SFF Case for mini-ITX GPU/MB

iFreilicht said:
Yeah but the button could be moved up a little to clear the GPU, no? If it's blocked by the PSU, I totally understand not going for it, but a PC with a powerbutton at the back seems a little weird and impractical. Maybe that's just me though.
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HDD connectors are the reason for power button not being in the front. I could squeeze it in, but it would be in this off center position which would look awful in my opinion. I could make the case a bit taller to put power button and some usb ports and jacks in the front like all other cases have :), or get a rid off HDD all together... but I set a target to include all the HW of traditional PC setup and have it all in 8L (at the end I had to accept defeat with 8.1L).
Bottom line is that with this kind of rather extreme setup, where will be compromises somewhere, just have to be.... Look at new MacPro for example. It's roughly the same size, no HDD, no OD, 350W power envelope, (4.5billion R&D budget).

Also size and position of power button is such, that you need to try it once and you will always find it without looking at it ever after. It is very intuitive. Osmi has foot print of 180x180mm, you don't need to reach that much further to press that button really. But of course I fully understand that it might look a bit weird to some.
 
Gtek said:
HDD connectors are the reason for power button not being in the front. I could squeeze it in, but it would be in this off center position which would look awful in my opinion. I could make the case a bit taller to put power button and some usb ports and jacks in the front like all other cases have :), or get a rid off HDD all together... but I set a target to include all the HW of traditional PC setup and have it all in 8L (at the end I had to accept defeat with 8.1L).
Bottom line is that with this kind of rather extreme setup, where will be compromises somewhere, just have to be.... Look at new MacPro for example. It's roughly the same size, no HDD, no OD, 350W power envelope, (4.5billion R&D budget).

Also size and position of power button is such, that you need to try it once and you will always find it without looking at it ever after. It is very intuitive. Osmi has foot print of 180x180mm, you don't need to reach that much further to press that button really. But of course I fully understand that it might look a bit weird to some.
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That was what I believed to be the reason, but you are probably right, if you know where that button is, you can probably reach it blindly with ease.
A lot of people will probably happily accept that compromise for the awesome looks and the formfactor.

Well the Mac Pro is a whole different story in terms of size to power ratio entirely. :D
 
iFreilicht said:
Well the Mac Pro is a whole different story in terms of size to power ratio entirely. :D
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Osmi with 600W psu, i7 4790, 16GB ram, GTX970, 250GB SSD, + 3TB hdd and blu-ray OD for around £1700,- inc.VAT. I might be a bit arrogant here, but I would say it's (almost) competitive.

And they are the same height (250mm) :D
 
It is competitive, but the Mac Pro allows 4 DDR-DIMMs. Still, it costs 3000€ minimum, so you really have to be wealthy or a company to even consider that slightly over a rig in Osmi.
 
Gtek said:
Hi guys, I finished testing Osmi mk2 a couple of days ago. Here are few pictures, so you have an idea how it looks with new skin..
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I'm not at all a fan of white electronics, but that does look incredibly nice. Hope you'll still do a version in all black (or maybe black sides and brushed aluminum top and bottom might look equally as sharp).
 
I want to purchase this case and I live in Canada. I'm certain that there are other Canadians who are also interested in purchasing this case.

Could we arrange something for Canada as well?
 
Foristality said:
I want to purchase this case and I live in Canada. I'm certain that there are other Canadians who are also interested in purchasing this case.

Could we arrange something for Canada as well?
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I'm sure I could. But as I mentioned before. When it comes to 'case only' there is a minimum order of 50...
 
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Gtek said:
I'm sure I could. But as I mentioned before. When it comes to 'case only' there is a minimum order of 50...
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Hey Peter,

I just have a question regarding case orientation?

Do you think it would be more efficient if the motherboard was flipped 180 degrees with the GPU exhausting from the top and the 140mm fan Intaking air from the bottom, blowing fresh air through to the top of the case?
 
JoeOnePack said:
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Hey Peter,

I just have a question regarding case orientation?

Do you think it would be more efficient if the motherboard was flipped 180 degrees with the GPU exhausting from the top and the 140mm fan Intaking air from the bottom, blowing fresh air through to the top of the case?
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Yes, it would be more efficient, but to hide cables it would have to be around 70mm taller. And chassis would be more complicated (because of OD for example). It would also be more expensive. I considered and abandoned this layout in early stages....
 
