SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

Thanks for the replies..

I'm using L9i on i7 6700k non delided in sentry case for almost 1 years.. The heat sometimes go to 90 when I'm not using air conditioner..

So for upgrading my L9i, it's better to change it with LP53 + noctua NF-A9x14 (2500rpm) than C7 Cu?

If the C7 Cu is the exact same height as the plain C7, then yes it is probably better to go with the LP53. IIRC, the C7 will perform much better than the nh-l9i if it has enough room above the fan to breath. However in Sentry it has only about 1mm, so it can't efficiently draw in air leading to loud fan noise and performance that is similar to the nh-l9i. AFAIK the LP53 is still one of the best coolers for Sentry.
 
I've been sitting on my Sentry for more than 7 months without any work on it, just dont have any time really. Im curious, if these 7 months have seen any improvements in component configurations and combinations such that i could maybe use the Sentry with a Ryzen 7 2700x?

I wont upgrade this PC for a while, so i'd rather just get the most powerful CPU i can as long as im upgrading. My main home office machine is still running an Intel 2600k afterall...
 
Thanks for the replies..

I'm using L9i on i7 6700k non delided in sentry case for almost 1 years.. The heat sometimes go to 90 when I'm not using air conditioner..

So for upgrading my L9i, it's better to change it with LP53 + noctua NF-A9x14 (2500rpm) than C7 Cu?

Hey man, seeing your username talking about your cooler reminded me-- do you still use the 3d printed velocity stack you shared here: https://hardforum.com/threads/sentr...case-project.1832126/page-141#post-1043433611

If so, do you still have the project file you'd be willing to share? I just installed Ej24's weather stripping mod but would love to be able to find a printer near me to whip up something prettier than my gunky adhesive mess :p
 
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Hey man, seeing your username talking about your cooler reminded me-- do you still use the 3d printed velocity stack you shared here: https://hardforum.com/threads/sentr...case-project.1832126/page-141#post-1043433611

If so, do you still have the project file you'd be willing to share? I just installed Ej24's weather stripping mod but would love to be able to find a printer near me to whip up something prettier than my gunky adhesive mess :p

I don't have the project file because my friend made it for me.. I will ask him if you want..

And I don't use it anymore because it's only reduce the noise.. And I think I need to revised the design to make it better in sentry..

Btw I just recoloring the L9i fan.. NF-A9x14 Redux edition.. Lol
IMG_20180426_185104_263.jpg
 
I don't have the project file because my friend made it for me.. I will ask him if you want..

And I don't use it anymore because it's only reduce the noise.. And I think I need to revised the design to make it better in sentry..

Btw I just recoloring the L9i fan.. NF-A9x14 Redux edition.. Lol
View attachment 78552
did you ever say what you used and how you colored the fan?
 
I don't have the project file because my friend made it for me.. I will ask him if you want..

And I don't use it anymore because it's only reduce the noise.. And I think I need to revised the design to make it better in sentry..

Btw I just recoloring the L9i fan.. NF-A9x14 Redux edition.. Lol
View attachment 78552

Oh cool, don't worry about it then! No need to dig it up if it wasn't sitting around on your hard drive or something. It sure did look nice-- bummer it didn't enhance cooling too much. Thanks for closing the loop!

And man, that fan recolor looks amazing with your build
 
To be honest I didn't did that by myself..lol..
I got a friend he work as aerospace aircrafts painter.
For recoloring this fan. We need to open blade first. Then recoloring blade and the base separately.
I saw him using recoloring this fan with air brush pen. He did a light sanding first then he applied base paint (white doff) after that he used duco paint to recoloring the fan..
 

Well, maybe... Because we don't know real dimensions of this card yet. They say the PCB is 5 mm longer than the one of R9 Nano, which would mean the PCB is 170 mm long. But it doesn't seem to be true as the PCB looks exactly the same length as the one in R9 Nano (note the distance from the pci-e connector lock). On top of that there's like 15~20 mm of the cooler hanging outside the PCB and this looks like something that will not let us mount this card along 120 mm AIO.

We have ~175 mm for the card when using AIO and this card looks like ~180 mm...
 
Well, maybe... Because we don't know real dimensions of this card yet. They say the PCB is 5 mm longer than the one of R9 Nano, which would mean the PCB is 170 mm long. But it doesn't seem to be true as the PCB looks exactly the same length as the one in R9 Nano (note the distance from the pci-e connector lock). On top of that there's like 15~20 mm of the cooler hanging outside the PCB and this looks like something that will not let us mount this card along 120 mm AIO.

We have ~175 mm for the card when using AIO and this card looks like ~180 mm...
There are a few pictures out there (I think on SFF) that show that the card is the exact lenghr of a mitx board when installed.
 
