Stalled DICE CASES - FLOW : expandable SFF case for watercooling enthusiast (built in distroplate)

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
Sure send me a mail, its easier to recognise when we gonna assemble the cases. diceboii13@gmail.com
I'm really torn between SFX vs SFX-L power supplies. You said either would fit, but do you have a picture of how an SFX-L would look like inside this case, even with a cardboard cutout? Wondering if the possible reduction in noise is worth the extra wasted space or the case could turn into a real nightmare to work with an SFX-L inside. Appreciate all the great updates you've been providing so far!

PSA: Looks like Corsair's SF600+ platinum line of PSUs are back in stock
 
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Whippler

Trash Compacter
Nov 11, 2019
42
51
I'm really torn between SFX vs SFX-L power supplies. You said either would fit, but do you have a picture of how an SFX-L would look like inside this case, even with a cardboard cutout? Wondering if the possible reduction in noise is worth the extra wasted space or the case could turn into a real nightmare to work with an SFX-L inside. Appreciate all the great updates you've been providing so far!

PSA: Looks like Corsair's SF600+ platinum line of PSUs are back in stock

My order of watercooling parts for this case is still waiting for the SF750, everything else is ready to ship from the local shop.? It's been 2 months since i ordered the stuff! Why are the SF PSU in such a short supply?
 

AllXFrag

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 23, 2020
96
135
Not much demand? I reckon PC realm is still dominated by monster machines. SFF I beleive is still considered niche. *looks at his SF750* ?
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
My order of watercooling parts for this case is still waiting for the SF750, everything else is ready to ship from the local shop.? It's been 2 months since i ordered the stuff! Why are the SF PSU in such a short supply?
I was unable to find them anywhere for last two months but yesterday I noticed they popped back into stock on multiple sites! Hopefully that means your supplier will soon get their hands on one too. I pulled the trigger and.got the SF750 too. :)
 

ChorizoNinja

Average Stuffer
Jan 12, 2020
82
101
I was unable to find them anywhere for last two months but yesterday I noticed they popped back into stock on multiple sites! Hopefully that means your supplier will soon get their hands on one too. I pulled the trigger and.got the SF750 too. :)

Last year around this dates your could buy a container of them. Now they seem unicorns.

I grabbed 2 last year and I didn't even bother with custom cables, cables are already short enough even for the smallest of cases.
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
Any thoughts on modding the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX with one of these Heatkiller chipset blocks:

According to these teardown pics, it looks like it might be possible to remove that obnoxious small fan and mount the HK on those two available holes:

No idea what kind of flow restriction that might introduce, but there is universal agreement that these chipset fans on X570 boards suck.

Considered B450 too but I read on multiple forums that the Gigabyte B450 board has a PWM signal that doesn't play well with Noctua A12x25 fans (random stops), the Asus one is for sale for $200+ everywhere (ha ha), which leaves ASRock and MSI as options.

The MSI doesn't look too bad except the M.2 slot is on the back of the board (pretty common with ITX boards in general) and I'm not sure how the thermals will be with back-mounted NVMe drives in this case. Wonder if it might be possible to use multiple distancers to allow sufficient space for an M.2 SSD heatsink on the back of the mobo.
 

duynguyenle

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 20, 2019
328
330
Any thoughts on modding the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX with one of these Heatkiller chipset blocks:

According to these teardown pics, it looks like it might be possible to remove that obnoxious small fan and mount the HK on those two available holes:

No idea what kind of flow restriction that might introduce, but there is universal agreement that these chipset fans on X570 boards suck.

Considered B450 too but I read on multiple forums that the Gigabyte B450 board has a PWM signal that doesn't play well with Noctua A12x25 fans (random stops), the Asus one is for sale for $200+ everywhere (ha ha), which leaves ASRock and MSI as options.

The MSI doesn't look too bad except the M.2 slot is on the back of the board (pretty common with ITX boards in general) and I'm not sure how the thermals will be with back-mounted NVMe drives in this case. Wonder if it might be possible to use multiple distancers to allow sufficient space for an M.2 SSD heatsink on the back of the mobo.



