Completed MJOLNIR: The minimalistic – but not boring – 9.7L Case

[Goatee]

Don't have a Steel case but the O2 panels of my Dark case also show a slight color mismatch. At first I hardly noticed it and now it is also bothering me a bit.
To me it looks like the O2 panels were not anodized together with the shell and other panels.

I have the same on my dark. My glass panels look great but the O2 are prety different.

 

[For_Science]

Spent the morning fixing front rattle, took a few tries, but now its solid. Also experimented with swapping where the filter for the O2 panel goes since I personally didn't like my PC having a glorious 8 pack abs aesthetic. I personally think it works quite well, may consider getting another color filter that compliments the silver better.

 

[N9neBreak3r]

Spent the morning fixing front rattle, took a few tries, but now its solid. Also experimented with swapping where the filter for the O2 panel goes since I personally didn't like my PC having a glorious 8 pack abs aesthetic. I personally think it works quite well, may consider getting another color filter that compliments the silver better.

How did you pull the filter out and re attach it like that?? Lol at the glorious 8 pack

 

[For_Science]

How did you pull the filter out and re attach it like that?? Lol at the glorious 8 pack

The filter peels off with some controlled brute force. There is a black sticky adhesive thay can be easily peeled off. For now i just davbed super glue to reattach but i think there are better ways to do it more elegantly

 

[AlexTzone]

Hi guys, we've finished testing the Gen4 riser now and it does what it's supposed to do!

The only thing left to determine now is the length of the riser:

• If we choose 18.5cm like for the original riser the user will be able to easily plug/unplug the riser from the motherboard BUT there will be about 5mm of slack sticking out top and potentially getting caught by the shell upon insertion/extraction.
• If we choose 18cm the risk of the riser getting caught by the shell will be eliminated, as there will be no slack; however, you'd first need to insert the unmounted riser into the motherboard and then screw the riser down to the spine (2 screws), then insert the GPU.

IMO 18cm is definitely the way to go, as I feel that sacrificing 2-3 minutes of convenience and gaining a heavily reduced risk is the smart choice. I mean, how often will the average backer actually swap out their motherboard?



However, I'd really like to hear your thoughts and what you would personally choose

 

[Blueside]

I redid my custom cables again for a flipped PSU layout. I thought it would be a nice idea to flip the two SSD to have short cables like this:


But this didn‘t work out because the SSD connectors are blocking the shell when inserting the core. So hopefully I made this mistake that you guys don‘t have to fail like me :-)

Here now the final cables. The AIO orientation is now switched and I also routed the CPU power cable behind the mobi underneath the GPU for a non obstructed view. This worked out perfect:


I‘m pretty happy with the result. The O2 panel on the bottom closes now an also the thermals improved dramatically. With the PSU in „regular“ orientation my score in Cinebench R23 was 18932 (MC) / 1394 (SC) and now is 20082 (MC) / 1490 (SC). Everything else is the same in this comparsion. So I‘m really happy with the result now!

 

[jhuylebroeck]

IMO 18cm is definitely the way to go, as I feel that sacrificing 2-3 minutes of convenience and gaining a heavily reduced risk is the smart choice. I mean, how often will the average backer actually swap out their motherboard?

I concur with you @AlexTzone

 

[N9neBreak3r]

I redid my custom cables again for a flipped PSU layout. I thought it would be a nice idea to flip the two SSD to have short cables like this:


But this didn‘t work out because the SSD connectors are blocking the shell when inserting the core. So hopefully I made this mistake that you guys don‘t have to fail like me :-)

Here now the final cables. The AIO orientation is now switched and I also routed the CPU power cable behind the mobi underneath the GPU for a non obstructed view. This worked out perfect:


I‘m pretty happy with the result. The O2 panel on the bottom closes now an also the thermals improved dramatically. With the PSU in „regular“ orientation my score in Cinebench R23 was 18932 (MC) / 1394 (SC) and now is 20082 (MC) / 1490 (SC). Everything else is the same in this comparsion. So I‘m really happy with the result now!

Do you have your aio fan as intake or exhaust?

 

[Gambit2K]

Hi guys, we've finished testing the Gen4 riser now and it does what it's supposed to do!

The only thing left to determine now is the length of the riser:

• If we choose 18.5cm like for the original riser the user will be able to easily plug/unplug the riser from the motherboard BUT there will be about 5mm of slack sticking out top and potentially getting caught by the shell upon insertion/extraction.
• If we choose 18cm the risk of the riser getting caught by the shell will be eliminated, as there will be no slack; however, you'd first need to insert the unmounted riser into the motherboard and then screw the riser down to the spine (2 screws), then insert the GPU.

IMO 18cm is definitely the way to go, as I feel that sacrificing 2-3 minutes of convenience and gaining a heavily reduced risk is the smart choice. I mean, how often will the average backer actually swap out their motherboard?



However, I'd really like to hear your thoughts and what you would personally choose

Agree with you alex, if we can't pull out the spine without stugg getting caught the whole function of having a pullout spine would be lost.

 

[RE4MATT3D]

Hi guys, we've finished testing the Gen4 riser now and it does what it's supposed to do!

The only thing left to determine now is the length of the riser:

• If we choose 18.5cm like for the original riser the user will be able to easily plug/unplug the riser from the motherboard BUT there will be about 5mm of slack sticking out top and potentially getting caught by the shell upon insertion/extraction.
• If we choose 18cm the risk of the riser getting caught by the shell will be eliminated, as there will be no slack; however, you'd first need to insert the unmounted riser into the motherboard and then screw the riser down to the spine (2 screws), then insert the GPU.

