Aurora Version X

[confusis]

'Lo folks. Working on designing a case around my new board, an ECS A960M-MV:

And have come up with the following solutions. Let me know which you like the best.
Hardware wise I will be looking at a single slot low profile GPU along the lines of a GT740 or a R7-240. Maybe an upgrade to a dual slot low profile GTX7450 may be a possibility. Power will be via Pico-PSU or similar. Single or dual 2.5" drives. Cooler will be something along the lines of the Xigmatek Janus without the top fan.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

What do you get with the second case that you can't with the first? The volume is much different but I don't see an advantage beyond (presumably) much greater CPU cooler height.

 

[confusis]

Yeah, pretty uch an extra 19mm of cooler height - could lead to a cheaper or better cpu cooler.

 

[jeshikat]

I'd shy away from the two designs that need PCIe extenders. Those layouts don't seem to offer any advantages worth the extra cost and complexity compared to the others.

 

[confusis]

Makes sense. I've had major issues with risers before. Had a spate of 5 of them fail a while back :/

 

[Vittra]

If the idea behind the 4.5L design is to eliminate a fan on the CPU cooler, then it is my preference. If it is using a fan on a top down cooler, then it would be dependant on if ventilation exists above the cpu cooler's intake fan. The Lone Industries L1 did not have ventilation above the CPU location, so with a top down cooler utilizing a fan, despite 2x 80mm case fans either in intake or exhaust, stressing the CPU caused recirculation of hot air that remained in the case even after the CPU remained at idle. The machine would have to be turned off to eliminate the residual heat. This was without a GPU and regardless of the cases orientation (upright or laid flat).

I do like the 3.9L design as well, but voted for 4.5L at this time.

 

[esplin2966]

Are the images broken? I can't see them

 

[confusis]

Nope, my imagehost should run fine :s Blocked by work proxy maybe?

 

[jeshikat]

They were working for me earlier but not anymore.

 

[veryrarium]

Related to the choice of the CPU cooler and hence the decision to go taller or shorter (sort of,) but which CPU are you going to use?

 

[confusis]

FX-8350 .. 125w. I will be undervolting though

 

[rawr]

Images aren't working for me either. Interested though, sounds like a really compact design.

 

[confusis]

Ugh, appears my imagehost is broken. First time in 5 years! will reupload somewhere else in a min

 

[confusis]

images re-hosted

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Looks good!

 

[iFreilicht]

I personally find sturdy risers to be quite reliable, and it seems like you could use those in the first two designs.
What about a combination of design 1 and 5? Stay with the idea of having the GPU angled like that, but remove the CPUs and GPUs fans, and use three 60mm fans in the front. That way, you gain space for your second SSD/HDD or a small DC/DC PSU above the CPU (if you don't want to use a picoPSU), you'd have a unified airflow channel that would not only cool your CPU and GPU, but also the SSDs, and it would prevent the GPU from suffocating, which seems to be an issue to me in all of your designs except the last one.
Additionally, it could allow to upgrade the GPU to a 750Ti, because most of the LP versions of that are close to single slot without the fans.

 

[confusis]

version 6:



Thoughts?

 

[iFreilicht]

A bit large compared to your previous designs, isn't it? You said on OCN that you had budget constraints, so what use would you make of the non-LP GPU? If you were to go with an internal PSU, I'd recommend you try out TFX or FlexATX, that could enable huge space savings.

 

[confusis]

I've found tfx psu to take up more volume than sfx as in the design.

For performance, the equivalent dual slot full height gpu is significantly cheaper here than its low profile counterpart. Also, I've found a nice single slot full height zotac gt740 that is affordable.

It is indeed a bit large, but I already have a 250w sfx psu sitting around.

 

[rawr]

6.9L? At this point is not easier to simply mod a Lian Li PC-Q02 (à la Neutronium V4)?