ATwentyX: E-ATX under 20L

[chx]

It fits:

1. SSI CEB and similar sized E-ATX motherboards like the Asus Rampage V. (SSI EEB definitely does not fit.)
2. 120mm rear fan for exhaust.
3. A top 140mm slim fan like the Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 also exhaust.
   
4. Some 120mm tower coolers, most importantly the Scythe Fuma "simply the most amazing air cooled heat sink I have ever tested". (But also the Cryorig H7 and the Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M BW Rev.A. In other words, max 150mm high.)
5. SFX / SFX-L PSU. Intake from the front, exhaust to the top (there will be a grille, missing from the render).
6. Every video card there is, 12" and more.
7. Two 120/140mm side fans, intake.
8. One 3.5" disk or two 2.5" disks on the front. The 3.5" disk only allows for 11.5" graphics cards.
9. The bottom fits two 140mm slim fans for intake OR one fan and two 2.5" disks OR four 2.5" disks.

All this in 178*350*320 which makes it a small form factor case just a hair below 20L.

While there are/were some smaller ATX cases (the GTR GT3-BH ten years ago was 13.6L) they tend to use risers and small fans. And I am unaware of any other E-ATX case in the small form factor space.

We will use the same AC cable as the nCase M1 and will run inside the case along the top, having the C14 connector above the 120mm fan, there's enough space. SFX PSU will connect inside the case. For SFX-L, the same cable will exit the case to the top and connect outside. Very little will be visible of the cable even for SFX-L. This way both SFX and SFX-L are at the same height, their bottom can be supported by a small lip. SFX will be screwed to the front using two L pieces, SFX-L will be directly screwed to the top with the grille removed.

What do you think? If there is interest I would create a prototype crowdfunding campaign and then a normal production crowdfunding campaign.

Ps. With feet and protrusions the case is 178*380*330.

Ps2. For short video cards, we could add a "pile" of 2.5" disks between the video cards and the front. 8 at least but perhaps 10 even. This is not yet designed, it's just an idea in my head. Or we could use the existing fan frame for a few. This will be explored in the future.

Ps3. While the Rampage series should fit, it's very likely only a real prototype can show us whether the ASUS Z10PA-D8 fits, the likely cooler at least for the front CPU socket is the Thermalright 120M. We know the D16 series doesn't fit as those are SSI EEB.

 

[Kmpkt]

Nice work.

 

[The6A]

Might be some people making workstations that woul be interested, like me.

It was hard to find a small case for the ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS. I ended up fitting it into a carbide air 540 (despite warnings it wouldn't work).

You think it could work well enough for dual cpus ?

 

[iFreilicht]

Its cool, but the C14 connector on the side is a real bummer. :/ I guess you can't rotate the PSU 90°?

 

[D_McG]

Interesting design! Your support for taller cards and heatsinks is nice.

I am unaware of any other E-ATX case in the small form factor space.

Just wanted to bring to your attention my Spartan case design that I posted last month; which can handle ASUS 12" x 10.7" E-ATX boards at 16.7 liters:

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/spartan-the-16-7l-full-atx-tower-case.1521/

Not as much room for HDDs, but the power cord comes out the back.

 

[Phuncz]

Its cool, but the C14 connector on the side is a real bummer. :/ I guess you can't rotate the PSU 90°?

Not only that but it also means there can be no deviation in the location or rotation of the C14 connector. Even the grill pattern could potentially block of a potential amount of airflow when not alligned or sized correctly. That's a serious problem further down the road, I hope this gets adressed.

 

[chx]

The ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS is SSI EEB which I noted not to fit. Those are 13" long, the entire case including protrusions is not 13" long! If this case is successful, I have a 30L SSI EEB case in mind. About the Spartan, I am not sure whether 139.7mm is enough to plug in PCI Express power but I believe it might not be.

