Production Nouvolo Steck - SFF 8.7-11.2L ITX PC Case, supports liquid cooling

[macbosco]

Some updates:
- Promo video shooting, estimated to be ready before Xmas 2018,
- website + intro video launch Dec 2018
- contact reviewers Dec/Jan 2019 (planned)
- reviews Jan 2019 (planned)
- Kickstarter Jan/Feb 2019

Special thanks to Bruce and David @TonicMedia

 

[Quicksandman]

Ok I want this... but I can just see that the quality is a bit lower. The corners don’t fit or lined up well. The fit and finish is just lacking. Which is fine for a $99 case. I’m not sure what the price point is for this but I’d but really shocked if they charged as much as my Phanteks Enthoo Evolv full size tower with glass panel, which has great build and finish. Something this small and made of stamped metal should be fairly cheap.

 

[Longbow072]

Well, there is a big difference between a case manufacturer who is producing thousands of cases and has a in house production line that is designed to reduce cost, both by efficiency, quantity, and has other products to appeal to a wider market to capture more market share and offset the costs of their flagship or as in the case of SFF cases, niche cases. There is a reason that these small companies end up charging more, specifically because they aren't producing near the same volume with greater cost per unit then the big case makers.

 

[Quicksandman]

Well, there is a big difference between a case manufacturer who is producing thousands of cases and has a in house production line that is designed to reduce cost, both by efficiency, quantity, and has other products to appeal to a wider market to capture more market share and offset the costs of their flagship or as in the case of SFF cases, niche cases. There is a reason that these small companies end up charging more, specifically because they aren't producing near the same volume with greater cost per unit then the big case makers.

Yes, understood. I’m just comparing similar cases, such as the Dan and Louqe cases that of better quality materials and fit. Like I said I don’t know what this case is projected to cost. But I’d hope it would cost less than a Dan or Louqe.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Add 2-3cm to the 24pin cable to be safer

I added 2 cm and it wasn't enough. I measured it, and it actually needs 6 cm more on top of it. I will be putting the order in tomorrow with expedited option.

By the way, it's alive! It still needs a logo and some other fancy features and eye candy tacked on. But I am glad to say I got all the minor internal bugs (mainly internal proxying between Nginx and Apache, URL rewriting, and wildcard SSL on Virtualmin) ironed out. So hop on! It is production-grade and all ready for a continual stream of lively, chattery, rambunctious traffic. I will also be breathing life into the accompanying WordPress-based main site so that will be lit up and launched sometime in the next day or so, too. I have a list of wants including a benchmark database and a product listing. I will be evaluating those and determining the best course of action for the best result possible.

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

I added 2 cm and it wasn't enough. I measured it, and it actually needs 6 cm more on top of it. I will be putting the order in tomorrow with expedited option.

By the way, it's alive! It still needs a logo and some other fancy features and eye candy tacked on. But I am glad to say I got all the minor internal bugs (mainly internal proxying between Nginx and Apache, URL rewriting, and wildcard SSL on Virtualmin) ironed out. So hop on! It is production-grade and all ready for a continual stream of lively, chattery, rambunctious traffic. I will also be breathing life into the accompanying WordPress-based main site so that will be lit up and launched sometime in the next day or so, too. I have a list of wants including a benchmark database and a product listing. I will be evaluating those and determining the best course of action for the best result possible.

I attempted to sign up, but the confirmation email never came (attempted resend feature too). Maybe something is still amiss.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

I attempted to sign up, but the confirmation email never came (attempted resend feature too). Maybe something is still amiss.

Hmm... Let’s step through this. Did you check your Spam folder? I just made a dummy account and received the email in mere seconds on Yahoo!. Gmail, in particular, (even with DKIM and encryption in place from my mail server’s end) can be overly protective of spam and sends most sign-ups to Spam. So I’d check there first.

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

Hmm... Let’s step through this. Did you check your Spam folder? I just made a dummy account and received the email in mere seconds on Yahoo!. Gmail, in particular, (even with DKIM and encryption on place from my mail server’s end) can be overly protective of spam and sends most sign-ups to Spam. So I’d check there first.

Yep, first thing I did was check junk and trash folders. I'll try a different email and let you know if that worked.

I found a work-around. Even though I didn't get the emails, I attempted to login with an email message and that one went through to junk. So It seems to work now.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Yep, first thing I did was check junk and trash folders. I'll try a different email and let you know if that worked.

I found a work-around. Even though I didn't get the emails, I attempted to login with an email message and that one went through to junk. So It seems to work now.

