Concept 4.3 L mini-ITX Case (Would my design work?)

[badaaim]

Hi there everyone, so I have been "designing" a very minimal case, specific to the parts I have and want to use which after finalising I am going to get Protocase to manufacture it. I think it is going be relatively obvious that I was using Dan Case A4 SFX as an "inspiration" but honestly I found it really hard to configure the parts in very little other ways with what I want to use.
Ideally I would have been able to reduce the size further if I were to use external power adaptor but I refuse to cheat the system. Furthermore, I want a very clean look on the side panels so I was thinking of no grills on the side which means there is basically no intake for the CPU/GPU cooler on either side. My solution was to put 92 mm fans at the front? Would this be feasible?

As cutting out the grills would be tedious, I haven't shown where the grills are but essentially the yellow cover would be perforated throughout. Hence, there would be intakes from the front and exhaust at the top and wherever else air can escape through. With size in consideration, there is literally mm's of clearance between the side panels and the coolers so would it be sufficient cooling from the 92 mm fans?

Alternatively, I am thinking of just sacrificing the acrylic side panels for vents so I can remove the fans and have even smaller case

I am a noob in-terms of providing detail, please ask me anything you want and more importantly I really appreciate your input.

 

[nxrUK]

Looks pretty good in my opinion.

 

[Necere]

You either need to perforate the side panels, or make the case wide enough such that the GPU and CPU cooler fans have at least a good 15mm of intake clearance (preferably more). They'll be choked for air otherwise.

 

[GentlemanShark]

Looks very nice! The riser placement is a little awkward, but Li Heat has some viable solutions they've shown off. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[badaaim]

You either need to perforate the side panels, or make the case wide enough such that the GPU and CPU cooler fans have at least a good 15mm of intake clearance (preferably more). They'll be choked for air otherwise.

I am playing around with that idea at the moment. Having vented side panels, but acrylic would have been aesthetically more pleasing but function over form is critical in this case.

 

[badaaim]

Looks very nice! The riser placement is a little awkward, but Li Heat has some viable solutions they've shown off. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Could you please elaborate? I was actually looking at Li Heat as well, theirs is the most flexible (in different types of riser configuration) and has detailed information in comparison to other others. Plus it is not crazy expensive either.

 

[GentlemanShark]

Could you please elaborate? I was actually looking at Li Heat as well, theirs is the most flexible (in different types of riser configuration) and has detailed information in comparison to other others. Plus it is not crazy expensive either.

Li Heat had some designs for risers with the terminating connector (to the GPU) in different configuration to allow for wrapping around the rear of a motherboard and still connecting to the GPU. Like this:

 

[badaaim]

Li Heat had some designs for risers with the terminating connector (to the GPU) in different configuration to allow for wrapping around the rear of a motherboard and still connecting to the GPU. Like this:

ah but you see, there's that 20 mm gap from the case to the actual card which will add quite a bit of thickness to the case. D type was the minimal thickness configuration

 

[GentlemanShark]

ah but you see, there's that 20 mm gap from the case to the actual card which will add quite a bit of thickness to the case. D type was the minimal thickness configuration

Aye, I was just providing an example.

 

[iFreilicht]

I refuse to cheat the system.

Good on you! Awesome idea for the case, but I think you might have to reconsider the component choice.

The Gigabyte 1070 is taller than the reference-height model you've used, and even with a reference height GPU, you'll have to get one with an 8-pin PEG socket.

If you butt the AC-DC right against the back, you'll have 26.3mm left for the PEG connectors when using a 170mm long GPU (provided the PEG socket sits at the very front of the card). 8pin ones are 18mm wide, so that's fine, but 6pin ones are 13.8mm, so with a bit of wiggle room in between, two would be at least 27.8mm wide, possible more.

Also, @Necere is 100% correct about the panel perforation. Adding 15mm on each side may also give you enough room to put the C14 socket at the back somewhere.

 

[badaaim]

I cannot guarantee 100 % how much the clearance riser cable at the bottom would require but I have roughly estimated for it here. I decided to have the panels perforated as suggested with 2mm clearance between the panels and the fan. As things goes, I am still iterating it and probably change few things around.

To make assembly easier and ensure all the holes aren't blocked, preventing from utilising it at all, I am playing around with this. Just worrying about the structural integrity of it all.
P.S: Changed the thickness of sheet metal from 22 gauge (0.76 mm) to 20 gauge (0.91mm)

 

[badaaim]

The Graphics Card is definitely a lot longer than the reference model I was using. I will definitely have to consider that. Thank you very much for your input.

Good on you! Awesome idea for the case, but I think you might have to reconsider the component choice.

The Gigabyte 1070 is taller than the reference-height model you've used, and even with a reference height GPU, you'll have to get one with an 8-pin PEG socket.

If you butt the AC-DC right against the back, you'll have 26.3mm left for the PEG connectors when using a 170mm long GPU (provided the PEG socket sits at the very front of the card). 8pin ones are 18mm wide, so that's fine, but 6pin ones are 13.8mm, so with a bit of wiggle room in between, two would be at least 27.8mm wide, possible more.

Also, @Necere is 100% correct about the panel perforation. Adding 15mm on each side may also give you enough room to put the C14 socket at the back somewhere.

 

[K888D]

Here are the dimensions of the Gigabyte GTX 1070:

You need at least 30mm above the rear PCIe bracket flange for the Gigabyte GTX 1070 ITX to fit in a case, bare in mind that the PCIe power connector sticks up above the top of the card:

 

[SeñorDonut]

Very well designed!

 

[badaaim]

Here are the dimensions of the Gigabyte GTX 1070:

You need at least 30mm above the rear PCIe bracket flange for the Gigabyte GTX 1070 ITX to fit in a case, bare in mind that the PCIe power connector sticks up above the top of the card:

Thank you very much for this information. I required exactly this but I was unable to find it anywhere and had lack of experience to know of it. Really appreciate it

 

[jmsantos1983]

Regarding the PSU, please check this part of the forum: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...us-are-now-available-direct-order.1983/page-5
Please contact the thread starter to get and idea about his PSU and how to reduce the space.
Also, it would not be a bad idea to eliminate the acrylic for ventilation. Please consider slim fans on the bottom of case instead of the front.
Any hdd and/or ssd spacing? Maybe on the side panels?
Full size GPU option?
Slim optical drive option?

 

[darksidecookie]

@badaaim if you haven't bought your gpu yet you could take a look at this 1070:http://www.galax.com/en/graphics-card/10-series/galax-geforcer-gtx-1070-oc-mini.html

it's the same height as the reference model but shorter.


also if you really wanted to go crazy to keep the width as small as possible you could in theory use 1u server heatsinks for the cpu and gpu (like the tesla's) and have all the airflow be from the dual 92mm fans in the front. (just an idea no idea if this is a viable solution with airflow and compitability for the gpu and such)

 

[Thierry]

how about a flex atx psu?

 

[badaaim]

how about a flex atx psu?

Hi, this is a very long overdue reply, but I got the HDPlex 400W AC-DC adapter and HDPlex 400W Hi-Fi DC-ATX power supply. I am not knowledgeable to give an intelligent oversight on it but it's completely passive and depending on the design, comparatively flexible to flex atx psu.

I never ended up following through with the project but I just found out about Velkcase 3 which seem to very almost exact in design and am waiting for stock to buy it. They have more expertise and resources and as such have better integration and design. Although I am very happy that I was along the same lines in the layout of the components to minimize the volume to it's fullest.