Production Lazer3D LZ7 - Quiet Gaming Cube PC Case

K888D

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Lazer3D
Feb 23, 2016
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Sorry for my absence this week, I ran myself into the ground and needed a few days to recover.

I plan to build a system with a intel CPU at 65W TDP, probably a i7 7700 or a new Coffelake 6 core cpu and a geforce 1050ti/1060 + a M2 drive. What vents are recommended for the CPU and case to keep things cool and quiet? Is the care quiet or not? I do understand that under load it is a bit noisy, but how about on normal usage? I mostly do software development.

How quiet your finished build runs is completely dependent on your choice of components inside the case as well as your choice of vent options.


The case is designed to offer good airflow and cooling capability, therefore giving you a solid foundation to build a silent/quiet system.

However, if for example you select a 95W processor and try to overclock it with an insufficient cooler then it will be noisy no matter what case its used in.

CPU COOLER CLEARANCE

The LZ7 has a CPU clearance of up to 65mm meaning that it does have limitations on cooling capability, as do most SFF cases, especially if silence is your goal. You have to set your expectations of what can be achieved in under 65mm of cooler clearance. If you limit yourself to a 65W TDP CPU and pick a high quality cooler then it is possible, an example build with an i7-7700 can be found HERE.


My top choices for an i7 class CPU would be the Noctua NH-L12 (bottom fan only) as shown above, or the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 (with fan swapped out for slim Noctua or equivalent - Scythe fan is noisy).

For i3 or i5 class CPU then the Noctua NH-L9 or Silverstone AR05 are good quiet choices for sub 40mm coolers.

I found that the Silverstone AR06 (58mm height) did not perform as well as expected for its height, I assume that this was down to the 92mm fan being starved of air due to its proximity to the under side of the power supply which covered most of the fan. Therefore my recommendation if using coolers above 50mm in height with a top mounted fan is to choose one that uses a 120mm fan so the PSU does not obscure the entire fan. This varies by motherboard depending on where the CPU socket is located.


I have no experience with the new Ryzen CPU's and how they thermally compare to the Intel CPU's.

VENT DESIGN
One other thing to consider when configuring the case is vent design choice, this plays a very important role in airflow and noise performance, some vent patterns are noisier than others due to fan turbulence effects. I carried out extensive prototyping and testing to determine what patterns work best for the lowest turbulence/noise and most airflow, so you can make an informed decision on which to choose to suit your priorities between noise and aesthetics.

A fair few people consider hex pattern vents to be the most aesthetically pleasing design, but unfortunately they are also the most restrictive and least quiet.​


The best performer by a huge margin is the traditional fan guard, but not everyone is 'fan' of how they look.




I found that most vent designs cut directly into the panel introduced very noticeable turbulence noise to the case fan. To address the issue I developed the 'Cyclone' vent pattern in an attempt to reduce turbulence as much as possible. The resulting Cyclone aesthetic is not to everyone's taste, but the performance was very good with dramatically increased airflow and near silent fan operation compared to other cut panel vent patterns.


(Full Album of panel photos can be seen HERE)

Putting Aesthetics aside, here is a list of the vent types/designs in order of performance, best performers are at the top:

AIRFLOW
  1. Fan Guard
  2. Cyclone
  3. Radial
  4. Open with Dust Filter
  5. Slotted
  6. Aero
NOISE
  1. Fan Guard
  2. Open with Dust Filter
  3. Cyclone
  4. Radial
  5. Slotted
  6. Aero

I've tried to show this data visually in the LZ7 CONFIGURATOR with some mini graphics that update when you select the different vent types.


Sorry if this has already been asked before, but can we get an idea of the number of cases that are being produced? I would really like to purchase one of these and it would be a shame if the stock runs out before I can buy one.

So that is two of the main components being produced as needed, the remaining variables are the 'front panel' connectors & (depending on how the customer specs out their LZ7) the fan guard(s)...

I believe this chassis will be available as long as there are customers with a desire to order it...!

Thats right, the idea is to try and keep the case in stock permanently. There may be times where certain options such as a specific colour/vent design go out of stock, but I'm sure we will be working behind the scenes to try and re-stock if it does.

