Concept PROTEUS: A Quiet yet Cool 4L Prototype

[Starficz]

The following is an account of my experience making a brand new case, documented ~5months after the fact (as i was lazy ), Enjoy!​

About 6 months ago I had been using a Velka 3 v1.2, the 4L case that had two 80mm case fans, and a FlexAtx PSU all in a sandwich case with an ITX gpu. I loved the size and the thermal performance of that case, the issue was the noise. Two thin 80mm fans with the 40mm psu fan meant that whenever it was under any sort of load, it was uncomfortably loud. It was at this time the new HDplex 250w GAN PSU launched, and with it came a dream build that I had been thinking about.

So here starts the journy of a brand new 4L case using 2 of these new PSU's and 92x14mm Noctua fans for exhaust.

PART 1: CAD​

I should perhaps mention that I had 0 experience in any CAD software before this point. Maybe this seems foolhardy to most of you reading this now, and in hindsight... maybe it was. I was however determented to get my dream case, so here we are. I recalled sometime ago I had stumbed into a guide on these forums about "making a case ready for production" or something like that, so the first step was to try and find that guide. Thankfully it was an easy find, as it was pinned in this forum, the STX160.0 - From Design to Finished Case from jeshikat. That guide, the SFFPC Discord, The Protocase design guides, and the numerous googling I did trying to find design accurate specs was the only reason I could pull this off.

Looking around at my CAD options, the one I eventually chose was FreeCAD. As somone who supports Open Source Software, I really didnt want to be paying Solidworks and the like for a licence, and hey, how bad could FreeCAD really be anyways? After 2 weeks of learning CAD for the first time ever, restarting about 4 times, I got a design I was happy with.

Spoiler: My History of Project Files

Spoiler: CAD Dimensions

Spoiler: CAD Explosion View

PART 2: Protocase
​

Sending this final CAD to Protocase I knew would be expensive. I could have used SendCutSend instead, but the largest issue was the fact that my design needed PEM's. I tried to get away with the thinnest metal possible, to save weight but mostly trying to hit that "less than 4L" target I set for myself. Looking back on it... this was a bad decision. It cost me an extra several hundred dollars I didn't really need to spend, and is having a 4.1L case that bad anyways? Past is past however, and in that moment I used 20 Gauge Stainless steel that was Powercoated. Total cost, around 600 USD at single unit pricing. Ouch. To really understand how crazy I was, 20 gauge stainless steel is 0.95mm. That meant a standard m3 countersunk screw's head at 1.7mm would be way, way too high for the countersink itself to work. I went and found super niche m3x4-120 degree screws to assemble this case with flush countersinks.

Spoiler: Crazy Tiny Screws

PART 3: Assembly
​

After recieving the parts from Protocase and the terrible, terrible assembly process, I was done with this project and thats why I didn't get to making this post until 5 months later. This is why the following assembly pics only took me an hour, and the cables seem like they are sort of organized.

Spoiler: Inner Tray and Motherboard

Notice the Custom shortened CPU Fan header, and the fact that my PCIE Riser was too long. Lengths of risers are really hard to estimate with their bendyness, and I had gave myself way too much slack here. Notice that tiny indent in the midle of the Tray, where the risers is trying to fit. The height of that is the total clearence before the riser hits the top exhaust fans, just another miracle that needed to happen for this case to work at all.

Spoiler: GPU Installation

My GPU was a 2070 ITX, the last RTX XX70 series in an ITX format. This was the last GPU to support Virtualink, the single USB-C interface that failed super hard at being a VR standard but was really good at supporting Lapdocks instead. With a single cable carrying USB, Displayport, and Power It was a dream standard. (RIP). You might also see that this case has four 92x14mm fans from noctua, my original brown one from the L9a I salvaged to replace my GPU fan, while I bought 3 more to be CPU/Case fans.

Spoiler: Top and Back Panel

The Top and Back Panel installs pretty smooth, the C14 power connecter had to replaced be resoldered as the default one with the PSU uses screws instead of clips, and there is no space for that in this case. You might also notice how the IO shield's bottom clip had to be bent inwards for it to fit, this was also intentional to save space.

Spoiler: The Janky Power Button

When watching the original CAD Explosion GIF an odd thing is that the power button seem to be taken off in the middle, this is intentional. When designed this case I realized that there was actually nowhere the power could possible go... other then right here, above the C14 and right in the way of the GPU back panel bracket. This means that every time you want to swap the GPU you also need to uninstall the Power button.

Spoiler: The Front Bottom Panel

So far the build seems relatively neat right? maybe a bit of jank here and there... but this is where it really gets crazy. The Front Bottom Panel is where the two HDplex 250w GAN PSU's sit, and I gave myself ludicrously little room to put any cables anywhere.

Spoiler: The GPU Side

On the GPU Side, I had to fit the incoming wall power cables inside a box caged by the motherboard tray behind, a PSU in front, a GPU above, and the Case panel below. Note the gap inbetween the PSU and the GPU, that gap is maybe 5mm max.

Spoiler: The CPU Side

While I wrangle the wall power wires, I have to simultaneously wrangle the motherboard power wires. All those wires come from the other side as I can't use the 24pin or EPS from the PSU from the correct side of the motherboard, connectors there would collide with the top exhaust fans. This was also an intentional design choice past me made. (I'm starting to hate that guy)

Spoiler: The Cram

After quite a while cable wrangling even with the help of gravity, I get the 2 halves of the case together. Note the (at most) 5mm of room to pass the 8pin EPS, 24pin Mobo, 8Pin PCIE, and the power button cables through that frontal gap. This was once again, also intentional. (Curse you past me!)

Spoiler: Fully Assembled

In the end, I did succeed in closing the case and the fruits of my labor are finally realized. One last thing to note is the 3 holes on the back of the case, this was supposed to be an USB-C port, but my current motherboard actually has no internal USB-C header.

Spoiler: My Current Setup

Usually the PC would be behind my monitors.


PART 4: Conclusion​

After going through this process I have to make the conclusion that it was a miracle that this case ended up working at all. My tolerances were way, way to small everywhere and this should have been a 5L case. But hey, I don't regret the experince I had doing this, and 2-3 weeks was way faster then I thought was possible. If after reading this you still want to get one of these cases for yourself, DM me and I'll send you the CAD files free of charge. Thanks for reading!

 

[msystems]

Space efficiency level 100?

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Awesome ! Great wallpaper too, I trully loved "Spice & Wolf"