There are a few pictures out there (I think on SFF) that show that the card is the exact lenghr of a mitx board when installed.

Thanks for the tip. It really looks like the card will fit within the length of mITX with a cooler. I think the confusion here is that R9 Nano was measured including the slot for its 165 mm and those 5 mm of difference is between the specs, but Vega Nano looks actually like it's ~15 mm longer (similar to width of two memory slots and a change).
 
I don't have the project file because my friend made it for me.. I will ask him if you want..

And I don't use it anymore because it's only reduce the noise.. And I think I need to revised the design to make it better in sentry..

Btw I just recoloring the L9i fan.. NF-A9x14 Redux edition.. Lol
View attachment 78552

I would be interested in that velocity stack myself.


I just bought one of these. Should be here tomorrow. Planning to install into my Sentry. Planning to mod it to help reduce the temps.

TBH the most crucial hardware that requires the most attention to temps is the GPU. Modern CPU's can be tamed fairly well with current SFF air coolers.
 
I would be interested in that velocity stack myself.



I just bought one of these. Should be here tomorrow. Planning to install into my Sentry. Planning to mod it to help reduce the temps.

TBH the most crucial hardware that requires the most attention to temps is the GPU. Modern CPU's can be tamed fairly well with current SFF air coolers.

Hi, did you test it maybe? Thanks!
 
I still have a v1 Sentry (Black) in its original unopened packaging if anyone is interested in buying it off of me for what I paid + shipping costs. It looks like my next PC build is further away than initially anticipated and I'm sure someone that missed out on the initial crowdfunding campaign would appreciate the opportunity to get their hands on one.

However, to be courteous to thread subscribers, please don't reply here. Instead, send me a private message (eBay Feedback).
 
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Impressive. What cpu is that under the liquid cooler? 8700k?
7700k, finally able to run it normally without any under volting. usually temps wont climb above 60 when before would easily hit 80 without a -100mv undervolt. not sure how well this setup would perform with an 8700k. from experience that bad boy runs even hotter, though i imagine still better than if it were with my old lp53 setup.

it is important to note though, that vega 56 mini runs hot as hell. i was hitting the 80 degree mark at close to max fan speed,
 
7700k, finally able to run it normally without any under volting. usually temps wont climb above 60 when before would easily hit 80 without a -100mv undervolt. not sure how well this setup would perform with an 8700k. from experience that bad boy runs even hotter, though i imagine still better than if it were with my old lp53 setup.

it is important to note though, that vega 56 mini runs hot as hell. i was hitting the 80 degree mark at close to max fan speed,
Those temps are pretty darn good for a 7700k! It's a shame the gpu is still so warm. Have you replaced the stock thermal paste on the gpu with something more premium? like Thermal Grizzly Cryonaut (the non-conductive one) or Noctua NT-H1? I recall some of the early reviews/teardowns of Vega found not very good thermal paste contact due to the multiple chips(gpu die and HBM) all having to make contact with the cold plate. I think GamersNexus covered it a while ago.

Given some of the incredible custom liquid cooling loops I've seen people cram in their Ncase M1's, I'm curious if a custom full loop could be done in Sentry... There are some very slim radiators and very small custom reservoir/pump combos now. I've never been in to liquid cooling myself, but I'd love to see what a custom liquid cooling enthusiast could do within the confines of Sentry.
 
Impressive. What cpu is that under the liquid cooler? 8700k?
Those temps are pretty darn good for a 7700k! It's a shame the gpu is still so warm. Have you replaced the stock thermal paste on the gpu with something more premium? like Thermal Grizzly Cryonaut (the non-conductive one) or Noctua NT-H1? I recall some of the early reviews/teardowns of Vega found not very good thermal paste contact due to the multiple chips(gpu die and HBM) all having to make contact with the cold plate. I think GamersNexus covered it a while ago.

Given some of the incredible custom liquid cooling loops I've seen people cram in their Ncase M1's, I'm curious if a custom full loop could be done in Sentry... There are some very slim radiators and very small custom reservoir/pump combos now. I've never been in to liquid cooling myself, but I'd love to see what a custom liquid cooling enthusiast could do within the confines of Sentry.
i have actually done a pretty large amount of research into custom cooling, with the sentry, the only way i see it happening is with an external cooling setup. power consumption is already an issue, cant shrink down the psu and cant go up to an sfx-l with the rad in there. sentrys best element is also its most restrictive; its slim layout. i too would love to see something custom done, but sadly i dont think there is enough clearance above the cpu and the gpu compartment for the blocks, pumps and piping. it would have to be in some way external, holes would be made.... but then again.... if it were done right, it would look pretty damn good. i think something could be done with alphacools modular blocks or EKs pheoniex concepts but otherwise... to see custom liquid cooling in a sentry is a (excuse my pun) pipe dream. will investigate swapping the thermal paste though, that just might help! The powercolor card isnt a blower style and one side is being blocked off by the aio which may be contributing but unless we see more aio sentry builds. dont really know if its helping or hurting airflow.
 
