!nverse: A Highly Versatile Steam-Box Design

Regack

Trash Compacter
Sep 11, 2015
53
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Update 10/17/2015:

Hey everyone, a quick update from me. I have done the PCIe riser test with 5 different risers:

1) 300mm unshielded PCIe riser cable.

2) 300mm unshielded PCIe riser cable wrapped in aluminum foil.

3) 300mm unshielded PCIe riser cable wrapped in EMI shielding tape.

4) 300mm LiHead Type B PCIe riser cable.

5) 500mm 3M PCIe riser cable.

Basically, using each of these cables, I run Unigine Valley Benchmark and compare the scores attained. Here are my results:

1) System does not boot.

2) System does not boot.

3) System boots, but graphics crashes when running Unigine Valley.

4) System boots, and runs Unigine Valley Benchmark fine. Average FPS is about 89.

5) System boots, and runs Unigine Valley Benchmark fine. Average FPS is about 91.

From this test, it is clear that DIY solutions to shielding the PCIe riser cable does not work. The LiHeat cable performs slightly worse than the 3M cable, but at less than half the price. Therefore, I think the LiHeat cables are what we'll be bundling with the !nverse case. Now we need to see what kind of bulk discount we can get.

Thanks for reading!


Thanks for the testing. I wish I had found those LiHead risers before I bought my 3M one, but I went through a couple of unshielded cheaper risers and had similar experiences with failure to boot, or spontaneous crashing.
 
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iFreilicht

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Feb 28, 2015
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In addition to what I wrote on [H], I shot a mail to LiHeat and asked whether they tested 75W GPUs on their riser and what kinds of currents the wires can bare. If it turns out that this is working fine, that riser is a no-brainer. Now I'm starting to wonder about PCIe4.0 compatibility...

But yeah, from my experience, the LiHeat risers are great value. If you want the best of the best, 3M is probably the way to go, but those risers cost more than most cases on their own.
 
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esplin2966

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Mar 2, 2015
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In addition to what I wrote on [H], I shot a mail to LiHeat and asked whether they tested 75W GPUs on their riser and what kinds of currents the wires can bare. If it turns out that this is working fine, that riser is a no-brainer. Now I'm starting to wonder about PCIe4.0 compatibility...

But yeah, from my experience, the LiHeat risers are great value. If you want the best of the best, 3M is probably the way to go, but those risers cost more than most cases on their own.
Thanks for the testing. I wish I had found those LiHead risers before I bought my 3M one, but I went through a couple of unshielded cheaper risers and had similar experiences with failure to boot, or spontaneous crashing.

The LiHeat guys seemed like great people too. I called them up and they were really nice. Offered to send the the riser for free (I pay for shipping) once they heard that I was working on a case. The guy's said that his english was not great, and generally uses google translate to understand emails.

In addition to what I wrote on [H], I shot a mail to LiHeat and asked whether they tested 75W GPUs on their riser and what kinds of currents the wires can bare. If it turns out that this is working fine, that riser is a no-brainer. Now I'm starting to wonder about PCIe4.0 compatibility...

But yeah, from my experience, the LiHeat risers are great value. If you want the best of the best, 3M is probably the way to go, but those risers cost more than most cases on their own.

Yeah, the 3M ones are kinda a rip. I don't think I'm aiming for the super high end market anyway, so the LiHeat risers will more than suffice.
 

iFreilicht

FlexATX Authority
Feb 28, 2015
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The LiHeat guys seemed like great people too. I called them up and they were really nice. Offered to send the the riser for free (I pay for shipping) once they heard that I was working on a case. The guy's said that his english was not great, and generally uses google translate to understand emails.



Yeah, the 3M ones are kinda a rip. I don't think I'm aiming for the super high end market anyway, so the LiHeat risers will more than suffice.
Yeah I get that feeling aswell, the answers they send are very Chenglish, but they are really trying their best.

Well the 3M risers price is justified for the technology it uses, those micro-coaxial cables are quite amazing, but we're not building open air cases for a high-EMI environment.
 

iFreilicht

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Feb 28, 2015
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Ok I got an answer from LiHeat, they're using 28AWG wires, but only five are used for current, while 3M is using ten wires at 30AWG.

According to them, a single 28AWG wire is rated for only 0.3A of current, so 12V*0.3A*5 = 18W. They compared that to the 3M one, where one wire can carry 0.2A: 12V*0.2A*10 = 24W, that's what they say anyway.

They say it might still work, but the riser is not rated for that sort of electrical load. So right now, the only option is to get a 750Ti that does have a 6pin connector (there are a few).

They do say however (dondan also mentioned this) that they are working on a newer version of their cables which will reduce the width of the ribbon cable assembly from 82mm to 50mm and enhance the maximum rated current. The cable should also become easier to bend (maybe thinner as well?) so that's an additional plus.
 

EdZ

Virtual Realist
May 11, 2015
1,578
2,107
You might be able to solder on some thicker gauge wire for the 12V power and ground pins (A2-4 and B1-4) on the LiHeat riser, though that would be a pretty tricky soldering job and require peeling back some of the shielding on the riser cable.
 
