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

enricko7

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 12, 2018
95
50
Indeed - these are the kinds of tapes I'm going to research to find a recommendation for those that want to better passively cool their rear-mounted m.2 drives. Thanks!

Let us know what you find :D I think Panasonic has some graphite pads that are one-sided adhesive...
 

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
I forgot to add that I'm working with all the vendors to acquire the following:

1. Power Switches (Submitted Order for more)
2. USB Adapters (Paid and Ordered)
3. C14 inlet + dongle (Looking for vendor)
4. Mounting Hardware
5. Packing/Shipping inventory (Ordering samples soon)

Once I get all these items ordered, I should only have to order the actual cases from the vendor.

Update:

1. Power Switches - ordered and paid
2. USB Adapters - ordered and paid
3. C14 inlet + dongle - ordered and paid
4. Mounting Hardware - Have vendors, waiting on final prototype before I go crazy and order 125+ sets.
5. Packing/shipping materials - boxes & anti-static bags ordered and paid, foam end caps engineered and sample ordered and paid.

Reached out to my vendor for manufacturing to see when he'll have the 4th revision of the prototype completed. I'm hoping he'll get to that this week (crossing fingers).
 

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
Pink.

 

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
Update: I talked with the fabricator today and he hasn't been getting my e-mails because I've been sending them to the wrong address...

Good news though, he did receive my latest models and was moving forward with the next prototype. All parts have been punched and are awaiting paint before he ships them to me. I expect to have it by EOW or early next week for review. I'll be sure to post pictures.
 

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
What's in the box though?

That's just the third prototype. I posted that to show that I have the packing supplies to include the new end caps. Fortunately, they are all pink for those into that color. If not, the case will still be black. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: enricko7

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
I received revision 4 on Friday and of course there are still things to adjust - specifically the GPU mounts. That said, I ran a bunch of tests over the weekend on the Cryorig C7Cu and will be posting my findings in the next few days on my site. As a teaser, below is the only picture I have of the S401-Rev4:



I'm also currently investigating whether or not I purchase a laser cutter/engraver to make my own acrylic side panels as well as etch the case to add labels/logos. I'll try to get a better picture with all the panels installed tonight or tomorrow.

BTW, that FSP Dagger SFX PSU is obnoxiously loud. It is brand new even though I've had it for 6 months or so and the fan runs 100% all the time. I think the internal thermal diode must be bad - I'm going to have to RMA it if I can.
 

Reldey

Master of Cramming
Feb 14, 2017
387
405
So I have a Salvo 400, and love it, although card height can definitely interfere with compatibility, then it hit me, why not place the graphics card above the motherboard? Like swap the motherboard and GPU position? Could be interesting. Really like how rev 4 is looking, love the little exhaust fan by the GPU, that is how I have mine setup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grsychckn

annasoh323

Master of Cramming
Apr 4, 2018
424
314
I received revision 4 on Friday and of course there are still things to adjust - specifically the GPU mounts. That said, I ran a bunch of tests over the weekend on the Cryorig C7Cu and will be posting my findings in the next few days on my site. As a teaser, below is the only picture I have of the S401-Rev4:



I'm also currently investigating whether or not I purchase a laser cutter/engraver to make my own acrylic side panels as well as etch the case to add labels/logos. I'll try to get a better picture with all the panels installed tonight or tomorrow.

BTW, that FSP Dagger SFX PSU is obnoxiously loud. It is brand new even though I've had it for 6 months or so and the fan runs 100% all the time. I think the internal thermal diode must be bad - I'm going to have to RMA it if I can.

Seeing the little Noctua sitting by the Vega card made me chuckle in a "David and Goliath" kind of way. It looks really good! Looking forward to seeing the testing results. I'm presuming that the Noctua is an intake while the upper Antecs (?) are exhaust? How much clearance is there with the C7 fan? If I can squeeze in a 25mm thick 90mm fan, that'd be great but if not, well, such is life. I also wonder if orientation of the fins makes a difference. I've tried it both ways with no discernible difference but at the same time, I'm not sure I was strictly following scientific rigor at the time.

On the topic of the laser engraver... That'd be awesome to see but more time and cost... I'm not asking for it necessarily but if it happens I am definitely not complaining!
 
  • Like
Reactions: grsychckn

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845






NOTE: All hardware will be included for mounting HDD/SSD/Fans/Feet and will be black unlike the silver versions seen here.

