Prototype MT5: 5.4L Expandable case for mini GPUs
- Thread starter CC Ricers
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First of all, really nice work!!
I think the wider version is more popular because of the lack of low profile coolers for 39mm, i have only found a few.
Have you though abot placing the 2.5" drive in the front of the case, and then have space enough for a fan in the bottom?
I think the wider version is more popular because of the lack of low profile coolers for 39mm, i have only found a few.
Have you though abot placing the 2.5" drive in the front of the case, and then have space enough for a fan in the bottom?
Thanks! And yeah, for 39mm and below there's not many noteworthy coolers aside from the Noctua NH-L9i/a and others rarely come close to it.
I've considered placing bottom case fans before, but I will have to raise the height by at least 2mm, just to fit some 10mm thin fans. There are a few 80mm x 10mm fans that would work here.
If you are able to fit a flex, that would be awesome, i have seen some with 500 watts. Do you have a test sketch for something like this?
But with a flex atx psu, a 1070 and a i5 8400 (my setup). I could be worried for rhe temps if there are no fan to circulate the air across.
As far as I know FSP makes a 500W Flex ATX PSU, and there's also the modded one from Geeek that you can buy separately. There might be some others but I haven't known about them yet.
I only have made a mockup with the Flex PSU placed in the front of the case, but that is a more difficult design to achieve in this small of a case. A better layout will be placing it horizontally, below the motherboard, with the power outlet of the PSU directly facing out the back. That'll make the case taller, instead of longer. The case is already elevated some 10mm with its built-in feet for possible ventilation area, so the vents of the PSU will face the bottom in order to take in fresh air.
The CPU and GPU will need intake air from the side panels, and ideally exhaust most of the warm air out the top. The flexible riser does obscure some of the CPU side so I'm curious to see how temperatures will be when testing loads with side panels installed.
Well, it's been about a week since I opened the poll and it looks like the wider version will win for size preference. It's winning over the narrow option 10 votes to 4. This is some good feedback. I will say that this was an option that I would consider if there's enough demand there.
I considered the narrow case to be the "default" option, but now with more confidence I can add the wider case as an alternative for people that want to put taller coolers in it.
I considered the narrow case to be the "default" option, but now with more confidence I can add the wider case as an alternative for people that want to put taller coolers in it.
Im not shure how tall the cryorig c7 is, but as i have have seen that is the go to air cooler for most youtubers. If it is possible to fit that youre on pretty solid ground.
Edit 47mm.
I've managed to get my test build up and running in the case, but only without the GPU powered on. Got wifi working, even with no antenna attached to the card! (the motherboard was used and missing some accessories) This is enough, though for the HD-PLEX and 150W power brick that I have. It's not a plug-in unit so the cabling's a mess! I am going to buy a KMPKT Dynamo Mini soon to replace it.
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Things are still going along fine with my test build, haven't bought the Dynamo Mini yet but when I do I want to take some new photos to showcase it as a demo build for the case.
I plan to sell this case currently under two SKUs- a narrower version with a 39mm cooler height limit, and a wider version for up to 48mm tall coolers.
Notable coolers for the narrow version:
I plan to sell this case currently under two SKUs- a narrower version with a 39mm cooler height limit, and a wider version for up to 48mm tall coolers.
Notable coolers for the narrow version:
- Zalman CNPS2X
- Noctua NH-L9i/a
- Scythe Jitte Plus
- Thermolab ITX30
- Reeven Vanxie
- Cryorig C7/cu
- AMD Wraith Stealth
- Alpenföhn Black Ridge
- Alpenföhn Silvretta
Hey @CC Ricers , are you still considering supporting the HDPlex 400w DC-ATX unit in this case? Since you've only been mentioning Dynamo and Meanwell in your latest posts.
The HD-PLEX is a tricky one to do with this case- with measurements done a couple of times I could only fit a max of 36mm width for components underneath the graphics card, the largest empty space. So that means neither 160W or 400W AC-DC could fit as-is. Reason for this is that the riser cable occupies some of the width. Only the DC-DC 400W and Dynamo 360 would fit.
But I'm getting some ideas if I could squeeze it underneath with a slightly taller case, and/or the riser cable had a 90 degree end on the GPU instead of a straight end.
