Completed Project Thin-X case: Super small, super flexible

[CC Ricers]

My 3D parts have finally arrived from Shapeways. Here's a quick teaser in the form of a crappy phone pic. I should get some higher quality pictures soon

You really cannot get a feel or look of the quality without some better photos, but it is SLS printed nylon. Black parts by default come with a non-polished finish- you need to pay a lot more to get a more polished look. However they still look much better than PLA printed parts. This very informative post by @K888D shows some good examples of the finish.

 

[CC Ricers]

Finally took some better pics. My other case parts (acrylic panels) have yet to arrive so I can only test screws with them and look at them for now

The pieces bow down the middle a bit which is fine, since the panels will hold up their shape when installed.

 

[CC Ricers]

I finally got my BIOS updated for the Gigabyte AB350N motherboard, so now I can at least boot with the APU and test cooling setups for a few moments. I still need to do a fresh install of Windows because it's not going to run otherwise.

The max height for supported coolers would be somewhere between 40mm and 42mm, as I'm still deciding on the height for the case for the final version.

Besides the stock Wraith Stealth that the APU came with, I currently have the Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 cooler for testing. One issue I've noticed is that with this cooler, you could only fit one 2.5" hard drive, because of the elongated heatsink. The NH-L9i (with AM4 brackets) would actually allow room for two or possibly three hard drives. Any CPU heatsinks with a round or squarish footprint of 92mm should also support this.

As far as I know the following coolers would be compatible with this case right out of the box:

• Noctua NH-L9a-AM4
• Noctua NH-L9i (w/AM4 brackets)
• Dynatron A18
• Zalman CNPS2X (w/AM4 brackets)

Other coolers could be too tall for the case, but may fit without the stock fan if you leave the heatsink only and use dual 40mm fans placed on the side of the case. For example, the Cryorig C7 is too tall at 47mm but the heatsink is 32mm. This is something that I still have to test since I can't yet confirm that you'll get great temperatures using this method.

 

[Zackmd1]

3D parts look great so far! Speaking from experience though you might want to consider some form of hard attachment between the 3D parts and the acrylic towards the center of the case faces. While what you have now is more the adequate, the additional support will make the case feel far more rigid. I found that at a minimum each face needs 6 attachment points in order for the case to feel solid with acrylic parts less then 5mm thick.

 

[CC Ricers]

3D parts look great so far! Speaking from experience though you might want to consider some form of hard attachment between the 3D parts and the acrylic towards the center of the case faces. While what you have now is more the adequate, the additional support will make the case feel far more rigid. I found that at a minimum each face needs 6 attachment points in order for the case to feel solid with acrylic parts less then 5mm thick.

Thanks for the pointers. I'll keep that in mind when planning out the next prototype. Currently the most attachment points that a panel has is 4, as I didn't want to make it look too cluttered with more screws. I'll be making the base for the motherboard more rigid and stronger to handle its weight. So either I could go for 5mm acrylic on the bottom, or use thinner acrylic reinforced with a steel or aluminum sheet.

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In other updates, my case panels finally arrived! Begin the prototype phase I am now ready to start building the case and installing parts inside of it. I just had enough time to pick up the package and open it, and test fit the front side. And I'll begin building later. All I can say for now is the finish looks really good, and happy with how it's turned out!

 

[Zackmd1]

Currently the most attachment points that a panel has is 4, as I didn't want to make it look too cluttered with more screws

I should clarify that not every face requires 6 screws but that for every 5 or so inches of length for thin acrylic I found it best to have a screw or some type of rigid attachment. It helps prevent any type of movement between the frame and panel. 5mm and up acrylic is rigid enough on its own to not have this issue.

 

[CC Ricers]

Well, I've assembled nearly all the case and it looks great. The black 3D printed bezels match well with the matte acrylic surface.


Now let's test some hardware in it!

 

[CC Ricers]

Here is the case fitted with the Gigabyte AB350N, Noctua NH-L9a AM4 cooler and a PicoPSU-160 XT to test fit some cables. This motherboard has its 24-pin connector in an uncommon spot in the top, but it's still possible to route the cables from here.

Fitment of 2.5" hard drives is unfortunately a no-go with this cooler. The fan position was not measured correctly so it doesn't leave enough room for them. This should be resolved in the next prototype.

 

[Jello]

• Dimensions: 19.7cm x 21cm x 6cm

Are those the dimensions of your current prototype? Or did they change?

 

[CC Ricers]

Are those the dimensions of your current prototype? Or did they change?