I watched the compatible coolers and there is nothing mentioned about AMD stock coolers. I wonder if Ryzen 5 included Wright Spire which from what I've found is ~55mm would be ok. I am waiting for 21 August to see the new CPUs from Intel but may just as well go with a mini-ITX ryzen system given R5 1600 has TDP of 65W.

From what I've seen AMD have 3 different coolers for their AM4 socket that range in height, not sure which are supplied with which CPUs though:


Best cooling solution might just be the Noctua NH-L12 with both included fans set aside & the NF-12x15 slim 120mm fan being used in the underneath position (set to pull), one would want to try to align the heat sink fins side-to-side rather than front-to-back; I believe this should be possible with low profile RAM such as the Corsair Vengeance LPX DIMMs...?

Unfortunately I don't think the slim 120mm Noctua fan will fit beneath the heatsink in combination with the Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM, I measure it to be something like a 13mm gap. It may fit with a bit of man handling, but can't be sure:



What would be the recommendations for a 65W CPU, both for CPU and Case so it would be a good balance in terms of price and performance/noise. I plan to get a 1060mini or 1050ti...

An Intel i3 or Ryzen 3 would go nicely with a GTX 1050Ti, and maybe an Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 would be a nice balance for a GTX 1060.

Will we be able to buy additional "corner pieces/panels" separately? I'm sure I'll probably want to switch between two grill patterns or colors.

Yes, Overclockers.co.uk will be selling all the available panels and corner pieces separately.

What would be a good recommendation for case fan?

From the fans I've tested the Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 is the best performing in terms of noise and amount of airflow, especially if your motherboard has good fan control, some motherboards struggle to keep fans moving at low RPMs. I am currently using the MSI B250i motherboard and it can run the fan at very low RPM no problem for a silent system when idle.

The Thermaltake Luna 140mm slim fan is also pretty quiet, but it doesn't produce as much airflow as the Prolimatech.

I've not managed to get hold of the new slim Noctua 120mm fans but these may also perform well. I'm most looking forward to when Noctua finally get round to releasing a slim version of their 140mm sized fan.

Is Corsair SF450 80+ Gold a good choice for this case?

The Corsair SF450 works brilliantly with the LZ7, it will remain fanless for all but the most extreme builds. The SF450 would be my recommended choice.
 

attila16881

Efficiency Noob
Mar 15, 2017
6
13
First of all congrats for bringing this amazing SFF Enclosure concept into reality, something simple but yet impressive!

No other company managed to do something like this in years of SFF!

So now to the point...
After reading most of the topic and all your updates I am convinced that it is time for me to upgrade my system.

Last spring I bought a Ryzen 7 1700 with 2x8GB and mini-ATX mobo + 22,2 x 27,8 x 25,9 cm enclosure.
As I was already looking at this topic, I also bought a shortened GTX 1060 (Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 ixoc 6 GB ).


Now finally Biostar released this amazing motherboard: Biostar X370GTN

The other components that will be included are:
Thermaltake Smart SE 630W (16 x 15 x 9 cm)
1 SSD 2.5" and 1 Samsung 960-EVO NVME M.2. Would this M.2 SSD fit underneath the motherboard with your enclosure?

I will also change the Wraith Spire with the Noctua LH-12, as you suggest above, and buy 2x14mm fans.


Awaiting for your updates on the case availability, Thanks!
 
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Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
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First of all congrats for making this amazing SFF Enclosure concept into reality, something simple but yet impressive!

No other company managed to do something like this in years of SFF!

So now to the point...
After reading most of the topic and all your updates I am convinced that it is time for me to upgrade my system.

Last spring I bought a Ryzen 7 1700 with 2x8GB and mini-ATX mobo + 22,2 x 27,8 x 25,9 cm enclosure.
As I was already looking at this topic, I also bought a shortened GTX 1060 (Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 ixoc 6 GB ).


Now finally Biostar released this amazing motherboard: Biostar X370GTN

The other components that will be included are:
Thermaltake Smart SE 630W (16 x 15 x 9 cm)
1 SSD 2.5" and 1 Samsung 960-EVO NVME M.2. Would this M.2 SSD fit underneath the motherboard with your enclosure?

I will also change the Wraith Spire with the Noctua LH-12, as you suggest above, and buy 2x14mm fans.


Awaiting for your updates on the case availability, Thanks!