Lengthwise it'll be a tight squeeze but there will be a few mm left. I figure using a C8 connection would be more suitable for this kind of case.
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I did some measurements with my case and with the way the GPU is currently positioned, I would have to increase the height by 20mm to get the HD-PLEX 400w AC-DC. however I think I'm confused now. @robbee are you referring to the DC-ATX and not the internal AC power brick? If it's just the DC part, that can actually be doable to fit inside with just minor tweaks to the design.
Hehe, I was indeed referring to the latter, the DC-DC unit. I saw you mention it a couple of pages back and wondered if you dropped the idea of supporting it. Mounting it vertical beneath the gpu might be possible with the current dimensions?
Yeah, mounting beneath the GPU would be the best location. I have the dimensions of the DC-DC unit but I have to be also certain that the hole mounting locations are correct. Also, because there have been several versions of the 400w DC unit and I only have one 3D model as a reference. It's one of the 2-heatsink versions and I believe the latest version uses 1 larger heatsink.
Currently I'm exploring options for other materials besides Onyx for printing. Onyx is the strongest but also more expensive, plus only available in black. ABS plastic is the only suitable alternative I can think of. It's less flexible but it still has good strength and temperature resistance.
Pricing is not set in stone, but looking to get a feeler to see if $125 is a good price for an Onyx case that includes a PCIe riser. Size wise this is smaller than even the Geeek A30 but I figure some people would like the extra portability of the case, plus I consider it less fragile to transport than Geeek. I'm trying to gauge a good production run (there do exist some discounts for printing in bulk now) but I am not sure yet the ballpark of how many units I would sell.
Pricing is not set in stone, but looking to get a feeler to see if $125 is a good price for an Onyx case that includes a PCIe riser. Size wise this is smaller than even the Geeek A30 but I figure some people would like the extra portability of the case, plus I consider it less fragile to transport than Geeek. I'm trying to gauge a good production run (there do exist some discounts for printing in bulk now) but I am not sure yet the ballpark of how many units I would sell.
Is 175mm the max length GPU it can fit? I'm looking at something that is 178mm in length and this would be perfect size for my needs.
I finally got my KMPKT Dynamo finally and it works great with my test setup! It does take a lot of finicky moving around with the cables to get it all to fit there. And there are a couple of things I noticed with the complete build that warrant a revision of the case design.
175mm is not the absolute longest but the longest recommended length. For something like 178mm you may have to tilt back the rear piece of the case like I did to fit a card that needs excess room.
- The PCIe cable for the Sapphire mini R9 285 just about fits in the 10mm or so in the front, if you bend the wires all the way at a right angle. Expectedly, the front of the case bulges out somewhat. The mini 285 is an edge case- this combination of length PEG connector orientation is rare. The R9 nano has a similar front facing connector but that card is shorter at 152mm so the protruding connector isn't a big deal there.
- HDMI connector doesn't fit correctly into the back of the graphics card because the I/O slot is a bit too narrow. You have to tilt the cable at an angle to get it to connect. Probably not a problem with DisplayPort but it's still something that needs to be fixed in the next revision.
- At 40cm long each, the Dynamo Mini cables are pretty long for this case. The SATA cable is especially space consuming with 4 separate connectors! I'll consider making custom cables that are shorter and fit inside better.
- The Dynamo Mini itself fits well behind the front of the case, but a tad too tall. I can widen the case by 2mm and shorten the standoffs by 1mm so the side panels can close properly.
- 2.5" SSD can't be connected with front facing SATA power connectors, only right angled ones. The front facing connectors bump into the socket for the stealth power button. Adding more space between the SSD and the button would fix this.
- With motherboards that have the 24-pin connector on front of the RAM and towards the top front corner (a common location), you'd need to tilt the back of the motherboard outwards to connect the CPU power cable. A diagonal tab near the bottom of the case makes this necessary. It's not so much a structural element so this tab can be shortened. Moving forward it should be easy to install the motherboard with the plugin unit and all cables already connected.
175mm is not the absolute longest but the longest recommended length. For something like 178mm you may have to tilt back the rear piece of the case like I did to fit a card that needs excess room.
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Here's some more build pics, this time with the Dynamo Mini installed. You can see from the photos a clear sense of scale next to a 240W power brick, and shows how long the cables are in the case, and the height limitations (which will be fixed in the next version of the case design).
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