Production Lazer3D CG7 Cravo - Low profile silent case (slim mATX | mini itx)

[owliwar]

While I deal with my anxiety, I wonder if this is possible


tecnically I have like from bottom of the motherboard to interior of top panel its like 89mm. that minus 9mm for mobo and socket, minus 40mm for gpu .... 40mm cpu coolers how much commom could that be? hahaha

But single slot gpu up to 25cm should be fine

edit: just found noctua NH-L9i. so I guess its possible then

 

[owliwar]

today I got back on the ITX version and shifted a little on the proposal. now its even more HTPC, so i droped support to the 92mm fans on the front side.

I moved the psu to the other side as suggested and decided to make the case a inverted layout to hide the intake + diminishing noise.
this model will have only 1 intake fan (if any) and support to 2 2.5 inch drive. a 3rd spot hangs over the motherboard so it depends on the model.

internal height is 86mm so 80mm fan intake could be possible with single slot lp gpu but I dont think its necessary. I'm focusing more on a single 140 or 120mm fan over the cpu socket area.





edit: just another render

 

[owliwar]

Internal remders of the mini itx model and the multi purpose bracket






still unsure on the vent pattern on the side panels...

 

[owliwar]

just made an sketchu mockup of internal layout to test fit the pieces (











edit: a 140mm fan tottally fits

 

[owliwar]

so, I'm having a hard time letting go of my head an idea
I was thinking in a way to support full sized gpus in the micro atx version. I didnt want to make it bigger, and i came up with a layout that doest make sense for micro atx but it did for full atx. so i gave it a try

its just an ideia to fill the gap here.

the ideia is :
still using tfx psu
mix of full sized and low profile pci cards. so I'm not blocking any PCI port!
support for decent watercooler support (240mm rad)

somethings came naturally, like 2x 140mm fan intake
and all of that at sub 15L





*whispers* be quiet! sponsor me plz*

 

[cleveland]

Did you think about the frontal PSU layout?

 

[owliwar]

Did you think about the frontal PSU layout?

I actually did but It would elevate production costs, and working with acrylics is hard to make really good support for the PSU. I wasnt 100% sure that it would work and case volume would be the same. at least in that layout...

Now that I have another layout in my mid it may be a good idea, actually. I'll go back to that thought

 

[owliwar]

Ok, so this is what I've been thinking
I actually pulled back the prototype thing because of this idea


What is the smallest size i could make a mATX low profile case with external psu?
could I also make a tfx based mini itx fit in the same case?


at first I tried @cleveland suggestion


But I didnt like how the mATX motherboard looked cramped. also the supports would add another 3 to 4 pieces. I'll have to aks about viabillity as it would support slim mATX motherboards with the tfx psu as well


then i tried another layout with 2 i/o shields panel, and 2 motherboard standoff pieces to achieve the modularity I wanted. the rest of the pieces would be the same.











I actually want feedback on this.

Do you think a 7L duo case is usefull?
there is market to this?

edit: I'm opening a poll
edit²: Just set up a poll!
I would be very thankful for the feedback

 

[cleveland]

Why all that wasted space?

 

[owliwar]

Why all that wasted space?

I'm tryng to make this a more versatile case. the empty space is because matx are wider and i'm trying to have the same case body and just 2 pieces on the i/o shield. Its more like a 2 in one case? Mini itx + tfx for a budget htpc / sff gaming pc
micro atx + dc-dc psu for a compact Matx workstation.

some people might start with a case like this and then move on to more powerfull and smaller system, Or move some older hardware to a compact enclosure

not sure how if I'm doing this in the right way

 

[Biowarejak]

Didn't see this before but damn it looks good!

 

[cleveland]

I guess you're aiming at too much achievements with just one case.
1) unorthodox PSU form factor;
2) more than 1 motherboard form factor suport;
3) full height and half height expansion slots;
4) cheap, yet not very resistent, material
5) too much airflow for 300w (tops) heat dissipation (remember low wattage PSU).

Don't take me wrong, but those are a few of my concerns with the project of a fellow brazilian.

 

[Biowarejak]

I mean, someone has to push the limits those are all things to take into account, but for the most part I only think point 4 is a serious concern. That said, I'm not sure what materials are being used in the design atm.

