Completed S401: Salvo Studios <8L mITX Steel Unibody Chassis w/ GPU & CPU fans in same direction

[grsychckn]

I was considering getting this but I don't have much of a reason to, just thought having a mini pc that is portable and looks cool would be cool.
How does the stock of these indie cases usually work? After friday is it going to be gone forever (and only preorders get the product), or is there going to be some limited stock, etc ? Basically just trying to figure out if its something that I'd need to order soon if I want it, or I can just wait until the future when I might have a use for a mini pc?
I will say that out of all the sff cases I've seen, this is one of the most appealing and useful looking ones, especially with the detachable handle, and various choices for custom stuff, although I guess some people didn't like the shape of the holes.

Sorry I haven't responded sooner. Ok my way to pickup the best next batch of cases. There are currently plenty of cases to be sold so you don't have to worry about them getting sold out very soon. That said, I am hopeful to sell all my stock by the end of the year. I came can't promises to having more in stock after I've sold the 130 I had manufactured. If plans change I will post them here.

 

[Charleigh]

@grsychckn , thank you for developing this chassis, I'm looking forward to building in it. As mine will be shipping soon I'm putting the final parts list together to have everything arrive around the same time and have a few questions (for you or for anyone who has built in the case so far):

1) I'm planning to run an M.2 and 1TB SSD - any recommendations for 2.5inch HDDs that will also fit behind the GPU? (I imagine they have to be the standard ~7mm width drives)
2) Is a PWM fan cable extender included with either the chassis or the fans from the Salvo site?
3) Did you end up swapping out the SATA cables for shorter runs, if so, what lengths did you go with?

Thanks again.

 

[annasoh323]

@grsychckn , thank you for developing this chassis, I'm looking forward to building in it. As mine will be shipping soon I'm putting the final parts list together to have everything arrive around the same time and have a few questions (for you or for anyone who has built in the case so far):

1) I'm planning to run an M.2 and 1TB SSD - any recommendations for 2.5inch HDDs that will also fit behind the GPU? (I imagine they have to be the standard ~7mm width drives)
2) Is a PWM fan cable extender included with either the chassis or the fans from the Salvo site?
3) Did you end up swapping out the SATA cables for shorter runs, if so, what lengths did you go with?

Thanks again.

<swooping in after receiving email notification for this thread>
7mm drive shouldn't be a problem. I had an old laptop drive I discovered is a little bit thicker than the typical SSD/HDD (probably for sound dampening) and it was tight, but even it still fit.
AFAIK, fan extender is a buy-it-yourself option (which I did on Amazon for a few bucks, especially good with universally free shipping).
Are you talking SATA power or SATA data? Either way, you may want slightly shorter ones depending on your mobo/PSU layout. For SATA power especially, you'll want one that's not daisy-chained in such a way that it will make it hard to bend the cable. If you're only rocking one device that needs SATA power, you should be fine with just connecting the one at the end. See an earlier post in the thread for a visual. Basically, since the HDD will sit flush to the back of the case, the connectors won't have a lot of wiggle room. For my three drives, I used straight SATA data cables and SATA power extenders (again, Amazon. Thank me later, Jeff Bezos). It'll get a bit crowded in that spot right under the PSU without custom cables, so plan accordingly and be ready for a rat's nest.

 

[grsychckn]

@grsychckn , thank you for developing this chassis, I'm looking forward to building in it. As mine will be shipping soon I'm putting the final parts list together to have everything arrive around the same time and have a few questions (for you or for anyone who has built in the case so far):

1) I'm planning to run an M.2 and 1TB SSD - any recommendations for 2.5inch HDDs that will also fit behind the GPU? (I imagine they have to be the standard ~7mm width drives)
2) Is a PWM fan cable extender included with either the chassis or the fans from the Salvo site?
3) Did you end up swapping out the SATA cables for shorter runs, if so, what lengths did you go with?

Thanks again.

Charlie - thanks for asking now as I'm in the process of packing up all the orders tonight.