Gtek said:
Yes, it would be more efficient, but to hide cables it would have to be around 70mm taller. And chassis would be more complicated (because of OD for example). It would also be more expensive. I considered and abandoned this layout in early stages....
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Hmm. I guess to explain what I mean in simpler terms would be to just flip the entire case upside down and use it like that. The only thing that would need to change is the orientation of the slim DVD drive. Would that work?
 
JoeOnePack said:
Hmm. I guess to explain what I mean in simpler terms would be to just flip the entire case upside down and use it like that. The only thing that would need to change is the orientation of the slim DVD drive. Would that work?
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Well, yes... some rearrangement or hw components would have to take place, but I don't see why it shouldn't work, apart that it would look like medusa with all that exposed cables on the top :)
 
Gtek said:
Well, yes... some rearrangement or hw components would have to take place, but I don't see why it shouldn't work, apart that it would look like medusa with all that exposed cables on the top :)
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I think the only things that would need to be rearranged is to switch positions of the DVD drive and the 2.5" HDD mounting location on the side of the case, then switch the ends of the case to match.

I'm not sure how any cables, aside from how it looks now would be more exposed with this simple rearrangement.
 
Wow, looks like there's some good options out there, and that Osmi is very very nice. I'm just waiting for my local Microcenter to get back in stock with 'Devil's Canyon', in the mean time I need to make a choice between microATX and a miniITX build. If I did go miniITX, I'd initially be using my existing build with 900 watt PS & GTX680 so I'll first put it into my microATX case, and will move it once the dust settles on what case is best for what I have and video card I will be upgrading to.

The main problem I have is a while back I had bought two 8 gig sets of DDR3 memory, so the microATX board makes sense if I want to use existing RAM, although packages are unopened so I could sell and get 2 8 gig sticks. Also the miniITX selection at microcenter is very slim, so I'd end up with whatever ASUS board they have in stock at the time, I guess that's ok, but I'd prefer the option of getting the best.

To clarify, my initial thought was there would be a case that took advantage of the smaller GPUs and have either a smaller volume, or allow for use of other components (like standard ATX PS) in a smaller volume than a case that allows for a full size GPU.

In terms of optical drives... Really they are optional - and IMO if needed can be external.
 
Relativist said:
To clarify, my initial thought was there would be a case that took advantage of the smaller GPUs and have either a smaller volume, or allow for use of other components (like standard ATX PS) in a smaller volume than a case that allows for a full size GPU.
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I'd say go for an M1 if you want a small case that allows for full-size PSUs when using short ITX-style GPUs, or go for the Osmi if you're okay with an SFX PSU and want something even smaller.

twqDDh2.jpg
 
@Gtek
beautiful case! i already liked the older (black) edition, but the new white one is just gorgeous.

If anyone has time to organize a bulk order, I'd be in for two
 
Gtek said:
I'm sure I could. But as I mentioned before. When it comes to 'case only' there is a minimum order of 50...
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Well I'm pretty interested in this case and also so many other ppl in this thread so I'm pretty sure you can hit that 50 mark, If you just set up a simple website so we can place a preorder like loneindustries did for his L1 and L2 i wouldn't be surprise if your preorders fill up pass 50
 
chaego said:
Well I'm pretty interested in this case and also so many other ppl in this thread so I'm pretty sure you can hit that 50 mark, If you just set up a simple website so we can place a preorder like loneindustries did for his L1 and L2 i wouldn't be surprise if your preorders fill up pass 50
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Working on the web site... but the shop is not finished yet.

http://hg-computers.eu/
 
Website looks pretty good, just a few thoughts:

  • Be nice to have links to the product from the slider on the front page
  • The Osmi is at the URL /portfolio/tenius-1
  • The Tenius is at /portfolio/50
  • The About page text is offset to make room for a sidebar that doesn't exist
  • Copyright date is a bit behind

Other than that it looks nice.
 
I see that the store is live! @Gtek, this is a beautiful case. From the discussion here it's unclear to me as to whether the case would be available without any components. Is this an option that is being considered or can it only be ordered as a fully built machine?

Edit: Never mind, I see that an order of 50 is needed. How much would the cost be per case in an order of 50?
Edit: Sorry, I see from earlier in the thread it was $100 a case, plus shipping, this sounds like a great deal :)
 
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Well, Osmi looks like the smallest footprint. Lets hear what the approximate cost would be and see if we can get to 50.

