SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

So with shipping getting closer and April around the corner...has anyone started purchasing and rounding up new parts for the build? Would love to hear what everyone is planning to buy and build with for their new Sentry once it arrives :)
My pc is working hard for about 6 month. 6700k stock with xigmatek janus, 16gb@3,2ghz, asus z170i, gtx 1070, ssd combo nvme250gb+sata500gb. Damn i'm so happy right now, Sentry is so close than ever
 
So with shipping getting closer and April around the corner...has anyone started purchasing and rounding up new parts for the build? Would love to hear what everyone is planning to buy and build with for their new Sentry once it arrives :)

Everyone say what CPU/GPU/MB/RAM/PSU they are getting, I am more interested in what monitor they will use as I am still searching for a good one to use, my dream OLED 5K HDR 27"-28" monitor doesn't exist yet, So I am searching for the next best thing, waiting for the monitors demonstrated at CES to be released and reviewed.
 
My build;

- Intel i7 7700
- Noctua NH-L9i
- ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming ITX/AC
- 2x8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX
- EVGA GTX 1070 SC Gaming ACX 3.0
- Intel P600 M.2 SSD
- Corsair SF-450 PSU

All here except the MoBo (comes this friday) then i will be testing how much delidding helps with the 7700.
 
I'm waiting now for the ryzen itx boards, but here's what I'm thinking about when they come:

- AMD Ryzen 7 1700
- Dynatron T318 + NH-L9i fan, all this mounted with my custom bracket
- Gigabyte/Asrock AM4 mITX
- one or two 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX sticks
- EVGA GTX 1060 6GB SC, or upgrade to a higher end GPU.
- Samsung 960 Evo M.2 SSD
- HGST 7K1000 1TB 2.5" HDD, maybe two of them in raid.
- SilverStone SST-ST45SF V3.0 450W
 
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Do you think that a build with GTX 1080Ti and i7-7700k would be impossible to keep at somewhat acceptable temps?
 
7700K should be okay without OC, but louder/hotter, but I believe with Titan X Pascal/1080TI you'll have to use the case only in vertical position on a stand and you might still need to ramp up the fan curve like Linus did to get the full performance out of the card.

I'm also not sure if getting 1080TI won't be unnecessary overpaying for the GPU since in Ryzen 1700 vs 7700K benchmarks overclocked i7 was pretty much balanced in full load with GTX1080 on Battlefield 1 (both GPU and CPU had 95~98% loads). This means that without OC you're definitely going to bottleneck 1080TI with your CPU if you're not going for 4K.
 
SaperPL,

Have you ever tried to build a semi-passive gaming rig? I want a small, powerful and completely silent PC when browsing internet or doing other lightweight work and Sentry looks sexy as hell, but I am unsure, how well it'll fit for semi-passive build.

P.S. One issue I've noticed is the lack of front panel jack for headphones
 
SaperPL,

Have you ever tried to build a semi-passive gaming rig? I want a small, powerful and completely silent PC when browsing internet or doing other lightweight work and Sentry looks sexy as hell, but I am unsure, how well it'll fit for semi-passive build.

I didn't, however as I said before we've got a few workstations running inside Sentry prototypes with pentium AE/Xeon E3, semi-passive silverstone PSUs and high-end 150W blower style quadro's. Those are pretty silent in office/CAD work.

I have no reason to believe you couldn't do a silent build with low TDP intel T/S model cpu cooled with NH-L9i, CNPS-2X or intel copper core box and low end card with big low-RPM fan and semi-passive PSU like the ones that silverstone makes.

P.S. One issue I've noticed is the lack of front panel jack for headphones

The case was designed around the idea that you'll be able to get the required accessories on your own so the front panel is usb only two-port baffle that is quite common and industrial momentary switch as power switch. Front panel audio wouldn't fit within those specs as well as the fact that it would be pretty hard to fit it in front without breaking the aesthetic of the case. Finally we didn't strive to mount it since this is supposed to be a case mounted in front of TV and at the same at this target price point we believe wireless headset would be a thing for the owners.
 