Thanks for all your help! A possibility is the email graylisting setting I have in place may have immediately rejected email. In my testing, all major email services (Gmail and Yahoo!) have worked fine for sign-ups. The thing is, though, if an email is with a mail service with an improperly configured mail server, it will be immediately rejected as spam. I think I will disable that and just use Spam Assassin and hopefully that will smooth things over for the rest of users.

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

Thanks for all your help! A possibility is the email graylisting setting I have in place may have immediately rejected email. In my testing, all major email services (Gmail and Yahoo!) have worked fine for sign-ups. The thing is, though, if an email is with a mail service with an improperly configured mail server, it will be immediately rejected as spam. I think I will disable that and just use Spam Assassin and hopefully that will smooth things working for the rest of users.

This was with gmail and a university email with a gmail extension, which was part of the reason I thought it was so odd. Your new solution sounds like a good one for less common email services though.

 

[Longbow072]

Oh, I forgot to add this one small critique.

In the future, please make the "Warning: Tempered Glass" stickers easy peel with no residue. The Pre-Production ones are hellish to get off the glass and with no Goo-be-gone in sight tell I get back to to the US I had to get creative (still some residue imprints on it I can't get off).

Anyone done any planning on how to fit a custom loop in this case?

 

[macbosco]

Oh, I forgot to add this one small critique.

In the future, please make the "Warning: Tempered Glass" stickers easy peel with no residue...

Yeah about 70% of the ones sent out so far had the sticker on the glass... I found out during packing process. Already told them to stick it on the protective sheet instead... Didn't expect them to do more work to peel off the sheet and then to put the sticker on...
It tells you how you need to tend to details... Sometimes workers have no common sense...

It's no surprise to me that the testing batch so far suffer relatively less hiccups compare with others. I personally oversee work on 7-8 separate suppliers. Will just run into problems if just send out the spec and rely on an agent or assembly factory to iron out problems for you, coz they just won't. Spec means nothing to others apart from the creator... many people just don't care...

 

[zzmadd]

Ok I want this... but I can just see that the quality is a bit lower. The corners don’t fit or lined up well. The fit and finish is just lacking. Which is fine for a $99 case. I’m not sure what the price point is for this but I’d but really shocked if they charged as much as my Phanteks Enthoo Evolv full size tower with glass panel, which has great build and finish. Something this small and made of stamped metal should be fairly cheap.

There's no single manufacturer or big brand that actually makes any SFF attractive case. None of those vendors do aluminum milled cases. They do bend metal cases. A plastic Node 202 cost Eu 85 circa.

 

[Aki]

*small* banana for scale

Here is my small review, I've already did a small one, but that was more for bosco and for improving the next production run. This one will be more about my personal experience and thoughts on the case.

First my System:

Case configuration: With tophat and two noctua l12x25 spaced away from the top about additional 12mm.
CPU: 2700x
MB: Asus x470i
CPU cooler: Noctua l12s with the fan pulling air into the case
GPU: GTX 1070 mini from zotac with two noctua a9x14
Storage: three 2.5'' SSD's and a M.2
PSU: Corsair sf450 (with self made custom cables, but I'm not really happy how it turned out, so no pictures yet. Not that I currently have time anyway )

Packaging(not retail):
I was really impressed in the packaging when I opened the package, I know it's not final, but it still gave me the impression that it was a product the creator really cared for.

Assembly:
Building in the case was a breeze (except for a few problems that are fixed with the retail product). Since you assemble the case during the installation of the component, you can do most of the cable management without fighting with the case. Changing components can bit a bit of a hassle, but it's not much worse than other sff cases. The assembled case felt sturdy and had a quality feel to it.

Performance:
Cooling is ok. I would really have liked to see more perforation, but it is what it is. My 2700x is running @ 4.0Ghz with ~1.25v. This results in around 50-70w (according to HWiNFO) of power consumption during most games (light and heavy titles alike) I play and 150w when hammering it with prime95 AVX. The normal loads can be cooled very easily with around 800-1000 RPM on all fans in the case, which to me is quiet enough for me taste (could be quieter though, I'm picky). The GPU is running a lot better than in my old case (Dr. Zaber Sentry) and that's thanks too the top fans helping to pull air away. IMO for constantly silent computing you should stick around a 65w CPU and a 120-150w GPU with a large cooler. If you don't mind a bit of noise (~1500-1800 RPM), around 100-120w on the CPU and 175-225w on the GPU shouldn't be a problem, but I would consider using the tophat with fans and installing a fan in the bottom to help circulating air. You could most likely do even more with water cooling, but since I've not tried any, I can't comment more on that.

Looks:
I like it. Looks elegant and good.

Conclusion:
If you are looking for a small and good looking case, but don't want to sacrifice to much (or not at all, *cough* water cooling *cough*) on CPU and GPU cooling, this might be just for you. And since it looks like that this case is going for under 200 USD, it's also a great deal (at least for SFF cases).