The M1 looks great as well, so if the Osmi doesn't work out for the minimalist volume that'd be another awesome way to go and I'd likely use an ATX PS with it.
 
kierwest said:
$100 for that case.... to me, 75 seems more reasonable
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I actually thought $100 at batches of 50 seemed rather low.. was really expecting around $125 to $150 (plus shipping and someone else's mark-up, time, labor and other distribution expenses tacked on top).

Maybe if you order a few hundred for yourself he can swing you a better price? :p
 
Gtek said:
I'm sure I could. But as I mentioned before. When it comes to 'case only' there is a minimum order of 50...
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Make a kickstarter! Seriously, your product is already finished, the only thing you need is pre-orders for the production and a little bit of publicity. Nobody investing in that campaign would even run the slightest risk of this not working out.

EDIT: I see you already have a website, so maybe that could work out as well.
 
I had local manufacturer lined up with quotations and everything. That was before GBP went trough the roof against Euro and USD. And most of my customers are from Europe and some potential like you guys from US/Canada. So I in touch with new manufacturers in Europe to achieve reasonable prices again... Never ending story... frustrating...
 
What front fan/rad setups would that hypothetical case support? 2x120mm certainly doesn't look realistic.
 
Well the Air 240 is 320mm high, so 2x 120 fans stacked tightly on top of each other +10mm top & bottom, shall we call it 260mm?
So that gives us 60mm smaller in height.than the original Air 240.
(or possible 1x120fan with the option of an 80, if needed.)

Width, maybe the 120 fan would have to protrude into the middle of the case slightly, but I don't see that being a problem. (adds a bit of cooling towards the ssd & psu.)
 
You forgot the top and bottom panels in your calculation, they are more than 10mm each.

I've built in the air 240 and it's already efficient in terms of height. The big waste of space is their choice to put psu and drives in the back compartment.
 
WiSK said:
A big waste of space is their choice to put psu and drives in the back compartment.
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The fact you can hide the psu & drives in the back compartment out of the way, is what made this case a big favorite/seller with many pc builders in the first place. .

And just because the top & bottom bracket in the Air240 is more than 10mm, doesn't mean a new smaller m-itx case bracket can't be 10mm (or less ;o)
 
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Case manufacturers are some of the most vulgar people. With that case, you can literally fit two computers into it (one on each side). Such a waste of space.

This is why I envy Apple designers.

If there were ANY smart case manufacturers in this industry, they would have already stolen the A4-SFX case design.
 
One of the problems I have with many of the new mitx cases, is they still seem to be on the long side (depth).
I see more & more people having turned their pc's side on when placed on their desk because the depth is to long.
Not nice when you got the buttons/usb/badge logo on the front & you have to sit there looking at it side on. That's one of the reasons I'm taken in by the air240's cube design. (now if they could only make it smaller, I'd be a happy man ;o)
 
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Foristality said:
If there were ANY smart case manufacturers in this industry, they would have already stolen the A4-SFX case design.
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Let's not forget the A4 relies on a $90 flexible riser. Even at higher volumes it's going to be a significant cost add. There's a reason there are no cases on the market using flex risers, after all.

Pigbristle said:
One of the problems I have with many of the new mitx cases, is they still seem to be on the long side (depth).
I see more & more people having turned their pc's side on when placed on their desk because the depth is to long.
Not nice when you got the buttons/usb/badge logo on the front & you have to sit there looking at it side on. That's one of the reasons I'm taken in by the air240's cube design. (now if they could only make it smaller, I'd be a happy man ;o)
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Cases are long because they need to be able to fit graphics cards, which if you want any kind of choice means at least 10.5" of space. On top of that you'll often have front-mounted fans, possibly room for a radiator, and the bezel.

The Air 240 isn't particularly shorter than many other mATX cases; at 397mm, it's longer than the Silverstone TJ08-E, for example (385mm).
 
Necere said:
Cases are long because they need to be able to fit graphics cards, which if you want any kind of choice means at least 10.5" of space.
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True, but I think the original point of this thread was trying to find shorter cases that only fit shorter ITX-style GPU cards, and not full-size ones.

There's already a decent selection of small and smallish cases that fit long GPUs, but very few that go even smaller for those of us only needing up to 970 or 270x for a particular build.


Those Air cubes above look f'ing huge imo.
 
Count me in as another person interested in the Osmi case. So long as it can handle a mini-970 & i7 combo I would easily pay $125 for the thing.
 
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