My build has:

Intel Core i5 7600T (35W TDP)
Stock cooler off of a Core i7-2600k (95W TDP, copper core cooler, fit perfectly)
Gigabyte GTX 1060 6GB
MSI Z270I Carbon
8GB x 2 Corsair LPX Vengeance
Samsung M.2 512GB SATA
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SATA
Silverstone SFX-L power supply
Have you ever tried to build a semi-passive gaming rig? I want a small, powerful and completely silent PC when browsing internet or doing other lightweight work and Sentry looks sexy as hell, but I am unsure, how well it'll fit for semi-passive build.
With my above setup in its temporary RVZ02 case it's basically silent even under load, and with the lower watt items (GPU is 120W max TDP but it barely gets warm).
 
So since the sentry is steel it should stick to magnets, right? When I dont carry it to the lving room or a LAN party, I plan to tuck it under my desk by screwing 2-3 like these under my desk
https://www.supermagnete.de/magnete...x-4mm-mit-bohrung-und-senkung_CS-Q-40-40-04-N (Dont mind the language, the picture is telling)
And sticking the sentry to it. This will cover some of the vents obv. Also: How Heavy do you think the a fully loaded sentry will be?
 
I think you're underestimating the weight of the computer parts - fully loaded case will weight between 5 and 6.5 kilos depending on the size of GPU cooler and PSU weight. With SFX-L, full length 12"/305mm open air gpu like windforce 3X you'll get closer to 6.5 kg. Obviously with blower style card, small low profile cooler and standard SFX power supply you'll have your computer weight less.

Also enough powerful magnet would definitely affect your hard drive.
 
The magnet I linked in my last post carries 16 kg (Haftkraft roughly translates to the weight you can put on that thing. Haft=sticky Kraft=power)
I always thought that you can shield from a magnetic field by applying iron/steel.
Magnets shouldnt affect SSDs, right? I dont plan to ever get back to HDD. I have a proper NAS at home, I dont feel the need to go for >1TB
 
My build has:

Intel Core i5 7600T (35W TDP)
Stock cooler off of a Core i7-2600k (95W TDP, copper core cooler, fit perfectly)
Gigabyte GTX 1060 6GB
MSI Z270I Carbon
8GB x 2 Corsair LPX Vengeance
Samsung M.2 512GB SATA
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SATA
Silverstone SFX-L power supply

With my above setup in its temporary RVZ02 case it's basically silent even under load, and with the lower watt items (GPU is 120W max TDP but it barely gets warm).
My plan is to go with AMD Ryzen 1700 or 1600, so Intel's stock cooler isn't an option and I was unable to find any info on Noctua's L9A ability to keep a 65Watt chip passively cooled on light-weight workload.
I need my machine to be totally silent for my use case - browsing internet, programming at night :)
 
The magnet I linked in my last post carries 16 kg (Haftkraft roughly translates to the weight you can put on that thing. Haft=sticky Kraft=power)
I always thought that you can shield from a magnetic field by applying iron/steel.
Magnets shouldnt affect SSDs, right? I dont plan to ever get back to HDD. I have a proper NAS at home, I dont feel the need to go for >1TB

It looks kind of doable, but with such magnet I have no idea how it will affect circuits inside the case.

You should probably target the top side for magnet and make sure to install HDD/SSD on the bottom instead of main drive mounts in the center of the case.
 
My plan is to go with AMD Ryzen 1700 or 1600, so Intel's stock cooler isn't an option and I was unable to find any info on Noctua's L9A ability to keep a 65Watt chip passively cooled on light-weight workload.
I need my machine to be totally silent for my use case - browsing internet, programming at night :)
Honestly, even with the stock cooler on my other computer's Core i3 6100T (same cooler as came with my 7600T, and yes I like my low-TDP CPUs) it was only audible on the Asrock's default CPU fan setting, when I set it to "silent" mode it's indeed silent, and should stay that way unless the load requires it to spin up to audible speeds. Most stock coolers should be like that, but since you're going with a CPU that you can't (unless I'm wrong) use the stock cooler due to height, I don't know what'll work best for you.
 