The X570 ASRock ITX chipset heatsink appears to be attached to the main VRM heatsink via a heatpipe. In my experience these are usually soldered in place and would take some effort to remove if you're trying to do it non-destructively. The heatsinks, being what they are, have quite a lot of thermal inertia (heat capacity) and dissipative capacity, maing the task of desoldering the heatpipe rather difficult (smaller soldering or hot air stations likely doesn't have the heat output to do it, you most likely will need to hit it with a blowtorch).

Not sure how this will fare, I reckon it is a lot safer and require less effort to just try and replace the stock chipset fan with a Noctua or Noiseblocker 40mm fan...
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70


The X570 ASRock ITX chipset heatsink appears to be attached to the main VRM heatsink via a heatpipe. In my experience these are usually soldered in place and would take some effort to remove if you're trying to do it non-destructively. The heatsinks, being what they are, have quite a lot of thermal inertia (heat capacity) and dissipative capacity, maing the task of desoldering the heatpipe rather difficult (smaller soldering or hot air stations likely doesn't have the heat output to do it, you most likely will need to hit it with a blowtorch).

Not sure how this will fare, I reckon it is a lot safer and require less effort to just try and replace the stock chipset fan with a Noctua or Noiseblocker 40mm fan...
Good eye, I didn't spot the heatpipe! You are right, it won't be aesthetically pleasing, but replacing that fan with a noctua equivalent and applying a reasonable fan curve would be a far less destructive option. Appreciate the advice.

The Gigabyte x570 ITX board looks like it might be more mod-friendly because it doesn't have anything connecting the chipset heatsink to the VRM heatsink, but that design of slapping the M.2 drive on top of the chipset heatsink is so offensive I refuse to consider the board out of principle.
 
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diceboii13

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Nov 4, 2018
620
1,644
dicecases.com
I'm really torn between SFX vs SFX-L power supplies. You said either would fit, but do you have a picture of how an SFX-L would look like inside this case, even with a cardboard cutout? Wondering if the possible reduction in noise is worth the extra wasted space or the case could turn into a real nightmare to work with an SFX-L inside. Appreciate all the great updates you've been providing so far!

PSA: Looks like Corsair's SF600+ platinum line of PSUs are back in stock
I think if you just buying stuff and dont have an sfx-L psu, go for sfx. Its so much easier to work with, and it worth the extra waiting. But I see you find one :p
 
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diceboii13

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Nov 4, 2018
620
1,644
dicecases.com
I got some news, that our painting factory is suffering, with a lot less working members than before, so it will definietly cause some delays. Shipping to some countries in the world also take longer then the expected 4-5 days, maybe 1-2 weeks. Sorry for that, I try to do everything to make things go faster. Thats why the painted parts still not here. I already ordered all the stuffs from China (tempered glass panels, buttons, cables, etc) Andy is working on the distros, so other than the metal parts, everythings seems fine.
 
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AllXFrag

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 23, 2020
96
135
I got some news, that our painting factory is suffering, with a lot less working members than before, so it will definietly cause some delays. Shipping to some countries in the world also take longer then the expected 4-5 days, maybe 1-2 weeks. Sorry for that, I try to do everything to make things go faster. Thats why the painted parts still not here. I already ordered all the stuffs from China (tempered glass panels, buttons, cables, etc) Andy is working on the distros, so other than the metal parts, everythings seems fine.
That means you have the cases past metal fabrication and into the painting part of it?

If it's true, then the timescale looks a lot better than I anticipated initially.
 
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diceboii13

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Nov 4, 2018
620
1,644
dicecases.com
That means you have the cases past metal fabrication and into the painting part of it?

If it's true, then the timescale looks a lot better than I anticipated initially.
The metal fabrication starts in Monday and takes about a week, painting is usually take around a week, but now, it will be longer unfortunatelly. The inside parts will be here around 13th. Other than the painting, all looks good. I hope we can still ship in April.
 

CantingSoup

Cable-Tie Ninja
Sep 2, 2018
190
100
Could you open up the “configure your case” section to be able to see the different configurations outside the preorder window? It’d be nice to be able to visualize what the case looks like even if you’re unable to purchase at the moment.
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
I have to bring up the uncomfortable topic of feet again. ? Are we getting feet in the package or should we look for some ourselves? Any links to examples that would work so we have a point of reference?
 
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