Production Lazer3D LZ7 - Quiet Gaming Cube PC Case
- Thread starter K888D
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OK understood.
I've just had a look at all the options, the Acrylic choices are quite limited for 5mm panels, the 3mm however have loads of colour and finish options.
These are the available options for transparent 5mm panels:
- Completely Clear (Polished)
- Dark Grey Tint (Polished) - same material as First Edition 3mm side panels
- Light Blue Tint (Polished)
- Red Tint (Polished)
Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.
I would love to see a modded build inside a fully transparent case! What colour corner pieces would you choose for this?
Something else to bear in mind, the new design side panel does not cover the Power Panel PCB with a 3D printed covering, it is instead covered by the Acrylic panel, so a fully transparent panel would show the PCB through the side. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it may add to aesthetic?
Or would you prefer the power panel to have a fully printed cover the same as the First Edition? I am still unsure about the general preference regarding this aspect of the case.
That is correct, you pay for the sheet size + cutting time, so I ordered a few different combos of material and design.
Stay tuned over the next month or so as I get everything prepared!
Jup, shapeways is great for that! Making a store on there is super-easy, don't know how hard it is to do customisable embossed writing though. But it is possible, here's an example.
Thanks, yes I already have a store on their with LZ7 parts available to order with customisable text on the 2 front corner pieces (link provided in the post you quoted).
What I want to do is make this more of a feature for the next round of cases, i.e you don't have to order the prints from me, but can instead order them from Shapeways with your own custom text on them.
I live in Finland so I'd be interested in the european options.
I'm thinking the color combination would be orange corners, matte white top, rear i/o and bottom and grey tint for the rest, maybe even the frosted orange for the front and gpu panels. Going fully transparent would be pretty tough from cable management viewpoint, but that too could be really cool if one was to gut the psu and make a custom see-through casing for it out of acrylic and coarse mesh , maybe even go fully oldschool with an Asrock's green pcb Rack-mobo and a matching gpu. Man, you're giving me all kinds of ideas!
As for the power panel, for my current design I'd probably go for just the vandal switch hole option, since I've also got some watercooling aspirations for the build and every millimeter counts with those. Also with the type C 3.1 headers on the new boards being so much sleeker than the humongous usb3.0 header and cable, I'd propably just carve a hole for the former and use the rear panel 3.0's, it's not like theyre that far away. However, in general I'm all about naked pcb's so I wouldn't mind seeing it through the side panel.
The 3D printed cover does give front of the case a distinctive look, but I think I actually prefer the new design and even just the vandal switch hole. With the corner shapes and colour combinations of the panels and frame there's already plenty of character to the case, and since it's such a small thing I feel the more minimalist style works better. Maybe the amount of people who got the vandal switch vs. the printed cover from the first run could give some idea how the majority thinks?
It's an exciting time to be on the market for a new computer, I've been content with my Asus P8Z77-I and 2500k for the past 5 years just moving it into new cases, but now it seems that the hardware market is finally getting something new and worthwhile with M2 ssd's, type C usb, 5 Gbit Lan and AMD's new processors, not to mention the rise of the indie casemakers.
Hey, I came across this case looking for ultra compact cases for my new build I am planning and I have to say that this is a stunning little case. I haven't time to read through all of the threads so I apologise if you've answered this before. But would the cases after the first edition be available with the first edition IO cover (I am actually a big fan of that aesthetically and I am also a big fan of the ol' reset button) and would you be at any point planning on making the case purchasable as and when people want them or will it be a batch sale only. I really like this case and I would hate to not be able to get it on the grounds of the batch production not being in sync with when I would be able to buy it
Keep up the great work
Keep up the great work
Thanks for the feedback guys, I think you are both trying to say the same thing about preferring the original power panel design, but I definitely prefer the way @BlackRogue worded it!
I will do my best to offer both panel options, opinion is definitely split.
You are right @Ralphort the LZ7 is no M1, that case is truly amazing, but aimed at a completely different audience. I appreciate this is expensive for what it is, I'm doing all I can to try and keep the price as low as possible, but at the same time I can't carry on selling them at cost price!
Raw Acrylic sheet is cheap in the grand scheme of things yes, but the Acrylic sheet itself is actually more expensive than sheet metal.
The majority cost of the panels come from the manufacturing process of turning these raw materials into finished products, not the raw material cost itself. In other words time is money and laser cutting takes lots of time, the more detail (vents for example) in your design the more time it takes.
Laser cutting also does not scale up very well for volume production, because the laser still takes the same amount of time per panel whether you are making 1 or 1000. All you can do to reduce cost is try and bring the raw material cost down through efficient nesting, but as I said before the raw material cost is only a fraction of the overall case cost anyway, something like 10 - 15%.
The main material cost of the LZ7 is the 3D printed parts which accounted for 45% of the total First Edition case cost including all the laser cut panels, feet, IO PCB, screws, packaging, manuals, website fees, payment fees, etc which made up the remaining 55% of the cost.
