Hello,
I have been a really satisfied user of S4M-C cases. I love them and I accept their limits in terms of upgradability and cooling.
the internal of the chassis is well designed, has many ideas and I think the creativity should continue on the sidepanels, too. they must not be just 'plain' sheets of aluminium
there are already a number of mods I really like (e.g. the cutout for high memory modules or the acrylic insert)
Please consider my thoughts here only as a brain dump and not for something I will create or want to see in production. I began to think about it because I plan to install a 120W CPU in my S4M-C and definitely need to improve cooling. the easiest way would be to simply cut the sidepanel in front of the 120mm slim fan (10 C in difference of temperatures with sidepanel on or off). but if I cut out then could have either a 120x25 fan swap or stacking 2 120x15's (one inside and one outside). or stacking a 120x25 over. but I would like to avoid the mess with wiring because the cable should be pretty long in order to easily install and remove the sidepanel.
I am thinking about multi-purpose connectors at the edges of sidepanels with wires routed between the skyslots. the sidepanel can have cut outs for optional components, but initially all cut outs have the original material (and pattern continued) so the side panel pretty much looks like the original one apart from the traces of the cuts.
optional components could be of different sizes like
- fans (e.g 92mm, 120mm or 140mm on the CPU side and 2x80, 2x92 or 1x120 or 1x140mm on the GPU side; 40mm under the motherboard for m.2 ssd)
- connectors (USB, audio, etc if you do not have enough on the mobo I/O panel and not willing to sacrifice dual slot PCIe card, either)
- displays (I rather can immagine some status display with frequencies, temperature, load but e.g. a 12.1" fhd display can be fully functional)
- lights? I am not a big fan of lights but even addressable LED strips or standalone LED(s) might work
- storage (especially thin sata ssd)
- etc
most of the additional components could be attached from the outside. both for positioning and keeping them in place I would use magnets. small inserts in the side panel and e.g. special screws in the fan or plastic inserts holding four tiny magnets in the screw holes.
power (and signal) would be connected through something similar to Apple's magnetic charging cable connector (or something much more cheaper).
the bottom of the S4M-C side panel is 'inserted' into the chassis so there could be an easy point to create the connections. it does not need to be as sophisticated as a pci slot but a one used by e.g. Alienware to power on the LED's in sidepanels. simply four pieces of copper pressed against for other ones. for a fan that would be sufficient.
I know this concept has actually more disadvantages than advantages so it is definitely not something good for production. furthermore none of the components I mentioned above are to be frequently replaced so using magnets is pretty useless but I find it cool even further inserting e.g. a display into sidepanel makes the cooling worse (unless using studs and making the display 'float' in front of the sidepanel). on top of those cabling could further reduce the clearance (depending on the cabling and routing of course). and the quality of cabling might not be too important in case of fans but it is in case of e.g. audio connectors or a display.
but still
I have been a really satisfied user of S4M-C cases. I love them and I accept their limits in terms of upgradability and cooling.
the internal of the chassis is well designed, has many ideas and I think the creativity should continue on the sidepanels, too. they must not be just 'plain' sheets of aluminium
there are already a number of mods I really like (e.g. the cutout for high memory modules or the acrylic insert)Please consider my thoughts here only as a brain dump and not for something I will create or want to see in production. I began to think about it because I plan to install a 120W CPU in my S4M-C and definitely need to improve cooling. the easiest way would be to simply cut the sidepanel in front of the 120mm slim fan (10 C in difference of temperatures with sidepanel on or off). but if I cut out then could have either a 120x25 fan swap or stacking 2 120x15's (one inside and one outside). or stacking a 120x25 over. but I would like to avoid the mess with wiring because the cable should be pretty long in order to easily install and remove the sidepanel.
I am thinking about multi-purpose connectors at the edges of sidepanels with wires routed between the skyslots. the sidepanel can have cut outs for optional components, but initially all cut outs have the original material (and pattern continued) so the side panel pretty much looks like the original one apart from the traces of the cuts.
optional components could be of different sizes like
- fans (e.g 92mm, 120mm or 140mm on the CPU side and 2x80, 2x92 or 1x120 or 1x140mm on the GPU side; 40mm under the motherboard for m.2 ssd)
- connectors (USB, audio, etc if you do not have enough on the mobo I/O panel and not willing to sacrifice dual slot PCIe card, either)
- displays (I rather can immagine some status display with frequencies, temperature, load but e.g. a 12.1" fhd display can be fully functional)
- lights? I am not a big fan of lights but even addressable LED strips or standalone LED(s) might work
- storage (especially thin sata ssd)
- etc
most of the additional components could be attached from the outside. both for positioning and keeping them in place I would use magnets. small inserts in the side panel and e.g. special screws in the fan or plastic inserts holding four tiny magnets in the screw holes.
power (and signal) would be connected through something similar to Apple's magnetic charging cable connector (or something much more cheaper).
the bottom of the S4M-C side panel is 'inserted' into the chassis so there could be an easy point to create the connections. it does not need to be as sophisticated as a pci slot but a one used by e.g. Alienware to power on the LED's in sidepanels. simply four pieces of copper pressed against for other ones. for a fan that would be sufficient.
I know this concept has actually more disadvantages than advantages
so it is definitely not something good for production. furthermore none of the components I mentioned above are to be frequently replaced so using magnets is pretty useless but I find it cool even further inserting e.g. a display into sidepanel makes the cooling worse (unless using studs and making the display 'float' in front of the sidepanel). on top of those cabling could further reduce the clearance (depending on the cabling and routing of course). and the quality of cabling might not be too important in case of fans but it is in case of e.g. audio connectors or a display.but still