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iFreilicht

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Feb 28, 2015
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Oh and a final update for the new LiHeat riser: Production is already scheduled, and they will announce once it's ready to be sold, but there's no specific time yet, and it might take some time, whatever that means.
They once apologised for taking one day to answer one of my mails, so it could well be ready in a week :D
 

MJVR1

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 10, 2015
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I tried looking for an answer on other forums but couldnt find one. So here it is. How easy is it to transport? Have you tried putting the prototype into a backpack/shoulder bag? The thing I like about laptops is their slimness which allows them to slip into my shoulder bag easily. If this is slim enough to fit into a backpack that would be awesome.
 

iFreilicht

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Feb 28, 2015
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It's certainly slim enough, but I think the footprint could be a bit too large.
This is a picture of the PC-Q12 in my shoulder bag, it's 365 x 208 x 88mm:



Now the !nverse is a whopping 464 x 308.5 x 72mm, which makes it slimmer, but also 16cm wider. The additional 10cm of depth shouldn't be a problem. Quite a few bags won't fit this case, but it should be about the same size as an 18" laptop and there are bags for those.

I think it should be easy to find a backpack that would be able to hold it, but from personal experience, I would not recommend a shoulder bag for this kind of rig. Mine is quite a bit smaller and already gets heavy quickly after carrying it around on just one shoulder, two are much better :)
 
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MJVR1

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 10, 2015
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It's certainly slim enough, but I think the footprint could be a bit too large.
This is a picture of the PC-Q12 in my shoulder bag, it's 365 x 208 x 88mm:



Now the !nverse is a whopping 464 x 308.5 x 72mm, which makes it slimmer, but also 16cm wider. The additional 10cm of depth shouldn't be a problem. Quite a few bags won't fit this case, but it should be about the same size as an 18" laptop and there are bags for those.

I think it should be easy to find a backpack that would be able to hold it, but from personal experience, I would not recommend a shoulder bag for this kind of rig. Mine is quite a bit smaller and already gets heavy quickly after carrying it around on just one shoulder, two are much better :)
Thanks for the help. It looks like your pc just barely fits in that shoulder bag. I'm gonna be looking for some backpacks online for 18 inch laptops. If you or anyone else knows of any that you can recommend, shoot me a pm.
 

esplin2966

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Mar 2, 2015
169
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What happened to this project? Are you still working on it?

Yeah, we're still working on it. Just been a bit quiet as we've been focusing on a lot of stuff not directly related to the case design, like getting reviewers lined up to test the case.

As for the actual progress of the case design, after we finished testing our first prototype, we updated the design and negotiated with our manufacturer for a second prototype. This second prototype requires new tooling to be made, so we're waiting for that to finish right now. Once we get the second prototype and do a quick test, we will send it off to the reviewers so you guys can get an objective look at the case.
 

Minefoxi

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 8, 2015
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Yeah, we're still working on it. Just been a bit quiet as we've been focusing on a lot of stuff not directly related to the case design, like getting reviewers lined up to test the case.

As for the actual progress of the case design, after we finished testing our first prototype, we updated the design and negotiated with our manufacturer for a second prototype. This second prototype requires new tooling to be made, so we're waiting for that to finish right now. Once we get the second prototype and do a quick test, we will send it off to the reviewers so you guys can get an objective look at the case.

Cool, thanks for this update, now I (and some other people interested in this project) know what's going on again ;)
 
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esplin2966

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Original poster
Mar 2, 2015
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Cool, thanks for this update, now I (and some other people interested in this project) know what's going on again ;)

Sorry for the lack of updates! On the one hand, I didn't really want to clutter the project thread with too much info that is only partially related, but I definitely want to keep you guys in the loop. I will make sure to update more from now on.
 
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Stevo_

Master of Cramming
Jul 2, 2015
449
304
Ok I got an answer from LiHeat, they're using 28AWG wires, but only five are used for current, while 3M is using ten wires at 30AWG.

According to them, a single 28AWG wire is rated for only 0.3A of current, so 12V*0.3A*5 = 18W. They compared that to the 3M one, where one wire can carry 0.2A: 12V*0.2A*10 = 24W, that's what they say anyway.

They say it might still work, but the riser is not rated for that sort of electrical load. So right now, the only option is to get a 750Ti that does have a 6pin connector (there are a few).

They do say however (dondan also mentioned this) that they are working on a newer version of their cables which will reduce the width of the ribbon cable assembly from 82mm to 50mm and enhance the maximum rated current. The cable should also become easier to bend (maybe thinner as well?) so that's an additional plus.

I think the LiHeat guys are using the wrong part of the spec for the 28 AWG wire load, appears to be the power transmission load number which is for long distance taking into account IR drops etc. The chassis wiring number which would be the correct number is 1.4A. In reality 28 AWG could easily take more than that safely.
 
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Chris Howell

Trash Compacter
Diesel Engine
Jan 17, 2016
44
122
Firstly, great work onto the project. I definitely commend the effort to fit all of the components in that you have done! Your early prototypes look pretty cool. If anything I'd say explore some more designs for the case ventilation. A different design could be cheaper, provide better airflow and/or make the case really stand out with some kind of clearly identifiable logo or shape. (e.g. I'll be using large diamond holes (3cm) with a much thinner fine aluminium mesh underneath). There are plenty of options.

You might also consider post processing like laser etching a design into the paint.

Finally, I also messaged Li-Heat on facebook and they mentioned that new stock wouldn't be available until after the Chinese new year, when it starts to be manufactured. They were pretty vague but I hope it'll available soon