Production Lazer3D LZ7 - Quiet Gaming Cube PC Case

[Phuncz]

Something that could be done, I would guess, to minimize "lasering costs" (pardon my noob) is to eliminate complicated (bendy) shapes and stick to straight path lines. Also not using many tiny holes but choose a few sizes larger. But someone with experience will probably correct me on this.

Case volume measuring is usually the 6-sided bounding box, because basically it's the rough shape it's going to occupy. Cases like the Cryorig's TAKU does make this unspoken rule harder to justify since it's designed to put stuff below and on the case, meaning it wouldn't be fair to use the bounding-box measurement.

I believe most people here specify their volume without details like the extending PCI card tabs and buttons that might protrude, along with case feet, which I personally can live with.

 

[iFreilicht]

It is true that many small holes will cost you more than a few large ones. IIRC, you're paying for every separate hole in the panel, as the first penetration takes the longest, especially with acrylic panels like this.

I think feet can be excluded if they're not required. If you're using bottom intake, you should include the feet.

What is probably best here is to just offer two measurements, like the Sentry does: One minimum volume, which excludes all protrusions and just uses the bounding box of the case panels, and one maximum volume, which includes all of those features. That seems most honest to me.

 

[K888D]

What is probably best here is to just offer two measurements, like the Sentry does: One minimum volume, which excludes all protrusions and just uses the bounding box of the case panels, and one maximum volume, which includes all of those features. That seems most honest to me

I like this idea - an actual volume and a bounding box volume.

The chamfers shave about 0.3litres off the volume and the feet add around 0.3litres aswell if you calculate it as adding 6mm to the overall height.

There are vents on the base, but they aren't essential, they are there to offer extra ventilation under the GPU, particularly for cards that exhaust axially from the fan such as the cooler used on the Asus GTX 970 Mini and the EVGA GTX 950 ITX.

There are also vents under the motherboard which I am hoping with the positive pressure design will provide better cooling for M.2 drives mounted on the underside as air passes by them.

 

[Josh | NFC]

I love your design. It looks AWESOME and is functional.

It also looks expensive as all get out to make!

I would want to own one based off the sheer craftsmenship required to get some of those parts hand done in cell-cast acrylic. I'd consider getting them water-jet rather than lasered out. I hate the edges of lasered acrylic...

 

[K888D]

I love your design. It looks AWESOME and is functional.

It also looks expensive as all get out to make!

I would want to own one based off the sheer craftsmenship required to get some of those parts hand done in cell-cast acrylic. I'd consider getting them water-jet rather than lasered out. I hate the edges of lasered acrylic...

Thanks for the great feedback Josh!

I've had some parts laser cut before out of Acrylic for the earlier case I was working on here, the edges were very neat and clean with no burn marks at all. Some other materials such as ABS and wood don't get such clean edges and can burn, but Acrylic is very compatible. Here is an example of some parts I've had made previously:

 

[Josh | NFC]

I've built dozens of acrylic chassis using Chemcast, Perspex, LuciteLux and more, and I've never been happy with the cuts. Yours appears smoother but it's really hard to tell from those shots.

(love the look of your box, btw)

Any info you could share based on your results would be awesome!!! You could help me reconsider laser for acrylics for my projects.

have some questions.

Brand of sheet?
Thickness? (Looks like 3/16?)
CO2 or Fiber?
Frequency?
Power (in watts, but I guess a different head might render this useless)

Thanks man, I really appreciate it!!!

 

[Thehack]

Are you not adding vents to exhaust the air from the 120mm fan?

 

[K888D]

The first round of cooling configuration testing has been completed, there is allot of data to sift through, with some interesting and some surprising results.

TESTING AIM
To measure the impact of different fan diameter/thickness and vent type on system temperature and noise.


SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
- Plywood prototype case
- Gigabyte B150N Pheonix
- Intel i5-6500
- Noctua LH-9i CPU Cooler
- EVGA GTX 960 SC ITX
- 8Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX
- Corsair SF450 PSU
- 1x (optional) side fan
- 1x (optional) side filter/guard


FAN SELECTION
4 different types fan are to be tested covering 120mm and 140mm sizes in 15mm and 25mm thickness, fans are set as intakes to create a positive pressure setup. The system will also be tested without a fan to determine the worst case performance.


INTAKE VENT CONFIGURATION
3 different vent types are to be tested:

- Fan guard, lowest restriction
- Dust filter with fine mesh, medium restriction
- Slot vent arrangement with 7mm x 140mm slots 7mm apart, highest restriction


TEST METHOD
Testing was carried out in 3 stages:

- Idle, computer was left on desktop with only monitoring software running
- CPU Stress, Prime95 running 4 cores
- CPU + GPU Stress, Prime95 running 3 cores and Unigine Valley running @ 1080p max quality

Temperatures, fan speeds and noise levels were recorded once the temperatures and fans had settled at a stable level.

Noise was measured using a smartphone sound meter app, rubber pads were placed under the phone to minimise vibration transfer, the microphone was placed 20cm from each side of the case. The 20cm was measured at an angle to avoid picking up any air movement turbulence across the microphone.


