Concept LUX - 11.3L Focus on premium design and liquid cooling - Slim Console Style

[erikvalen]

Hello everyone!

I'm fairly new to this community but have been building and working with computers my entire life. I began my SFF obsession a few years back after discovering the original sentry, and then later the cases from NFC. I figured I'd try and give me creative bone an itch and work on designing one myself that ticks all of my boxes.

This leads us here, to my first case design (Although this is already the fourth revision haha). The current name for the case is LUX by MetaVita. The case has been designed from the ground up with liquid cooling and premium design aesthetics in mind. Before we get to far into this, I'll admit my 3D modeling skills are still fairly limited and one of the main reasons I'm already on my fourth revision is I'm learning the software better as time goes on. I'm looking for as much input and constructive criticism as possible, so please say what's on your mind!

All that being said this is what I have so far; the specifications are as follows:

-Exterior dimensions are 466.446mm Long * 356.95 mm Tall (369.95 with stand) * 67.65mm Thick = 11.26 L total Volume
-CPU clearance is 44.5mm or 46.5mm with mesh front panel
-Radiator+Fan clearance is 61mm
-Supports both horizontal or vertical DDC pump mounting
-Supports SFX PSUs
-Capacity for up to two 2.5" Drives
-GPU Support:
With 280mm Radiator and Glass Side Panel - 300mm Length x 56.8 mm Thickness x 148.5mm Height (With Power Connector)
With 240mm Radiator and Mesh Side Panel - 330mm Length x 58.8 mm Thickness x 148.5mm Height (With Power Connector)
-DDC or DC-LT pump support
-Magnetic side panels

As you can see in these photos, the entire backside is a mesh panel and the front side is split between tempered glass and mesh panel. The remaining parts are all CNC'd Aluminum. A alternate side panel will be designed for the front to be all mesh like the back, allowing air cooled GPU's and AIO cpu or the other way around if that floats your boat. The entire case other than the side panels is a solid milled piece of aluminum, creating a solid and very premium unibody. This obviously could very well end up being too expensive to mass produce. If this is not a possibility I would be splitting up the front, top, bottom, rear, and the spine into separate parts that would be flat packed and assembled by the user.

With all of this said, I plan on building the first prototype Q1 2022. Due to financial constraints right now with Covid it seems to be the earliest that I'll have it done. If all goes well though I will begin fundraising directly after for full scale production.

I look forward to seeing everyone's comments and criticisms!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Vir]

I love the look, but there could be lots of space optimisation.

1.) The GPU doesn't allow for a custom loop. If it did, you could shorten the case significantly as very few waterblocks come close to that length.
2.) The two slot limitation makes it impractical considering its volume.
3. PSU causes lots of dead space. I'd opt for a modular or Flex solution.


Disregard my post. OP has updated a bunch since.

 

[erikvalen]

I love the look, but there could be lots of space optimisation.

1.) The GPU doesn't allow for a custom loop. If it did, you could shorten the case significantly as very few waterblocks come close to that length.
2.) The two slot limitation makes it impractical considering its volume.
3. PSU causes lots of dead space. I'd opt for a modular or Flex solution.

Hey Vir!

Thanks for the comment! As for the concerns you have I'll try and address them and give my reasons as to why I have it this way so far.

1. I have looked around at quite a few gpus and gpu water blocks to try and fit as many as I could while still staying somewhat small. I have opted for the length mentioned to allow longer air-cooled GPUs (for those interested in that route,) and the width I have mentioned would fit a selection of water cooled GPUs (Based off of water block and fitting dimensions). No not every GPU will fit water cooled and no not every air cooled GPU will fit either but I'm trying to find a nice balance. Perhaps you could shove me more into the right direction with space optimization for maybe only water cooled GPUs as that was the main focus with this case.

2. I'm assuming the concern here is most air-cooled are larger than two slot? If so I should be able to easily adapt it to three slot. The two slot was from an earlier reversion that was slightly thinner but I'm sure there's room now, I'll check later!

(Edit: Future me here, I just added a third slot to the GPU! So that's a bonus.)

3. I heavily agree with you there. I strongly wanted to opt for a different power supply but with the way GPUs are going today, power demand is only getting higher. To reach a reasonable amount of wattage for the new 3000 series and future GPU's, HD Plex just isn't hitting the mark. I also looked into the flex PSUs but was deterred by the limited options and availability. I figured everyone could get there hands on a powerful SFX though.

(Edit: I will also see if the SFX-L PSUs will fit. Figure if there's the empty space, might as well fit the best PSU we can!)

Either way thank you so much for your thoughts and look forward to a response!

 

[erikvalen]

I forgot to mention in either my original post or the last post that I plan on squishing down the total dimensions as much as possible once the interior is nailed down and is as tight as possible. Hoping I can get the case down to 14 or less liters! Also side note, I feel like I'm crazy but I can't find an edit button for any of my posts, and my typos are driving me crazy haha Edit: I got my edit button! I'm assuming that's because of the mods, thanks!

 

[erikvalen]

UPDATE:

Hello everyone, thought I'd share the latest progress and some nice and pretty renders (Which I just figured out was a feature in fusion 360).

First things lets get down to the nitty gritty details;

The current dimensions are 78mm Wide * 507mm Long * 366mm Tall. This gives the case a total volume of 14.47 Liters (Getting closer to the sub 14L volume!)

There is 44.4 mm of CPU cooler clearance and the GPU area now supports 3 slot GPUS! (60mm total GPU thickness).

I've also added a support bracket for the GPU which will be easy to produce and easy to install.