1. I'll get back to you on this later tonight as I need to measure to be sure.
2. Unfortunately no, there is no PWM cable extender included and I don't have them for sale currently (have thought about adding them though).
3. I have not swapped out the SATA data cables for shorter ones, but if I did I would use lengths of 10" for the outer (nearest front/rear) and 8" for the two 2.5" drives that would mount in the center.

 

[Charleigh]

Great, thanks to both of you for the answers.

 

[grsychckn]

Great, thanks to both of you for the answers.

Charleigh,

Sorry for not getting a response for your question #1 until now. I was up very late getting all the packages ready to ship and then my daughter kept waking up so I'm pretty tired today - but I digress. I took a look at the clearance and you *should* have up to 20mm of space between the backplate of the GPU and the mounting surface for 2.5" drives underneath. Keep in mind though that the backplate on the GPU will get toasty (as can the disk surface) so I wouldn't recommend this configuration. Personally, I think a 12mm drive would be as thick as I'd be comfortable going (assuming you are installing a full-length GPU). If your GPU is shorter it's possible you'll have even more clearance in the 2.5" drive slot labeled "S-4" (near the front of the case).

If you have any more questions shoot them to me and I'll do my best to get them answered.

 

[Ichiban]

Any discount on the shipping or us Canadians?
The shipping is so expensive

 

[Ichiban]

Last but not least, I have a videocard without a backplate. Is there anything on the case to prevent it from touching and shorting?
Thanks!

 

[grsychckn]

Any discount on the shipping or us Canadians?
The shipping is so expensive

Please send me your address and I'll lookup the exact shipping (the website uses a flat-rate number based on my calculations) and let you know if there's anything I can do. Most likely not though as I have no margin on shipping. I only realized this morning that I'm shipping some products overseas now that I'm losing $60/unit on because of shipping. That will have to change.

 

[Choidebu]

Last but not least, I have a videocard without a backplate. Is there anything on the case to prevent it from touching and shorting?
Thanks!

It doesn't work that way. Consumer cards should be coated so it won't short that easily unless there's parts legs involved.

If you're very insecure about it tape a mylar film or kapton.

 

[grsychckn]

Last but not least, I have a videocard without a backplate. Is there anything on the case to prevent it from touching and shorting?
Thanks!

No problem, thank you for asking! There are no protective films or insulation included with the S401. As for the back of the GPU, there is just over 0.75" of clearance between the back of the GPU and the mounting surface for 2.5" drives so I would say there is a sufficient air-gap to insulate the back of the GPU (so long as you're not using > 15mm thick drives).

 

[Charleigh]

Charleigh,

Sorry for not getting a response for your question #1 until now. I was up very late getting all the packages ready to ship and then my daughter kept waking up so I'm pretty tired today - but I digress. I took a look at the clearance and you *should* have up to 20mm of space between the backplate of the GPU and the mounting surface for 2.5" drives underneath. Keep in mind though that the backplate on the GPU will get toasty (as can the disk surface) so I wouldn't recommend this configuration. Personally, I think a 12mm drive would be as thick as I'd be comfortable going (assuming you are installing a full-length GPU). If your GPU is shorter it's possible you'll have even more clearance in the 2.5" drive slot labeled "S-4" (near the front of the case).

If you have any more questions shoot them to me and I'll do my best to get them answered.

Thank you! This helps a lot. I'll stick to the thinner drives.

 

[disastorm]

Sorry I haven't responded sooner. Ok my way to pickup the best next batch of cases. There are currently plenty of cases to be sold so you don't have to worry about them getting sold out very soon. That said, I am hopeful to sell all my stock by the end of the year. I came can't promises to having more in stock after I've sold the 130 I had manufactured. If plans change I will post them here.

I see thanks for the info.
Do you know how much the case weighs, and also how much potential shipping to Japan would be?

 

[grsychckn]

I see thanks for the info.
Do you know how much the case weighs, and also how much potential shipping to Japan would be?

Sorry, just saw your message. The case ships in an 18 x 16 x 6 inch box and weighs 10 pounds. If you send me your address I'll confirm what shipping would be. I've not tried shipping to Japan yet so my website probably has a large flat shipping rate.