IMO 18cm is definitely the way to go, as I feel that sacrificing 2-3 minutes of convenience and gaining a heavily reduced risk is the smart choice. I mean, how often will the average backer actually swap out their motherboard?



However, I'd really like to hear your thoughts and what you would personally choose

So is the Gen 3 riser at risk of snagging on all current builds? Will this be resolved on round 2 (November 2020 pre-orders)?

Asking for a friend..

 

[AlexTzone]

So is the Gen 3 riser at risk of snagging on all current builds? Will this be resolved on round 2 (November 2020 pre-orders)?

Asking for a friend..

Gen3 cable is a lot more flexible and doesn’t stick out anywhere near the same way Gen4 version does. Never had problems with my Gen3 but as soon as we tested the same length Gen4 it constantly snagged the shell upon inserting/extracting.

Sidenote: considering still switching to 18cm for Batch 2/3 cases anyways. Even though we’ve not gotten more than 2 complaints about this it might still be worth it since it would be impossible (not just highly improbable) for those to snag. Sure it will sacrifice convenience when changing the motherboard but may still be worth it.

 

[Blueside]

Do you have your aio fan as intake or exhaust?

All fans as exhaust. This way fresh air comes in through the bottom, front and mainly through the GPU side. You can feel the airflow with your hand at the GPU side even if the GPU fans are not spinning. Works perfect.

 

[For_Science]

18 cm gets a vote from me. @AlexTzone

 

[riba2233]

18 cm gets a vote from me.

That's what she said

 

[jhuylebroeck]

All fans as exhaust. This way fresh air comes in through the bottom, front and mainly through the GPU side. You can feel the airflow with your hand at the GPU side even if the GPU fans are not spinning. Works perfect.

I currently did the flipped PSU layout as well, but I mounted both Noctua Fans (H60 radiator + case fan) as intake, as suggested by @AlexTzone : THOR_ZONE_MJOLNIR_THERMALS.pdf (thor-zone.com) You're certain that your temps are better now, because @AlexTzone did the testing already, I thought?

I do have to say that installing the PSU "flipped" was a bit of a b*itch, because this required routing the AiO + tubing between the PSU, which made it impossible to screw in the PSU. So I had to remove the entire AiO first.

Installing my whole build has been a bit of pain and even now, I have the impression the case is way to "stuffed" with the magnets "barely" being strong enough to withstand the force of the cables, tubes,... pushing against everything on the bottom and sides, so I would really like some shorter custom PSU cables. Everything that helps!

Also, as the PSU wiring is now at the bottom, I can't use the mesh panel there and need to use the O2 panel for some extra space.

 

[DefiCzech]

Do you think that those heatsinks (Easycargo Laptop M.2 Heatsink Kit, icepc M.2 PCI-E NVME 2280 SSD Graphene Coating Copper Heatsink) for NVME on mobo backside bring some thermal benefits (if they are fits)?

 

[uber_shnitz]

Has anyone tried using cable aggregators like the J-Hack kit for Corsair SFF PSUs? I figure it might help with cable management a bit and potentially with squeezing the AIO tubes since there would be less cables.

 

[rudy44]

Here's my complaints/compliments list:

Bigger complaints:
Shield of founders glass rattles and part of it is shattered.
There are some visible scratches on the outside of one of the performance panel.
Internal movement of the core can be felt when moving the case around.

Smaller complaints:
Inside of case scuffed a lot.
Power button rattles. (I'm not able to tighten this or don't know how to.)
Lock rattled. (I am able to tighten this.)
The rails rattled. (I am able to tighten this.)
Took me some time to eliminate front panel rattle. (Video was helpful!)
Countersunk screws don't fit noctua fans.
Screws are not magnetic.
O2 panel anodizing doesn't quite match the case.

Compliments/Suggestions:
Fantastic finish. (Perfect on the outside minus the single scuff)
Very well machined with acceptable tolerances on the panels.
O2 panel is beautiful and functional!
No issues with magnets or corners for mine.
Perfect amount of space for SFF components and cable management was quite easy. (Air cooled.)
The ease of having the fan on top is fantastic and something other similar form factor cases don't have. (I might be wrong.)
Beautiful piece but due to internal movement, probably not meant to be transported a lot.
It would be nice if cable ties were included to secure power supply cable/fan cables as they get snagged during sliding in and out.
The sliding of the core into the case could be smoother.

Photo of the O2 panel and case (slight color mismatch):

 

[DASBOOT]

I redid the original Corsair wiring with light blue transparent wiring from Moddyi. I supplied Moddyi with lengths and requested white Molexes. You can see original wiring in this thread at this link at my original post:
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...–-but-not-boring-–-9-7l-case.3500/post-249436
HERE IS THE NEW 24 PIN ATX:

8pin cpu:

24pin and 8pin over Be-quiet fan:

8 pin GPU at the card:

Wiring from the bottom of Be-Quiet: note fan frame prevents wires from dropping in:

Finally at the Powersupply the white Molex group:

 

[N9neBreak3r]

Do you think that those heatsinks (Easycargo Laptop M.2 Heatsink Kit, icepc M.2 PCI-E NVME 2280 SSD Graphene Coating Copper Heatsink) for NVME on mobo backside bring some thermal benefits (if they are fits)?

They don't fit. Put a 1mm thermal pad on your m.2 and just let it press against the spine of the core. The cutout on the motherboard tray isn't large enough to fit the heatsink, at least not with the asus x570i.