Production S700: Salvo Studios <23L ATX Steel Watercooled Unibody Chassis

[duynguyenle]

Quote came back and looks good. I'm moving forward with the prototype after I provide them with one more revision for very minor changes. The fabricator has a 5-6 week lead time and I have to absorb the cost of some of the fasteners as they have a minimum order quantity.

Based on that lead time, are we looking at maybe January-February time for finalising the design and ordering? Or do you plan on a couple of rounds of prototypes for iterative improvements (not that I'm in any hurry, with so much new hardware announcements in the next couple of weeks, I'm still in a wait-and-see mode to determine what kinda PC upgrades would be best for my use case).

Still, would be nice to know what your rough plan is regarding timelines.

 

[grsychckn]

Based on that lead time, are we looking at maybe January-February time for finalising the design and ordering?

That seems about right. I'm not done negotiating with them though as my plasma cutter is supposed to arrive in a few weeks. I might be able to speed up the prototype if I can cut my own parts and ship those to them for bending. Not entirely sure if they would be willing to do that (or if it would save time/money) but I'll find out this week.

One thing I've learned is that it always takes longer than you expect. Mostly because I'm at the mercy of the fabricators and they have many higher-volume jobs that understandably take priority.

 

[Vacceo]

So that means Santa orders... How much will you expect the cost per unit to be?

 

[grsychckn]

So that means Santa orders... How much will you expect the cost per unit to be?

I don't have final figures yet as I only know the expected cost for each unit from the fabricator. I still have to choose a source for the buttons, USB front panel adapter, fasteners, acrylic, packing & shipping, PCIe riser cables, etc. My current estimation will be $250-300 final price. I would love to be able to sell them less expensively but I can't operate as a charity. I have to maintain a profit because a lot of my own time is tied up in these projects as well. I am approaching burn-out stage right now at the end of the S402 cycle.

 

[duynguyenle]

I don't have final figures yet as I only know the expected cost for each unit from the fabricator. I still have to choose a source for the buttons, USB front panel adapter, fasteners, acrylic, packing & shipping, PCIe riser cables, etc. My current estimation will be $250-300 final price. I would love to be able to sell them less expensively but I can't operate as a charity. I have to maintain a profit because a lot of my own time is tied up in these projects as well. I am approaching burn-out stage right now at the end of the S402 cycle.

Totally understandable and I do greatly appreciate your work and effort (especially since you're fronting the cost of manufacturing instead of the group-buy model most small boutique makers use).

 

[Retrias]

I don't have final figures yet as I only know the expected cost for each unit from the fabricator. I still have to choose a source for the buttons, USB front panel adapter, fasteners, acrylic, packing & shipping, PCIe riser cables, etc. My current estimation will be $250-300 final price. I would love to be able to sell them less expensively but I can't operate as a charity. I have to maintain a profit because a lot of my own time is tied up in these projects as well. I am approaching burn-out stage right now at the end of the S402 cycle.

I dont mind it being around that price since I believe the quality would be on par with the price and it isnt a "ATX/MATX as cost saving" case, it is a "ATX and further as far as it can case " I would imagine the ideal image of the case are all high end workstation watercooled component instead of mid end products

 

[Vacceo]

I don't have final figures yet as I only know the expected cost for each unit from the fabricator. I still have to choose a source for the buttons, USB front panel adapter, fasteners, acrylic, packing & shipping, PCIe riser cables, etc. My current estimation will be $250-300 final price. I would love to be able to sell them less expensively but I can't operate as a charity. I have to maintain a profit because a lot of my own time is tied up in these projects as well. I am approaching burn-out stage right now at the end of the S402 cycle.

You are not In Win or Phanteks and honestly, 300 bucks is a very, very fair price for your creation considering you ar not selling them on the thousands (I wish you that level of success, though!)

I think we'd get a lot of nice features and ingenuity for the price. Nothing to complain on that.

