Kimera Industries Project Nova: 17 liters of 5-slot mATX goodness

[jeshikat]

Someone on OCN gave me the heads up on the PC Gamer article, but that's because I forgot to check for it. The reporter had contacted me two weeks ago for an upcoming build of the week which is usually posted on Monday.

For the video, I had it open already but not because I expected to be featured briefly, I was just interested in what Paul had to say on reference vs non-ref video cards

 

[iFreilicht]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Just a quick update, as we've been pretty quiet as of late - Right now we're at the point where we're awaiting some revised quotes and additional information from potential manufacturers and suppliers. We do have initial line-item quotes for parts and production and such, but we know there's opportunity to lower the manufacturer's costs (which will in turn let us lower the pricing), so we're looking at that currently.

Cross-post from HF:

Any news? It's been a wee bit of time since we have heard from you?

Nothing new. Waiting on an alternate quote to see if we can bring the price down.

There have also been a few specific parts that have caused a lot of delay, in terms of securing quotes and getting our manufacturing/fulfillment pipeline set up. It's been a tad frustrating for us since we had an initial sense of the time it would take to get quotes, but basically blew right through that simply because a few third parties were slow to respond (or just outright not very receptive)

I suppose we were naive in expecting to hit our initial time deadline for that.

Anyway, since we've finished organizing and setting up almost everything else (that we can, at least), we're stuck in a bit of a holding pattern until we get concrete numbers and other information that will let us lock everything down. But there has been progress, and hard-fought at that. Plus, certain ideas and other things we were unsure about feasibility-wise have since been vindicated by the input we've received from manufacturing, so we've been pretty excited about that. Options-wise for Nova, I think people will be pretty happy

TLDR: If you're familiar with that feeling where you've been at a 4-way intersection, stuck at a red light for a long time, and you just know that the green light is about to come on, but it stubbornly refuses to do so... That's how it's felt like for the past ~20 days, trying to secure quotes

But the extra time has at least let us square away other things, so it's at least been productive.

 

[Phuncz]

You're really keeping a lid on this thing until it's ready to burst ! I can't wait for the reveal !

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

You're really keeping a lid on this thing until it's ready to burst ! I can't wait for the reveal !

We are, but our reticence isn't meant to be a tease, so much as a means of playing things safe. We don't want to imply or say things about Nova that might change, or might not be true when we share the final details, since that would be disrespectful to everyone that's following us. So we're somewhat obligated to be tight-lipped until we're really confident that nothing will change, lest we disappoint any expectations that we ourselves set.

 

[Parge]

Sweet, thanks for the update! Can I ask, are we talking months or weeks?

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Sweet, thanks for the update! Can I ask, are we talking months or weeks?

We're talking a timescale of weeks. We'll be pushing the boundaries of an announcement in "Summer 2015", IMO at least (I suppose "the Fall" doesn't really start until September), but that remains our trajectory.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Awesome news: I'm happy to share that we've signed on with a manufacturer, and greenlit them to make pre-production test units of our final design! This will culminate in a few cases straight off the manufacturing line, that will more or less represent what [REDACTED] will look like in production. It's one of the most important (and final) preparatory steps to make, and it's what we've been waiting to begin for some time now.

Beyond giving us an opportunity to test and verify the design and its functionality (as well as perform various quality and other checks), this work also gives our manufacturer the opportunity to actually make the case, and look for places to simplify the design or streamline how they'll produce [REDACTED] at scale.

Needless to say, stuff’s starting to get really exciting!

 

[MJVR1]

Awesome news: I'm happy to share that we've signed on with a manufacturer, and greenlit them to make pre-production test units of our final design! This will culminate in a few cases straight off the manufacturing line, that will more or less represent what [REDACTED] will look like in production. It's one of the most important (and final) preparatory steps to make, and it's what we've been waiting to begin for some time now.

Beyond giving us an opportunity to test and verify the design and its functionality (as well as perform various quality and other checks), this work also gives our manufacturer the opportunity to actually make the case, and look for places to simplify the design or streamline how they'll produce [REDACTED] at scale.

Needless to say, stuff’s starting to get really exciting!

*COUGH* If the cases start taking up too much space at your place, I can help you by taking one off your hand. It would be put to good use. Preferably the nicest looking one...
Anyways, it looks promising so far. Must be exciting for you guys seeing your work starting to pay off. GLHF

 

[theGryphon]

With the "Bulldog killer" and "Cerberus" references, I can't help but guess that the case will be named either "Hercules" or "Heracles"

It would be fitting too, being able to accomplish incredible feats for a miniscule creature.

Am I close?

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

*COUGH* If the cases start taking up too much space at your place, I can help you by taking one off your hand. It would be put to good use. Preferably the nicest looking one...

I'd hope they all look nice haha. Though, I suppose color comes down to personal taste... I'd be curious as to what your ideal choice for that would be.

With the "Bulldog killer" and "Cerberus" references, I can't help but guess that the case will be named either "Hercules" or "Heracles" Am I close?

Your reasoning is sound, but Hercules/Heracles ain't the name All I'll say is that, as far as we know, nobody's used the name before for computer enclosures. And the name is a reflection of certain attributes of the case, of course.

 

[Phuncz]

I'm guessing it's going to be named [REDACTED] (see what I did there)

Very exciting, I'm curious who the manufacturer will be !

 

[EdZ]

I'm guessing it's going to be named [REDACTED] (see what I did there)

But when I try it, I can still see hunter2!

 

[Phuncz]

LOL like that yeah

 

[Vittra]

"1M Blade of Night"

 

[willemdoom]

I'm really scared that it will drop when I am on vacation and I will miss the first round of sales. So better drop it after 25 August! No but I hope I have wifi or something to keep checking this thread and the site.

 

[jeshikat]

I seriously doubt the crowdfunding campaign would be finished by then. We'll be doing pretty good if it even starts by then

If you get email on your phone that'd be the best way to stay informed of when crowdfunding starts because we'll be sure to send out a newsletter: http://www.kimeraindustries.com/subscribe

 

[willemdoom]

Yeah I got subscribed to the newsletter way back so that wont be a problem, access to internet will be as we will be going camping... But that's life and I shouldn't wine about a nice cross-america camping trip.

How many initial cases are you planning on producing or is that something you also cant disclose?

 

[jeshikat]

Pre-production will be 2 cases.

Not sure what the minimum number of cases we'll have to reach for production is yet but if we hit that number we'll make as many cases past that as we get orders (within reason, our current production and logistics planning isn't suited for 30k orders or anything crazy like that)

 

[QinX]

Pre-production will be 2 cases.

Not sure what the minimum number of cases we'll have to reach for production is yet but if we hit that number we'll make as many cases past that as we get orders (within reason, our current production and logistics planning isn't suited for 30k orders or anything crazy like that)

I all depends on the price point you find reasonable I suspect.
NCase went with 600 for the first run right? My project seems to have a starting point around 100, anything lower and certain parts start increasing in price a lot.

Also if you get a 30k order I think you will make the production and logistics fit to that order, it might take a little longer, but hey first world problems at that point.