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Completed Project Thin-X case: Super small, super flexible
- Thread starter CC Ricers
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- case thin mini itx
Is yours 3D printed or laser cut? Also watch out with that graphics card. I set up a scale model (knowing that the x16 portion of a PCIe connector is 71.2mm long), and measured the total length of the graphics card is around 200mm. It's not much, but it could make a difference if you have tight tolerances.
That card looks like a tiny rocket
But good job on finding it for 170$ !!! Its hard these days to find a solid GPU for that price.
I think this card would be a diamond in the rough, I guess but it should be our SFF secret
No, I went to AliExpress and searched for the card's model number and picked a vendor from there. I considered Gearbest at first but their customer support seems real sketch and shipping seems too hit and miss for me to risk my time on.
The case uses both 3D printed plastic and laser cut acrylic. I got the 3D printed parts from Shapeways, are SLS printed, the "strong and flexible" type. I believe @K888D uses the same service for the 3D printing in his own cases, but I could be wrong.
That's interesting to know about the card. The interior space of my next design is currently 194mm from front to back, but since I have yet to order parts for making the next case, I can still make some tweaks to it. But if I expand that to 200mm I could potentially make it support some bigger single slot cards that are full height, including the Quadro P2000 (which is not too far off from GTX 1060 in performance).
Here is a preview of one style of vents I'm going for the production case. The vents sit above the GPU cooler and the front, as well as above the coolers for CPU/APU only builds.
The following picture shows the interior layout with a low profile card and two SSDs. It leaves just enough clearance for the card below the top panel. Maximum length of cards supported is 203mm. The SSDs themselves sit about 10mm above the CPU's blower cooler so it is not starved for air, and there is a path for the exhaust air to travel towards the back. Exhaust vents will be placed there.
The following picture shows the interior layout with a low profile card and two SSDs. It leaves just enough clearance for the card below the top panel. Maximum length of cards supported is 203mm. The SSDs themselves sit about 10mm above the CPU's blower cooler so it is not starved for air, and there is a path for the exhaust air to travel towards the back. Exhaust vents will be placed there.
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Damn I was hoping for a full-sized mini itx with 1gpu support .would this be possible at all with modding? Thanks?
Well, the case idea was spawned from this topic. Some of us wanted to see what thin mini ITX boards are fully capable of, and they would help in space reduction compared to full sized mini ITX boards. For a full sized mini ITX support with 1 GPU you'd need to increase the size of the case. Or using a case like the Custom_MOD Mini, for example.
Fortunately @daxiongmao87 is aware of how capable they are, I've bothered him a few times on reddit about a TM ITX board delivering 75W to a graphics card
Fortunately @daxiongmao87 is aware of how capable they are, I've bothered him a few times on reddit about a TM ITX board delivering 75W to a graphics card
Was this in the r/sffpc sub-Reddit? I go there sometimes, and see other people from here too. And that news makes me hopeful, can't wait to try out the 1050 with this motherboard. It just went out for shipment today.
Here's also some very useful info- the guys themselves at ASL did power testing on their own cards so they've done some of the work for us. They reach 66W in benchmark loads.
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Yes I have ! As well as the ASL 1050 Ti LP !
@daxiongmao87 you need at the very least a 66 mm inner height to fit a dual-slot GPU on top of the motherboard.
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Thanks @CC Ricers glad to see some are still fighting for the Thin ITX cause !
Regarding the dual-slot case, based on a QM77 awesome board, I've finally chosen to go the watercooling road, mostly for fun.
A kind of 5L tribute to H20 Micro from @QinX.
I'm done with the design and I have received the panels last week.
Just need time and one last plumbing piece to finish it !
Do you mean having the Intel cooler oriented this way ?
In my SKP file, I need an extra 1 mm clearance but I'll check with the real dimensions later on.
Alternatively, you can offset any cooler with a flat coolpipe, a piece of copper and a bracket. What I did for my HFX mCubed mod.
glad to see some are still fighting for the Thin ITX cause !Regarding the dual-slot case, based on a QM77 awesome board, I've finally chosen to go the watercooling road, mostly for fun.
A kind of 5L tribute to H20 Micro from @QinX.
I'm done with the design and I have received the panels last week.
Just need time and one last plumbing piece to finish it !
Do you mean having the Intel cooler oriented this way ?
In my SKP file, I need an extra 1 mm clearance but I'll check with the real dimensions later on.
Alternatively, you can offset any cooler with a flat coolpipe, a piece of copper and a bracket. What I did for my HFX mCubed mod.
Well, that was quick
I'll have to try it out later tonight!
Also, on the topic of supporting more cards, as @daxiongmao87 brought up, how do you feel about slightly increasing the width of the case so that it can support more GPU and motherboard combinations? It will only add about 4cm to that dimension.
I am considering using a more familiar layout of putting the GPU and motherboard side by side. It will still be only wide enough for low profile cards, but now can fit dual-slot cards as well.
That layout would combine ideas from my Mini LP concept. It will support more motherboard and CPU combinations, such as a beefy 8-core Ryzen CPU with discrete graphics cards.
I'll have to try it out later tonight!
Also, on the topic of supporting more cards, as @daxiongmao87 brought up, how do you feel about slightly increasing the width of the case so that it can support more GPU and motherboard combinations? It will only add about 4cm to that dimension.