Hello,

6 months after I built the Sentry, I felt it was time to delid my i7-8700. My 8700 would hit 100C on the intel diagnostic tool test on an open bench with the LP53 and kyronaut.

My delid journey was not without issues. I got poor temps a few times, used too much and too little permtex, too much and too little liquid metal. I went through a whole tube of
Collaboratory Liquid Ultra II. I powered it up and had no video once. I could go on, long story with multiple attempts.

Anyway, I decided to use the copper IHS by rockitcool. I also lapped the cpu die, which I regret, but I saved it.

Long story short,

Now I have consistent, even temps across all cores with no throttling.

After running PC Mark 10, 3D Mark 10, and Intel Diagnostic Processor Tool, these are my stats:

AsRock z370 ITX Gaming
i7-8700 Stock, vcore -60 offset, turboboost on with Copper IHS and Conductonaut CPU fan 100%
LP53 w/ Kyronaut & Noctua fan mod.

https://imgur.com/a/ZWgeUhD

Benchmarks:
https://www.3dmark.com/pcm10b/313344
https://www.3dmark.com/pcm10exb/36133
https://www.3dmark.com/spy/4102575

ZpIv16y.png


These are fantastic numbers considering the Intel test is by far the most stressful test and it would hit 100C outside the case and get throttled. Now it's a cool max of 76C with no throttling. All benches are done with CPU fan constant 100%, which matched benches done in Jan 2018. My first benchmarks, were done before and after mettdown and spectre. The liquid metal provides a serious performance increase in my case.

The only thing left for me to do is attach a heatsink to my 960 evo has it's hitting 87c and being throttled, which arrives tomorrow.

Edit: installed, dropped temp about 10C.
 
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Beautiful temps, love to see that! Just ordered a new NVMe SSD on PrimeDay soooo needless to say i'm very excited to open the ol'Sentry as well.
 
damn, really need to have a go at de-liding

I recommend the rockit cool kit. Super easy. Just to play it safe I practiced on a pentium cpu I had lying around before doing my i7. Maybe you could get a dead cpu off ebay for $5 for practice if you're concerned. The delidding isn't the difficult part, it's the liquid metal. It behaves unlike any liquid you're used to handling, and I can almost guarantee you'll use too much the first time. As for which brand, I definitely recommend the thermal grizzly conductonaut which AFAIK never dries out, and needs no curing. Some other brands need to be heat cured or sit for 24 hours before using the cpu, and some can dry up after a year and lose contact. It's not that risky if done right. Good luck!
 
i have actually done a pretty large amount of research into custom cooling, with the sentry, the only way i see it happening is with an external cooling setup. power consumption is already an issue, cant shrink down the psu and cant go up to an sfx-l with the rad in there. sentrys best element is also its most restrictive; its slim layout. i too would love to see something custom done, but sadly i dont think there is enough clearance above the cpu and the gpu compartment for the blocks, pumps and piping. it would have to be in some way external, holes would be made.... but then again.... if it were done right, it would look pretty damn good. i think something could be done with alphacools modular blocks or EKs pheoniex concepts but otherwise... to see custom liquid cooling in a sentry is a (excuse my pun) pipe dream. will investigate swapping the thermal paste though, that just might help! The powercolor card isnt a blower style and one side is being blocked off by the aio which may be contributing but unless we see more aio sentry builds. dont really know if its helping or hurting airflow.

Curious whether you've tried to put in any sort of fan on the motherboard side. The CPU itself is obviously fine, but the entire motherboard side now has no air except for when the PSU fan is on. Are you worried about the components there?
 
Curious whether you've tried to put in any sort of fan on the motherboard side. The CPU itself is obviously fine, but the entire motherboard side now has no air except for when the PSU fan is on. Are you worried about the components there?
thats a good point, guess i havent really considered it since the vrams aren't going to heat up much. i could try ziptying my old 92mm noctua in there, though im unsure of what effect it would have.
 
Alright guys, time to start compiling a list of which RTX 20 series gpu's will fit.

Sad to see the reference design is no longer a blower, nor do I trust third parties make a good vapor chamber based blower. But I get it, these are powerful gpu's and a blower probably couldn't reach both the performance and acoustic parameters Nvidia wanted.

The reference design should fit fine in Sentry though. I wish Nvidia went with longitudinal fins rather than lateral, that way some of the exhaust would be ejected out the back i/o. Beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

Definitely planning on cramming a 2080 Ti in Sentry.
 