 

[vutorious]

Don't think you have to sell at a loss - a lot of SFF cases fall into the boutique realm of cases due to the time it takes to design a case with such tight clearances. Take your design time into account when figuring pricing. This allows you to continue to work on new models/iterations should you choose to.

 

[grsychckn]

Thanks for all the support. It is always a battle to justify the price though as even I'd like the prices to come down. Some small things will help lower the cost, like buying the acrylic in volume, using more standard M3 screws, no PSU extension cable, etc.

Just from what I know I'm going to need, my costs are looking to be around $220/case as an early estimation. If I decide to add PCIe gen 4.0 support (or optional upgrade), that will add another $50 alone.

Regardless, I'm going to make my final adjustments this week and submit for prototyping on Nov 2nd (one week from today). Updates will come as I get them.

 

[Vacceo]

By now the prototype should be submitted, so I guess we will have news relatively soon. Best luck on the whole process.

 

[grsychckn]

By now the prototype should be submitted, so I guess we will have news relatively soon. Best luck on the whole process.

The prototype has been submitted. I had some problems with clearances around the corners so I decided to change from rivets to TIG welds on the flange laps. It is more expensive, but should allow me the clearance I need for the radiators to mount flush. Also, I have to change the material out to cold-rolled steel but that shouldn't make a difference to the quality as it will still be powder coated.

 

[Vacceo]

The prototype has been submitted. I had some problems with clearances around the corners so I decided to change from rivets to TIG welds on the flange laps. It is more expensive, but should allow me the clearance I need for the radiators to mount flush. Also, I have to change the material out to cold-rolled steel but that shouldn't make a difference to the quality as it will still be powder coated.

With the low stock on new hardware (30 series, Big Navi, Ryzen 5000...) I am not in a terrible hurry to place an order on this case, so hopefully by Junuary I should have all I need to submit nice pics of a complete build.

I love how much effort and care you´re putting on this case. With the accumulated experience of your previous projects, this one should be outstanding.

 

[froznsm]

This case ticks almost all the boxes for me. Even the projected timelines line up well with mine.

While reading through the thread a question regarding the 120mm reservoir/pump mount next to the PSU came up for me:
The EK FLT 120 DDC (which has been used as the goto 120mm pump/res combo in this thread) has a height of 58mm, but the back chaimber is only 67 mm wide. that leaves 9 mm for fittings, as the FLT only has ports on the front of the unit. I am not aware of any fitting that thin. As I am new to most of watercooling and sff I expect to be missing something here!?

Anyway, I am excited for how the prototype comes out! Keep up the good work!

 

[duynguyenle]

This case ticks almost all the boxes for me. Even the projected timelines line up well with mine.

While reading through the thread a question regarding the 120mm reservoir/pump mount next to the PSU came up for me:
The EK FLT 120 DDC (which has been used as the goto 120mm pump/res combo in this thread) has a height of 58mm, but the back chaimber is only 67 mm wide. that leaves 9 mm for fittings, as the FLT only has ports on the front of the unit. I am not aware of any fitting that thin. As I am new to most of watercooling and sff I expect to be missing something here!?

Anyway, I am excited for how the prototype comes out! Keep up the good work!

Yeah you're missing the two ports on the bottom:

 

[grsychckn]

This case ticks almost all the boxes for me. Even the projected timelines line up well with mine.

While reading through the thread a question regarding the 120mm reservoir/pump mount next to the PSU came up for me:
The EK FLT 120 DDC (which has been used as the goto 120mm pump/res combo in this thread) has a height of 58mm, but the back chaimber is only 67 mm wide. that leaves 9 mm for fittings, as the FLT only has ports on the front of the unit. I am not aware of any fitting that thin. As I am new to most of watercooling and sff I expect to be missing something here!?

Anyway, I am excited for how the prototype comes out! Keep up the good work!

