LZ7 LAN-party build

Phuncz

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I must confess: I'm an addict. This forum is the largest supplier of the stuff I should avoid, because I've been down this road before. I'm... a case addict. Yes, gasp in awe at the putrid mind that's behind that avatar on your left, your dealing with someone who binges on the component most people think is a necessary evil.

@K888D announced his LZ7 project 8 months ago, while it was still very much in a seemingly early stage. When the first new renders popped up, I was intrigued by the design but it seemed like a difficult project. After some interesting discussion, K888D dropped these gems to show he was going to go all the way. If that wasn't enough, his daughter was standing on the case without any visible deformation. And he also threw impressive thermal performance figures at us. Or how about some transporting tests ? There was only one way I could deal with this...

Less than two months later, a supply ship dropped by, telling me I had "new construction options". Oh yes, the fun part: it comes as a kit :D




All the pieces, well-packaged and accompanied by plenty of very useful stuff. I choose my kit without feet, with both sidepanels "open", matte black and purple. But take special note of the stuff in the middle: optional zip ties, detailed manual, serial numbered PCI bracket retention cover and all necessary screws in a nice box. Very welcome and I was pleasantly surprised !




A closer look at that matte panel with the motherboard standoffs. That matte texture is amazing to the senses, it feels like a premium material. That white spot in the middle is a 30W light that was hovering just over it, casting a unique looking reflection.




00003, I got a fuzzy warm feeling inside ! In this picture it still had a protective layer on it's back.




That box of screws kept stealing my attention, I rarely see it done for PC cases although most are huge 40L empty behemoths. The countersunk screws on the top-right and the nuts below are plastic or maybe nylon, I'm not sure.




Oh boy, the bar has been raised now ! Look at the illustrations, the layout. This is well wonderful stuff, I've not seen this kind of documentation with any other case. Although I haven't had a case that needed assembly before either. Word of caution: this case requires patience and carefulness. If you have a history of RAGEQUIT, let someone else do the assembly !




Now this was a tear-jerker. Thank you too, Kevin, for the amazing case and the interesting conversations here on the forum !




No I didn't touch the vibration or contrast controls on this one, that purple material really pops. A different rougher texture on these 3D SLS printed pieces, very nice !




Considering this part of the corner piece is smaller than my thumb, I'm amazed at the resolution. Good choice on the material and finishing !




OK assembly time ! This is the right side-panel, attached the fan and the two corner pieces, all following the manual. The smoked Perspex (cast acrylic) panel gives a faint color in the photo but it's more neutral than that.




The rear and right side panel attached to the base plate, the next step is the motherboard !




I skipped ahead because this took quite some preparation and fiddling. Basically I've researched only the supported CPU coolers and GPUs, in my case a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 rev.B and MSI Radeon RX460 4G with a flat heatsink.

Apparently I didn't take into account my motherboard (ASRock Z87E-ITX) has it's socket close to the edge. The Big Shuriken has a non-offset design and because of this I had to choose between the Big Shuriken or the Prolimatech 140mm fan. Since I have a Noctua NH-L9i, another cooler of choice for this case, I used that one.

The fan shroud on the MSI GPU was a little frustrating, as it's screwed on from the inside of the heatsink, meaning you have to remove the entire heatsink to remove the shroud. Ofcourse there's a "warranty void if bluh bluh" sticker on it, so be aware of this for this specific card.

Also, at this point I realised I needed to attach the EPS 8-pin connector, which was already impossible to reach with the PSU in place. But the thumb screws supplied in the neat screw box made that an easy fix.




This is the distance between another Prolimatech Sleek 14 fan attached to the left side panel and the MSI GPU without the fan shroud. It's about 5 or 6mm so in theory a 20mm fan would have also fit.




Not much later I was done ! Insert half an hour of me fondling the case's matte panels and textured corner pieces.
Did you notice those four holes on the top ? It seems to be for a handle but I thought that wasn't possible ? First edition easter egg ?!




After the fondling, I had some more time to take some pictures. I ordered these 140mm mesh fan filters but because they are so extremely flimsy, they don't stay flat. Bah, these are going out ! Also notice the vandal proof switch, although I have yet to wire it up. Apparently I don't have any more connectors left over...




The rear view. Here you can see the thumb screws for the PSU I mentioned before and this is where the serial number plate attaches to. Awful PCI bracket, MSI :(




Out with the fan filters, in with the fan grills. So much better. I choose to place it on the outside to mimich the other side.




