to 180W just like the R9-270X windforce 3X that was extensively tested.

But that's a good point - as reference build we should promote blower units here at this TDP range. I have replaced those cards with asus blower lineup.

Thanks!
 
Bought a black one! Thanks and cheers from the Philippines! I think I'm alone here... Hope it gets here in 1 piece and I hope taxes won't drown me. I closed my eyes at the 79 dollar shipping...
 
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Hate to bring back up the blower vs open GPU cooler discussion, but on the indiegogo page you have a pcpartpicker list that has both a 1070 and 1080 with non blower GPU's. I'm just checking if the temps on these will be ok, and if not I'm going to get a blower style.

I was also wondering about this and searched through the thread. I'll probably end up going with a reference card.
 
Yup, I've got the Dan A4SFX coming in a few weeks too, and am trying hard to talk myself out of buying a Sentry, but I could just use the Dan until the Sentry arrives, and then pass the Dan on to my wife and use the Sentry myself!?

Do It. You won't regret it.



Hate to bring back up the blower vs open GPU cooler discussion, but on the indiegogo page you have a pcpartpicker list that has both a 1070 and 1080 with non blower GPU's. I'm just checking if the temps on these will be ok, and if not I'm going to get a blower style.

If you go back a couple pages, I was toying around with this question... I personally strongly suggest a GTX 1070 with a GTX 1080 reference cooler attached. When I can afford my new rig, I'll do a writeup of changing the cooler, but it should be no different than putting a waterblock on, and should give you wonderfully quiet, cool graphics without worrying about it.
 
If you go back a couple pages, I was toying around with this question... I personally strongly suggest a GTX 1070 with a GTX 1080 reference cooler attached. When I can afford my new rig, I'll do a writeup of changing the cooler, but it should be no different than putting a waterblock on, and should give you wonderfully quiet, cool graphics without worrying about it.

Please let me know how that goes, I'm out of the country for the next month or so and was thinking about doing that after you said it. I'm very interested in some tests/results.

Hoping the 1080 FE Vapor Chamber is legit or not. (I say this because the ID-Cooling LGA1155 vapor chamber CPU cooler was a tiny bit better than stock cooler).

Still haven't really found anything about someone else doings said GPU cooler swap.
 
My congratulations, guys! More than 30% sold in a first day, 315pcs and about 70,000.$ If it isn't a success - i don't what a success is. Love you, guys! Best wishes from cold Russia!

PS: happy future Sentry owners, if u don't mind, write down countrys u're from, let's see Sentry conquering the entire globe!

Are you from Russia to?! Well, at least two white cases from the first batch will go to cold snowy Russia;)
 
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Do It. You won't regret it.
I did it, couldn't go to bed knowing it might sell out by the time I woke up. It's a lot of money for 2 PC cases in just half a year, but it'll be worth it (or so I keep telling myself. I spent £200 on my last PC case too, a Corsair Obsidian 800D, that I modded to hold 2 big radiators for watercooling - and now I can't find anybody who wants to buy any of my old WC parts/case that I spent £600 on :( )
 
I suposse, campaign will technically end in a couple of days (most of options will be sold). And the question is Zombie and Saper are ready for this situation to start production as fast as possible?
I am not sure how the campaign can end early, when there's the "long haul" options available, surely they wouldn't end the campaign just because the first 1000 cases sell out, when they've got thousands more available for later delivery? - They won't get the money until the campaign ends I assume, so we all have to wait 30 days for that to end?
 
I am not sure how the campaign can end early, when there's the "long haul" options available, surely they wouldn't end the campaign just because the first 1000 cases sell out, when they've got thousands more available for later delivery? - They won't get the money until the campaign ends I assume, so we all have to wait 30 days for that to end?

Let's wait for some comments from campaigners. Maybe you're right and the best option for the sentry campaign owners to wait all 30 days, but as we saw earlier Zombie and Saper support sentry community doing their best. So, the first batch could go to production earlier.
 
tbh this is also our curse. We are engineers, and if someone asks, we are taught that we have to always answer in the best way we can, so the other side will get the best information to make the objective decision. This is also why we are so nerdy-talkative... did you see how long is the campaign page? Sorry for that :/


Those are both gigabyte windforce 3X based cards with TDP up to 180W just like the R9-270X windforce 3X that was extensively tested.

But that's a good point - as reference build we should promote blower units here at this TDP range. I have replaced those cards with asus blower lineup.

Thanks!

Congrats on the strong start! Looks like my forecast wasn't inaccurate :p

May I make a suggestion?