RESULTS

The first 3 rounds of testing were completed with the fan guard only for all fan types, giving a direct comparison:

Different vent types were then tested for the smallest and largest fans:

For the final testing the 120mm slim fan was reversed into an exhaust configuration to create a negative pressure setup:

OBSERVATIONS

Loudness:

1. Below 15dB was practically silent running when sat next to the computer
2. At 20dB the fan could just about be heard, but silent from more than 2 metres away
3. At 30dB the fan is audible but not loud, can be heard faintly across a 4m room
4. At 40dB the fan can clearly be heard across the room

Noise characteristics:

1. GPU fans at equivalent dB 'appear' louder to the ear than the system fan
2. Sound emitted from the 140mm fans are more pleasant than 120mm for equivalent dB
3. The 120mm Slim Silverstone fan had an annoying scraping sound when at idle speeds
4. The most pleasant sounding system was with the Fractal Silent Series R3 120mm Fan
5. The loudest sounding system was with the Thermalright 140mm Slim fan

Fan Configuration:

1. Running without an intake fan resulted in the quietest system, but with much higher temperatures, acceptable temperatures?
2. The intake fan performance directly affects the CPU and GPU cooling performance, but in the reverse to what you would expect
3. Higher positive pressure results in lower CPU and system temps, but higher GPU temps
4. Negative pressure setup results in lowest GPU temps, but highest CPU and system temps

Intake Vent Configuration:

1. A fan guard is the quietest and coolest configuration
2. Dust filters give a small increase in temperature resulting in higher rpm fans and slight resulting noise increase
3. Slotted vents cause minimal temperature increase, but result in noticeable noise increase from whooshing air turbulence
4. Slots don't cause air turbulence noise when fans are at idle speeds
5. Air turbulence noise through slots doesn't seem to be linked to fan RPM, but instead is linked to amount of air being pulled through the slots (CFM measurement)

CONCLUSION
Overall I am very pleased with the performance of the case allowing for fans to run quieter at lower speeds, considering the level of stress placed on the CPU and GPU most configurations kept the noise and temperature levels at very respectable levels, with some configurations giving excellent results.

Getting a balance between all the fans is the key to getting the quietest system overall. It would seem that having the biggest and most powerful intake fan possible isn't necessarily going to give the best results.

Pushing more air into the case fights against the GPU intake fan and results in a higher GPU fan RPM which is a higher pitched sound due to its 90mm fan. The GPU performs better in a negative pressure setup, but this setup has the opposite effect on the CPU (probably because the CPU is feeding off hot GPU air).

A gentle breeze into the case with a slight positive pressure gives the best overall balance of performance between all the fans. For this reason I do not think a 140mm fan is necessary. Fitting the quietest 120mm fan you can get hold of will be sufficient for this setup, for example the Fractal Design R3 setup resulted in a very balanced and the perceived quietest system with a pleasant fan tone.

Results show that thicker 25mm fans sound quieter and perform better than slimmer 15mm fans, this is to be expected, but the question is whether the step up in performance is enough to justify the extra 10mm case width (0.3Litres).

In terms of intake vent configuration, the lowest restriction setup (fan guard) gave the lowest temperatures and therefore lower RPMs and less dB. Adding a fine mesh fan filter increased the temperatures slightly but the resulting system was still very quiet.

A slotted intake configuration increased the fan noise with the resulting air turbulence, the air turbulence effect was amplified with higher air flow rates. Lower speed but high static pressure fans may work well with a slotted configuration.

 

[Thehack]

It seems like from your test set up the GPU isn't ventilated. If negative pressure decreases GPU temperature it seems like the positive pressure is causing the warm cpu exhaust to be dumped around the GPU.

I think you should make sure the configuration is close to the current design in terms of ventilation and chambering. It seems like the GPU isn't ventilated and I feel of there is more ventilation in front of the case the warm cpu air can properly exhaust.

 

[K888D]

It seems like from your test set up the GPU isn't ventilated. If negative pressure decreases GPU temperature it seems like the positive pressure is causing the warm cpu exhaust to be dumped around the GPU.

I think you should make sure the configuration is close to the current design in terms of ventilation and chambering. It seems like the GPU isn't ventilated and I feel of there is more ventilation in front of the case the warm cpu air can properly exhaust.

The GPU has a direct intake on the side of the case, there are also vents on the bottom and front of the prototype. Admittedly, yes the top panel does not have any vents that the final product will have. But, the EVGA GTX 960 blows most of its warm air out the front and rear due to its shroud design.

The photo below is a view from the other side of the prototype:

Please bare in mind that the results where the GPU is running at 1400rpm is actually still a very low speed considering the entire system is being stressed, the fan can go up to something like 3000rpm. The GPU temperature stay well within its 80C target with plenty of headroom before it starts throttling.

My theory on why the positive pressure effects the GPU temperature is due to how the air pressure affects the GPU fan performance, this is because the positive pressure is acting against the GPU intake fan so it has to work harder to pull in the same amount of air and maintain its sub 80C temperature. The opposite is observed when under negative pressure in that the negative pressure is assisting the GPU fan pull air into the case and therefore it doesn't need to work as hard to maintain the sub 80C GPU temp.