 

[DSmithBYU]

I've made the order on PSlate, with the PSU measurements stated. According to his rules, his lead time is 6 weeks, so it's gonna be a while.

For now, my S401's looking good.

 

[grsychckn]

I've made the order on PSlate, with the PSU measurements stated. According to his rules, his lead time is 6 weeks, so it's gonna be a while.

For now, my S401's looking good.

Awesome - don't forget to post pictures!

FYI, I have the S401 cases, handles, fans, etc. in stock and ready to ship.

I cut 4 sets of spacers out of my large acrylic panel so I know I can make these for $15/set. I'll take pictures this weekend and create a new product on the webpage. I'll also have to find a good way to ship them because they will be fragile.

 

[grsychckn]

I'm going to have a sale this Saturday ("Small Business Saturday") on the S401. I plan on giving $20 off shipping with a coupon code. This means free shipping to the lower 48 states. I also will be updating my European shipping rates as I'm losing a ton of money on those units. Currently most of Europe is $35 shipping but I will be increasing that on Wednesday before the discounted shipping. It costs me just over $100 to ship a single case to Europe so consider from now until Wednesday a sale for European shipping.

Edit: Also, I have the spacers made but don't especially like the way they fit. Given the complexities surrounding making and shipping them I'm going to abandon this accessory for now. I have 5 sets in great shape I'm willing to sell for $10 + shipping each. If you would like a set contact me via e-mail or start a conversation with me here.

 

[primitiveType]

@primitiveType Did you manage to finish your build? If you need help let me know!

Thanks for checking in. If you can believe it, I'm still waiting on RAM that I ordered like 2 weeks ago! I'll definitely update here when I get it built. I noticed @Totbot in this thread using a 2700x with some success, so that gives me some hope that my build will work out ok

Also, I'm currently planning on expanding the width of my case with my own acrylic solution. Part of me is thinking I should have just started with a c7 like @Totbot, but I already bought a zalman CNPS8900 Quiet and figured out how to expand the case enough to fit it. I think my solution will actually be pretty attractive (if unusual), so I'll snap a couple photos when I get it done. There's still a chance that I'll end up just ordering a c7 though since that will probably cost less than buying the acrylic

Should have the whole thing put together by the start of next week. Can't wait!

 

[annasoh323]

Thanks for checking in. If you can believe it, I'm still waiting on RAM that I ordered like 2 weeks ago! I'll definitely update here when I get it built. I noticed @Totbot in this thread using a 2700x with some success, so that gives me some hope that my build will work out ok

Also, I'm currently planning on expanding the width of my case with my own acrylic solution. Part of me is thinking I should have just started with a c7 like @Totbot, but I already bought a zalman CNPS8900 Quiet and figured out how to expand the case enough to fit it. I think my solution will actually be pretty attractive (if unusual), so I'll snap a couple photos when I get it done. There's still a chance that I'll end up just ordering a c7 though since that will probably cost less than buying the acrylic

Should have the whole thing put together by the start of next week. Can't wait!

How much are you planning on being able to expand out the case? I do hope that RAM comes in soon for you.

 

[grsychckn]

Thanks for checking in. If you can believe it, I'm still waiting on RAM that I ordered like 2 weeks ago! I'll definitely update here when I get it built. I noticed @Totbot in this thread using a 2700x with some success, so that gives me some hope that my build will work out ok

Also, I'm currently planning on expanding the width of my case with my own acrylic solution. Part of me is thinking I should have just started with a c7 like @Totbot, but I already bought a zalman CNPS8900 Quiet and figured out how to expand the case enough to fit it. I think my solution will actually be pretty attractive (if unusual), so I'll snap a couple photos when I get it done. There's still a chance that I'll end up just ordering a c7 though since that will probably cost less than buying the acrylic

Should have the whole thing put together by the start of next week. Can't wait!

I'm running a 2700X as well in my personal S401 build. Everything seems to be doing well (also using my C7Cu). I do hope your RAM comes in soon - probably going to be some good black friday deals if they haven't shipped. I'm interested in your solution so be sure you post pictures!