Production Lazer3D LZ7 - Quiet Gaming Cube PC Case

[MarcParis]

I've already tried this kind of airflow, feeding psu with exshaut air from cpu cooler...and result was clear...psu died.. This was a quite old setup (I guess it was on my sugo sg04)

For me, it's clear that exhausted air from cpu is not adequate to be intake air for psu..

 

[K888D]

I'm not sure I would recommend exhausting hot air straight into a PSU. It could in theory work though, I guess it depends on your specific setup whether it would work OK or not.

Results may be better with a lower TDP CPU, but a high TDP CPU would probably do 2 things:

• Reduce life of PSU
• Increase overall system noise as PSU will spin up fast to compensate for heat.

The great thing is though that these options are there if you wanted to test them. It's not a setup I would personally choose to do.

Mini update - I've started ordering in stock for the first 20 cases!

 

[EdZ]

It would mostly depend on the fan control implementation in the PSU itself: if it is entirely thermal-controlled with a sensor on the heatsink, then raised inlet air temperature would be a nonissue unless the PSU is designed poorly. If some or all of the fan control is based on PSU load, then depending on the fan control law you could end up with thermal overloads tripping before the fan is trigger to spin up sufficiently.

With the CPU heatsink sandwiched next to the PSU inlet, one option would be to remove the small CPU fan and add the beefiest fan you can fit in there in order to actively cool both the CPU heatsink and the PSU, with the PSU fan mostly being redundant. The trick would be finding one the optimum size: with sufficient space you could use a very large fan and ducting to avoid air spilling around the sides of the PSU (or CPU heatsink). With less Z to play with, sizing for the PSU inlet would be best, and if some air is sucked 'past' the CPU heatsink than that would be acceptable with sufficient fan speed.

 

[K888D]

I've found the Corsair SF450 to be an awesome PSU, it hardly ever spins up even under prolonged heavy use.

I've only however tested this PSU with the fan facing upwards towards the dedicated external PSU vents, I'm not sure whether pointing the fan downwards would affect the fan on/off characteristics.

My thinking is that if the PSU fan pointed downwards and a standard CPU cooler setup was used, then the CPU cooler would in fact pull air through the PSU, this would benefit the PSU by providing extra cooling, but this would only really work with a 'semi fanless' PSU, because as soon as the PSU fan starts up then it will be fighting against the CPU fan = not good for noise and temps.

On the other hand, using the same semi fanless PSU, if the CPU cooler was reversed to exhaust upwards into the PSU, then I would expect the temperature inside the PSU to rise under normal usage, therefore activating the fan sooner / at a lower load usage than under the standard configuration (PSU fan pointing up). But, the fans would be aligned and in theory you would get a good exhaust flow out the rear of the PSU.

 

[MarcParis]

In my personal case/failure, cpu used was an 130w core i7 920....after with a 65w cpu, it could work i guess

 

[K888D]

Quite a few people have been asking about portability of the case and durability during transportation. So for the past week I've been lugging the case around with me like an extra child, but one that makes less noise and listens to me!

The case has been transported as a fully built up system, both standalone and in a bag. Due to its size and shape its very easy to carry under a single arm, so I don't think a handle is really needed for convenient 1 handed transport, however it is something I will look at in the future.

I wasn't really planning on getting a bag for transportation. I'm planning on making a rig for LAN parties/when I visit my folks. The most arduous transportation I would be doing is just moving the PC from my place -> back seat of my car -> whoever's house I was visiting. In my case a handle would be very useful. I would just carry my PC in one hand and have my TKL keyboard + mouse + cables in my messenger bag.

Here it is taking a ride in the passenger seat:

Somebody suggested about carrying the case in a bag, so I trawled Amazon for a few hours and settled on THIS messenger style bag, it has great reviews and only cost £25 delivered. The bag is an STM velo 2, it's primarily designed as a 15" laptop bag, but with extra space in the main compartment.