I am considering using a more familiar layout of putting the GPU and motherboard side by side. It will still be only wide enough for low profile cards, but now can fit dual-slot cards as well.
That layout would combine ideas from my Mini LP concept. It will support more motherboard and CPU combinations, such as a beefy 8-core Ryzen CPU with discrete graphics cards.
So here's what I know about the ASL GTX 1050... not a whole lot yet This will not output video from my thin mini-ITX board with the 4x riser, so I guess this card does need a powered riser, maybe? The fan spins, but no video is displayed. But it works fine with regular mini ITX boards.
Also, the shroud is completely metal! No cheap plasticky feel here. That makes it heavier than it looks, plus it is also completely enclosed. I think this is kind of a mistake- there is no way for the front to be ventilated, because the shroud also covers up the heatsink from the front. Given that, I need to do some actual testing with thermals and noise.
Also, I have revived my Mini LP case thread. I plan to make it out of the same materials as this case, so it will be part of the same "family". I also believe that will be the better case for most users. At the expense of being only two inches longer, it will support a much greater variety of hardware so it'll be much easier for anyone to plan their builds around.
This will not output video from my thin mini-ITX board with the 4x riser, so I guess this card does need a powered riser, maybe? The fan spins, but no video is displayed. But it works fine with regular mini ITX boards.Also, the shroud is completely metal! No cheap plasticky feel here. That makes it heavier than it looks, plus it is also completely enclosed. I think this is kind of a mistake- there is no way for the front to be ventilated, because the shroud also covers up the heatsink from the front. Given that, I need to do some actual testing with thermals and noise.
Also, I have revived my Mini LP case thread. I plan to make it out of the same materials as this case, so it will be part of the same "family". I also believe that will be the better case for most users. At the expense of being only two inches longer, it will support a much greater variety of hardware so it'll be much easier for anyone to plan their builds around.
@warfreak131 Ah yes I supposed my username is easy to recognize haha! As for 75 watts, I had a thin itx board that had a 4x pcie slot able to deliver 75w (It was powering a 1050 ti with no underclocking involved, with near-to 16x performance). I cannot recall the name of the intel thin itx board, but it was the one that had a 4x pcie slot, along with a mpcie for SSDs.
@aquelito Thanks for the info, though I'm interested in fitting a single slot gpu (much like the ASL gpu mentioned here) with a regular height mITX board (like AM4 mITX boards). I understand if the goal is to maximize on the shallow height of thin itx, just wanted some clarification!
@aquelito Thanks for the info, though I'm interested in fitting a single slot gpu (much like the ASL gpu mentioned here) with a regular height mITX board (like AM4 mITX boards). I understand if the goal is to maximize on the shallow height of thin itx, just wanted some clarification!
You might be happy to know that I'm also working on the Mini LP case, which will fit a regular height mITX board with low profile cards!
I had installed drivers before but on a regular Mini-ITX motherboard, and then switched back to using the H110TN-GSM motherboard, and the video now works! I can confirm that the ASL GTX 1050 does work with the thin Mini ITX board with a non-powered riser.
I'm using a Gigabyte GA-H110TN-GSM Plus motherboard, a Pentium G4400 for CPU, 8GB of Corsair ValueSelect RAM and Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD.
The entire system draws 80W to 85W at the wall while running the Heaven benchmark. I have not pushed any further. Aside from being more powerful than my WX 4100 I am glad to be able have OC capability with my GPU again. I set a 90% power limit and bumped up the memory by 225 Mhz and core speed by 150 Mhz.
I decided to see what a barebones system (no HDD, OS or memory) would cost for the base parts of a build similar to this one.
I'm using a Gigabyte GA-H110TN-GSM Plus motherboard, a Pentium G4400 for CPU, 8GB of Corsair ValueSelect RAM and Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD.
The entire system draws 80W to 85W at the wall while running the Heaven benchmark. I have not pushed any further. Aside from being more powerful than my WX 4100 I am glad to be able have OC capability with my GPU again. I set a 90% power limit and bumped up the memory by 225 Mhz and core speed by 150 Mhz.
I decided to see what a barebones system (no HDD, OS or memory) would cost for the base parts of a build similar to this one.
- Gigabyte GA-H110TN - $122
- Intel i3-7100 (same TDP as G4400) - $115
- Low profile 21mm CPU cooler - $25
- 4x to 16x PCIe riser - $30
- ASL GTX 1050 2GB Battle Flag - $170
- 120W AC adapter from Pico-Box - $38
- Custom case - ~$90 (estimated)
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Just letting people know I'm still working on the design. Most of the 3D printed frame is set in stone, and so are most of the panels apart from the mounting mechanism for the GPU and hard drives. I'm still trying out ideas on how to make this work without it being too complicated and expensive to produce. Also getting the measurements exact and down pat. I don't want to produce several copies of cases and have them all turn out with some slightly off measurements.
I'm almost finalized the design and will reveal it soon. I currently have enough funds to do an initial production of 4-6 cases (1 will be for me, and other 3-5 to be sold). I'd like to see if there's enough interest in buying one for a mini-ITX or thin mini-ITX build. Cost is estimated to be $85-$95.
So I'd like to ask: What kind of motherboard and system would you build in it? Will you use a discrete GPU or go for APU build in this case?
So I'd like to ask: What kind of motherboard and system would you build in it? Will you use a discrete GPU or go for APU build in this case?
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