SaperPL,

I'm sorry if I missed this in the forum, but do you plan on sharing best practice Ryzen configs once mITX boards drop?
 
I'll see how this looks when I have the board for Ryzen myself, but in general it should be quite obvious: either go for R7 1700 or R5 1400X. The first one if you want them for multithreaded workload and the second as cheaper i7 alternative. Pick as fast as possible memory and wait for the board vendor to fix the memory speed problems.

As for cooling, just like I said - we'll see when I have the hardware.

EDIT: check those proposed builds as well: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/SaperPL/saved/
 
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- Intel i7 7700k
- Dynatron R15 - Noctua NH-L9i Fan (mounted with zip ties and a copper shim using thermal grizzly kryonaut paste)
- ASUS Z170i Pro Gaming ITX
- 16GB G.Skill NT CAS 15 2400MHz 1.2v
- EVGA GTX 1080Ti SC Black Edition iCX
- Samsung 1TB 850 EVO M.2 SSD
- Corsair SF-600 PSU

Edit* using Acer XB270HU monitor

Goal is maximum gaming performance with no compromises. If it doesn't add to gaming performance then it doesn't get upgraded (hence 850 Evo instead of 960 series).

Got the CPU and motherboard from microcenter $420 combo price (hence why I didn't go z270i). And am currently waiting for whatever the fastest 1080 Ti aftermarket card that will fit in the sentry to come out.
 
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850 EVO is sata and 960 EVO is nvme - 2.0~2.5x faster, i think

You're right. On paper the drive is even faster than that, but real world usage tells a different story. Video editing and tasks like that are what show a noticeable difference.

Sequential transfers are what show a difference. Benchmarks show OS load times, game load times, and system responsiveness aren't distinguishably different.
 
One more thing about the Ryzen builds - you might want to pick memory with really high frequency like 3600 MHz or higher since Ryzen's internal bus ("infinity fabric") connecting core packages (CCX'es) is bound to memory speed.

It would be cool if AMD made some microcode update that would unbind this with simple bios update, but since it hasn't shown up yet, it might require physical changes. A simple memory to infinity fabric ratio would be awesome though.

It looks like we'll have a choice between 2 x 16GB 3000 MHz vs 2 x 8 GB 3600 MHz at the same price point.

You're right. On paper the drive is even faster than that, but real world usage tells a different story. Video editing and tasks like that are what show a noticeable difference.

Sequential transfers are what show a difference. Benchmarks show OS load times, game load times, and system responsiveness aren't distinguishably different.

Yeah, that'll depend on what you're doing on your PC. With apps that are intensively using the storage and cache I believe there's significant performance boost. With just gaming and browsing it won't matter and I would choose 1TB sata ssd over small nvme + 1TB hdd as well.
 
My build;

- Intel i7 7700
- Noctua NH-L9i
- ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming ITX/AC
- 2x8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX
- EVGA GTX 1070 SC Gaming ACX 3.0
- Intel P600 M.2 SSD
- Corsair SF-450 PSU

All here except the MoBo (comes this friday) then i will be testing how much delidding helps with the 7700.

Good looking build! I'm in a similar boat, with an i7-7700 on the way paired with NH-L9i on an ASRock Z270m ITX AC (not the Fatal1ty branded) and I've got a question for you (and everyone else of course!):

Why did you decide to go for a Z270 and a non-K CPU? Was it just TDP rating and our choice of cooler?

In my case I was originally planning to buy an i5-7600K and undervolt to try and keep temps at a decent level with our cooler. But I jumped on the eBay sale yesterday for i7-7700 @ $220. Part of me feels like I will regret not getting a K CPU down the line, but the rest of me (which is not that interested in OC except as bang-for-the-buck factor) feels like the i7-7700 ought to age pretty gracefully, right?
 
