Production SENTRY 2.0: Evolution of console-sized gaming PC case

[SaperPL]

Wraith Prism RGB (the one coming with 3700X) is significantly better than NH-L9i/a. Wraith Prism won't fit inside Sentry because it's like 92mm tall iirc.

Right now it is pretty hard for us to run the actual thermal tests of 3700X because the voltage/turbo control is all over the place in bios/agesa.
With all the recent updates installed our 3700X is maxing out turbo with any load racing towards Tj Max of 95c, so theory that turbo is dependant on how much more headroom there is, doesn't seem to work out currently. It's behaving identically thermally as previous generations 65W TDP SKUs when I disable turbo in bios, so I'm waiting for the fix of it. I've submitted the ticket for amd about this bug with all the info they wanted and it got pushed internally to be looked at with notion that they are aware of the issue.

So right now it's pretty hard to talk about thermals of Zen2 because of the bleeding edge stage of bios support...

 

[LeandroB]

Those bios problens don't worry me much, till Sentry arrives it will probably be fixed already, but right now i'm really not sure if i should build a new rig when my Sentry arrives, or if i should wait for the next CPU gen.
Zen 2 is amazing and a 3700x is quite the leap from what i have, but if Intel manages to strike back we can have some serious competition in the next generation i think. Mean while, i'm pretty happy with my setup, i'm currently running on a i7-4790K in an ATX ff. Old, but can easily delivers for at least one or two more years.
But i also want my Sentry build soooo bad.

 

[SaperPL]

I don't expect intel to make a leap that would be reasonable for SFF chassis with a low profile cooler. That's not going to be their priority, they need to focus on becoming a top dog in the mainstream and not only by having fastest CPU but also having a best bang for your buck ones. They will add more cores and maybe reduce power draw a bit, but I assume those will still be 125W+ CPUs that are "intel 95W TDP". It would be cool if intel came back with copper core box coolers, maybe some improved ones to combat the price difference because of the wraith prism being bundled with top tier Ryzen SKUs.

If at all, it might be good to wait a bit for the second Zen2 launch when 16-core 3950X comes and potentially a 65W non-X 3900 variant (according to the EU economics commission database entry for those?) if 12 cores are in your range of interest, maybe even 16-core 65W would happen.

I'm actually worried about the bios issues with Zen2 because it may happen that a lot of boards from previous generation will be in a state where they push more voltage just to be sure it'll be stable and in effect those chips will run pretty hot, which will make it a pretty bad combo with 65W TDP CPUs.

 

[Treshy]

does anyone know if this ssd will fit on the back side of the asrock x570 itx board with the cooler installed in a sentry 2.0?

 

[SaperPL]

m.2 form factor is made to fit within clearance defined by ATX form factor specification so it has to fit if the chassis is mITX compliant. It would be really bad to not comply to this specific restriction when making a chassis.

 

[x111]

any plans to make this case out of aluminum ?

 

[LeandroB]

any plans to make this case out of aluminum ?

Why would you want it in alumínum, mate?
Im not being sarcástic, real question here.

 

[LeandroB]

To be honest i don't expect much from Intel for now, but i don't think AMD will like to lose its edge now. They will probably push hard with the Zen 3 to keep Intel at bay.
I understand why you are worried about the voltage isdue, i bet you can really use the 12 or 16 cores on your job.
As for me, Im counting in it to be fixed, but since i don't require more than 8 cores i don't worry much. But out will ber hella upseting and absurd if they don't fix it.

 

[x111]

Why would you want it in alumínum, mate?
Im not being sarcástic, real question here.

ok, let see,
1. significant weight redaction.
2. no rust.
3. significantly better thermal conductivity.

I am kind of begin to look at Z-CASE P50 but it has useless glass panel and forcing me to nail my own aluminium panel.

 

[Instran0]

any plans to make this case out of aluminum ?

i can do it.

 

[Treshy]

m.2 form factor is made to fit within clearance defined by ATX form factor specification so it has to fit if the chassis is mITX compliant. It would be really bad to not comply to this specific restriction when making a chassis.

I think I forgot posting the link, sorry for that. the ssd I was talking about is the corsair MP600 with the big heatsink.

 

[Atremo]

I ordered a cooltek itx30 copper , TDP 100w only 30mm tall, so there's some space between the top panel, allready got my cryorig but didn't noticed the noise article before (example in Dan a4 case with Cryorig c7 on youtube) jet engine lol.
Not sure if i'm going to build a complete new pc, probably a rebuild with the new Sentry 2.0 . I'm using a Intel 4690 atm and gtx 980 and 8gig ram. I'm not sure if I really need a 6 core, i only surf/ mail and play Day of Defeat and Chess Maybe for futureproof?

