Stalled Catz C-1 (5L), C-SFX (10L) and C-WS (15L)

[amitoza]

Mod edit: @amitoza has not logged in in several weeks and we are considering this project stalled for now.

Hi, I start accepting orders for my custom cases C1 and C-SFX. Realization time - 2/3weeks, payment by paypal.

https://******/JrpSc7
Temporary page for making requests

CATZ C1


Specification:
- Volume: 350x209x69 (5,04L) with unibody, 379x217x69 (5,67L) with unibody
- Material: 2mm Aluminium, unibody 5mm Aluminium
- GPU: length 213mm
- CPU Cooler: up to 50mm
- Storage: M.2, 1 HDD/SSD 2,5"
- ODD: 1 - Slot-in
- PSU: HDPLEX 160W/HDPLEX 300W recommended
- colour: any you want - powder coated
- riser: flex 250- 300mm recommended
- power button 22mm led
- Price: 100€, 120€ with 5mm unibody + shipping costs (to US 70$ FedEx 3-5days or 40$ by Post 5-8days) to EU 25-30€

With 5mm unibody

shipping to U.S. possible - more information's in first post!

possible component set with inverted GPU next to pci-e slot, without ODD (like in s4mini).




Catz C-SFX

Specification:
- Volume: 379x317x84 (10L)
- Material: 2mm Aluminium, unibody 5mm Aluminium
- GPU: length 310mm
- CPU Cooler: up to 65mm
- Storage: M.2, 4 HDD/SSD 2,5"
- PSU: SFX/SFX-L
- Fans: 2x120mm 25mm or 1x120mm + 120mm AiO
- colour: any you want - powder coated
- riser: flex 5cm sintech or 90degree delock
- power button 22mm led
- Price: 150€, with riser 170€ + shipping costs (to US 70$ FedEx airmail 3-5days or 40$ by Post 5-8days) to EU 25-30€

possible thickness 69mm (8,2L) - cooler up to 50mm.

 

[ElinaNguyen]

 

[Brokoii]

Looking good, only 2 questions:
Where would a ssd mount in the sfx?
How much does is weight?

 

[pyxls]

Hey amitoza

Do you use the Mod-cubes from Parvum or do you manufacture your own?

 

[amitoza]

Looking good, only 2 questions:
Where would a ssd mount in the sfx?
How much does is weight?

1. one next to psu below power switch only with sfx psu, two on right wall next to motherboard and one on front wall behind graphic card. It's possible mount two more on left wall next to gpu but its not recommended for high power graphics cards.
2. sfx version? about 2,9kg.

Hey amitoza

Do you use the Mod-cubes from Parvum or do you manufacture your own?

Cubes are same but not from Pavrum.

 

[pyxls]

Are they also made from brass and nickle-plated or do you use another material?

 

[MarcParis]

Nice cases, clearly inspired by nfc s4 mini for small one and node 202 for bigger one.

How are you producing yourself these cases? Please present more your small company?

I'm glad to see it's an EU product.

I wish you luck if the aventure.

 

[amitoza]

Are they also made from brass and nickle-plated or do you use another material?

exacly the same

Nice cases, clearly inspired by nfc s4 mini for small one and node 202 for bigger one.

How are you producing yourself these cases? Please present more your small company?

I'm glad to see it's an EU product.

I wish you luck if the aventure.

It's one man buissnes... for now. i'm just designer and cooperate with laser cutting company from Wroclaw in Poland.

 

[CC Ricers]

My first reaction on the bigger case is holy moly that's a large power button Didn't know they carried Bulgin-style switches in 22mm.

I can definitely see the smaller case being very close to an S4 Mini but its slightly taller profile can justify it for ODD support and taller CPU coolers.

Also, are you getting the corner cubes from another store or do you make them yourself?

 

[amitoza]

Booth cases have the same 22mm button. In my opinion bigger looks better... and sfx model with 16mm looks funny

 

[Kmpkt]

Not to be hostile, but can you please elaborate on how these case designs aren't blatant rip offs of the NFC S4 Mini and the Zaber Sentry? So far the major differences I can see are:

Catz C-1
- Flipped the GPU over to face the same way as the CPU cooler
- Full wrap around bezel vs. 2/3 wraparound bezel in the same 5mm aluminum (bend radius, finish, etc.) as the S4 mini uses
- ODD support behind GPU

Catz C-SFX
- Flipped PSU orientation

I'm all for people being enthusiastic about case design and I recognize that there are only so many ways you can arrange a power supply, motherboard and GPU inside of a box. That being said, when the whole aesthetic and layout is 95% the same as another product in the market (especially cases as easily visible as the Sentry and S4 Mini), I think someone needs to say something. I also think it's worth mentioning that I am aware of at least one patent you are violating here if you are planning to sell or produce these cases. If you haven't expressly received written permission to use these features, you might be stepping on some toes without realizing it.

