I'm going to evaluate one more shade of anodized grey with the next prototype and then decide. I don't have any update on the window.
Yeah, the change to long slots means the fans will have a larger range of adjustability.
I would lean toward pressure-optimized fans for performance since it's both pulling through some restriction (the limited space under the case + filter) and also pushing through the GPU heatsink fins. Only testing will tell for sure, though.
W360 aka Dan, has confirmed several times where will be no more V5 parts made. And the new V6 sidepanel will not be backwards compatible.
I think it's the other way around... The V6 side panel is backward compatible, but the V5 side panel is not compatible with the V6 (unless you remove a mounting pin) -- See Necre's quote below from his V6 announcement thread.
I hope you reconsider halting the V5 panels and accessories, especially since V6 panels won't be backward compatible. Had I known this change was coming I would have purchased a window kit at the very least, and possibly a whole set to have the option of a different color. I understand though if it's not possible to have that much capital held up in spare parts.
Let me be absolutely clear so there's no more confusion:
For the deshrouded gpu, are you talking intake or exhaust? 120mm fans are better if you're trying to do bottom intake as you need more static pressure to push through the bare heatsink. For bottom exhaust, it's not as clear cut. My guess is 140mm fans are a lot better for the system as a whole as they extend past most graphics cards and pull air from the interior of the entire case through the gap between the side panel and the graphics card and out the case which improves airflow circulation by a lot, but they are worse for the gpu as the gpu is sitting more towards the center of the dead zone of a 140mm fan and will get less airflow through the finstack, resulting in worse temperatures.
Thanks for clearing up my misunderstandings. I greatly look forward to the release of the V6!
We'll be ordering another prototype soon, which I should have by the beginning of next month. Once I've done a build in it and checked it over, if there are no more revisions that need to be made, I will okay it for production. At that point I will be able to post a complete list of changes.
Every version is the last version... until it isn't. That sounds like stating the obvious, but I don't "hold back" features for later versions or anything like that; every new revision has all the fixes that I could think of and implement up to that point. So V6 is the last version, until and unless there are some new changes that need to be made at some indeterminate time in the future.
I wouldn't call it a major change to airflow. Every side except the front has always had ventilation holes, and it's only possible to mount fans on three of the five sides, so having forced airflow for all possible intake and exhaust points was never an option anyway. Nothing about that is changing. What is changing is that now open cooler cards - especially larger ones that compartmentalize the bottom of the case - won't cook in their own hot exhaust. I had always intended from the beginning for the case to be all (or mostly) intake fans on the side and bottom, giving you a positive pressure setup with decent cooling and dust control.