One more thing about the Ryzen builds - you might want to pick memory with really high frequency like 3600 MHz or higher since Ryzen's internal bus ("infinity fabric") connecting core packages (CCX'es) is bound to memory speed.

It would be cool if AMD made some microcode update that would unbind this with simple bios update, but since it hasn't shown up yet, it might require physical changes. A simple memory to infinity fabric ratio would be awesome though.
I assume, that infinity fabric goes through the same controller as your main ddr4 memory, that's why frequencies are tied.
 
I've got..
i5-7600 + Intel stock cooler (may change)
ASRock h270 mITX
8gb 2400 Corsair LPX
6gb EVGA 1060 FTW+
Corsair 600W SFX (may go 400W just in case of future updates)
Crucial 275gb M.2
2tb 2.5" Firecuda
1tb 2.5" Barracuda
 
My current "build":

2013 Macbook Pro 13" (i7-4558U) with 8GB ram and 256GB SSD running Windows 10.
ASUS GTX 970 Strix in a AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Thunderbolt enclosure connected to the Macbook.

It's super silent at idle, but the macbook sounds like a small jet engine during load! I'm currently having some problems with the eGPU causing BSOD, and the i7-4558U is a bit slow so I'm not really satisfied with this setup. It's also a pain in the ass having to reboot every time I disconnect or connect the eGPU. It was a fun experiment though.

Anyways, my planned build is:

i7-7700k
Cooltek LP53 + Noctua NF-A9x14 fan (both arrived this morning!)
ASUS Z270i
2x8GB Corsair LPX Vengeance
500GB Samsung 960 Evo M.2 SSD
Corsair SF600 PSU
And maybe a 2.5" hdd later.

As I currently have an ASUS GTX 970 Strix, which I don't think fits in the Sentry.. I'll see what happens when I try! If it doesn't work, I might buy a 1070. I would prefer to wait until the next generation of GPU's though.

I also plan to delid the 7700k, and might run it naked.
 
i have only new 16gb crucial ballistix sport 2400mhz :D, 256 sata Plextor SSD and 2TB HDD from my old alienware m17x. I have just ordered Asus Z270i (last cashback days) and still waiting for sentry and grab "extra" deals :D my next step is propably:
i7 7700 no K
Evga 1060 SC 6GB or MSI Aero 6GB Itx. Which better?
and Corsair SF600

good choice?
 
Hello Saper..
This is my build with Raijintek Metis since early 2016, i've travel (air, land and sea) a lot with this case..
i7-6700K cooled by Noctua NH-D15 with NF-A14 industrial fan (will it fit on sentry? lol jk)
Nvidia GTX 1080 FE
Gigabyte Z170N-Gaming 5
TridentZ 2x8gb 3200Mhz Memory
Samsung 960 Evo 500 gb
WDC Black Ver.2 4TB
the last upgrade is changed Samsung 850 Pro to Samsung 960 Evo because i can't find 512 Gb Samsung 960 Pro in my town and the 1 TB option is too expensive for me now..
i think i dont have to change 6700k to 7700k, and GTX 1080 to GTX 1080Ti because its only small performance upgrade and not worth for the money..
can you suggest me a single bay NAS for my 4TB WDC Black? Synology 115 or QNAP TS-131 TurboNAS?
 

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I can't suggest anything in NAS sector since it's not my class of servers - we use bigger server units than that and I didn't have a chance to touch the subject of pre-built NAS yet.

I'd suggest to watch the reviews of some Synology NAS units made by HardwareCanucks and YetAnotherTechChannel - looks like both channels use Synology for their storage so it's a good sign.

As for the upgrades - you're completely right - there's no need to upgrade 6700K to 7700K since you won't be able to use the added overclocking headroom that 7700K without water cooling. The same goes for 1080TI as I said before.
 
I can't suggest anything in NAS sector since it's not my class of servers - we use bigger server units than that and I didn't have a chance to touch the subject of pre-built NAS yet.

