Prototype Project Orthrus - Smallest SLI mATX case (V2)

confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
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Jun 19, 2015
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@Linero I removed a lot of stuff that need not be said. I'll ask you both to leave it at this point - your comments demanding information from LukeD was too far in an of itself, as was the original comment by @xninetynine . I denatured his comment somewhat, but this reply ends it.

Needless to say, LukeD doesn't owe anyone any information - as this project hasn't hit sales or production yet.
 

IDontknowMuch

Cable Smoosher
Oct 15, 2018
9
6
There has to be someone capable of creating a HB riser cable. Is this the only thing stopping the project? Why not ask Josh Sniffen the creator of the Skyreach S4 Mini case or someone else to help make the HB riser cable that you need? I as well as many others are waiting patiently for the release of Orthrus pc case.
 
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MelonGx

Chassis Packer
Feb 28, 2019
14
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Oh I miswrote the word.
What I wanted to say was a HB SLI bridge’s riser cable but not a PCIe one.
Now only RTX3090 supports SLI.
 

TheClash

Trash Compacter
Nov 13, 2017
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Hey @LukeD - any progress updates? Do you think with only the 3090 supporting SLI you might have missed the boat...to be honest I would still use you case without a dual card!
 
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LukeD

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Jun 29, 2016
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I don't have any solid updates to be honest.
While I do think that the "use case" of dual GPU's still exists in the 2000 series Nvidia cards and earlier as well as the new AMD cards, it definitely shrinks the possible user base.
 

Canities

Chassis Packer
Apr 18, 2017
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I don't have any solid updates to be honest.
While I do think that the "use case" of dual GPU's still exists in the 2000 series Nvidia cards and earlier as well as the new AMD cards, it definitely shrinks the possible user base.

@LukeD
I would still be interested in the case. An additional expansion card and water cooling in a small m-atx form factor is a definite thumbs up! I was thinking, there might be a possibility for a custom riser to allow multiple single slot cards in the bottom holder (for m-atx motherboards)?

Canities
 
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phantommaggot

Cable Smoosher
Sep 12, 2017
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I don't have any solid updates to be honest.
While I do think that the "use case" of dual GPU's still exists in the 2000 series Nvidia cards and earlier as well as the new AMD cards, it definitely shrinks the possible user base.
I'd argue that this would be great for a modern stream system with a gpu and capture card. Sort of like how Linus built that ITX system with bifurcation and a GPU/Capture card.
Or, For me, Using multiple OS on one system for security reasons. (since consumer cards still don't have SRIOV or something like it)

Lets not forget, that you could technically run the new RX cards in Crossfire... and they do pretty well.
 
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Tahsin_28

What's an ITX?
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Aug 31, 2021
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So can someone give me a tldr? This was by fav case wayy before linus reviewed it n would have shelled out any money if sli was still a thing "for gaming".
 

LukeD

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Yeah this is the challenge right now guys. Since the project has gone on hiatus, a lot of things have changed.
Is there enough interest still in the case considering SLI is no longer possible ?
Even the 2000 series cards would not theoretically be supported in this case as designing a new long enough flexible SLI bridge would not be possible / feasible.
So the question is, is there enough interest in this group to see this case go into production to support DUAL GPU's that don't need an SLI bridge or perhaps people that want one GPU slot and one slot for something else, like a capture card or sound card.
I think we need to take some sort of poll, so see if the interest still exists in the case.
 

Ricky

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 23, 2016
92
36
Yeah this is the challenge right now guys. Since the project has gone on hiatus, a lot of things have changed.
Is there enough interest still in the case considering SLI is no longer possible ?
Even the 2000 series cards would not theoretically be supported in this case as designing a new long enough flexible SLI bridge would not be possible / feasible.
So the question is, is there enough interest in this group to see this case go into production to support DUAL GPU's that don't need an SLI bridge or perhaps people that want one GPU slot and one slot for something else, like a capture card or sound card.
I think we need to take some sort of poll, so see if the interest still exists in the case.
I’d be interested, although MATX as a motherboard form factor seems excessively rare nowadays, at least on the higher end. Really sad considering I’d be perfectly happy with two slots.
 

VegetableStu

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Aug 18, 2016
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w360 mentioned there might be cards going 3.5 slots on the next generation. at its current state, only watercooling would be feasible, thus further increasing its niche

if the orthrus goes 4 slot wide, there's probably not enough PCIe lanes to justify the lower deck (maybe a custom disk backplane could fill the space that wide), and it'll be twice as thick

speaking of which, if one wants a small board with PCIe lanes, they'd have to turn to server boards, and those are probably adopted too few outside the enterprise space to be considered above speciality. it's the chaotic end of sparing no expense for the most compact and performant system

to re-iterate, nvidia and AMD is moving away from multi-GPU for consumers. it's increasingly likely that those who want two xx90-class cards would fancy a larger case, or would be alone in trying to cram that into a shoebox (edit: and that's before considering the power draw. 1kw power supplies just barely started becoming a thing in SFX-L)

it breaks a few hearts to say this, but there might not be much volume for engineering something new for the past when it comes to PC hardware
 
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Biowarejak

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Mar 6, 2017
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Any update?? Waiting patiently. (I believe it will come out maybe an update version 😅😅)
SLI is dead, so the use-case for the majority of the market is gone. Workstations could still benefit, but I think having two years since the last post on this thread speaks to the amount of current interest. GPU sizes have also ballooned. The FE 4090 is like 2+ liters by itself.

That said, it would be nice to see this come to fruition in some way, if it makes sense for the current or future market. This case is one of many that inspired me and got me invested in SFF. Hope you're doing well @LukeD
 

LukeD

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SLI is dead, so the use-case for the majority of the market is gone. Workstations could still benefit, but I think having two years since the last post on this thread speaks to the amount of current interest. GPU sizes have also ballooned. The FE 4090 is like 2+ liters by itself.

That said, it would be nice to see this come to fruition in some way, if it makes sense for the current or future market. This case is one of many that inspired me and got me invested in SFF. Hope you're doing well @LukeD
I'm doing well @Biowarejak, thank you for asking. As you mentioned the GPU's have ballooned way beyond anything that would be useful in this case. SLI is a thing of the past unfortunately, therefore I don't think there's a point in bringing this case to market anymore. Now that the community has gotten much larger, many more projects have sprung up there are a lot more options out there that render this case obsolete. One of the lessons learned from the project was executing in a timely manner. Just so happens life got in the way the same time as I was trying to get this off the ground and unfortunately it was the things I decided to park. Another lesson learned is some designs are just too expensive to manufacture, let's say it's over engineered. So hitting that functionality / aesthetic / price combo is important.
Now, having said all that, I'm still lurking around, still an SFF enthusiast, and now that I've managed to sort a lot of things out with work and life I'm getting back to my creative pursuits. I'm currently working on something, an idea I haven't seen yet in the community. I've got some 3d sketches done already and I can't call it a second coming of this project as it's completely different, based around a single GPU and ITX, but I'll share more details next year.
This time around I want to make sure I have things lined up, including production before going live.
 

nyc718kb

Minimal Tinkerer
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Apr 3, 2019
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Dam I got 2 2080ti looking for a home but I guess you guys are right. Really like your design @LukeD sucks things were bad during that time but it sounds like your doing better now, so Im glad for you. Cant wait to see what you got cooking next.