ASUS is coming out with an AM4 ITX motherboard, might just be worth the wait over the Biostar or any of the other (meager) AM4 ITX offerings...

The Thermaltake PSU you reference is an ATX PSU, it will NOT fit in the LZ7... And you definitely would want modular cables for this build, not a lot of extra room to stuff unused cables in this chassis...! You want to look at SFX (not SFX-L) PSUs... The Corsair SF400 & SF600 SFX PSUs are very popular & high quality...

The NH-L12 is the beefiest heat sink you can get for this chassis... Fan options for it would be using just the included 92mm x 25mm fan under the heat sink or getting some ULP (Ultra Low Profile, even shorter than VLP / Very Low Profile) RAM from InnoDisk and squeezing a Noctua NF-A12x15 fan underneath,,, But I do not believe InnoDisk offers high speed RAM that your Ryzen CPU would prefer...

You only need a single 140mm fan for the chassis... This would be your intake fan & is limited to fans no thicker than 15mm... The Prolimatech USV14-PRO seems the best option...
 
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attila16881

Efficiency Noob
Mar 15, 2017
6
13
Thanks Boil for your feedback!

I suppose I can wait for the Asus mITX but I also read very good feedback of the Biostar mITX (which I never thought to be possible!).
Of course the Prolimatech will be my first choice for the fan!

About the PSU, as you can see from this link, it is half modular and it uses flat cables. At this moment I think all (or most) of the cables which comes out from the PSU are used plus 2 modular cables have been used. Is the concern you have about the PSU size (150mm(W) x 86mm(H) x 160mm(L)) or about the extra cables that may be there even if not needed?
 

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
About the PSU, as you can see from this link, it is half modular and it uses flat cables. At this moment I think all (or most) of the cables which comes out from the PSU are used plus 2 modular cables have been used. Is the concern you have about the PSU size (150mm(W) x 86mm(H) x 160mm(L)) or about the extra cables that may be there even if not needed?

Both...

Again, the PSU you link is an ATX power supply... WAY too big for this chassis...!

The LZ7 chassis is designed specifically for a SFX PSU... (...remember, SFX, NOT SFX-L...)

As far as cables go, you would be using a 24-pin motherboard cable, a 8-pin (4+4) EPS cable & a 8-pin (6+2) PCI cable...

If you are running any 2.5" SSDs, then there would be a 6-pin SATA cable...

All & any extra cabling you can get rid of would only help airflow in this chassis, a Full Modular PSU would be best & custom length cables would be ideal...
 
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attila16881

Efficiency Noob
Mar 15, 2017
6
13
Again thanks for your feedback I missed that!

Added the Corsair PSU to the list... :)

One last point, do you think having the M.2 SSD on the back of the motherboard could be an issue with this enclosure? I suppose Asus will opt with the same thing as I don't think it could fit on the top side.
 

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
The motherboard is on stand-offs, and the chassis fan is right next to the top edge of the motherboard, so there should be some airflow from that, and the chassis has a vent on the bottom as well, but that runs along the front of the motherboard...

I think a backside mounted M.2 should be fine...
 
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K888D

SFF Guru
Original poster
Lazer3D
Feb 23, 2016
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www.lazer3d.com
First of all congrats for bringing this amazing SFF Enclosure concept into reality, something simple but yet impressive!

No other company managed to do something like this in years of SFF!

Awaiting for your updates on the case availability, Thanks!

Thank you very much for the nice comments!

Updates will be coming over the next couple of weeks. Launch date is 25th August and stock will be available to order from Overclockers.co.uk from that date. If Overclockers cannot ship to your country please contact me directly either through this Forum or Email me as I may be able to ship direct.

Added the Corsair PSU to the list... :)

As @Boil pointed out, its SFX only I'm afraid. ATX Power supplies will NOT fit!

Corsair SF450 all the way, amazing PSU. If your budget can't stretch to the Corsair then the Silverstone ST45SF should also be a good match for your proposed setup.

I will also change the Wraith Spire with the Noctua LH-12

Good choice with the NH-L12, but is there an adapter kit for available for AM4 (Ryzen) sockets?

I would be very interested to hear how the Wraith performs in this case (if it fits), so if you get chance to do some testing with that cooler it would be great if you could post the results on here.

buy 2x14mm fans.

