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

[Brude27]

I'm normally all about symmetry, but I think I actually prefer V2.1 over the other designs! I think they both look great, and compliment the front grill design well, but there's something super sexy about V2.1 to me.

With that said, I still don't think the airflow is going to work very well in the default layout unless you get more space for airflow under the case.

 

[scatterforce]

Sorry, but two fails you got there...

How is it that the main intake is the bottom? Both the GPU and CPU fans will want to draw air from the sides. Your assertion is true only for the optional liquid AIO cooler and that is only for the CPU...

How is that the main exhaust is the front? There is absolutely no air path towards the front. On the contrary, front is likely to have inflow of air (particularly true for glass panels) for the PSU and the optional liquid AIO cooler. The main exhaust will be the top, without a doubt.

All true. Perhaps I should have phrased it differently.

The least restrictive intake will be the bottom of the case where you have active intake, while the least restrictive exhaust will be the front with large, unobstructed gaps. Bottom line, no matter your set up, most of the air will be pulled from the bottom of the case while most of the air will exhaust through the front as these are the paths of least resistance. You don't need direct airflow if you are running a case with positive pressure.

Now, if you flip your case and have the fans on top as exhaust, that's a different story. I imagine this will be better for cooling on air or liquid, but you will have a lot more dust.

 

[For_Science]

All true. Perhaps I should have phrased it differently.

The least restrictive intake will be the bottom of the case where you have active intake, while the least restrictive exhaust will be the front with large, unobstructed gaps. Bottom line, no matter your set up, most of the air will be pulled from the bottom of the case while most of the air will exhaust through the front as these are the paths of least resistance. You don't need direct airflow if you are running a case with positive pressure.

Now, if you flip your case and have the fans on top as exhaust, that's a different story. I imagine this will be better for cooling on air or liquid, but you will have a lot more dust.

Although with the case only milimeters away from the table, I question how much intake you can really get with a typcial pc fan on non-obstrusively loud rpms. And so there may not be any relevant airflow in the standard configuration.

And even still i think the psu and gpu will still intake from the side panels since they are so close.

Inverted layout is the true form of this chassis in my opinion and the case is designed for easy cleaning of the internals

 

[AlexTzone]

What about making all four panels (top, bottom, sides) using the current mesh panel design that you have for the bottom? At least as an option for those who want maximum airflow? You showed a picture with the mesh on top....could you do a render with the mesh on all four sides?

We actually tried it before but it looks pretty wierd, I'll see if I can get a rendering of it

I prefer v2.2 as well looks much cleaner. Anyhow, a layout similar to the DSE Breathe would be even better imho

We actually tried a similar design to that mesh, check it out in the below update

You can't do the new pattern but with the original hole size/width ? Looks more refined with smaller holes if it's doable.

Bigger holes didn't look to good unfortunately, it also reminds me of Jason's Hockey mask (and cheese)

Needs 1 or 2 more lines of vent holes. Maximize air

We tried that, but it looked a bit to "complex". Want to keep MJOLNIR as simplistic as possible

@AlexTzone

I have no preference over v2.1 or 2.2, so I will give my vote to 2.1 to keep Alex happy . I will say that I like the vent design much more than v1 so great job.

My only suggestion would be is to expand the vents to at least up to where v1 was and preferably more. I feel there is space for at least one more row on each side of the panels to vent the area further.

And the elephant in the room is would you consider doing the same pattern on the tempered glass panels?

Thanks a lot man, haha We tried one more vertical row, but it didn't look even until we added one more horisontal row, then we lost quite a lot of the "simplistic" feeling of MJOLNIR.

Why change?

I prefer the original.

We needed to improve airflow, the original design had very restrictive 13% open area

I think V2.1 looks better than V1.
Wonder if the RGB glow would be visible from these bigger side panel vents & how that would look?

Sure thing, check it out below!

I'm normally all about symmetry, but I think I actually prefer V2.1 over the other designs! I think they both look great, and compliment the front grill design well, but there's something super sexy about V2.1 to me.

With that said, I still don't think the airflow is going to work very well in the default layout unless you get more space for airflow under the case.

I'm on the same page as you when it comes to V2.1 Usually nothing is more satisfying than complete symmetry, but this time there is something quite interesting with the asymmetry of V2.1!

 

[killerdan56]

Make it complex, its okay. We wont hate you. Not like your making it Apple complex.

 

[AlexTzone]

Heey guys! Here are some additional side panel concepts, hopefully we can agree on the final design today

V2.2
This was your favorite design after the last update. Let's see if you still think that after reviewing V2.3 and V2.4

V2.3 [NEW]

It's almost identical to V2.2, but we removed the short slots to keep the design more simplistic. V2.3 also has a bit larger open area compared to V2.2 (35% vs 33%), this should translate to slightly better thermal performance when using air coolers.

V2.4
This is basically an asymmetrical version of V2.3.

