Common SFF Layout Types

[Kmpkt]

While I think it is a valuable and worthwhile endeavour to make sure we discourage plagiarism in our community, I think it is also necessary to acknowledge there are three or four reasonable ways to lay out standard hardware in an enclosure. While I think that Dan's A4 case was definitely a big step forward with respect to small form factor enclosure design, I also think a certain amount of his success came from him being the first to find a market that would pay ~100 USD for a 3M riser to make such a case a reality (ie. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some major OEMs had come up with the design previously and abandoned it because of riser cost - it is not an unobvious configuration).

I think a constructive way of managing this sort of thing is the future might be to have a master sticky thread at the top of the "Custom Case Builds" forum that is effectively an authoritative list of all community projects with each of the major layouts. In said list we could subdivide all projects by layout type. As an example:

- Direct plug to PCIe slot (ie. NCase M1)
- PCIe riser with motherboard and GPU in line (ie. NFC S4M)
- PCIe riser with motherboard and GPU back to back (ie. Dan A4 SFX)
- Other

Once this standard was established, it would be required for all creators choose the requisite layout type. People accessing the forum would be able to refer to the master list and see all cases organized chronologically for a given layout. This would serve both to act as a history of sorts so that originators would receive the credit they were due as well as providing potential buyers a very clear way to compare and contrast the cases available in their desired configuration. Just my two cents, but I think we need to do something to keep this from being an ongoing issue that acts to divide our community and potentially scare away new creators.

 

[Biowarejak]

I think the perpendicular setup like mine, while not exactly the most popular one, still deserves its own category. At least we know that the Corsair One is using the setup @BaK is talking about. We can see the main strength is that it helps the smaller-footprint monolith cases with not being overly tall like the Shift. The monolith style is a good getaway from the now-ubiquitous shoebox and console style IMHO

I really don't see it being a huge benefit for a space efficiency standpoint. Or airflow, for that matter. That's just me though and I hope it works well for you guys. I like monolith cases too and I feel like this is more of a subtype in that category.

 

[Testifier]

Here what's my thought on the matter:
- Shoebox form factor like A4 and M1: compact but still take quite some space on the table
- Console form factor like S4 and Sentry: lightweight but limited cooling
- Monolith form factor: small foot print compared to shoebox and better cooling option than console, but the height is compromise for cable routing/hiding like in the Shift or hanging out from the top like the Breath. Therefore I think the perpendicular setup would help reduce that extra height and bring down the volume like I did for my build

 

[Phuncz]

I'd not start about the pros and cons yet because this thread shouldn't be about which layout is better. Just mind you that orientation is seperate from layout, you can also have a shoebox layout vertically, like the FT03 Mini.

 

[VegetableStu]

At least we know that the Corsair One is using the setup @BaK is talking about.

I don't want to extend the argument of semantics, but I'd still say it's a back-to-back. otherwise we'd have 4 categories just for each rotation

 

[Testifier]

It wasn't my intention to argue which layout is better though, I was merely trying to point out the main difference in the characteristics of these form factors, which are based on how the designers want them to be set down.
If the case is in the horizontal orientation only and has a longer footprint, I'd call it a shoebox style
If the case can be used in both orientations and has a thin, flat profile, it'd be a console style
If the case is mostly intended for the vertical orientation and comes with a squarish footprint, I'd think it should be a monolith style. Usually, the cases with this style will also come with cable routing
And let's not forget the cube style as well.

Of course, I understand the difference between the case style and the layout. Both the A4 and M1 have the shoebox style, but with different layout after all. What I want to say is the pairing of different styles and layouts resulted in more variants than we thought, and we won't jump right to the conclusion which implementation copies which.

By this logic, I think the silverstone case mentioned belong to the monolith style because of its design objective to be standing up and has the extra space at the bottom to route the cables <- Here's where my argument came in about reducing the space needed

 

[Biowarejak]

It wasn't my intention to argue which layout is better though, I was merely trying to point out the main difference in the characteristics of these form factors, which are based on how the designers want them to be set down.
If the case is in the horizontal orientation only and has a longer footprint, I'd call it a shoebox style
If the case can be used in both orientations and has a thin, flat profile, it'd be a console style
If the case is mostly intended for the vertical orientation and comes with a squarish footprint, I'd think it should be a monolith style. Usually, the cases with this style will also come with cable routing
And let's not forget the cube style as well.

Of course, I understand the difference between the case style and the layout. Both the A4 and M1 have the shoebox style, but with different layout after all. What I want to say is the pairing of different styles and layouts resulted in more variants than we thought, and we won't jump right to the conclusion which implementation copies which.

By this logic, I think the silverstone case mentioned belong to the monolith style because of its design objective to be standing up and has the extra space at the bottom to route the cables <- Here's where my argument came in about reducing the space needed

Fair points, apologies if I came across as argumentative earlier. I think @Phuncz really hit it on the head though, orientation =/= layout. At least not in the way the GPU and Motherboard are arranged relative to each other

Back to what something from earlier though, how helpful do you all see tags on everyones' threads being?

 

[Testifier]

I think it'll be great. It basically means that you would need to differentiate yourself from the established cases before claiming that product to be your own. We still need to standardize the categories and the the credit to the OG though.

How about something like this for categories?

 

[Biowarejak]

I think it'll be great. It basically means that you would need to differentiate yourself from the established cases before claiming that product to be your own. We still need to standardize the categories and the the credit to the OG though.

How about something like this for categories?

That's interesting. Personally I feel another Flair for the type might make forum seem unwieldy, especially on mobile which I use frequently. I suppose I confused flairs and tags earlier, my bad. All the same though, you're quite right. I like where you're going with the flow chart, it helps visualize things.

-edit-

I'm still with @KSliger on not saying designs are based on anyone else's though. Handful of examples on each branch is great, just gotta name those branches neutrally.

Of course, credit where credit is due. I think dates next to the examples would be good and fair.