There is space for only 1x 140mm x 15mm (slim) fan. Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 is the best I have managed to test.

There is also the Cryorig XT140 which I've heard good things about, but I've not tested it personally so i don't know how it compares to the Prolimatech.

1 Samsung 960-EVO NVME M.2. Would this M.2 SSD fit underneath the motherboard with your enclosure?

M.2 SSD's are designed to fit in the gap under the motherboard, you should have no problem fitting the Samsung 960-EVO. I use the Samsung PM951 in my case under the motherboard, which is basically a slower version of the 960-EVO.
 

K888D

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Lazer3D
Feb 23, 2016
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R7 1800X and this is an example when I put 100% load on AIDA64:



As you can see by the green line, it stabilizes around 77°C.

Is that with both of the NH-L12 fans and operating in your M1 case I presume? I might be reading it wrong, but it looks like the Diode temp maxed around 74C and the CPU temp maxed around 67C? Not sure what the difference is between those 2 figures.
 

Mackan

Airflow Optimizer
Jun 2, 2016
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Hm, so the minimalistic panel with only a vandal power switch will not be available for the newest version?
 

K888D

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Feb 23, 2016
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I'm thinking in getting custom cables for the SF450, what cable length would be need to have a perfect fit for this case?

It would depend on which motherboard you have and where the power connectors are located on the board. Personally I would wait to get custom length cables until you've got your components assembled together and can measure it with some string or something like that.

Hm, so the minimalistic panel with only a vandal power switch will not be available for the newest version?

Overclockers UK will not be stocking that panel at launch. If you contact them expressing an interest in it they may add it to the options, it will take a couple of weeks for me to make the panels and ship to them, so bare that in mind.
 

dcaparros

Trash Compacter
May 19, 2017
38
56
It would depend on which motherboard you have and where the power connectors are located on the board. Personally I would wait to get custom length cables until you've got your components assembled together and can measure it with some string or something like that.



Overclockers UK will not be stocking that panel at launch. If you contact them expressing an interest in it they may add it to the options, it will take a couple of weeks for me to make the panels and ship to them, so bare that in mind.

thanks to the reply, I'll be using a ASRock B350 Gaming-ITX/ac and I would like a kit from cable mod... I know that I can wait to have all pieces and measure, but if I did that I would probably just assemble my pieces let a cable mess inside it and never deal with it again (I did that with my current cooler master elite 110 build)
 

W1NN1NG

King of Cable Management
Jan 19, 2017
616
532
thanks to the reply, I'll be using a ASRock B350 Gaming-ITX/ac and I would like a kit from cable mod... I know that I can wait to have all pieces and measure, but if I did that I would probably just assemble my pieces let a cable mess inside it and never deal with it again (I did that with my current cooler master elite 110 build)
The problem with ordering them too soon is the chance at getting a cable that's too long. Or too short. Both aren't the greatest things to have lol especially in a case this small you want to make sure they're perfect. I'd wait. Trust me it's worth it. And what I would say too do. Is measure the length and never install the oem cables. Then you don't have the problem. Lol
 
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dcaparros

Trash Compacter
May 19, 2017
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The problem with ordering them too soon is the chance at getting a cable that's too long. Or too short. Both aren't the greatest things to have lol especially in a case this small you want to make sure they're perfect. I'd wait. Trust me it's worth it. And what I would say too do. Is measure the length and never install the oem cables. Then you don't have the problem. Lol

I could never be without my computer for so long, lol, but thanks for the suggestion
 

Mackan

Airflow Optimizer
Jun 2, 2016
302
160
Overclockers UK will not be stocking that panel at launch. If you contact them expressing an interest in it they may add it to the options, it will take a couple of weeks for me to make the panels and ship to them, so bare that in mind.

Alright, thanks. I really want the minimalistic panel. The other panel looks great, but I just can't deal with front I/O cables anymore. They are the bane of cable management in small spaces.
 
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robbee

King of Cable Management
n3rdware
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Sep 24, 2016
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As you can see by the green line, it stabilizes around 77°C.

Doesn't that line indicate 67°C? They should've added more breakpoints on the left!
The 44°C in idle is on the high side though. Or wasn't that idle?
 
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