The LZ7 just about fits into the main compartment with a bit of room left over each side of the compartment for your accessories, there is just enough space left height wise to zip the bag shut. The bag also has loads of other compartments for storing your different bits and bobs:​

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Here is the velo bag closed up, there is a decent amount of padding to protect from minor bumps, the shoulder strap is nice and comfortable and the case doesn't feel overly heavy being carried over your shoulder.

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I'm going to continue carrying the case around for a while, but so far the LZ7 has handled everything fine. I am now bit more confident in saying that the case will be suitable for occasional transportation.

 

[Phuncz]

Seeing your commitment makes me very content and proud of the SFF collective.

 

[jeshikat]

and listens to me!

If you feel that your inanimate acrylic computer case is listening to what you have to say, you may want to talk to a professional

 

[K888D]

If you feel that your inanimate acrylic computer case is listening to what you have to say, you may want to talk to a professional

Well if I tell my computer to switch off (press button) it does it within a few seconds, whereas my kids seem to do the opposite of what I ask them! Computers are much easier to work with

 

[jeshikat]

Ah, that's true.

Though at least your kids can't get infected with a computer virus that causes them to steal your passwords and drain your bank account. At least not with today's Brain-Machine Interface technology.

 

[K888D]

Ah, that's true.

Though at least your kids can't get infected with a computer virus that causes them to steal your passwords and drain your bank account. At least not with today's Brain-Machine Interface technology.

Well it's funny you should say that, because they do spend allot of their time picking up colds from other children at nursery!

It sounds like your speaking from experience having your bank drained?

 

[jeshikat]

It sounds like your speaking from experience having your bank drained?

Not me personally. I've had customers at work who have had their bank accounts messed with, though it's not because of a virus/malware/keylogger/etc. but because they're elderly people who were tricked into giving fake tech support scammers their info.

What I've seen is the fake tech support will either cold call or create full-screen popup ads that proclaims the computer is infected and they need to call this phone number, then once they're remoted into the computer the scammers will pull up event viewer and show how there's all these errors. Event viewer errors are perfectly normal, but most people don't know that, so too often they'll take up the scammer's offer to clean the computer and get rid of the viruses and hackers.

So at the end of the "cleanup" the scammers charge anywhere from $100-$600 for their services. But some of the scammers have the gall to followup a few weeks later and give some story about how they accidentally overcharged and they need to process a refund, they just need the bank account info to proceed...

 

[MarcParis]

Really nice for transport...

GG @K888D !

 

[paisapues]

Thanks for testing portability!
Seems like there won't be a problem with carrying around in a backpack once in a while.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Samsquamptch]

When can I purchase this?

 

[MarcParis]

soon...@K888D will inform everybody when ready to order..

 

[K888D]

Thanks everyone!

I am hoping to make an announcement very soon, perhaps even today if I get chance, busy morning! Stay tuned.

 

[K888D]

LZ7 First Edition - Pre-Order Announcement

The LZ7 will soon be made available for pre-order, with an expected shipping date of Late November. There will be a separate announcement once the Pre-Orders are live.

The first 20 cases will be available at £20 lower than the standard price, this version will be called the First Edition with limited availability:

Pre-orders will be available through the website which I have recently updated with a more polished look, I've also added a configuration tool (work in progress) that allows you to experiment with the different case options such as alternative corner colours and vent configurations:

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Other Updates:
I have prepared a custom version of the LZ7 case that is to be sent to my Brother for review on his YouTube channel (shown below), I will let you know once this video is ready. If any of you want to see anything specific shown in the video please let me know and I'll see what can be done

As you can see from the photo above, I'm also testing alternative flat headed screws for a more 'refined' look, they are cross headed so a standard small screw driver can be used instead of an alan key. Let me know what you think, bolts or screws?

Work has also been started on the instruction manual, once this is complete most of the pre-launch stuff is done, I will try and post some screenshots or something of the manual for your comments.

 

[Phuncz]

Very nice, this is coming along very well ! I like the counter-sunk screws !
Well done on the website too !

 

[MarcParis]

Great @K888D !!