Prototype Project Orthrus - Smallest SLI mATX case (V2)

[LocoMoto]

is 6mm a noticeable increase ?

It's noticeable.. if it's for a mounting an ice cream in there

 

[LukeD]

Solves a TON of problems though
.... and yes.... it does allow you to mount a small formfactor xcream

 

[LocoMoto]

Let's say we increase height and then can start using small formfactor xcream for standard config, would it be viable to have a 1u PSU with higher expansion cards?
Anything you could do mobo side? Also 1u = HDD space...?

 

[LukeD]

Yes ...
so if you use a 1U PSU you can:
- use a higher gpu
- use a full water block with the terminal on the edge of the card like EKWB do.
if you use an ice cream for the PSU you can:
- use standard height GPU's
- probably possible to use gpu water blocks like the ones i used in the previous post that just cover the GPU die.

 

[LocoMoto]

It would certainly open up markets if selling the case worldwide, since there's plenty of ice cream out there, but also increasing compatibility with enthusiast hardware, generally just making it a much more versatile case

 

[VegetableStu]

Thanks Drerex
I am looking at sliger as one of the options

interesting, that would make two mythical multi-headed dogs brothers o_o

 

[LukeD]

That's the idea. Also as someone made me aware, dealing with warranty claims on custom PSU's .... might be a bit of an issue.

 

[LocoMoto]

Might be a petabit of an issue Kappa

 

[juanyunis]

Solves a TON of problems though
.... and yes.... it does allow you to mount a small formfactor xcream

I love your design and it's unbelievable how good was implemented by protocase, I'm looking forward to see the final revision. I'm in for the SFX PSU upgrade.

 

[MikeLatin7]

Guys thank you so much for the kind words. I've been a long time reader / lurker of the forums, so it finally feels great to be able to contribute something and see such a positive response.

Happy to answer any questions, I'll be on here regularly. If you also like to follow me on twitter @LukeD_NC
I'm new to twitter so please be nice especially if i at you, or hash tag incorrectly

With regards to using 1U PSU, provided you use a good quality one, like the one I'm using from FSP (700 Watt Platinum) it doesn't even break a sweat. Hopefully this weekend I'll make a video of the power supply / noise for all of you to judge. Hopefully that will put a lot of the worries to rest.

Also, using dual 1080's in this setup with 6700k i found i don't get more than 420 watts from the wall at 100% stress test (both cpu + gpu).
So the power supply barely warms up.

when do you think the case would be available, thank you

 

[Biowarejak]

when do you think the case would be available, thank you

Well, he still needs to do another prototype that supports SFX PSU's, and afaik also nail down a manufacturer after getting final quotes for production. I'd project "not too soon, but soon enough to pay attention"

 

[LukeD]

when do you think the case would be available, thank you

Hey Mike. As Biowarejak mentioned, there's another prototype in the works to make sure the SFX is implemented correctly. I'm lining up manufacturing but the prototype needs to drop first and all the details need to be finalised before I can announce anything.

Well, he still needs to do another prototype that supports SFX PSU's, and afaik also nail down a manufacturer after getting final quotes for production. I'd project "not too soon, but soon enough to pay attention"

Spot on hoping to have some sort of announcement in the not too distant future.

 

[chalogr]

have you given it any thoughts about selling it in south america?

Introduction:

Over the past 18 months or so, I've been working on a project and it's aim was to create a quiet, extremely powerful and compact computer. Something that can live on a desk as well as a home theatre cabinet.
Typically, when talking about PC's, those three adjectives can't really be used together, as powerful PC's usually draw a lot of power and exert a lot of heat, therefore need a lot of cooling, which is usually loud. This is how project Orthrus was born.


Project Name:

The name, which is only a working title for now, stems from Greek mythology. Its a symbol for a two headed guard dog (symbolizing the use of dual GPU's). Coincidentally enough, Orthrus was Cerberus' brother (My shout out to Kimera Industries guys here)


Principal of the design:

As mentioned previously, high performance computer parts and compact enclosures usually don't go well together. That is unless you move the components in the case around in a way which allows all of them to draw fresh cold air from the outside of the case.
Putting the dual GPU's straight on the back of the motherboard, not only allows the two GPU's and the CPU to breathe their own air, but allows to minimize with width of the chassis, by putting the only 2 perfectly flat parts of the PCB's against each other.

To achieve this, a number of design decisions were made:
- PCIe risers had to be used to place the graphics cards on the opposite side of the case.
- Longer than usual SLI cables had to be used to join the graphics cards together
- Only 2,5" disks would be used (in SLI/Crossfire mode), as 3,5" disks are too big, and with the cost of 1TB SATA SSD's quite low these days, I didn't see a point.
- Only low profile CPU and RAM could be used
- And a long flat highly efficient power supply had to be used

Evolution (V2):

Along with the feedback provided by the community on the SFFForum, HardForum and OCAU I made a number of key changes to the case:

- Case dimensions increased:
Height: 33.00cm (unchanged)
Length: 31.50cm to 34.50cm (3.0cm increase)
Width: 11.50cm to 13.20 cm (1.7cm increase)
This allowed the case to:

• accomodate 240mm radiators and AIO coolers
• accomodate taller CPU heatsinks (up to ~53mm)
• accomodate high profile (tall) RAM
• allow water cooling of CPU and both GPUs (with certain water blocks)
• which also allowed usage of X99 platform in a quiet and cool manner where cpu's are up to 140Watt TDP.