It's of the current prototype you see here. The revision will be slightly larger but we're talking maybe 1-2cm more in length and width. That way it can ensure more compatibility with hard drives and coolers.

 

[Jello]

So you're dropping the idea of single slot expansion cards, and leaving that to a different project I assume?

 

[CC Ricers]

So you're dropping the idea of single slot expansion cards, and leaving that to a different project I assume?

Nope, that idea is still fresh in my mind The original case design was made around these cards, after all. Then I wanted to increase compatibility for Ryzen APU builds. However I never got around to solving the problem to properly support single slot cards inside the case so they stay in place. But you can still put a card inside. Here I've quickly made a mock setup using my workstation card.

As you can see, LP cards do fit within reason. Any cables underneath will have to be compressed, perhaps need to also use those low-profile angled SATA cables like the ones Silverstone makes.

The card is still floating above the motherboard without any support. I'll design a different rear frame that is made for a Thin ITX board with single low profile bracket. The rest of the design can stay mostly the same. This way I can make cases meant for either motherboard-only builds, or builds with an expansion card, while keeping the number of swappable parts to a minimum.

The riser is 10cm in length along the ribbon. This turned out to be a bit too long since it bows outward in the middle. That's gonna make it hard to install 2.5" hard drives with that riser. A better setup will use a 90 degree angle adapter with a 5cm riser, which will lay flat.

 

[Jello]

What kind of clearance do you get between the direct plug psu and the card?

 

[CC Ricers]

What kind of clearance do you get between the direct plug psu and the card?

The great thing about thin mini ITX is it has no 24-pin connector so there is no need for a direct plug PSU A setup like this will just require an external power brick. This board in particular is a Gigabyte H110TN which has wide voltage input support from 12V to 24V.

There is a 4-pin 12V connector that is covered by the card in this photo. That is optional to use, a secondary kind of power input or pass-through. With a 5cm riser, the card should no longer cover that connector.

 

[Jello]

Derp, totally didn't think of that. Nice build.

What are your thoughts on squeezing the single slot 1050ti from ASL with a powered riser?

 

[CC Ricers]

Derp, totally didn't think of that. Nice build.

What are your thoughts on squeezing the single slot 1050ti from ASL with a powered riser?

It might be possible with this case, but the ASL card is 2cm longer than a mini ITX board. The revised case design would be a bit longer so it could fit more easily.
I bought my PCIe riser from here. Mine is unpowered, but it's been running straight from the 4x connector (the one directly on the board) without any issues. I want to finally give the riser a go later today.

According to the description it can handle high end graphics cards, so you'd need to contact support to customize it. @aquelito also might have some custom powered risers left.

Still have the issue of properly mounting the card and SSDs with this configuration. The back side is completely open as I haven't made an acrylic panel for it. The panel could either have standard cutouts for I/O shields or custom made for your specific motherboard, including label engraving. Is there any interest for custom rear I/O panels as an additional case option?

 

[jujudk]

I really like this concept !
Thinking about either an apu build or a r5 1600 and a 1050 ti ... can't wait to see more of this project ! (do you have an idea of the price yet ?)

 

[CC Ricers]

I really like this concept !
Thinking about either an apu build or a r5 1600 and a 1050 ti ... can't wait to see more of this project ! (do you have an idea of the price yet ?)

An APU build would work no problem. Unfortunately you cannot combine a discrete GPU like the 1050 Ti with a AMD CPU since there are no Thin Mini ITX boards for AMD. You'd have to go Intel for that.

Also, there's no price yet, but I'd like to keep it under $100 though. The prototype cost just about that much (before I came up with more efficient 3D print designs) but I want to reduce costs by having several cases built at a time.

 

[jujudk]

An APU build would work no problem. Unfortunately you cannot combine a discrete GPU like the 1050 Ti with a AMD CPU since there are no Thin Mini ITX boards for AMD. You'd have to go Intel for that.

Also, there's no price yet, but I'd like to keep it under $100 though. The prototype cost just about that much (before I came up with more efficient 3D print designs) but I want to reduce costs by having several cases built at a time.

ok^^
Just a question why not and stx board to fit a gpu in it ?

 

[CC Ricers]

ok^^
Just a question why not and stx board to fit a gpu in it ?

An STX board will be shorter in length than most mini GPUs, plus I will need to extend the front connectors with more cables in order to keep the length the same. Also it's to ensure compatibility with mini ITX. Thin mini ITX uses the same mounting holes but has a more flat design, so easier to fit cards in a narrower space.