Yup, definitely looks better. Although dust will be a problem, but I have yet to see a fan filter that eliminates dust. It just reduces it.




The left side panel has a non-circular cutout, disallowing you to place the fan grill on the inside.




Still looking good !




Next to an Ncase M1, alligned at the rear. Yes it's that small.


Performance metrics will follow later when I have my connectors I'm missing to connect the GPU fan and power button. Hardware choices and some feedback will follow too.
 
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K888D

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Feb 23, 2016
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Awesome write up, can't wait to read the next chapter!

Its really interesting what you have done with the GPU, effectively making it a single slot card and using the extra slot space to install a second case fan, genius!

It will be interesting to see if this method works with any other ITX GPUs and what difference it makes to noise and temp performance.

The holes on the top panel were put there to future proof the case in case I ever released a handle, or if you wanted to add/design one yourself!
 

iFreilicht

FlexATX Authority
Feb 28, 2015
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freilite.com
Absolutely lovely, thanks for the concise walk around of the case! Build looks to be shaping up great, the purple looks fantastic!
The screws for the panels look quite small, did you have any issues with those?

Its really interesting what you have done with the GPU, effectively making it a single slot card and using the extra slot space to install a second case fan, genius!

Phuncz has quite some experience with improving air-cooling, I expected nothing less. Beautiful case!
 
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cmyk78

Master of Cramming
Jun 7, 2016
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Beautiful, everything just screams quality. The manual looks great and the screws come in a divider box! I thought the case came pre-assembled, but this way is more fun.
On a side note how much room is there from the in between the front fan and the motherboard?
 
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ricochet

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Oct 20, 2016
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Awesome, thank you for sharing and very nice photography... is that exposed rainbow fan connector on the left panel not disturbing you more than the MSI PCI bracket? :-p
 
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K888D

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The screws for the panels look quite small
The main panel screws are wafer head M2.5 x 8mm, they are basically black laptop screws. It was the best compromise I could find that gave an almost flush finish without needing to countersink the panels.

I wonder who got 001 and 002 ;)?
2 guys in the US were the first, not sure if they are residents of this forum.
 

Phuncz

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Awesome, thank you for sharing and very nice photography... is that exposed rainbow fan connector on the left panel not disturbing you more than the MSI PCI bracket? :-p
I did notice it, but didn't bother me enough to care right now. I might fix that later since I'm contemplating going full custom wiring. I have all the right tools, some experience, just not much time. I have a week off before New Year's, so it might happen by then.

The main panel screws are wafer head M2.5 x 8mm, they are basically black laptop screws. It was the best compromise I could find that gave an almost flush finish without needing to countersink the panels.
I did have issues finding the correct screw driver size, but PH1 seems to be the correct one. I luckily have a PH1-bit so I can use my Snap-On ratcheting screw driver.
Thanks for including extra screws, I've already had two which I managed to mangle because I was using an incorrect screwdriver. Maybe a good suggestion for the manual to mention "PH1".

Beautiful, everything just screams quality. The manual looks great and the screws come in a divider box! I thought the case came pre-assembled, but this way is more fun.
On a side note how much room is there from the in between the front fan and the motherboard?
@WadeAK78 remind me that I need to look into this, should I forget it the next time I open up the case.
 
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Phuncz

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I was missing some parts to complete the install, namely a GPU fan connector adapter, a decent fan filter and connectors for the power button / LED. These have arrived yesterday and along with installing those, I've also done custom power supply cables at a short length:


The vandal switch wired and sleeved.


The first wire, 23 more need to follow. It's 13cm with gives it just enough extra length so it's not pulling on the connector.


Like this. It looks shoddy, even though I was pretty sure there was only a very slight deviation of the wires. Not having a adjustable length wire stripper doesn't help either. It worked in the tester so on to the next step.


SATA power cable, because that one also needed shortening, it's about 12cm.


24-pin pluged in, I kept the Silverstone 8-pin EPS because it was just the right length anyway.


That looks a lot better than the cable jungle I had before. I moved the SATA power cable one position over on the PSU so there was less stress on one wire.

I also redid the thermal paste on the GPU because the original goop didn't sit well. I'm putting it through it's paces right now and I'll hopefully have some first numbers to show with soon hopefully some decent noise measurements., if my setup proves useful.
 
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Phuncz

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That's at it's brightest setting and it has a somewhat dimmed look thanks to the smoked panels. It's very hard to photograph and convey it's ambience, both photos I'd say are about twice as bright as it appears to me. Although that depends on your monitor settings ofcourse.