Looks like the EVGA "XC Gaming" will definitely fit. A lot of the others are 3 fan cards that are 2.5-3 slots in thickness.
I actually like the reference, founders edition. It looks like it'll perform well enough, plus its a vapor chamber under all those fins, Nvidia really impressed me with what a difference a vapor chamber makes with the GTX-1080 FE. So far only Best Buy and Nvidia themselves have the FE cards listed for sale.
Hopefully Amazon will have the FE cards, I've been saving my Amazon rewards for over a year and I'm trying to get 5% cash back from Amazon, on $1200, that adds up.

Looks like a few AIB blower 2080Ti's are showing up now. I sincerely hope they have vapor chambers or they're going to thermal throttle badly.
 
I wouldn't jump on the RTX bandwagon until we have the performance in both current gen games and ray tracing games for them.

Yes, this is a groundbreaking tech, but as such I'd treat this as prototype until there are actual games using this.

What might give it a boost in current games performance is concurrent FP/INT execution in SM, but I'm not sure how much of a difference will that make.

I will wait for the release of BF5 to see if RTX support will actually be there or if it was just a demo and hopefully with RTX on there'll be a better framerate because a lot of shading will be offloaded from SM to RT cores. If not - I'd recommend waiting till that happens.
 
I bit the bullet and pre-ordered the RTX 2080 FE. I'm usually very cautious and calculating but this time I did it simply because I promised myself last September that I'd pre-order this one; i.e. I'm going in all blind.

I think that it would probably fit the Sentry but I'm concerned about the power draw and heat dissipation but some people on this thread have installed more power hungry cards (i.e. GTX 1080Ti and Vega) so it should be doable. We'll see in a month.

What might give it a boost in current games performance is concurrent FP/INT execution in SM, but I'm not sure how much of a difference will that make.

I will wait for the release of BF5 to see if RTX support will actually be there or if it was just a demo and hopefully with RTX on there'll be a better framerate because a lot of shading will be offloaded from SM to RT cores. If not - I'd recommend waiting till that happens.

That's what I was hoping for as well.

Even without ray tracing and the tensor cores, it still has more CUDA cores than the 10-series and uses GDDR6 so that should somewhat increase performance.
 
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Alright guys, time to start compiling a list of which RTX 20 series gpu's will fit.

Sad to see the reference design is no longer a blower, nor do I trust third parties make a good vapor chamber based blower. But I get it, these are powerful gpu's and a blower probably couldn't reach both the performance and acoustic parameters Nvidia wanted.

The reference design should fit fine in Sentry though. I wish Nvidia went with longitudinal fins rather than lateral, that way some of the exhaust would be ejected out the back i/o. Beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

Definitely planning on cramming a 2080 Ti in Sentry.
The heatsink has openings on both the top and bottom, means that a big part of the hot exhaust is going to the CPU/motherboard region.
Don't think it's very desirable for our cases.
I may get an Asus Turbo 2080 (Gotta wait for the benchmarks). Definitely not Ti for me...that shit is too expensive:confused:
 
I think that it would probably fit the Sentry but I'm concerned about the power draw and heat dissipation but some people on this thread have installed more power hungry cards (i.e. GTX 1080Ti and Vega) so it should be doable. We'll see in a month.

It will fit. The FE has the same dimensions as previous FE cards.

Even without ray tracing and the tensor cores, it still has more CUDA cores than the 10-series and uses GDDR6 so that should somewhat increase performance.

Refined SMs with more Cuda cores at that. More L2 cache and a few other tweaks mean a slight bump in IPC per SM. These will be beasts with or without any ray tracing.

For those that already have a 1080ti, yeah it probably doesn't make sense. For those of us that sold our gpu's for profit during the mining frenzy, yeah, I'll be getting one these RTX cards.
 
So I'm once again perusing the thread for assistance, so hopefully my issue has already been conquered.

Here's my build, which is running in horizontal orientation:
i7-8700K (throttled to run like an i5-8400 for TDP purposes)
1080 Ti FE
16GB RAM (Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600)
Asrock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming ITX
2x WD 2TB notebook spinners
1TB 860 EVO M.2
Corsair 600W Gold SFX
Noctua NH-L9i e/w NF-B9 Redux Fan

I get that I'm well above TDP on the video card, but at least it's a blower. I have ordered taller feet so that it can breathe better, but that's in progress.

The issue is that I'm cooking "Drive 2". I haven't traced the cables to see which wound up being spinner #2, but it's hitting 80C during gaming. Everything else is fine, and I could push the CPU harder.. though the GPU could use some undervolt tweaks. I started looping the new Forza Horizon 4 Demo to examine temps and such when I discovered this. Thoughts?

4pGmL9kl.jpg


Man I really need to take a black marker to those WD drives.
 
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why didn't you just get lower spec'd parts if you have to underclock them?! and youre still having temp issues...
 
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