MOD BREAK

Discussion about patents has been moved to another topic.

 

[MarcParis]

Wow, wow, before speaking patents violation, big selling number need to be achieved first(and our sff remains a very small niche market).and he is from EU....in EU, we are far away from very (too?) restrictive law in US.. (my worst memory is asetek vs swiftech and cooler master...where the worst product managed to forbid better product)

Well all that said, i wish him luck to manage to sell some cases. At least prototypes are here..it's not only 3D..and he could help other to produce some prototype.

 

[Kmpkt]

As far as I know, a patent violation is a patent violation. I don't think anyone would bother going after someone who is making a one-off for their own use, but we're talking about selling a very similar product into a common market. That essentially amounts to theft of intellectual property as far as I am concerned. Perhaps the rules in Europe are so much different than those in North America that I am completely in the dark on this, but when I filed the patents I currently hold in the eurozone I was led to believe it would provide me with significant protection against intellectual theft. Perhaps my copyright lawyer was mistaken?

 

[CC Ricers]

I can see the small case looking a lot like the S4 Mini, but the larger one doesn't remind me of Sentry in terms of looks. It has the same layout for the most part but so do the Node 202 and RVZ01/02 cases as they all took from the Steam Machine prototype. And if I was in the market for a SFF case that support a full length water cooled GPU, I'd take this over the Node 202. The Node looks clean in appearance but I don't like that the shell is plastic, plus it will be more difficult to mod in a clear side panel.

 

[Kmpkt]

Fair enough. I didn't recognize the layout as being the generic Steam machine layout. My bigger beef would be with the S4 Mini knockoff, especially considering that the creator is a well known, well respected and active member of our community.

 

[CC Ricers]

By the way, I'm curious now as to what patent was violated. Is it the use of modding cubes? Inverted GPU? Or a design patent? Just wondering so I avoid running into it if I want to sell a custom designed case.

 

[HansWursT619]

With only 3 internal components, in the smallest possible space, I don't see much more ways to orient things.
Not only is the GPU flipped, but materials and construction are completely different.

Calling this a rip-off is like patenting the iPhone case.

 

[Kmpkt]

By the way, I'm curious now as to what patent was violated. Is it the use of modding cubes? Inverted GPU? Or a design patent? Just wondering so I avoid running into it if I want to sell a custom designed case.

Inverted GPU over motherboard is the one I'm thinking of. I wouldn't be super surprised if Parvum had a patent on cubes in computer cases as well. It's an amazing idea and I can't think of another commercial or even small run indie case that uses them which leads me to believe they are likely patented. Of course these patents would need to be enforced to be of concern, and in the case of the inverted GPU design it obviously hasn't been enforced in a lot of cases.

I think more than the patent idea, is what we as a community are willing to tolerate in terms of design proximity if you will. You'd have to be blind to think that the Catz C1 doesn't look shockingly like the S4 mini. Apart from the same inner/outer chassis design, the orientation of the air vents is the same with the only real difference being that on the S4 side panels they are discontinuous and have rounded edges. The bulgin switch placement is identical. The bezel thickness. aesthetic and bend radius is identical. The width and depth are within 5mm between the two cases while the height of the case is within 20mm - negligible differences.

Maybe this is just a case of different standards of what constitutes plagiarism and I am just super sensitive to the issue. I mean you essentially have Hutzy and Firewolffy designing and planning to market the (more or less) exact same case in parallel and if there are any gripes between them it certainly isn't evident. Hutzy used the exact grill pattern that Josh did on the S4 mini and Firewollfy just turned the L1's grill pattern 90 degrees. Not to pick on anyone, these were just two examples that came to mind quickly.

Anyhow if I'm out of line, please let me know and I'll butt out of anything like this in the future that doesn't involve my personal IP. I certainly don't want to be SFF's resident social justice warrior. That being said, I think we also have a responsibility to stick up for the work already done by our existing members and not allowing the marketing of (in my opinion) copycat products would be one aspect of that.

 

[jeshikat]

FWIW I've already discussed this with Josh and he's cool.

 

[EdZ]

Apart from the same inner/outer chassis design

The internals are completely different. The S4 places the motherboard above the GPU, with the PCIe slot/connector adjacent. The C1 is the opposite, with the PCIe slot opposed and using a long riser under the motherboard. there is also an ODD slot, which the S4 omits for reduced size. The method of construction is also compeltely different: the S4 uses punched & bent aluminium for the frame and shell (unibody). while the C1 is using flat sheet only, with milled attaching pieces (cubes, PCIe tab retention bracket).
When you build a 'flat' case to take mITX, short GPUs, and external AC/DC, then there are only so many ways you can lay things out.