Completed Salvo Studios S402: ~9L Steel Console Style Case

[grsychckn]

10/30/2020 Update
I am still waiting on my fabricator's painter to rework some of the parts that had scratches from shipping (back in July). These are the last units of the S402 I will be selling. There is a possibility I revise the design again, but would not likely have stock of anything until mid-2021.

I have no expected delivery date for the remaining S402 units. I've pushed back on the fabricator to have a solution or offer me a choice other than reworking the parts because it has taken so long. As I receive more information I'll post here. Sorry to all who have been patiently waiting but there's literally nothing more I can do at this time but be patient.

 

[chiapet]

I saw this PCIe 4.0 riser cable on LINKUP's website that says it's left-angled. Was wondering if this will allow for using a 3-slot GPU (the RTX 3090 FE, in my particular case)?

28cm - Ultra PCIe 4.0 X16 Riser Cable Extreme - 270 Degree Socket

New 2020 PCIe 4.0 revision. No BSOD, or WUE / WHEA Error free. More headroom works for overclocked CPUs and GPUs. LINKUP Riser Cables feature technology used in the construction of OCuLink, 8639 U.2, and SAS cables that are tested to reach speeds of 160GB/s for the sum of all x16 channels...

linkup.one

 

[grsychckn]

I saw this PCIe 4.0 riser cable on LINKUP's website that says it's left-angled. Was wondering if this will allow for using a 3-slot GPU (the RTX 3090 FE, in my particular case)?

28cm - Ultra PCIe 4.0 X16 Riser Cable Extreme - 270 Degree Socket

New 2020 PCIe 4.0 revision. No BSOD, or WUE / WHEA Error free. More headroom works for overclocked CPUs and GPUs. LINKUP Riser Cables feature technology used in the construction of OCuLink, 8639 U.2, and SAS cables that are tested to reach speeds of 160GB/s for the sum of all x16 channels...

linkup.one

Good eye. I recently purchased two and they do not work. Performance is all over the place and at times dips below 20fps in Overwatch (normally I get 100+ minimums using Gen 3.0 riser). I just don't think there is a good option available right now (I've also tried the LinkUp Extreme but that one wouldn't even boot).

If you wanted to try for yourself, the left-angled version is compatible with the S402.

 

[chiapet]

Thanks for the insight. Just to confirm, you haven't tried this latest left-angled version, correct? On the product page, they are saying they've tried this with an RTX 3080 and X570 motherboard successfully. I'm not sure they had claimed the same testing for the two riser cables you purchased before.

 

[grsychckn]

Thanks for the insight. Just to confirm, you haven't tried this latest left-angled version, correct? On the product page, they are saying they've tried this with an RTX 3080 and X570 motherboard successfully. I'm not sure they had claimed the same testing for the two riser cables you purchased before.

I have two of the "left-hand" versions and they don't work with my X570, 3950X, and 5700XT. I can get it to boot into Windows, but when I go to play games, the GPU stutters and has horrible performance. When I contacted them for suggestions to try in order to debug the issue, they simply replied with an RMA for a refund.

These are the brand new models that just were released. They are labeled with the "tested on 3080" stickers and they don't work with my system. I'm not sure what their testing procedures are but they don't work for me. Perhaps the 3000-series RTX cards are more forgiving, but I don't have one to test.

 

[chiapet]

Ah okay. That's disappointing to hear. I will probably give it a shot to see if it works with the 3090. At least the included riser cable with the case is a fallback option. I hear there is almost negligible difference between 3.0 and 4.0 for GPU performance, even with the newest generation, so it's probably moot for now anyway.

 

[Diamorif]

Could it be the Pcie speed in the bios?

 

[grsychckn]

Could it be the Pcie speed in the bios?

Do you mean whether it is x16 or x8? If so, I'd be curious to know if there is a benefit of running Gen 4.0 at x8 speeds instead of Gen 3 at x16. If not, please elaborate as I am probably missing something that could be critical in getting it working.

 

[grsychckn]

Ah okay. That's disappointing to hear. I will probably give it a shot to see if it works with the 3090. At least the included riser cable with the case is a fallback option. I hear there is almost negligible difference between 3.0 and 4.0 for GPU performance, even with the newest generation, so it's probably moot for now anyway.

Agreed. I'm sure there will be some risers to be released that will work flawlessly, but I feel right now like it's a gamble. Total guess on my part, but it feels like LinkUp is producing the same cable and "binning" them based on a set of internal tests they run. Cables that pass certain tests are labeled gen 4.0 compatible and the rest are sold as gen 3. I might be wrong but this would help explain why cables such as mine seem to work in light tasks but fail intermittently under load.

Also, the LinkUp cables are not cheap. I spent $75US for each of the two cables I bought, and then paid shipping on top of that. For $75, I feel like a 1-5% performance increase is not worth the price of admission (just my opinion).