Answers to comments:

So I have a Salvo 400, and love it, although card height can definitely interfere with compatibility, then it hit me, why not place the graphics card above the motherboard? Like swap the motherboard and GPU position? Could be interesting. Really like how rev 4 is looking, love the little exhaust fan by the GPU, that is how I have mine setup.

At first I thought that might be worthy of stopping my current progress to investigate. The only problem I saw (and the reason I didn't play with the idea) is that locating the PCIe extender would be difficult. The only reasonable thing to do would be to hide it underneath the motherboard but then you close access to the back panel on the motherboard for the cooling and m.2 adapter. I guess it might be possible to fold the extender in such a way that it avoids both going over the CPU and underneath the motherboard, but I realized I'm too close with this design to start re-designing it now. Great thought though and one I hadn't come up with. Maybe I'll be able to come up with something to make it work in the future.

Seeing the little Noctua sitting by the Vega card made me chuckle in a "David and Goliath" kind of way. It looks really good! Looking forward to seeing the testing results. I'm presuming that the Noctua is an intake while the upper Antecs (?) are exhaust? How much clearance is there with the C7 fan? If I can squeeze in a 25mm thick 90mm fan, that'd be great but if not, well, such is life. I also wonder if orientation of the fins makes a difference. I've tried it both ways with no discernible difference but at the same time, I'm not sure I was strictly following scientific rigor at the time.

On the topic of the laser engraver... That'd be awesome to see but more time and cost... I'm not asking for it necessarily but if it happens I am definitely not complaining!

The Noctua is an intake and the Gelid fans are exhaust. That can of course be flipped depending on which way you decide to orient the case. If the GPU is on top I assume the Noctua would be the exhaust and the Gelid fans intake. As for the C7, there are a few millimeters of clearance (probably around 2-3) but with the C7 92mm adapter in place, the standard 92mm x 25mm fan will not fit in this case (see below pictures).





As for the laser cutter/engraver, I have done all the work to create eps files for Ponoko.com and had them quote me on their prices. Basically, a single S401 side panel with the same hex patter on 0.177" thick clear acrylic is going to be around $80 a panel. For the larger S700 case (which requires 2 window panels), each one is around $70 each. The price difference is due to the fewer holes cut on the S700 panels for less machine time due to fewer holes being cut. I figure if I ordered 10 of each, I'm halfway to purchasing my own laser cutter and then I can do some really custom work on the side panels if I want. No decision has been made yet, but I'm heavily leaning towards it.

Update on next revision:

I requested the fab shop to turn around the next revision ASAP with "money not being an object". It will be pricey but I only needed to relocate a few holes for the GPU and I also added 6 PEM tie down fasteners. I don't have their timeframe on when to expect this one to be done but I got the impression it would be punched this week.

I wanted to add that I dropped support for the HDPLex PSUs. The volume was nearly the same when you consider I added internal mounts for the brick AC/DC adapter and the price compared to existing SFX PSUs was nearly double for less wattage. It has it's place but I'm convinced it is better suited for smaller cases than the S401.
 
Last edited:

DSmithBYU

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 26, 2018
121
87
I wanted to add that I dropped support for the HDPLex PSUs. The volume was nearly the same when you consider I added internal mounts for the brick AC/DC adapter and the price compared to existing SFX PSUs was nearly double for less wattage. It has it's place but I'm convinced it is better suited for smaller cases than the S401.
I understand. Thanks for the testing considerations for the PSU.
 

annasoh323

Master of Cramming
Apr 4, 2018
424
314






NOTE: All hardware will be included for mounting HDD/SSD/Fans/Feet and will be black unlike the silver versions seen here.

Answers to comments:



At first I thought that might be worthy of stopping my current progress to investigate. The only problem I saw (and the reason I didn't play with the idea) is that locating the PCIe extender would be difficult. The only reasonable thing to do would be to hide it underneath the motherboard but then you close access to the back panel on the motherboard for the cooling and m.2 adapter. I guess it might be possible to fold the extender in such a way that it avoids both going over the CPU and underneath the motherboard, but I realized I'm too close with this design to start re-designing it now. Great thought though and one I hadn't come up with. Maybe I'll be able to come up with something to make it work in the future.