Anyway, enough of all the boring talk here's the pictures!

Did I mention it comes in BLACK (Note it will be matte black, the render just looks glossy)

And the GPU bracket of course:

Thanks for tuning in again and I hope to hear some more criticism and general commentary from everyone. I'm still very very new to this scene and could use all the advice you have!

 

[jaeparku]

It looks very pretty. I'm not a fan of console cases that aren't tiny like Skyreach 4 Mini, but to each his own.

 

[erikvalen]

It looks very pretty. I'm not a fan of console cases that aren't tiny like Skyreach 4 Mini, but to each his own.

Thanks for the kind words! Although it will never be quite as tiny as the mini, I am slowly making it smaller and smaller each time I work on it, just got it under 14L last night and once again thought of another thing I could do to bring in down a bit more too. I'm going to do some research on AIO pumps and see how low I can get the cpu clearance before it's an issue. As that's the main thing holding it back from being slimmer right now.

 

[oOflyeyesOo]

Seems some extra space around the radiator..couldn't be shorter?

 

[erikvalen]

Seems some extra space around the radiator..couldn't be shorter?

That radiator model is slightly smaller than the real one but yes there is some extra space around it. Sadly to fit the riser cable and the power cables from the gpu I can't shorten by too much more. I'm going to have to get a riser cable in my hand to really have a good idea of it's size so I can model a bit more accurately. But As I mentioned in the last post I had another idea to bring the size down some more, and specifically in the height department. Been working since then though so I haven't gotten to implement it. Once I have I'll definitely post an update though!

 

[erikvalen]

March 12th Update:

Hello everyone!

Exciting update today! Been working on reducing the size and figuring out things and I finally got the case under 12L (Just barely haha, but it still counts!) The new dimensions are 71.5mm Wide * 473.25mm Long * 351mm Tall, giving us a total volume of ..... drum roll please....... 11.88 Liters!

There's been some major changes in the layout which have allowed this. As some of the previous users have noticed and or mentioned the fitment of the GPU was awkward. Not all GPUs would fit water-cooled so I wanted to allow the larger air-cooled ones as well (Like strix cards). The downside to this was the case ended up being really long which left a lot of unused space around the PSU. Well no longer! The new layout allows a card of at least 298mm in length with a 280mm radiator (Possibly larger depending on chosen radiator), but with a smaller 240mm radiator perhaps a CPU AIO, a card of up to 337mm in length. I believe this will allow flexible building options while still keeping things small.

I currently have a tester 90 degree PSU cable on it's way to be able to accurately measure and place the PCU and water pump bracket, so hoping that comes soon.

Also you may notice I've added a stand! Not fully sold on my design for it right now, but I would love to hear your thoughts.

Anyway here's a few shots of the updated areas! hope you like it!

27" Monitor for reference

Anyway that's it for today! As always I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
-Mike

 

[oOflyeyesOo]

I am loving it, have been looking for a good case with a transparent side panel to show off the water cooling. I def would be thinking about using another mean well, or custom psu to add more show off room for more pumps.

 

[Jcole247]

Is there possibility of a horizontal config? Nice case so far.

 

[erikvalen]

I am loving it, have been looking for a good case with a transparent side panel to show off the water cooling. I def would be thinking about using another mean well, or custom psu to add more show off room for more pumps.

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you like the design so far. The window was a requirement for me from day one. I know you can technically see through mesh, but the tempered glass is just drop dead gorgeous. I'm not 100% sure on the second part of your message but I'm assuming you're talking about reservoirs for the pump. I'm given the right part selection you could fit one but we'll see. As for an alternative PSU, I've really shopped around to see what is available and settled with SFX for multiple reasons. I almost decided to go with flex PSU but in the given layout it would actually take up more space, and that doesn't even begin to address the lower power and accessibility to purchase. I'm hoping once I get my power cable I can potentially move the PSU closer to the top of the case allowing more room for the pump and reservoir.

Is there possibility of a horizontal config? Nice case so far.

Hi Jcole! I would consider the case to currently be in a "horizontal" layout. So if you're thinking of an alternative one, perhaps vertical? If that's a the case, yes! It would totally be doable. I've actually been thinking about it myself. I would have to design a different stand but it shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for the comments as always!

 

[erikvalen]

I was just getting my haircut and realized you probably meant flat like for a media center! And yes, I plan on making a stand for that as well so that it gets suitable air flow.

 

[robojim]

Makes me think of a server rack but a lot nicer. Hope it ends up being viable.

 

[thelaughingman]

-Dimensions are 71.5mm Wide * 473.25mm Long * 351mm Tall507mm Long x 366mm Tall x 78mm Wide

pls fix 1st post

 

[erikvalen]

pls fix 1st post

Thanks

 

[erikvalen]

Question for the community. As someone who has never really used front IO I'm not sure what the majority of people consider essential! So in saying that what would everyone like to see included in the front IO? Right now I'm leaning towards a USB type A and USB type C, if there's room for it maybe a headphone jack.

 

[thelaughingman]

Question for the community. As someone who has never really used front IO I'm not sure what the majority of people consider essential! So in saying that what would everyone like to see included in the front IO? Right now I'm leaning towards a USB type A and USB type C, if there's room for it maybe a headphone jack.

1 of each type A and type C would be great. I haven't used headphone jack in years now

 

[erikvalen]

1 of each type A and type C would be great. I haven't used headphone jack in years now

So Im having a design dilemma haha. The usb type a is an eye sore on what otherwise is a clean and rounded design. Would people be okay with two usb c ports instead?