For the NCASE M1, while waiting, I had the idea that because we are talking about "long run", "community funded" projects... why not have "community created" content? So, with this idea I started this google.docs form (I gave total ownership and control the the NCASE guys, as It should be, once the first few batches were done, as it made no sense that I "owned" it when it was everybodies):



Why is this interesting?

a) This allows people to comment on their order status, their shipping destination, planned build... and once the orders start to arrive, whether certain countries have delays or everything is in order, etc.

b) For future customers, it allows to check on the real status of the whole endeavour. The NCASE M1 has had several runs... and each round benefits from the information that end users freely added to the googledoc.

c) This is something that you do not do nor control. You create the basis for it (mind you, I only created the first page and not even half the columns that exist now, then the community itself modified for its needs. It was really cool to see it changing every day) then have everybody add its touch. Community power at its best.

All in all, it is something to do while people wait for their Sentry, to check for the status of the whole thing and to add compatibility stuff and other things along the road. It is also forum independent. And thus, very, very useful and very easy to start. Thought how good it is will depend on user interaction, because you need to allow everybody to edit it for it to succeed.



Do It. You won't regret it.

If you go back a couple pages, I was toying around with this question... I personally strongly suggest a GTX 1070 with a GTX 1080 reference cooler attached. When I can afford my new rig, I'll do a writeup of changing the cooler, but it should be no different than putting a waterblock on, and should give you wonderfully quiet, cool graphics without worrying about it.

Am I missing something? The 1080 FE is different than the 1070 FE?

Hate to bring back up the blower vs open GPU cooler discussion, but on the indiegogo page you have a pcpartpicker list that has both a 1070 and 1080 with non blower GPU's. I'm just checking if the temps on these will be ok, and if not I'm going to get a blower style.

I suggest you stick with blower cards.
 
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Hi! I bought the product! I wanted to ask if the ram G.Skill trident with 4,4cm height there is?

It looks like something that will collide with hard drive bracket.

You may use such ram if you don't need drives installed in the central mounts, like for example if you only want M.2 SSD and you can mount your 2.5" inside GPU compartment.

Generally tall memory radiators will obstruct that detachable arm that holds 2.5" drives over the motherboard. That's why there is memory info added to the specification on campaign page.
 
It looks like something that will collide with hard drive bracket.

You may use such ram if you don't need drives installed in the central mounts, like for example if you only want M.2 SSD and you can mount your 2.5" inside GPU compartment.

Generally tall memory radiators will obstruct that detachable arm that holds 2.5" drives over the motherboard. That's why there is memory info added to the specification on campaign page.
More than 500 pcs of SENTRY sold out in less than 24 hours of campaign! DAMN, THAT'S GOOD! (22 hours and a half actually, not counting longrun version)
 
Hello, I been watching the Sentry case for a long time now and I have always being interested in buying it, but I am worried that it might not perform well with the specs I am aiming for. I do programming and scientific visualization using game engines like Unreal and Unity and often times the graphic and computing power required is huge. My question to the people in this community is if they think a very high end build can work in this small case without hindering performance. I do not care about high temps or loud noise as long as the high temps do not affect the components (short term) I do not care if they will get burned and worn after 6 years of use but I do need to ensure that whatever build I get can be stable for at least 3 years.

Here is a list to the components I will need to have in my build https://pcpartpicker.com/user/fieldmarshall/saved/#view=RxnGXL
I am not planning on overclocking. I know that the graphic card is included in the spreadsheet as a graphic card that will fit.

While I have never built my own computer before I do have knowledge of how the process works and I have been maintaining and working with very high end computers. I have watched some of the reviews like linus tech tips with his titan x and the only reason I am asking for further advise is because I am uncertain weather the high temperatures could reduce the lifetime of the parts to shorter than 3 years (or cause any foreseeable failure in hardware on the short-term) I have no experience with overheat on a machine since most of the machines I deal with are either room size or large desktop cases in low temperature rooms.
 
Hello, I been watching the Sentry case for a long time now and I have always being interested in buying it, but I am worried that it might not perform well with the specs I am aiming for. I do programming and scientific visualization using game engines like Unreal and Unity and often times the graphic and computing power required is huge. My question to the people in this community is if they think a very high end build can work in this small case without hindering performance. I do not care about high temps or loud noise as long as the high temps do not affect the components (short term) I do not care if they will get burned and worn after 6 years of use but I do need to ensure that whatever build I get can be stable for at least 3 years.

Here is a list to the components I will need to have in my build https://pcpartpicker.com/user/fieldmarshall/saved/#view=RxnGXL
I am not planning on overclocking. I know that the graphic card is included in the spreadsheet as a graphic card that will fit.