 

[K888D]

Acrylic is more expensive than metal, so the word "cheap" is unnecessary, also solid wood is considerably more expensive than Acrylic. Also isn't point 4 dependant on the final case price which has not been mentioned yet? If the case price is low, then wouldn't using "cheap" materials be justified?

Too much airflow is also subjective based on what your build priorities are if you want a cool or quiet system. For example a 300w power envelope is enough juice to run an i7 in combination with a GTX 1080 which is a fair bit of heat.

 

[cleveland]

Acrylic is more expensive than metal, so the word "cheap" is unnecessary

Not here in Brazil.

a 300w power envelope is enough juice to run an i7 in combination with a GTX 1080

Not with a SS300TFX, certainly...

 

[owliwar]

Didn't see this before but damn it looks good!

Thanks a lot! :3

I guess you're aiming at too much achievements with just one case.
1) unorthodox PSU form factor;
2) more than 1 motherboard form factor suport;
3) full height and half height expansion slots;
4) cheap, yet not very resistent, material
5) too much airflow for 300w (tops) heat dissipation (remember low wattage PSU).

Don't take me wrong, but those are a few of my concerns with the project of a fellow brazilian.

Actually I saw that full height gpu was out of the question really soon. I wanted a really thin case and that was bummer but its not this case focus.
I moved from the last ITX layout which was thinner and then to this new modular aproach, so case width is around 96mm.

I wanted lots of airflow because of heat and mostly noise. This might be a workstation or a htpc, so noise is something I do take very seriously, and I do tons of 3d renders and that pushes the cpu quite a loot.

I mean, someone has to push the limits those are all things to take into account, but for the most part I only think point 4 is a serious concern. That said, I'm not sure what materials are being used in the design atm.

Acrylic is more expensive than metal, so the word "cheap" is unnecessary, also solid wood is considerably more expensive than Acrylic. Also isn't point 4 dependant on the final case price which has not been mentioned yet? If the case price is low, then wouldn't using "cheap" materials be justified?

Too much airflow is also subjective based on what your build priorities are if you want a cool or quiet system. For example a 300w power envelope is enough juice to run an i7 in combination with a GTX 1080 which is a fair bit of heat.

About the material @K888D is very experiencied so I'll use his words

I'll be using 5mm acrylics and wood on most of the case, all exterior panels. Only some internal parts will be using 3mm mostly ssd and fan mount.

 

[cleveland]

With all due respect for you guys who disagree with me, but i'm always with one eye into the first post:

In the end it actually has more potential for being a very budget friendly SFF build, and that for me is gold

Budget builds need to be focused on its obective, or it becomes less and less SFF friendly and full of options that never gonna be explored.

 

[Biowarejak]

With all due respect for you guys who disagree with me, but i'm always with one eye into the first post:


Budget builds need to be focused on its obective, or it becomes less and less SFF friendly and full of options that never gonna be explored.

It has the potential to be budget, but then that doesn't live up to the full capabilities of the chassis. If you read above that line you'll see it has a variety of use cases.

 

[cleveland]

It has the potential to be budget, but then that doesn't live up to the full capabilities of the chassis. If you read above that line you'll see it has a variety of use cases.

For the sake of coherence, i'll requote myself here:

I guess you're aiming at too much achievements with just one case.

 

[owliwar]

With all due respect for you guys who disagree with me, but i'm always with one eye into the first post:


Budget builds need to be focused on its obective, or it becomes less and less SFF friendly and full of options that never gonna be explored.

well you do have a point. but project gregory as it begins was a parametric tfx build.
And it still is to be honest. I could do a one on one project on a push of a button.
This duo case layout was something i thought later that would suit better overseas (from our perspective) market
and I actually do have another name for this duo case layout.

Still, a mITX low profile gpu with TFX build its kinda budget in the sff arena. A 200w pico psu in a mATX format also its also kinda budget as well.

I know, In Brazilian market it probably wouldn't work. The 6L itx version and a 10L micro atx would have to coexist here, and people would still want full atx. *facepalm*

It has the potential to be budget, but then that doesn't live up to the full capabilities of the chassis. If you read above that line you'll see it has a variety of use cases.

and there is that too. I guess I love to dream Big