Side comparison

Top comparison

RGB comparison

Let me know what you think

I must rest my brain a bit, been staring at different side panel cutouts for more than a week now We're also reworking the glass panels (making them tougher / more resistant to impact) after some initial stress tests, but more on that soon.

Best,
Alex

 

[rfarmer]

2.3, I like the increased airflow and symmetrical design.

 

[For_Science]

@AlexTzone
I also vote v2.3, increased airflow and also I like how the small holes acts as border accents.

 

[Shinken1]

V2.4 for me. I think it looks really slick and doesn't mess with my eyes like V2.2.
The small holes on V2.3 to me looks a bit strange

 

[Supercluster]

Here's another vote for the 2.4.
It is a more organic design. As @Shinken1 had noted, it is much less taxing on the brain.


(though I would also vote for two additional rows for more like 40+% open area).

 

[Necere]

(though I would also vote for two additional rows for more like 40+% open area).

Just a correction here: open area assumes that the sheet is uniformly perforated, and the % is calculated by knowing the size, shape, and spacing of the holes in the sheet (see this calculator, for example). The open area % doesn't change regardless of whether it's a 1x1" or 100x100" area that's perforated.

While it's true that perforating more of the sheet will let more air through overall, that's not the same as the open area % we're talking about when discussing hole patterns. Additionally, what we're most concerned about in a case like this is how restrictive the holes directly in front of the fans are, since that's what will most directly impact airflow and therefore performance, and that's where improving open area % matters. Adding a few rows to the edges won't do much good if there's no fan to pull/push air through them. At best, they might help a little with passive exhaust.

 

[dlal1520]

im a fan of both designs and the overall reworks, but i think 2.3 is slightly more appealing with increased airflow.

 

[scatterforce]

2.3

I liked 2.1 best originally, but I'm digging the looks of 2.3 right now.

 

[Brude27]

Well... V2.1 was and still is my favorite out of the 4 iterations, but if it's no longer an option... I think V2.2 gets my vote.

V2.4's asymmetrical pattern is too exaggerated to compliment the design in my opinion, and where V2.3 very nicely compliments the front panel design... V2.2 does it better... again... just my opinion.

@AlexTzone A poll between here and the SFF subreddit could be fun!

 

[Ghost_Pack]

Both 2.3 and 2.4 are way better than 2.1 or 2.2 in my opinion. The alternating big/small slots looked really ugly to me.

 

[Supercluster]

...open area assumes that the sheet is uniformly perforated...

I understand what it means when related to the vent area only. I was not referencing that. My understanding was that the perforated area was a percentage of the insert, not the vent area. For me it is not a default assumption either way.

...see this calculator...

Answered above.

While it's true that perforating more of the sheet will let more air through overall, that's not the same as the open area % we're talking about when discussing hole patterns. Additionally, what we're most concerned about in a case like this is how restrictive the holes directly in front of the fans are, since that's what will most directly impact airflow and therefore performance, and that's where improving open area % matters. Adding a few rows to the edges won't do much good if there's no fan to pull/push air through them. At best, they might help a little with passive exhaust.

Mostly yes, however: Is it that far from the fan area if extended only in planar size and not in density?

 

[AlexTzone]

Well... V2.1 was and still is my favorite out of the 4 iterations, but if it's no longer an option... I think V2.2 gets my vote.

V2.4's asymmetrical pattern is too exaggerated to compliment the design in my opinion, and where V2.3 very nicely compliments the front panel design... V2.2 does it better... again... just my opinion.

@AlexTzone A poll between here and the SFF subreddit could be fun!

Good idea! I'll create a Strawpoll so that you guys can cast a vote

 

[NIIV3X]

It is quite fun to have an impact on the final product by voting on surveys etc. if I may mention that out of the context!
The more options I get the harder it becomes for me to decide in this case (pun-pun lol).
Interesting to mention as well that in the beginning I was utterly against a change of the layout of the dots, but now offering even more designs you start to see benefits and those RGB renders help a ton too! My personal favourite so far is the V2.3 as it keeps the harmony of the rectangular shapes and I appreciate the larger holes also. I would need to be a perfectionist though and beg you to flip the top layout around so that we have the dots first on both side and top panel <3 @AlexTzone
V2.2 as Shinken1 pointed out is quite tiring to look at and V2.4 is too 'organic' considering how delightfully clean the symmetry of the front is shaped! I am curious to see how this poll turns out and I would like to thank you and your team for your effort in creating the Mjolnir, it's friggin sick! Makes me eager more and more to save up for this bad boy, although few other worthy candidates are being developed simultaniously and make it really hard to choose!!

 

[AlexTzone]

Hey guys!

We've now arrived at 2 final panel designs; INDUSTRIAL and ORGANIC. You cast your vote in a poll further down This poll will decide the outcome and finalize the aluminium panel design.

VOTE HERE

INDUSTRIAL [Formerly known as V2.3]

ORGANIC

VOTE HERE

Best,
Alex

 

[Supercluster]

@AlexTzone

I've pondered whether to suggest to make the pattern symmetrical. I like how you knew that already .