While I have never built my own computer before I do have knowledge of how the process works and I have been maintaining and working with very high end computers. I have watched some of the reviews like linus tech tips with his titan x and the only reason I am asking for further advise is because I am uncertain weather the high temperatures could reduce the lifetime of the parts to shorter than 3 years (or cause any foreseeable failure in hardware on the short-term) I have no experience with overheat on a machine since most of the machines I deal with are either room size or large desktop cases in low temperature rooms.

Hello and welcome to the forums!

If you didn't notice, I'm also a gameplay programmer running Unreal Engine 4. I work for Flying Wild Hog (the company behind Hard Reset and Shadow Warrior) for my daily job and I do some projects on my personal rig inside Sentry as well. Additionally quite a lot of visualisations for the project were made in Soldiworks Photoview which is quite CPU hungry while rendering and those were also made on Sentry prototype based rig.

Your part list looks okay, but depending on whether you want to use it horizontally you might want to pick a blower style card.

Apart from that if you want to put big bucks on this system now, please, please wait for ZEN - 8 core-16 thread unit might be just what you need for your tasks.
 
Hello, I been watching the Sentry case for a long time now and I have always being interested in buying it, but I am worried that it might not perform well with the specs I am aiming for. I do programming and scientific visualization using game engines like Unreal and Unity and often times the graphic and computing power required is huge. My question to the people in this community is if they think a very high end build can work in this small case without hindering performance. I do not care about high temps or loud noise as long as the high temps do not affect the components (short term) I do not care if they will get burned and worn after 6 years of use but I do need to ensure that whatever build I get can be stable for at least 3 years.

Here is a list to the components I will need to have in my build https://pcpartpicker.com/user/fieldmarshall/saved/#view=RxnGXL
I am not planning on overclocking. I know that the graphic card is included in the spreadsheet as a graphic card that will fit.

While I have never built my own computer before I do have knowledge of how the process works and I have been maintaining and working with very high end computers. I have watched some of the reviews like linus tech tips with his titan x and the only reason I am asking for further advise is because I am uncertain weather the high temperatures could reduce the lifetime of the parts to shorter than 3 years (or cause any foreseeable failure in hardware on the short-term) I have no experience with overheat on a machine since most of the machines I deal with are either room size or large desktop cases in low temperature rooms.

Those specs are totally fine, have pretty same specs, and no - high temps won't "degrade" your hardware, only high voltage can.
 
Yes, 1080 FE got the vapor chamber cooler and the 1070 FE did not.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to triple-check via google but you are absolutely right.

In any case, there is no need for a vapor chamber, and even less if you have to source a 1080 FE to swap yours. The heat-pipe based 1070 FE will work just as good.

Hello, I been watching the Sentry case for a long time now and I have always being interested in buying it, but I am worried that it might not perform well with the specs I am aiming for. I do programming and scientific visualization using game engines like Unreal and Unity and often times the graphic and computing power required is huge. My question to the people in this community is if they think a very high end build can work in this small case without hindering performance. I do not care about high temps or loud noise as long as the high temps do not affect the components (short term) I do not care if they will get burned and worn after 6 years of use but I do need to ensure that whatever build I get can be stable for at least 3 years.

Here is a list to the components I will need to have in my build https://pcpartpicker.com/user/fieldmarshall/saved/#view=RxnGXL
I am not planning on overclocking. I know that the graphic card is included in the spreadsheet as a graphic card that will fit.

While I have never built my own computer before I do have knowledge of how the process works and I have been maintaining and working with very high end computers. I have watched some of the reviews like linus tech tips with his titan x and the only reason I am asking for further advise is because I am uncertain weather the high temperatures could reduce the lifetime of the parts to shorter than 3 years (or cause any foreseeable failure in hardware on the short-term) I have no experience with overheat on a machine since most of the machines I deal with are either room size or large desktop cases in low temperature rooms.

To be honest, the Sentry isn't a proper case for what you plan to accomplish. For your usage you require:

a) Components to be working non-stop at full power.

b) Components to do the job in the least amount of time.

Nowadays clocks are dynamic and are based on temperatures. So, you will never get the same clocks in a Sentry than you would in a case with forced ventilation, so I would not consider this case for your specific usage. For your usage you require a case with active ventilation because you want your components to be able to work at their maximum clockspeeds non-stop. A case without fans can't get you what you need. That is a fact.

This image was shown by "Linustechtips" with a VERY high-end computer. It included a Titan XP and a server-like cpu. Still, I do not think this was a "long-term" test, and thus the reality might be even worse if your computer sits at 100% usage for hours.

XQfhhVIl.png


There is a 177 mhz gpu clock difference, of 15% less performance, whilst being noisier. Yes, the Titan XP is probably the most extreme scenario you can find, but it is representative, and it is a blower card.

