Concept Project VERTICAL: Small footprint - Huge airflow - Touchdisplay - 19.9 L mATX

[Philairflow]

Introduction:

I started to design my dream case. Project Vertical is a 19.9L mATX case with a small footprint, optimized for high-end hardware, excellent cooling and silent operation. An optional 15.6 inch touch-display makes the case more useful when standing on the desk.

Mainboard and graphics card are built-in vertical up. This setup reduces the load onto the mainboard and allows me to reduce the space required on the desk.

Cooling and silent operation is a very important point. The goal was to have a cooling design that can offer a high performance in both air- and liquid-cooling while emitting as less noise as possible and not requiring much space on the desk. Therefore the panels offer space for 5 x 140 mm fans or 2 x 240 mm radiators and a water pump. Fan grills are only optional so the airflow is maximized and the rpm of the 140 mm fans can be as low as possible.

Project Vertical is the smallest case that can carry dual-tower air coolers up to 170 mm height and a full-length 3-slot GPU. It is also prepared for an ATX PSU with up to 170 mm length. This ensures enough power for high-end hardware and silent operation. The ability to mount 5 x 140 mm fans is also unique for a sub 20L chassis.

Specifications:

Dimensions: (H x W x D) 380 X 250 X 210 mm

Volume: 19.9 liter

Material: Aluminium and steel

Display: 15.6 inch IPS touchdisplay with full hd resolution (Built in ready notebook solution)

Glass: Tempered glass optional instead of the display

Color: black / silver

Mainboard: mATX

Graphics card: 4 slots and 330 mm length

Power supply: ATX up to 170 mm length

Hard drives: 4 x 2.5 inch (additional hard drives optional)

Optical drive: Slim size slot-in

Front ports: 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB Type C, 1 x HDMI

Cooling air:

- CPU Coolers: Up to dual-tower coolers with 170 mm height

- Case fans: 5 x 140 mm fans

Cooling water:

- 2 x 240 mm radiator on the side panels

- Mounting-frame for custom waterpumps


Currently I am working on the third revision of the case when I have some free time. I want to design it as simple as possible for manufacturing. I hope you like it so far. I will post more information and pictures soon. At the latest when the next revision is ready.

Progress:

 

[Wantabiggercpu]

Really amazing case! As i just said in the breathe thread i really like the vertical concept because of the small footprint. In fact the footprint of this one is slightly smaller than the one of NCASE M1. But it can carry much more powerful hardware.

I also like this one in terms of design. This one looks really good and is something entire different from other cases.

A few questions:

The specs mention ATX PSU. In the second picture it looks like SFX. So will both sizes fit or did you change that?

I love that you can put something like a Noctua NH-U14S in a sub 20 L case toegether with a big videocard! But you can only mount the tower cooler horizontal right? It looks like there is not enough space to let the cooler blow out to the top fan. Also 5 x 140 mm is impressive for that size.

Regarding the display: I would buy it Would love to have my spotify there while doing something different on my main screen.

Anyways nice work man. Would be nice to see more pictures.

 

[Phuncz]

Interesting concept with the screen and supported hardware, I'm going to follow this one.

 

[RoLexus]

Didn't see route for AC power cable.

 

[tinyitx]

Looks like a case with great potential. I like it so far.

I am interested in the air cooling of the case. From the pic, it looks like the default setup is having the four side fans as intake and the top fan as exhaust. It also looks like the two right fans are exhausting as well. So, which one is your current design?

Personally, I would not be interested in the touch screen panel.

 

[deathadder666]

Beautiful case. Would it be prudent to offer up a version without the screen and a regular panel instead? I love the screen idea, I just don't know that everyone would find a use for it or want it. I'd personally like a non-screen version.

 

[Philairflow]

So I added more pictures. The first shows the top of the case with the tempered glass corner and the hidden I/O shield. This trick allows me to plug cables into the mainboard without removing the top cover and also hide the cables so i keep the clean look while they are plugged in.

The second picture shows the planned airflow. It should pretty high. I want to get the most performance out of minimum rpm. Something like 5 x 140 mm @ 800 rpm.

 

[Philairflow]

Really amazing case! As i just said in the breathe thread i really like the vertical concept because of the small footprint. In fact the footprint of this one is slightly smaller than the one of NCASE M1. But it can carry much more powerful hardware.

I also like this one in terms of design. This one looks really good and is something entire different from other cases.

A few questions:

The specs mention ATX PSU. In the second picture it looks like SFX. So will both sizes fit or did you change that?

I love that you can put something like a Noctua NH-U14S in a sub 20 L case toegether with a big videocard! But you can only mount the tower cooler horizontal right? It looks like there is not enough space to let the cooler blow out to the top fan. Also 5 x 140 mm is impressive for that size.