The Noctua is an intake and the Gelid fans are exhaust. That can of course be flipped depending on which way you decide to orient the case. If the GPU is on top I assume the Noctua would be the exhaust and the Gelid fans intake. As for the C7, there are a few millimeters of clearance (probably around 2-3) but with the C7 92mm adapter in place, the standard 92mm x 25mm fan will not fit in this case (see below pictures).





As for the laser cutter/engraver, I have done all the work to create eps files for Ponoko.com and had them quote me on their prices. Basically, a single S401 side panel with the same hex patter on 0.177" thick clear acrylic is going to be around $80 a panel. For the larger S700 case (which requires 2 window panels), each one is around $70 each. The price difference is due to the fewer holes cut on the S700 panels for less machine time due to fewer holes being cut. I figure if I ordered 10 of each, I'm halfway to purchasing my own laser cutter and then I can do some really custom work on the side panels if I want. No decision has been made yet, but I'm heavily leaning towards it.

Update on next revision:

I requested the fab shop to turn around the next revision ASAP with "money not being an object". It will be pricey but I only needed to relocate a few holes for the GPU and I also added 6 PEM tie down fasteners. I don't have their timeframe on when to expect this one to be done but I got the impression it would be punched this week.

I wanted to add that I dropped support for the HDPLex PSUs. The volume was nearly the same when you consider I added internal mounts for the brick AC/DC adapter and the price compared to existing SFX PSUs was nearly double for less wattage. It has it's place but I'm convinced it is better suited for smaller cases than the S401.

Cool, thanks for the extra pictures. I don't use an adapter plate to get my fan on but even so, it looks like a pretty sizable gap. I think I've still got that stock fan around here somewhere and I'm sure I'll have time to come up with some sort of solution. I'm sure that having the exhaust fans will help offset any loss of cooling.

I know this is a niche request within a niche request, but has there been any update on the dust filter side of things? I know it's going to uglify the pretty vent pattern, but I just live with too many airborne particles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DSmithBYU

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
Cool, thanks for the extra pictures. I don't use an adapter plate to get my fan on but even so, it looks like a pretty sizable gap. I think I've still got that stock fan around here somewhere and I'm sure I'll have time to come up with some sort of solution. I'm sure that having the exhaust fans will help offset any loss of cooling.

I know this is a niche request within a niche request, but has there been any update on the dust filter side of things? I know it's going to uglify the pretty vent pattern, but I just live with too many airborne particles.

I ordered some stock Demciflex filters and they have been shipped so I should have some pictures this weekend hopefully. I designed the vent pattern to allow for a dual 140mm filter to fit nicely but I realized that the gap in between the vents might mean that a few mm of the vent pattern will be covered using these filters. I wish there was a source for filters like Demciflex but with thinner edges. Regardless, I'll get pictures up as soon as I can.
 
  • Like
Reactions: annasoh323

Aranel

Cable Smoosher
Jan 5, 2018
10
4
I ordered some stock Demciflex filters and they have been shipped so I should have some pictures this weekend hopefully. I designed the vent pattern to allow for a dual 140mm filter to fit nicely but I realized that the gap in between the vents might mean that a few mm of the vent pattern will be covered using these filters. I wish there was a source for filters like Demciflex but with thinner edges. Regardless, I'll get pictures up as soon as I can.

Hi grsychckn, only a question, is there much clearance in your opinion for decimflex filters to be put inside the case?

Moreover, are you planning to run a test for the Temps? I'm eager to se how these fans can handle air flow!
Thank you!
 
Last edited:

grsychckn

SFF Guru
Original poster
Salvo Studios
Oct 11, 2017
1,093
1,845
Hi grsychckn, only a question, is there much clearance in your opinion for decimflex filters to be put inside the case?

Moreover, are you planning to run a test for the Temps? I'm eager to se how these fans can handle air flow!
Thank you!

It all depends on the size of the GPU and the CPU heatsink/fan. With the C7 and the stock Vega 64, I think there will be enough room inside to mount the filters. I of course can test this and give necessary clearances once I receive them - although I'll also need the latest revision of the main part as well to get final dimensions. Regardless, I'll get some measurements once I have everything in hand and update the first post as well as my website.

As an aside, if you are interested in signing up for a pre-order please sign up for my newsletter on my website as I will probably open up the order page for a few days while I test functionality. I was late in ordering from Li-Heat the PCIe extenders so I will only be getting a quantity of 50 to hold me over until September. Now I believe this will be more than sufficient for a long while but it's hard to judge just how fast they may sell.
 
  • Like
Reactions: annasoh323