Concept Boreas | Low profile case with wooden and brass accents

[robbee]

Hey there!

Between milling A2000 heatsinks and printing Yocto cases, I've been designing a new case that may come to life soon. Meet Boreas, a traditional layout case for low profile GPU's.

Boreas has been inspired by Fractal Designs North case and @REVOCCASES N0RDR1, meaning it uses the same wooden front panel and rounded edges.

The core of the case is a steel frame that mounts all the hardware. 3D-printed bezel parts surround the frame to make the visual appearance nicer. At the front is a grill of 8mm walnut strips. The case has been complemented by my usual brass accents on the power button and case feet.

Just as important as the appearance of the case is its actual performance. By performance, I mainly mean silence. To achieve this, I decided not to go for the absolute smallest possible case and support the following hardware:

• GPU deshrouding with two 80mm fans. Low profile GPU's aren't super loud due to their low TDP, but they are never truly silent.
• Two front 92x15 fans to exhaust the hot air out of the case.
• CPU coolers up to 72mm, supporting highly established coolers like the NH-L12S, Big Shuriken 3 and AXP120-X67
• HDPlex 250W GaN as PSU for silent operation.
• Support my aftermarket copper A2000 heatsink along with two 80x25 fans.

The dimensions of the case are 250mm x 208mm x 100mm, for a total of 5.2 liters.

I will be starting with the steel frame. I'm still tweaking a few tolerances here and there, but I will be putting in an order soon. I'll probably order a couple to get the cost per piece down, so there may be some cases up for sale at some point for those interested!

For now, here are some screenshots of my CAD design:

 

[REVOCCASES]

Great design, can't wait to see the first prototype!

 

[Analogue Blacksheep]

Bravo, fantastic industrial design.

 

[Ca11idus]

Would slim 80mm fans work with the Gigabyte's LP 4060? Also, will the rear panel on top of the I/O and the side panel be vented?

 

[robbee]

Would slim 80mm fans work with the Gigabyte's LP 4060? Also, will the rear panel on top of the I/O and the side panel be vented?

The Gigabyte 4060 LP supports regular 80x25mm fans when deshrouded. I haven't found any real proper slim 80mm fans so 25mm thick ones is more sensible.

The rear panel will get some more vents but the top is solid. With an open front, bottom and side, there should be a clear airflow path and no need for any more venting.

 

[princess_daphie]

The Fractal North for SFF fans, I approve! But I wouldn't exchange my 4.2L white hotbox for anything in the world, haha ^_^ Oh, and something funny I noticed is you used the same ITX motherboard I have in my build for your CAD drawings

 

[tinyitx]

This name 'Boreas' brings back good and exciting memory of a beast totally non-SFF.

It is CoolIT Boreas, with 12 low voltage Peltier units for 'sub ambient' cooling! Heavy modding with a Heatkiller 3.0, DDC pump with res, neoprene tubing...etc to cool an overclocked i7-965. Those were wild and crazy days.
My humongous HAF 932 could not house it and so I began to move to using test bench.....

A pic of the unit (not mine, I just fetch this off the net)

Edit:- Sorry for the off-topic post

 

[BaK]

Between milling A2000 heatsinks and printing Yocto cases, I've been designing a new case that may come to life soon. Meet Boreas, a traditional layout case for low profile GPU's.

Must be good to be a busy man with your passion! Congrats for your work!

Two front 92x15 fans to exhaust the hot air out of the case.

Aren't they as intake in your screenshots?

While I agree that getting the hot air out is the way to go, won't it be unpleasant to have it blowing at you with such exhaust on the front side?
Probably not since you will not have the case right in front of you, but I'm still wondering if it could be annoying in the long run, even only feeling it slightly with the case next to your monitor?

 

[robbee]

Must be good to be a busy man with your passion! Congrats for your work!

Thanks! Although my wife doesn't tend to agree

Aren't they as intake in your screenshots?

While I agree that getting the hot air out is the way to go, won't it be unpleasant to have it blowing at you with such exhaust on the front side?
Probably not since you will not have the case right in front of you, but I'm still wondering if it could be annoying in the long run, even only feeling it slightly with the case next to your monitor?

Yeah they're intake in the screenshots. I actually have to test airflow setups once I finish a case to see which one performs best. My feeling is that fresh air forced through heatsinks is always preferable, but I'm going to try with exhaust on the deshrouded GPU too.

 

[BaK]

I actually have to test airflow setups once I finish a case to see which one performs best. My feeling is that fresh air forced through heatsinks is always preferable, but I'm going to try with exhaust on the deshrouded GPU too.

I had the same impression until I reached lower temps on my APU build with the CPU cooler as exhaust. But that's the only fan of the case...
Looking forward to seeing the results of your test!

 

[cjaay]

Huge fan of this one, great work! 4060 LP and a 5800X3D in this will make for a perfect console/HTPC.

Is there any possibility the feet could be used with the system lying flat rather than standing vertical, as an option? Also, can the 500w HDPlex fit?

 

[robbee]

Huge fan of this one, great work! 4060 LP and a 5800X3D in this will make for a perfect console/HTPC.

Is there any possibility the feet could be used with the system lying flat rather than standing vertical, as an option? Also, can the 500w HDPlex fit?

Thanks! I think it should be possible to add mounting points for the feet to the core. I'd only need to make an alternative sidepanel in that case that has holes for the screws that mount the feet.

You would have the original bottom on the side though. This won't be the prettiest side of the case, as that's where the gpu intake fans go. I was considering to have two unrestricted 80mm cutouts there.

The 500W HDPlex will not fit. I would need to make the case quite a bit higher and longer for it to fit. You could run a 5800X3D at a lower PPT with the HFPlex 250W though. I've seen people running it at 87W PPT, effectively simulating eco mode on other AMD chips. This didn't seem to impact gaming performance at all. Cooling a full blown 5800X3D may not be the best idea either way with only 72mm of cooler clearance.

 

[GEMCASES]

Wow, great case, it's awesome to combine metal and wood - timeless design.
We also designed our case with this in mind, watch us too
When do you plan to make the first prototype?

 

[robbee]

Wow, great case, it's awesome to combine metal and wood - timeless design.
We also designed our case with this in mind, watch us too
When do you plan to make the first prototype?

I think it will take me about 2-3 months to show a first prototype. I'm launching a batch of Yocto cases at the moment so that will keep me occupied for some weeks first.