So, because you need the highest performance I wouldn't get a case that will hinder your professional work "just because". Unless you absolutely need the size it offers, that is.


Those specs are totally fine, have pretty same specs, and no - high temps won't "degrade" your hardware, only high voltage can.

No, but high temperatures will lower your clocks, and that will lower your performance.
 
Priority list : 1st 2nd none
what does it mean

Can you show the screenshot with context of this? Of course hide your personal data if there's any up there.

From our end we can see all contributions with order numbers and for us that's what we'll get to know the order of queue.
 
It looks like something that will collide with hard drive bracket.

You may use such ram if you don't need drives installed in the central mounts, like for example if you only want M.2 SSD and you can mount your 2.5" inside GPU compartment.

Generally tall memory radiators will obstruct that detachable arm that holds 2.5" drives over the motherboard. That's why there is memory info added to the specification on campaign page.

I can not put a SSD in the part of power supply? so does the ram space. from the photos you can fit 2 ssd
 
There is a special tool on our website that you can check out for hard drive fitting:
First drive slot will be unavailable if you've got motherboard with cpu socket next to pci-e AND cpu cooler that is taller than 37mm
Second drive slot will be unavailable if you're using SFX-L power supply that is longer than standard 100mm SFX psu.

If you're using oversized ram like the ones with tall radiators then you won't be able to mount the small metal arm that is in the middle of the chassis that's a mount point for the 3rd screw for each 2.5" drive, because that arm/bracket is directly above ram slots. It might be possible though to mount drives without that piece, screwing them only by one side, but keep in mind that your mileage may vary, especially with hdd.
 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to triple-check via google but you are absolutely right.

In any case, there is no need for a vapor chamber, and even less if you have to source a 1080 FE to swap yours. The heat-pipe based 1070 FE will work just as good.

Yes, but better cooling=lower fan speeds/noise or higher clocks with same'ish fan speeds/noise.

The 1080 FE and Titan X(P) fan coolers go for about 45$ USD on eBay.
 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to triple-check via google but you are absolutely right.

In any case, there is no need for a vapor chamber, and even less if you have to source a 1080 FE to swap yours. The heat-pipe based 1070 FE will work just as good.


Sorry mate, but that's just straight up wrong.

The GTX 1070 FE is known for running hot; it will very frequently throttle due to temps. Most people's solution to this is a drastically more aggressive fan curve, which is distasteful for many SFF users, due to the closer proximity of our computers to our heads. The heatpipe cooler in the 1070 struggles with a 150W TDP graphics card.

The GTX 1080 FE uses the same cooler as the Titan XP - a 250W TDP card. Thus it's capable of handling more than the 180W 1080, and as shown by the positive reviews of the 1080FE, should handle the 30W cooler GTX 1070 without breaking a sweat. This means lower temperatures, slower fan speeds, and less noise.

I haven't checked alibaba yet, but I bought a gtx 1080 cooler for about $40 on ebay, and there were a bunch of them.



To be honest, the Sentry isn't a proper case for what you plan to accomplish. For your usage you require:

a) Components to be working non-stop at full power.

b) Components to do the job in the least amount of time.

Nowadays clocks are dynamic and are based on temperatures. So, you will never get the same clocks in a Sentry than you would in a case with forced ventilation, so I would not consider this case for your specific usage. For your usage you require a case with active ventilation because you want your components to be able to work at their maximum clockspeeds non-stop. A case without fans can't get you what you need. That is a fact.

Actually, a case without fans can often get what you need, provided that it's a case like this one where the components have close to unrestricted access to airflow. Is it going to be 100% totally optimal? No. A larger case with a full tower heatsink is going to perform marginally better... but bear in mind that the person asking the question might have needs other than just on-paper optimization, which is why he's asking about something like the Sentry.



This image was shown by "Linustechtips" with a VERY high-end computer. It included a Titan XP and a server-like cpu. Still, I do not think this was a "long-term" test, and thus the reality might be even worse if your computer sits at 100% usage for hours.

There is a 177 mhz gpu clock difference, of 15% less performance, whilst being noisier. Yes, the Titan XP is probably the most extreme scenario you can find, but it is representative, and it is a blower card.

So, because you need the highest performance I wouldn't get a case that will hinder your professional work "just because". Unless you absolutely need the size it offers, that is.

No, but high temperatures will lower your clocks, and that will lower your performance.

Did you look at the components that are under question, though? It's an i7-7700K and a gtx 1080. Way, way less extreme than what Linus did. Now, overclocking will be off the table, but a gtx 1080 should have no problem with this case.