 

[dumplinknet]

*small* banana for scale

Here is my small review, I've already did a small one, but that was more for bosco and for improving the next production run. This one will be more about my personal experience and thoughts on the case.

First my System:

Case configuration: With tophat and two noctua l12x25 spaced away from the top about additional 12mm.
CPU: 2700x
MB: Asus x470i
CPU cooler: Noctua l12s with the fan pulling air into the case
GPU: GTX 1070 mini from zotac with two noctua a9x14
Storage: three 2.5'' SSD's and a M.2
PSU: Corsair sf450 (with self made custom cables, but I'm not really happy how it turned out, so no pictures yet. Not that I currently have time anyway )

Packaging(not retail):
I was really impressed in the packaging when I opened the package, I know it's not final, but it still gave me the impression that it was a product the creator really cared for.

Assembly:
Building in the case was a breeze (except for a few problems that are fixed with the retail product). Since you assemble the case during the installation of the component, you can do most of the cable management without fighting with the case. Changing components can bit a bit of a hassle, but it's not much worse than other sff cases. The assembled case felt sturdy and had a quality feel to it.

Performance:
Cooling is ok. I would really have liked to see more perforation, but it is what it is. My 2700x is running @ 4.0Ghz with ~1.25v. This results in around 50-70w (according to HWiNFO) of power consumption during most games (light and heavy titles alike) I play and 150w when hammering it with prime95 AVX. The normal loads can be cooled very easily with around 800-1000 RPM on all fans in the case, which to me is quiet enough for me taste (could be quieter though, I'm picky). The GPU is running a lot better than in my old case (Dr. Zaber Sentry) and that's thanks too the top fans helping to pull air away. IMO for constantly silent computing you should stick around a 65w CPU and a 120-150w GPU with a large cooler. If you don't mind a bit of noise (~1500-1800 RPM), around 100-120w on the CPU and 175-225w on the GPU shouldn't be a problem, but I would consider using the tophat with fans and installing a fan in the bottom to help circulating air. You could most likely do even more with water cooling, but since I've not tried any, I can't comment more on that.

Looks:
I like it. Looks elegant and good.

Conclusion:
If you are looking for a small and good looking case, but don't want to sacrifice to much (or not at all, *cough* water cooling *cough*) on CPU and GPU cooling, this might be just for you. And since it looks like that this case is going for under 200 USD, it's also a great deal (at least for SFF cases).

That pink is quite gorgeous. And I don't like pink myself. At least not the Victoria secret pink. This pink reminds me of the Google Pixel 3 "not pink" color.
What a bold color to be sporting.
I dig it.

 

[macbosco]

Some give away in my experimentation. A taste of what to expect in Nouvolo's new product. . Those who figured out what this could mean, I welcome your feedback . But I may not comment further, not wanting to give too much away, not sure if this will eventually work or not, or will be implemented.

 

[Longbow072]

Update- So to preface I'm running a very dust filled FE 1080. Its running a bit warmer then it used to but I don't have the allen keys were I'm at to take it apart. Thats a projected for when I get home to l clean it all out and reapply thermal paste.

Anyway, I decided to experiment like I said I would and put the mesh panel on one side with the GFX card since its a blower design. I was seeing 75C at about 80 percent usage while playing PUBG for several hours so I let it get nice and warm inside the case with the glass panel. With the mesh panel on the GFX card side and glass on the CPU and top hat with radiator installed I'm seeing higher temps on the CPU by a few degree's (50C average at 40 percent usage, PUBG seems to be heavy on RAM and GFX) and about 70 degree's average on the GFX card side. So my initial hypthothesis with this configuration was correct. I have no overclock on the card with a conservative 4.5 Ghz OC on the 8700K.

Will repost performance when I clean out the card. Ambient temp in room is 24C.

 

[chyll2]

@macbosco
do you have plans to release a stack unit that can house standard 120mm fans? Will that be included in the kickstarter?

 

[macbosco]

@macbosco
do you have plans to release a stack unit that can house standard 120mm fans? Will that be included in the kickstarter?

I may release another case that can fit fans, but may not have the stack unit, nothing is confirmed at this moment, wait till after KS.

Was in China for a few days, and I checked about 100 boxes... out of 500+... Found 3-4 defects, now trained the workers where to look for inspection. Need them to work the rest for me...

Some updates, basically ready to ship, waiting for:

1. promo video - 1wk from now
   
2. launch website - 2wk from now
   
3. contact reviewers - 2wk from now
4. reviews if successful, launch KS - end of Jan / beginning of Feb
5. sell direct on website Feb/Mar

 

[Chinaman]

Merry Christmas everyone