We probably will drop that grille and have the PSU side open to the world and ship a 90 degree extension cord which will then enter the case and run along the top left edge and exit via a small cutout on the top left back corner -- I do not plan on a mounted C14 port, way too much space required for those. So you will see the a small part of the extension cord outside and you will plug it directly and make the connection to the normal cord somewhere unspecified behind the case. Makes sense?

 

[D_McG]

About the Spartan, I am not sure whether 139.7mm is enough to plug in PCI Express power (I am quite sure it is not).

Spartan is 0.25" (6.35mm) wider than a 3U rackmount server, with the 3mm acrylic outside of that, so call it 9.35mm wider. There is 14mm of clearance between a reference height PCIe card (like a 1080 ti) and the side panel. In the Spartan post I discuss these 90 degree adapters from Kareon Kables that need only 11mm of clearance.

http://kareonkables.com/products/90-degree-female-8-pin-to-8-pin-pci-e-lay-flat-adapter-version-10

I cannot justify making a case wider just for cables. There is a lot of volume to be reclaimed there.

 

[chx]

Yes, that's a bit of wasted space in a case like yours but since I wanted a 120mm rear fan and 120mm tower coolers (at least some of them) so the case width already was set for me and I reclaimed most of the wasted space by adding two fans to the side

Anyways, what do you guys think of the extension cord I outlined above?

 

[D_McG]

Not sure about an intake fan for the CPU on the back. Those GTX cards in your render, albeit an example, exhaust out the back below your intake fan. You're cooling your CPU with warm air.

 

[CC Ricers]

Why not just turn the SFX/L PSU 90 degrees and have the C14 connector with an extension facing upwards like in the NCase M1? You won't have to increase the width of the case and you still have roughly an inch of room to allow cables to come through the sides or bottom. See this picture for a rough idea of how much room you can achieve with the SFX-L rotated downwards.

 

[chx]

So then here's the plan, based on the two comments above:

Rotate the case upside down so that the video cards on top and the CPU area is on the bottom. We will lose a bottom fan space but that's unavoidable (one HDD will fit instead always). So now we have a bottom fan for intake and the rear fan for exhaust.

On the other hand, I believe two 140mm fans will fit on the top.

The PSU I can't rotate because then it would exhaust to the bottom and that doesn't work well, does it? I still think the best solution is to expose the side of the PSU to the world on the side of the case. But this way the extension cord will run to the bottom of the case and only visible for a very short length. Just needs a "rut" in the bottom leg which already is planned to be removable so that a fan/HDD can be added.

The only problem with this plan is now only one HDD and one fan fits the bottom. I guess we could make the entire side a mesh and just have the CPU and rear fan pull in air via the side and have the option of three HDDs on the bottom.

 

[CC Ricers]

You would rotate the PSU so that the exhaust is to the top. This is how the NCase has it, and then you could fit skinny ribbon cables that connect to the end on the bottom.

 

[chx]

Right... but that doesn't fix the CPU being fed hot air from below :/

 

[Soul_Est]

Right... but that doesn't fix the CPU being fed hot air from below :/

A vent in the side panel for the CPU cooler. Done.

 

[chx]

And make the rear and the top fan both exhaust? Sounds like a plan, I guess.

 

[chx]

I updated the original post to say so.

 

[iFreilicht]

Alternatively, you could turn the whole case on its side and put relatively tall feet underneath, so you have something akin to an HTPC desktop that you can put your screen on.

 

[chx]

Nah, with the top exhausting PSU and the rear + top exhaust it will be OK. Turning the case on the side would mean the side fans currently intaking for the video cards would need to intake from the top.

It's actually better than the original version where the PSU exhausted to the same side as the GPU side fans were intaking but as it was higher it was not as a big of a deal. Now the left hand side is all intake, the GPU half potentially assisted, the CPU half "passive" intake with the air being moved by the CPU cooler, the rear and top fan as necessary.

 

[chx]

New render uploaded, description updated with the new plan. Began negotiations with to Dan @ nCase and he is open to selling their AC cable. There's enough space above the 120mm rear fan for the power outlet.