 

[grsychckn]

5 minutes after posting here I found a thread on Reddit suggesting the gen 4.0 riser cable problems could be related to a combination of AM4 ITX boards paired with RX 5700XT GPUs. This would explain why the cables I purchased don't work but I have no RTX 3000-series cards to test with though.

 

[chiapet]

Thanks for finding and sharing that Reddit post. That makes me hopeful my combo will work. I'm still waiting to catch a 5900X or 5950X in stock before I can try out the cable for sure. I'll report back, once I'm able to assemble all the parts.

 

[CorerMaximus]

From what I've been reading- PCIe 4.0 biforcation is nearly non-existent, with riser cables being the first thing to be ironed out in the coming months. With that, I wanted to express interest in a possible matx alternative to the s402. It looks like it would add about 20mm in terms of width to the case (still under 100mm), but add expansion that would benefit a matx motherboard.

 

[CorerMaximus]

10/30/2020 Update
I am still waiting on my fabricator's painter to rework some of the parts that had scratches from shipping (back in July). These are the last units of the S402 I will be selling. There is a possibility I revise the design again, but would not likely have stock of anything until mid-2021.

I have no expected delivery date for the remaining S402 units. I've pushed back on the fabricator to have a solution or offer me a choice other than reworking the parts because it has taken so long. As I receive more information I'll post here. Sorry to all who have been patiently waiting but there's literally nothing more I can do at this time but be patient.

To confirm- these units are going on the store and are purchasable; or are they already pre-ordered?

 

[grsychckn]

To confirm- these units are going on the store and are purchasable; or are they already pre-ordered?

I just received notice that the fabricator has shipped me some of the remaining units. I think all the units are incoming but I won't hold my breath until I'm able to actually put hands on and count them.

These units have not been pre-ordered. I will make them available as soon as I can get them pre-assembled and ready for shipping. I will announce here and via the newsletter their availability.

 

[grsychckn]

From what I've been reading- PCIe 4.0 biforcation is nearly non-existent, with riser cables being the first thing to be ironed out in the coming months. With that, I wanted to express interest in a possible matx alternative to the s402. It looks like it would add about 20mm in terms of width to the case (still under 100mm), but add expansion that would benefit a matx motherboard.

First, I like the idea and have thought about it for some time. Namely, supporting mATX boards but instead of and SFX PSU mount, using a FlexATX in an attempt to try and keep the thickness of the console design at a minimum.

However, I'm not sure where you are only adding 20mm to the width. To normalize our verbage I want to define the dimensional terms as such:


standard dimensions: mATX 9.6" x 9.6" (244mm x 244mm), ITX 6.7" x 6.7" (170mm x 170mm)
A Length of 327mm is not enough to support an mATX board with an SFX PSU (4.92" or 124.97mm). The total length required at a minimum would be 368.81mm (+extra for tolerance). That's an increase in the length dimension of 42mm (327mm - 369mm).

Then, I would have to ensure the GPU/PCIe devices can now clear the mATX board as well. The difference in height between the ITX and mATX is the same as the length (~74mm). Now, some games can be played here to try and overlap the PCIe device above the actual PCIe slot on the mainboard. However, most people want a 3-slot option and I'm unsure just how much width would need to be added to support a 2-slot PCIe device even if it were overlapping the mainboard. Let's assume 3-slot support is required. I would at minimum need to add the ~74mm to the height just to clear the mATX board and support the larger, wider 3-slot cards that the existing S402 supports.

This brings our new dimensions to:
369mm x 78.7mm x 442.3mm or 12.84L

A change in volume of 3.36L. I think there could be a good market for this design though as mATX boards support more PCIe slots (without bifurcation requirements to use more than 1 PCIe device), more m.2 NVMe options, generally a more affordable price, and better availability. Interested to hear any thoughts on this.

 

[CorerMaximus]

Hmm- actually- removing that extra one slot of height I suggested adding in the picture makes sense. Most people using the additional pcie slot are probably connecting a 1 slot device anyways in most cases. In all honesty- I'd buy one- the extra ram slots and pcie slot would be amazing to have.

 

[grsychckn]

Update: I received the last parts from the fabricator yesterday. I still have hours of assembly and packing to do before I make them available on my site but I'm trying to get them on my website this Tuesday (Nov. 24th). I'll still post here and send a newsletter out as soon as they become available.

 

[CorerMaximus]

Nice! I'm really hoping I'm able to snag one this round!

 

[CorerMaximus]

I don't suppose the Demciflex filters are going to make a return for this one, right? So if we want one of those- we would need to buy one/ contact Demiflix directly?

 

[grsychckn]

I don't suppose the Demciflex filters are going to make a return for this one, right? So if we want one of those- we would need to buy one/ contact Demiflix directly?

Yes, you'll need to buy directly from them. The link below should work and if it doesn't please let me know.

C1416 - 355mm x 305mm

DEMCiflex Magnetic Computer Dust Filter Keep dust out of computer clean

www.demcifilter.com