I'd suggest to watch the reviews of some Synology NAS units made by HardwareCanucks and YetAnotherTechChannel - looks like both channels use Synology for their storage so it's a good sign.

As for the upgrades - you're completely right - there's no need to upgrade 6700K to 7700K since you won't be able to use the added overclocking headroom that 7700K without water cooling. The same goes for 1080TI as I said before.

Probably I will go for Synology because its black but sometimes I was thinking to just buy enclosure with USAP for my 4TB WD Black..lol
 
I've been using a QNAP NAS for a while now and their software and hardware seems to be highly capable. One reason why I plan to get a Sentry is that I dont need that much internal storage anymore. And because its so sexy.
 
I've been using a QNAP NAS for a while now and their software and hardware seems to be highly capable. One reason why I plan to get a Sentry is that I dont need that much internal storage anymore. And because its so sexy.
Yep my brother in law also suggest me QNAP because of their software and hardware.. But Ive watched YouTube video which show Synology can run Steam game on NAS..

You're so right.! Sentry is so Damn sexy haha.. I bought two sentry one for my old skylake and another one for my brother he planned to build Ryzen..
 
I'm waiting now for the ryzen itx boards, but here's what I'm thinking about when they come:

- AMD Ryzen 7 1700
- Dynatron T318 + NH-L9i fan, all this mounted with my custom bracket
- Gigabyte/Asrock AM4 mITX
- one or two 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX sticks
- EVGA GTX 1060 6GB SC, or upgrade to a higher end GPU.
- Samsung 960 Evo M.2 SSD
- HGST 7K1000 1TB 2.5" HDD, maybe two of them in raid.
- SilverStone SST-ST45SF V3.0 450W

Given all the feedback from people who already tried Ryzen, it gets a substantial boost (>10%) from good memory, without more power consumption from the CPU.
It seems that so far, TridentZ has best memory around(with samsung b-dies).
Do you think it will fit?
 
The Current Plan:

- Intel i7 7700
- Noctua NH-L9i
- Asus ROG STRIX Z270i
--G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000
- Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X (Yes I know this is not the best pick, but its a carryover until I can afford a 1080*)
- Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2
- Corsair SF-600 PSU

I currently own everything but the motherboard and cooler. Only addition would be another M.2 (NvMe) if I can find a good deal.

And since someone wanted to know monitors I have a 29" LG Ultrawide 29UM58
 
Given all the feedback from people who already tried Ryzen, it gets a substantial boost (>10%) from good memory, without more power consumption from the CPU.
It seems that so far, TridentZ has best memory around(with samsung b-dies).
Do you think it will fit?

If high clock is the king here and CL isn't that important, then I'll go with corsair vengeance LPX 3600, sadly CL18.

Trident Z have tall heatspreades making them 44mm but should fit without the driver bracket - if you're going for only M.2 ssd or you can install the 2.5" hdd below the blower card then it's still somewhat doable.
 
Generally yeah, higher the clocks, getting low CL is harder. That's why high speed and low latency modules are the premium ones mostly and those have tall radiators now. That's why I said sadly CL18. Some of those TridentZ modules for example have 3600 MHz and CL16.
 
If high clock is the king here and CL isn't that important, then I'll go with corsair vengeance LPX 3600, sadly CL18.

Trident Z have tall heatspreades making them 44mm but should fit without the driver bracket - if you're going for only M.2 ssd or you can install the 2.5" hdd below the blower card then it's still somewhat doable.

Hmmmm. I was thinking of getting the Trident Z. If the 44mm height is too tall when using the 2.5" drive bracket, what would be the max height you could use? Sorry if this has been covered already...
 
I was checking this once for someone in the campaign comments and it's 51.5mm max, but I wouldn't go really tight with this dimension because I have no idea if memory dimensions are properly measured by their manufacturers or not.
 
I was checking this once for someone in the campaign comments and it's 51.5mm max, but I wouldn't go really tight with this dimension because I have no idea if memory dimensions are properly measured by their manufacturers or not.

Works for me. Thanks!
 
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