Imagine a plane flying into the wind, it will travel slower, and the opposite if the plane fys with the wind.

 

[K888D]

I've built dozens of acrylic chassis using Chemcast, Perspex, LuciteLux and more, and I've never been happy with the cuts. Yours appears smoother but it's really hard to tell from those shots.

(love the look of your box, btw)

Any info you could share based on your results would be awesome!!! You could help me reconsider laser for acrylics for my projects.

have some questions.

Brand of sheet?
Thickness? (Looks like 3/16?)
CO2 or Fiber?
Frequency?
Power (in watts, but I guess a different head might render this useless)

Thanks man, I really appreciate it!!!

I've asked my friend who has his own laser cutter if he can answer the questions you have, will let you know once he gets back to me.

I'm not sure what material brand and laser settings that were used for my prototype, I literally just sent my panel drawings to a laser cutting company and they sent me the completed parts, they were a mix of 3mm and 5mm sheet thicknesses. the second prototype I had made they used a different brand for the 3mm and it actually turned out to be 2.6mm thickness resulting in some loose fixings. But edge quality wise all 3 panel materials had very neat edges, no noticeable difference.

It's difficult to photograph black parts and pick up edge detail, but I had a go at taking some more detailed closeup shots of the panels, hope they help:

 

[Josh | NFC]

I really appreciate you taking the time to do that for me.

Your design is amazing and you have worlds more talent than me, so don't think I was criticizing you. I just don't like the look of laser'd edges on acrylic. I think its because the cut surface is contrasted with the mirror-smooth finish of the non-cut plane, but not enough as it still is super glossy.

These edges are about as smooth as I have seen though, so I would still appreciate the info.

Keep up your amazing design work!

 

[K888D]

I really appreciate you taking the time to do that for me.

Your design is amazing and you have worlds more talent than me, so don't think I was criticizing you. I just don't like the look of laser'd edges on acrylic. I think its because the cut surface is contrasted with the mirror-smooth finish of the non-cut plane, but not enough as it still is super glossy.

These edges are about as smooth as I have seen though, so I would still appreciate the info.

Keep up your amazing design work!

Are you kidding me, you're the Josh that designed the S4 right? I look up to what you have achieved with your cases, amazing work!

I get what you mean about the edges not being as polished, they do lose the shine.

 

[Mango]

So EVGA just posted a picture on Twitter of a power adapter for graphics cards that might help save some save for SFF builds.

If there's enough clearance in the lower height version of this case, then this power adapter would eliminate some GPU compatibility issues.

 

[confusis]

Great idea, meh execution.

 

[K888D]

Great idea, it looks like it will only save on the height of the actual wires as it still sticks up, but it will also add length to the card + the PCIe power connector sticking out the rear of the card.

It may help with certain cards, but it looks like it would save about 5 - 10mm height max and add roughly 30mm length.

 

[K888D]

Finally got round to modelling the power buttons and USB port assembly. The idea is that the main cover clips into the case panel, the PCB assembly then clips into the rear of the cover creating a power button sandwhich:

The total cost of the assembly is around £16 including all the wires. The power button on the PCB has a bright white LED which I am hoping will illuminate thinned out power symbol nicely. There is also a HDD activity LED that is positioned in between the Power and reset buttons, I have created a thinned out light chamber in that area that will hopefully illuminate.

I'm hoping to get this 3D printed early next week, will post photos when it is complete.

Also done a bit more work on the case taking into account the temperature and noise testing of last week. The design below is configured with a 120mm x 15mm side intake fan and a 120mm dust filter that sits flush with the case:

 

[CC Ricers]

Great idea, meh execution.

Great idea, it looks like it will only save on the height of the actual wires as it still sticks up, but it will also add length to the card + the PCIe power connector sticking out the rear of the card.

Does anyone remember when more graphics cards had their PEG connections on the front instead of the side? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Front-facing connectors would make cable management cleaner for most cards that are reference-height, and for SFF especially in allowing cases to be narrower or shorter, depending on what direction the motherboard is mounted.

 

[Phuncz]

I never understood either, as there seem to be more pros than cons for the connector at the end of the card instead of the side.

 

[iFreilicht]

Finally got round to modelling the power buttons and USB port assembly. The idea is that the main cover clips into the case panel, the PCB assembly then clips into the rear of the cover creating a power button sandwhich:

The total cost of the assembly is around £16 including all the wires. The power button on the PCB has a bright white LED which I am hoping will illuminate thinned out power symbol nicely. There is also a HDD activity LED that is positioned in between the Power and reset buttons, I have created a thinned out light chamber in that area that will hopefully illuminate.

I'm hoping to get this 3D printed early next week, will post photos when it is complete.

Also done a bit more work on the case taking into account the temperature and noise testing of last week. The design below is configured with a 120mm x 15mm side intake fan and a 120mm dust filter that sits flush with the case:

Looks great! Where did you get upright audio jacks with an isolated switch from? I had a similar design for my Front I/O as well but abandoned it due to not finding any.