And every reference card I have seen is a blower design, which seems like it would work best with this chassis, getting that hot air right out the back of the chassis rather than flooding the interior like an open air style GPU might do...?
And every reference card I have seen is a blower design, which seems like it would work best with this chassis, getting that hot air right out the back of the chassis rather than flooding the interior like an open air style GPU might do...?
Right, plus the fact that there isn't much room between the GPU and the motherboard, but there's more clearance up in front next to the PSU, right where the intake on a blower card is.
I love the look of this new design @Necere. You're not concerned about the Flex-ATX and fan noise?
Knowing that you've gone through a few different concepts (all of them pretty cool), what exactly are you aiming to achieve with Project Sidearm? Perhaps defining that and working backwards is a good way to lock down a concept you feel like following through with.
Knowing that you've gone through a few different concepts (all of them pretty cool), what exactly are you aiming to achieve with Project Sidearm? Perhaps defining that and working backwards is a good way to lock down a concept you feel like following through with.
Thanks for your further thoughts @Necere, I have seen comments about fan to case spacing and would forgo the C7 for quietness, and hop on the Noctua train if necessary (take a breath, and dive into the coffee ' cream action!).
I was thinking about a 'shorty' ITX length GTX 970, but would be open to a blower model if it makes more sense. I have to say that the EVGA GTX 600 with a blower cooler that I am currently running has been fine, and any noise is fine as it happens when I'm gaming with headphones.
Although it's not been heavily stressed, the Flex ATX(?) PSU in my old Shuttle has been quiet, I can see the prejudice against 40mm fans in general, but this has been fine.
Onwards and upwards with Sidearm, preferably with a handle please!
I could imagine a great LAN Night Messenger bag with the Sidearm in it, TKL Keyboard in front, and the mouse & headphones stowed alongside...Bring it on!
I was thinking about a 'shorty' ITX length GTX 970, but would be open to a blower model if it makes more sense. I have to say that the EVGA GTX 600 with a blower cooler that I am currently running has been fine, and any noise is fine as it happens when I'm gaming with headphones.
Although it's not been heavily stressed, the Flex ATX(?) PSU in my old Shuttle has been quiet, I can see the prejudice against 40mm fans in general, but this has been fine.
Onwards and upwards with Sidearm, preferably with a handle please!
I could imagine a great LAN Night Messenger bag with the Sidearm in it, TKL Keyboard in front, and the mouse & headphones stowed alongside...Bring it on!
I'm not sure how a Flex-ATX PSU will sound near full load. I've owned one from Seasonic before that is 250W but didn't use it much with a dedicated GPU. The 92mm fans at the bottom may alleviate the heat from the PSU though, so it will sound quieter.
I had a thought- if a mini ITX length GPU could fit and it wouldn't get too hot, you'd have so much room left in front that you could use a SFX or SFX-L power supply. Any idea how non-blower cards will fare in that setup? The top of the case is vented, so it can push out most of the exhaust air on that side.
I had a thought- if a mini ITX length GPU could fit and it wouldn't get too hot, you'd have so much room left in front that you could use a SFX or SFX-L power supply. Any idea how non-blower cards will fare in that setup? The top of the case is vented, so it can push out most of the exhaust air on that side.
My bad, no comment...
Clever idea!
Thx for the explanations.
Is such an
EDIT: I really need to read and type more carefully... I meant Flex ATX PSU with temperature-controlled fan
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Looking at the design, I would suggest that an SFX PSU would not fit, even with an ITX card in place.
As mentioned, I am looking out for a 'shorty' or 'blower' GTX 970 (preferably EVGA), but the ASUS GTX 970 Direct CU Mini would work really well as a 'shorty' card as it's more blower cooled than the Zotac and KFA2/Galax GTX 970 OC models which have twin fans which will blow into the case.
My bad, no comment...
Necere said: ↑
With a temperature-controlled fan and suitable fan profile
Is such an SFX PSU already available?
As far as I know, the Corsair SF450 and SF600 are fanless at lower temperatures (<60°C or thereabouts IIRC), so should fit the bill there.
I guess that @Necere has specified a Flex ATX in this situation as an SFX won't be suitable in terms of space saving. He's talked about using Flex ATX in particular earlier in the thread and when the project went on hold in May(ish), there was a thought that the were waiting for developments in Flex ATX PSUs to make sure something suitable to power the Sidearm would be available before proceeding.
Based on my testing of a 400W FSP unit, I'm pretty comfortable with the fan noise. That particular unit had a coil whine issue under load, though, which was far more annoying than the fan was.
Highly portable performance gaming/light workstation PC, in a nutshell. Plus the requirements that are common to all my designs these days: standard parts support, good system airflow, dust filters and positive pressure. And good looking, naturally.
BTW, your latest prototype is looking very good. I'm seriously jealous of the fit and finish on it and the clean window design. Nice work.
The design as it is now likely wouldn't work that well with a short card, due to the limited space between the GPU and the back of the motherboard (9~10mm), so a blower card is probably the ideal.
Here's some trivia for you: those Shuttles use a proprietary PSU form factor that's around 10mm thicker than flex/1U, and uses a 50mm fan instead of 40mm.
The case currently isn't deep or wide enough to support an SFX PSU in the front. See my comment above on short GPUs.
I don't believe there are any currently, at least not at the required size and wattage. I know there are a few new units in the pipe due for release this or next year, although I don't recall if we have any confirmation on the fan control as yet.
@Necere, thanks for the detailed reply; I didn't know that the Shuttle PSUs were proprietary.
Coil whine doesn't make for a happy setup, I hope that a better Flex ATX PSU is available for the Sidearm as & when
I would be happy with a GTX 970 with the right blower cooler, the GTX 660 I have has been fine, especially with headphones on for gaming. Annoyingly, I just missed an EVGA GTX 970 blower, but I'm sure that there are others out there (the vast majority are, understandably, ACX cooler models).
I forgot to say that I did really like the silver case with black end plates colour scheme, it looked very smart & understated. I see that @Lone offered the opposite colour scheme on his latest L4 batch, which looks really good too...
Happy developng! You have a lot on your plate, with 3 potential designs on the go.
BTW I have historically not liked big ATX cases - last one I had was 10 years ago (Antec 300), but something like your proposed 24L compact would have swayed my opinion strongly, as it really is small and efficient.
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