There are only 2 ways I can bring the material cost of the case down, either reduce the size of the 3D printed parts, or simplify the venting details to reduce laser cutting time.
I wouldn't stress too much on price -- you need to make some money too. People will pay for it if they like it enough and indie cases are an expensive hobby to be in.
Perhaps the best way would be to offer the panels either with the IO cut into the acrylic or with the cutout for the 3D printed IO cover (I don't know if you could standardize the location in both versions). Offer the IO cover for sale on a shapeway-esq store -- if it is important, they'll pay for it and if not, they'll deal with an integrated version.
Obviously this could be hard with regard to now needing to stock two panels, but if you included the built in acrylic IO panel as the default perhaps once a batch of orders was finished being sold you could take a stack of panels down to a local laser place and get them cut out for the 3D printed version. Just spitballing, obviously it'd be easier if you had the machines to do it yourself, like you mentioned.
There is always consumer perception regarding materials used.. while acrylic may be cheap, so is an unfinished 1mm sheet of steel before it gets turned into a case!
Again, sorry if you've already answered this but with a 38 page thread it's kinda hard to read it all without missing some things. But have you ever considered increasing the depth slightly to 211 mm GPU clearance. This would allow for at least another 3 GPUs to be used in the case, those being the new Galax 1070 mini that is soon to be launched or has just been launched (not quite sure 
), the Zotac 1070 mini which have been around a while and the new Zotac 1080 mini. Having the ability to have a 1080 in a case not much bigger than it already is would be pretty freaking awesome
), the Zotac 1070 mini which have been around a while and the new Zotac 1080 mini. Having the ability to have a 1080 in a case not much bigger than it already is would be pretty freaking awesome
Indeed it would be awesome!Again, sorry if you've already answered this but with a 38 page thread it's kinda hard to read it all without missing some things. But have you ever considered increasing the depth slightly to 211 mm GPU clearance. This would allow for at least another 3 GPUs to be used in the case, those being the new Galax 1070 mini that is soon to be launched or has just been launched (not quite sure
I have considered it in my head yes! But I think if I was to do this it would be another case rather than a mod to the LZ7, adding an extra 25mm to the length would increase the volume up to 7.9 Litres which is quite a step up.
Water cooling is another point of discussion, for instance adding 30mm to the width of the case would allow you to use an AIO with a slim fan, but then that puts the volume of the case up to 7.92 litres.
Or if you wanted to have both options (211mm GPU + AIO cooler), the case would go up to 8.94 litres. At this point its not much smaller than the Silverstone SG13!
Yeah I understand that completely and you would also have the issue of well if you increase the depth for one person to have a 1080 in it, why won't you increase it for another person to use an AIO and that would cause issues. The only reason I ask is because my current monitor setup uses three DP connections and the gigabyte 1070 has two DVI ports removing two of them. I already run an evga 1070 and wouldn't be looking to downgrade meaning I would have to buy some form of adapter or DVI to DP cable as well (I know first world problems at their height, but still a bit of an inconvenience)
Edit: The Zotac 1070 mini, which is more likely what I would go for also has the standard IO on the card, the Galax has the same as the gigabyte
GPU cooling is one of the LZ7's strongest points due it its 360 degree exhaust ventilation surrounding the graphics card coupled with positive pressure, virtually all GPU exhaust heat is pushed straight out the case reducing heat re circulation.
In terms of heat build up on back side of the GPU PCB, there shouldn't be an issue here either as there is active airflow through the case which will pass over this PCB surface before it exits out through the GPU vents
Yeah at that point it would become a separate product, maybe an LZ8. Same as this, but support for longer GPUs, internal CPU AIOs, SFX-L PSUs and maybe even a 3.5" drive at the front instead of two 2.5" ones. Sounds like a good feature set, but certainly too many changes for this case. It's pretty much perfect as it is, and if the dimensions stay the same, you can guarantee that people with older cases can get replacement parts and new panels without any fuss.
Yes that is something I am keen on with keeping each generation compatible with the next.
Thanks for the feedback.
There are no current plans to do an Aluminium version.
Is it the surface finish of the Acrylic you don't like?
I wouldn't say the Acrylic is flimsy, especially the 5mm panels, obviously its not as tough as a metal case, but its pretty solid once built up.
I don't think the price will be that high, you might be seeing the price that includes 20% EU VAT.
I agree, a larger version should be considered as another model, not another revision.
I can also echo that this case is sturdy. The 5mm panels and solid mechanical design allows it to be more sturdy than you'd think it is. The matte finish on the panels does not feel that much different from my Ncase M1, except the M1 feels colder or warmer to the touch.
I can also echo that this case is sturdy. The 5mm panels and solid mechanical design allows it to be more sturdy than you'd think it is. The matte finish on the panels does not feel that much different from my Ncase M1, except the M1 feels colder or warmer to the touch.
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