Regarding the display: I would buy it Would love to have my spotify there while doing something different on my main screen.

Anyways nice work man. Would be nice to see more pictures.

Thank you! To answer your questions:

Yes in revision three it will be ATX. I just experimented with SFX-L to find out what it can do for me in terms of space. But I go back to ATX because it fits into the case without going over 20 L and has a lot of benefits (bigger fans, silent, more power).

Big air coolers are very important for me. But you are right most of them will only fit horizontal. Otherwise the will collide with the fans. But airfllow goes from the left to the right side anyways.

Didn't see route for AC power cable.

In revision three the ATX supply will be turned 180°. So no routing is needed. There will be a shroud infront of PSU with some nice laser-cuts and cable management.

 

[Philairflow]

Looks like a case with great potential. I like it so far.

I am interested in the air cooling of the case. From the pic, it looks like the default setup is having the four side fans as intake and the top fan as exhaust. It also looks like the two right fans are exhausting as well. So, which one is your current design?

Personally, I would not be interested in the touch screen panel.

Thank you. You are right with the airflow. Here is a picture (also added this to the top post):

I am already testing this in a Lian Li case that allows similar configuration:

I only can use 5 x 120 mm fans and the fans on the left side have to be on the outside. The hardware in this system is:

i7 6700k @ 4.6 GHz
MSI Z270I Pro AC
MSI GTX 980 Ti
Prolimatech Megahalems Red CPU cooler

I get really good temps with this setup. One reason is the fact that the second fan on the right side doesn't fit anymore when the cooler blows out on top. So only this configuration allows 5 x 120 mm fans.

This composition also results in good GPU temps.

 

[Philairflow]

Beautiful case. Would it be prudent to offer up a version without the screen and a regular panel instead? I love the screen idea, I just don't know that everyone would find a use for it or want it. I'd personally like a non-screen version.

Thats the plan. Basic version with tempered glass front. Touchscreen as an upgrade option.

Even with the screen you can look into the case through the glass corner if you have nice RGB

 

[deathadder666]

Thats the plan. Basic version with tempered glass front. Touchscreen as an upgrade option.

Even with the screen you can look into the case through the glass corner if you have nice RGB

Tempered glass? Maybe an option for no glass? I'm one of those few people in the world that don't want LEDs all through their box blinding them.

 

[Wantabiggercpu]

This is the most beautiful solution I have ever seen for the top part of a vertical case! I love that you can just plug in your cable without having to remove or open something and on the other side the cables are somewhat hidden. Not totaly but I think this doesn't matter. This one is just perfect.

But how about the cables to the gpu? Maybe short extensions?

 

[Philairflow]

Tempered glass? Maybe an option for no glass? I'm one of those few people in the world that don't want LEDs all through their box blinding them.

Man you are really part of a minority

So maybe this would be another option yes. But nowadays people like tempered glass and RGB. I have to admit I like some glass and RGB too. But only some, I will definitely bring that touchscreen to my desk

 

[Philairflow]

This is the most beautiful solution I have ever seen for the top part of a vertical case! I love that you can just plug in your cable without having to remove or open something and on the other side the cables are somewhat hidden. Not totaly but I think this doesn't matter. This one is just perfect.

But how about the cables to the gpu? Maybe short extensions?

Thank you. So you mean something like this:

I already thought about this for GPU. I plan to add a shroud around the mainboard I/O shield in revision three. So maybe this will fit. One Displaport, one HDMI and a small outlet for additional cables.

 

[tinyitx]

Big and tall air cooler + full size GPU + ATX PSU + emphasis of air cooling + small footprint tower....all these catch my attention. Looks like my taste is quite similar to yours. I definitely will follow this thread. If this design becomes reality one day, I will have to decide between this and the NCase M1.

A couple more questions:-
1) is the vertical slot to the right of the 2 left fans for installing slim ODD? If so, it will visually block the GPU and a good part of the HSF...will be very ugly if one chooses a TG panel. Or, is the ODD installed somewhere else?
2) Is the CPU HSF getting enough cool fresh air to give good temp? It looks like it is receiving the hot exhaust from the GPU. I wonder, if the top fan is used as intake, could it provide fresh air to the CPU for even better temp?

 

[renecop545]

P cool concept, but you probably want fan grills for the side fans heads up. Fingers or clothes could get caught in them.

 

[HeroXLazer]

I didn't see this, but this looks cool, I'll be following. Is the 15.6" screen going to be 4K?

 

[Philairflow]

Thank you all!. I am at work now. I will answer the open questions in detail after I am finished.

 

[gunpalcyril]

Yes, another tower itx case, can't wait to see how this develops

 

[Drokovian]

What mATX boards would be compatible with this? All of them? - or is there some height/width restriction for the motherboard size within the mATX format?