 

[Atremo]

To be honest i don't expect much from Intel for now, but i don't think AMD will like to lose its edge now. They will probably push hard with the Zen 3 to keep Intel at bay.
I understand why you are worried about the voltage isdue, i bet you can really use the 12 or 16 cores on your job.
As for me, Im counting in it to be fixed, but since i don't require more than 8 cores i don't worry much. But out will ber hella upseting and absurd if they don't fix it.

I know enough Ram is important for playing high end games, not sure 6 or 8 cores matters? I have a 4690 and gtx 980 but not really gaming.

 

[SaperPL]

any plans to make this case out of aluminum ?

ok, let see,
1. significant weight redaction.
2. no rust.
3. significantly better thermal conductivity.

I have answered this like hundred times already, but okay

Aluminium has lower density which makes it lighter but also softer. This means you need thicker aluminium sheets if you want to weld them or press in threaded bushings, so it's not necessarily a weight saving on its own.

Sentry is made as a self supporting structure because of that and it is the main factor that is saving space in Sentry. Note that whole chunks of the case come out so you can have free access for installation of each component (apart from AIO which is complex procedure and another topic).

Sentry uses welding to save space and make it look properly at the same time - with aluminium and rivets you can have one without the other - you can use rivets in an internal frame and it will be bigger or you can have rivets everywhere on the outside in fairly random spots in context of the aesthetic design, that are supporting the internal structure.

Weld points need to be covered by the paint/powder coating because they are really visible (you are melting and mixing the metal in the spot where it's welding) and thus even if we had aluminium case that is welded, we'd have to paint it over unless there's some kind of repeatable procedure to brush the weld spot to a point it's indistinguishable from the rest of the surface.

As for rusting - we are using galvanised steel, so with powder coating it's technically double protected against rust. If you scratch the paint, the rust won't start coming under the paint making it fall off in huge portions like you usually see on rusting steel pieces. Also if you somehow go through the galvanic coating but the scratch is narrow, this galvanic surface should still work against rusting from the sides of the scratch.

Obviously it's not indestructible, nothing is so if you hit the powder coating with something harder with sharper edge, then it'll scratch or chip-off, but while the first prototypes that were not painted and were made with normal steel are rusting like hell all over them, I don't remember seeing any rust on anything that was already painted and used for testing. Even those cases that I've been using personally, dragging around in the backpack back and forth on a bus did not rust where it were damaged.

As for the weight, well, once again it's a trade-off for getting better protection of your components if you are taking it with yourself when you travel.
With Sentry you can take it in anything that can fit it inside while with other aluminium cases you might have to go with something fully padded specific for the shape.

I am kind of begin to look at Z-CASE P50 but it has useless glass panel and forcing me to nail my own aluminium panel.

I actually didn't knew they started selling it. I've seen they failed to crowdfund it on Kickstarter. This design is neat, but flex PSU is a terrible idea IMO. Also as you said, the glass panel makes it completely different target than Sentry's.

 

[Treshy]

Just ordered the 3800x I plan to put in this build, now I just need to wait for a deal for the AsRock ITX x570 board and then the 5700xt custom card release... I'm so hyped for this Sentry build I cant wait any longer ?

 

[Brude27]

The recent Indiegogo update has me incredibly excited! I plan to custom sleeve the cables for my Sentry, and it looks like it’s about that time to begin ordering the colors/wire/connectors I’m going to use! Thanks for all you do to keep us in the loop @ZombiPL @SaperPL ! It’s been great being a part of the Sentry 2.0 campaign!

 

[LeChuck81]

@SaperPL
Just read the last update on the 2.0, one of those black version should be mine's ?
Quick question. How's the PCIe 4.0 support with the provided riser? Do you maybe plan on offering an optional 4.0 compliant one in the future?

 

[SaperPL]

Quick question. How's the PCIe 4.0 support with the provided riser?

[/QUOTE]
Look at the previous update - there's the info about the pci-e 4.0 you should check out.

Do you maybe plan on offering an optional 4.0 compliant one in the future?

We will have to wait and see if our subcontractor is going to offer pci-e 4.0 compliance.
Right now there aren't many 4.0 compliant devices and using a riser is such niche configuration that it'll take some time before the 4.0 gets mainstream/standard for risers.

 

[Treshy]

well considering pcie 4.0 ran on a lot of non x570 boards not optimised for it, and the fact that the sentry 2.0 riser is a rigid pcb version it should work for pcie 4.0 in most cases. Ill definitely check it out once I get my 5700 xt (and the case, obviously).

 

[SaperPL]

The thing is that 5700XT doesn't saturate pci-e 4.0 x16 so we don't really know if fully utilising the bandwidth through a riser will be stable and without transmission errors.
We're still far away from fully using pci-e 3.0 x16 in games and it's only pushed forward for the sake of scientific workloads/super computing and nvme speed.

Go for pci-e 4.0 for the nvme drive when there are enough pci-e 4.0 compliant drives and tests to see the difference, but if you are just gaming then it's too early to say it's a must have.