You're talking about how awful high temperatures are and how it will lower your performance, but JUST ABOVE in the same post you said that there was no reason to put a better cooler on the heat-restricted 1070. It's either one or the other.

The build the guy listed will work just fine in a Sentry, and he's clearly looking for something small-form-factor... this case is one of the best among them.
 
Please let me know how that goes, I'm out of the country for the next month or so and was thinking about doing that after you said it. I'm very interested in some tests/results.

Hoping the 1080 FE Vapor Chamber is legit or not. (I say this because the ID-Cooling LGA1155 vapor chamber CPU cooler was a tiny bit better than stock cooler).

Still haven't really found anything about someone else doings said GPU cooler swap.

Rosa, I absolutely will! I can't promise that it'll happen within the next month, because money's tight right now thanks to the holidays, but I do have the cooler, if anybody feels like sending me a GTX 1070 to test with. ;)

I have to say, I'm incredibly optimistic about it. Replacing a struggling cooler with one that sufficiently handles a card with almost twice the TDP seems like there's no possible way for it to be ineffective.


EDIT: I just got a request to post a link to some of the GTX 1080 coolers on ebay, so here goes:

goo.gl/llvHAL

In case that didn't work for you guys, literally all I did was go to ebay.com, search for "gtx 1080 cooler", and sort by Price+Shipping: lowest first.

There are currently three coolers in the $40-60 range, two of which have Buy it Now options. They seem to be fairly frequently posted on Ebay, because all three posts are different than what I chose from ~two weeks ago. Good hunting!



I did it, couldn't go to bed knowing it might sell out by the time I woke up. It's a lot of money for 2 PC cases in just half a year, but it'll be worth it (or so I keep telling myself. I spent £200 on my last PC case too, a Corsair Obsidian 800D, that I modded to hold 2 big radiators for watercooling - and now I can't find anybody who wants to buy any of my old WC parts/case that I spent £600 on :( )

Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that. Before I went to college, I upgraded with a Caselabs ITX case and watercooling. I then realized I needed something more portable and built into a RVZ01 a few years later, but... Just a few months ago I sold my old watercooling parts to a friend whose pump failed. Still haven't seen any money out of it. The watercooling market seems slower and emptier than I've ever seen it before.
 
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Sorry mate, but that's just straight up wrong.

The GTX 1070 FE is known for running hot; it will very frequently throttle due to temps. Most people's solution to this is a drastically more aggressive fan curve, which is distasteful for many SFF users, due to the closer proximity of our computers to our heads. The heatpipe cooler in the 1070 struggles with a 150W TDP graphics card.

The GTX 1080 FE uses the same cooler as the Titan XP - a 250W TDP card. Thus it's capable of handling more than the 180W 1080, and as shown by the positive reviews of the 1080FE, should handle the 30W cooler GTX 1070 without breaking a sweat. This means lower temperatures, slower fan speeds, and less noise.

I haven't checked alibaba yet, but I bought a gtx 1080 cooler for about $40 on ebay, and there were a bunch of them.





Actually, a case without fans can often get what you need, provided that it's a case like this one where the components have close to unrestricted access to airflow. Is it going to be 100% totally optimal? No. A larger case with a full tower heatsink is going to perform marginally better... but bear in mind that the person asking the question might have needs other than just on-paper optimization, which is why he's asking about something like the Sentry.





Did you look at the components that are under question, though? It's an i7-7700K and a gtx 1080. Way, way less extreme than what Linus did. Now, overclocking will be off the table, but a gtx 1080 should have no problem with this case.

You're talking about how awful high temperatures are and how it will lower your performance, but JUST ABOVE in the same post you said that there was no reason to put a better cooler on the heat-restricted 1070. It's either one or the other.

The build the guy listed will work just fine in a Sentry, and he's clearly looking for something small-form-factor... this case is one of the best among them.

No, but high temperatures will lower your clocks, and that will lower your performance.

Thank you very much to everyone that replied. I have a great computer at work for handling the long hours at 100% so this computer is intended at personal use mostly but that includes being able to handle the stuff I do at work whenever necessary. So, it will not be at 100% regularly but it might be sometimes. To give a little bit of background this will be my first case and it will be used to replace my old ROG laptop which had a gtx 660m and its like 3 or 4 years old so while eventually it will be pushed to the max most of the time it will be dealing with stuff that that laptop can handle. My old laptop was too slow for some tasks and I am ready for an upgrade but I am looking for the smallest case that I can get that can fit a full size graphic card. Portability and size is a huge selling point for me. After reading that others are using it for similar purpose I feel confident enough that it will be a decent investment. Thank you very much.
 
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