Other changes include:

• Change the power button to a capacitative button.
• Added support for 1 x 3,5" HDD and 1 x 2,5 HDD in the 2nd GPU bay (if 2nd GPU is not present)
• On the motherboard side: 2 x 2,5" HDD's are now supported (increase from 1)
• On the front panel: Oriented the USB ports to be vertical to allow usage of all 4 ports concurrently
• On the front panel: Changed the proprietary HDMI passthrough jack to a keystone compatible port. This means if you don't need a HDMI passthrough jack you can change it to an audio, lan, or USB-C port if you like.
• Added a badge
• Changed the ventilation pattern to be more effective in cooling
• Added a drain port near the PSU bracket (for custom water loops)
• Added a 92mm to 120mm bracket when using air cooling on the CPU
• Added a base plate for mounting a water reservoir / pump above the chipset on the mATX motherboard
• Used Li-Heat for the top PCIe riser
• Hid the SLI cables behind the GPU's
• Created a cutout for access to the rear of the motherboard. For easier heatsink / waterblock swap out.
• Added a plastic segregation wall to prevent the PCIe risers from making contact with the back of the motherboard.
• Added a 1U PSU to FlexATX adapter bracket to support FlexATX PSU's.

Case Details:

Height: 33.00 cm
Length: 34.50 cm
Width: 13.20 cm
Weight: TBD
Volume: < 15.0 Litres
Material: 3mm Aluminium
Side Panels: 3mm Aluminium or 3mm Acrylic
Front Panel I/O:
- 4 x USB 3.0 (vertical orientation)
- 1 x Keystone jack for keystone modules (including HDMI for VR Ready)
- 1 x Power Capacitative Button
Orientation: Horizontal or Vertical
PSU: 1U IPC PSU (in this example: FSP Group: FSP700-80UEPB Link)
PCIe Riser 1: Li-Heat Next Generation (300mm)
PCIe Riser 2: Adexelec PE-FLEX16R (350mm) Optional for SLI/Crossfire setups


Compatibility of components:

CPU:
Intel 1151/2011-3
AMD AM3/AM4

CPU Coolers (up to 53mm - verified):
Noctua NH L9i (Recommended)
Thermaltake Gravity i1
Akasa K25
Silverstone AR05
ID Cooling IS-VC45 (will be compatible with v2)

Motherboards:
mATX and ITX

GPU:
Dual GPU's supported
- Length: Up to 295 mm
- Height: Up to 112 mm (measured from PCIe connector to top of card)
- Up to 250 Watt TDP (due to PSU restrictions)

RAM:
Any memory up to 53mm in height will fit.

PSU:
FlexATX or 1U PSU up to 250mm length. Recommended PSU's:

1U PSU:
For Single GPU builds: Modular:
Seasonic SS500L1U (500W - Gold)
For Dual GPU builds: Non-Modular:
FSP FSP700-80UEPB (700W - Platinum)

FlexATX:
For Single GPU builds:
FSP500-50FSPT (500W - Platinum)
For Dual GPU builds: Non-Modular:
FSP750-50FGGH1 (750W - Gold)
FSP850-50FGGH1 (850W - Gold)

DISK:
Motherboard side: 2 x 2,5" disk
GPU side: Replacing the 2nd GPU: 1 x 3,5" disk + 1 x 2,5" disk

WATERCOOLING:
240mm Radiators up to 124mm wide, up to 278mm tall.
Thickness of the radiator + fan should not exceed 58mm
CPU Waterblock/pump height limitation is up to ~53mm
GPU Waterblock support:
- Full reference card waterblocks like EK and Bitspower are supported (for top GPU slot)
- If doing DUAL GPU water cooling, for bottom GPU slot, a universal GPU cooler like the EK-VGA Supremacy or Koolance GPU-220 / GPU-230 is supported.

FANS:
2 x 120x120x25mm


Comparison to other similar sized cases:

Coming soon ...

Benchmarks - Performance:

Coming soon ...

Benchmarks - Noise / Power Consumption / Temperature:

Test Configuration:
CPU - Intel 6800K (@3.4GHz)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB)
MB - EVGA Micro 2 X99
GPU 1 - nVidia GTX 1080
GPU 2 - nVidia GTX 1080
CPU AIR Cooler - ID Cooling IS-VC45
GPU AIR Cooler - Founders Edition Blower
CPU AIO Cooler - Kelvin S24
CPU CL Cooler - Kelvin S24 (cpu block/pump combo)
GPU CL Waterblock 1 - EK-FC1080 GTX - Nickel
GPU CL Waterblock 2 - Koolance GPU 220
Thermal Paste - EK

Fahrenheit version:

Thermals corresponding to the tests above:

Photos (Case Only):




Photos (Custom waterloop build):

Coming soon ...

Preview by Linus:

 

[Nanook]

I can't wait to see the next prototype

 

[LeandroJVarini]

have you given it any thoughts about selling it in south america?

I hope the sale is global, I'm from South America too.

 

[Cutie DarkFae]

I also hope sales are global, and I hope that, as an Ozzie, I wouldn't have to pay for shipping from USA, but I doubt that last bit will happen alas.

 

[HeroXLazer]

@LukeD Where did you find the 1U specification for the power supply? http://www.fsp-group.com.tw/download/product/000177/ME2D.pdf The problem with this is that it doesn't display the tolerance for the length between the end of the PSU and the mounting holes.

 

[LukeD]

I actually sent the 1U PSU in for Protocase to model so unfortunately I didn't have to know that.

 

[HeroXLazer]

I actually sent the 1U PSU in for Protocase to model so unfortunately I didn't have to know that.

Okay, thanks anyway. Also, have you tested the Noctua L9i on a 95 watt CPU? If so, how did it go?

 

[LukeD]

Yeah i tested it on a 6700k back in the V1 orthrus and it worked a treat as long as i didn't OC much.