@duynguyenle Is correct, but I'm going to post a quick modified image below of the 120 unit with circles around the inlet/outlet to show which ones you'd have to use.



This is the rear of the unit, which means the inlet/outlet would actually face directly towards the front radiator. Below is a mock-up of how it *should* work in the S700 (red circles are inlet/outlet).

 

[froznsm]

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Vacceo]

With Black Friday ahead and in anticipation of this case, I was thinking about buying some hardware for it at discount. So far, the mobo, gpu, cpu, ram and hd are up in the air, so those will come at a later moment.

However, what I will try to get is a PSU (aiming for an SFX-L), two 280mm radiators (I´m thinking about a thinner HWL GTS for the top and a thicker GTX for the front), four noctua 140mm fans, an EK FTL reservoir with a DDC pump. All these components should fit without any modification or issue, right?

 

[grsychckn]

With Black Friday ahead and in anticipation of this case, I was thinking about buying some hardware for it at discount. So far, the mobo, gpu, cpu, ram and hd are up in the air, so those will come at a later moment.

However, what I will try to get is a PSU (aiming for an SFX-L), two 280mm radiators (I´m thinking about a thinner HWL GTS for the top and a thicker GTX for the front), four noctua 140mm fans, an EK FTL reservoir with a DDC pump. All these components should fit without any modification or issue, right?

First, I cannot advise strongly enough to avoid purchases made for this case while it has yet to complete the prototyping phase. Everything from design changes to me getting hit by a bus would mean no S700 as it currently exists.

Disclaimers out of the way and assuming all 280mm radiators, the current design is targeting a front radiator + fan depth clearance of up to 108mm when paired with a motherboard of length 11" or less. Mainboards longer than 11" will need to trade their additional length for shallower front radiator/fan combos. The top radiator/fan depth should be upwards of 74mm. Things to consider here would be any mainboard connectors that would angle away from the board at a 90-degree angle. Also, consider cable management as things like the 12V CPU power cables will need to be routed from the rear chamber.

I am personally going to use the EK FTL reservoir with a DDC pump installed. I've purchased that hardware so I'm quite certain that will be supported (at least the 240mm version).

 

[Vacceo]

First, I cannot advise strongly enough to avoid purchases made for this case while it has yet to complete the prototyping phase. Everything from design changes to me getting hit by a bus would mean no S700 as it currently exists.

Disclaimers out of the way and assuming all 280mm radiators, the current design is targeting a front radiator + fan depth clearance of up to 108mm when paired with a motherboard of length 11" or less. Mainboards longer than 11" will need to trade their additional length for shallower front radiator/fan combos. The top radiator/fan depth should be upwards of 74mm. Things to consider here would be any mainboard connectors that would angle away from the board at a 90-degree angle. Also, consider cable management as things like the 12V CPU power cables will need to be routed from the rear chamber.

I am personally going to use the EK FTL reservoir with a DDC pump installed. I've purchased that hardware so I'm quite certain that will be supported (at least the 240mm version).

The parts I listed above are common enough to be "transplanted" to a gazillon other far larger cases that can take an ATX mobo, so worst case scenario, if you cannot release the case, the parts can be recicled into a standard larger ATX case, so it wouldn´t be wasted. It will not be my best option, but the O11 Dynamic mini could be the closest to your case I´d use. Make sure the blueprints reach Lian Li if you´re taken to Area 51...

Thanks for the confirmation on the clearences and sizes. The parts I mentioned should fit and effectively provide quite a lot of headroom with thermals (the HWL GTX is, by experience, an absolute beast).

 

[grsychckn]

Update: I was contacted by the fabricator informing me that not all the fasteners I called out will be readily available and so I'm having to make a last minute change to one set of standoffs (for front panel PCB). Good news is that the parts have already been completed and awaiting final fastener insertion, then off to paint before shipping to me. I'm guessing it will still be a week to ten days before I see the prototype, but so far so good.