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

[LeChuck81]

You are free to use any ribbon riser that is ~50 mm long and has straight connection/is not angled. The case is made in a way it holds the riser by the PCI-E slot body and unless there's some weird stuff added to it, it should work okay. If you pick a riser that is fairly standard with the slot being in line with PCB and ribbon, the worst you may have to do is to detach the latch if it's too big, although there should be space for most of the latch types.

You should however look for reviews of specific riser to see if it is actually recommended or whether it's some off-brand no-name company that noone tried to use. We'll be revisiting this topic once we are ready to move forward with 3.0.

Thanks for the info.
As for the riser, atm I'm looking at the Linkup Ultra PCIe 4.0 Extreme - Straight Socket 50mm length. That is, provided I will be able to get an AMD RX 6000 card on thursday drops or an EVGA 3000 XC3 card someday.

In previous posts it's been hinted that this Linkup riser could need some mods to fit into the Sentry though. I was wondering if, in preparation for rev. 3.0, you were investigating the market and have found something PCIe 4.0 compliant&tested and totally compatible with the Sentry out of the box, no mods required.

Wishful thinking, I know.

 

[SaperPL]

Seems like it could fit, but after further investigating the amount of PCB sticking at the sides is a lot.
I checked it and it should be something like 16 mm of space from slot to the bushing on the latch side and 11.5 mm on the opposite side, total of 116.5 mm of space between the bushings, but there's no total width of PCB on that riser specs and it seems like there's more than 4 mm of space from the smaller holes to the edge of PCB.
I guess we should probably make even more space for that in 3.0, huh.

 

[LeChuck81]

Seems like it could fit, but after further investigating the amount of PCB sticking at the sides is a lot.
I checked it and it should be something like 16 mm of space from slot to the bushing on the latch side and 11.5 mm on the opposite side, total of 116.5 mm of space between the bushings, but there's no total width of PCB on that riser specs and it seems like there's more than 4 mm of space from the smaller holes to the edge of PCB.
I guess we should probably make even more space for that in 3.0, huh.

Pretty please, with sugar on top.
I guess that it won't be possible to retrofit it into 2.0 as a spare part…

 

[amalek.92]

Thinking of buying a used white Sentry 1.1. Condition is very good, but it's very dusty here and there, to the point it might be ingrained into the powder coat. How to properly clean it?

Update: turns out there's a small blemish in powder coating on the front upper right corner. Is it possible to fix?

 

[SaperPL]

Thinking of buying a used white Sentry 1.1. Condition is very good, but it's very dusty here and there, to the point it might be ingrained into the powder coat. How to properly clean it?

Cleaning should be okay if you use alcohol.

Update: turns out there's a small blemish in powder coating on the front upper right corner. Is it possible to fix?

You should look for some kind of way to close it up with plastic matching the colour as the powder coating is essentially plastic. Maybe using those 3d printer pens and matching filament would help, but that's a precision job there.

Sorry for the late response though.

Meanwhile this happened:

 

[Irish Os1r1s]

Should be an easy fix, so many solutions. I'd just fill it out with some white matt paint applied as heavy as needed. Let it cure good and hard for a few days then sand off excess to be flush with the rest of the seam.

 

[Runamok81]

Cleaning should be okay if you use alcohol.



You should look for some kind of way to close it up with plastic matching the colour as the powder coating is essentially plastic. Maybe using those 3d printer pens and matching filament would help, but that's a precision job there.

Sorry for the late response though.

Meanwhile this happened:

I love that this build balanced the sff constraints: volume, performance, noise

 

[NeroFX]

Hi guys,

Just sharing a link to my Sentry 2.0 that I'm selling, I have the xtia open design case now.

It does have a case screw thread that needs tapping, and some scratches around two screw holes.

I've posted about this on here before.

Take care.

Dr Zaber 2.0 eBay

 

[sevenalive]

I have 3 brand new black cases I want to do builds in. I've been holding onto them. If someone gives me an offer I can't refuse, I may be willing to part with 1 of my cases haha, but anyway...my prior build was with a 1.1 case where I delidded a 8700.

For the new 2.0 builds, I'm thinking 13th gen i9 non-k, if I have to i7 non-k. I'm thinking AIO would be a must with 13th gen. I also have those noctua foam ducts to help with heat. It looks like right now there are no Nvidia 4xxx series cards that are compatible with the case? So I'm thinking an AIO + ITX sized card in this case, is that even doable?

I'm not opposed to using a cooler, that would allow more gfx, but I was thinking AIO would be a must for a i9.

I already have the corsair sff 750 psu. I'm going to get the 980pros for the nvme and maybe swap to a 990 when there are released. Thinking 32gb ddr5, maybe 64gb. I want this to be a little beast. It's my understanding you no longer need to delid the i9 because they are 13th gen.

 

[LeChuck81]

For the new 2.0 builds, I'm thinking 13th gen i9 non-k, if I have to i7 non-k. I'm thinking AIO would be a must with 13th gen. I also have those noctua foam ducts to help with heat. It looks like right now there are no Nvidia 4xxx series cards that are compatible with the case? So I'm thinking an AIO + ITX sized card in this case, is that even doable?

I'd personally wouldn't go over a 90~105 W CPU, unless you'd go with a 240mm AiO (remember, you'll most probably still have to go with low profile fans for the AiO).

I'm not opposed to using a cooler, that would allow more gfx, but I was thinking AIO would be a must for a i9.

If you go for an air cooler, unless you manage to fit a Black Ridge (or equivalent), you'd best go with a 65 W (either a non -K for Intel, or a 5600X or soon to be released 7xxx non -X for AMD) with your usual Noctua NH-L9x or equivalent.

If you go for the 120mm AiO, you are limited to ITX VGAs, which means, as of today, being limited to RTX 3060s. Some Ti variants were announced, but I never found one in the wild.

With an air cooler, you have the entirety of the dedicated space for a VGA of the Sentry and you can go for some 2(ish) slot GPU. Here, you have a much wider range of choice, up to (but definitely not advised) EVGA 3090 XC3. EVGA XC3s, assuming you can find one, are your best options. Other than that, Inno3D offer some 2(ish) slot VGAs, definitely up to 3070 Ti, not sure about 3080s/Tis/3090s/Tis. Some other OEMs offer 2 slots VGA (Gigabyte Eagle up to3070s). On the AMD side, the reference design up to RX 6800 is a comfortable 2-slot design. Actually, RX 6800 XT's reference design do also fit into the Sentry, but fans are way too close to panel for my taste.

Depending on what you are gonna aim to, I'd stick to a 65W CPU and a 2 slot, max 250W~300W GPU (and those are already way over the recommended limit @SaperPL usually suggest) if you wanna build a gaming rig.
If you aim for a workstation, than I'd go for a good CPU with integrated GPU and a 240 AiO with low profile fans, ofc if a dedicated GPU is not needed, otherwise, we'd fall back to the previous setup.

I already have the corsair sff 750 psu. I'm going to get the 980pros for the nvme and maybe swap to a 990 when there are released. Thinking 32gb ddr5, maybe 64gb. I want this to be a little beast. It's my understanding you no longer need to delid the i9 because they are 13th gen.

Can't find anything I won't fully agree with here

 

[sevenalive]

I'd personally wouldn't go over a 90~105 W CPU, unless you'd go with a 240mm AiO (remember, you'll most probably still have to go with low profile fans for the AiO).


If you go for an air cooler, unless you manage to fit a Black Ridge (or equivalent), you'd best go with a 65 W (either a non -K for Intel, or a 5600X or soon to be released 7xxx non -X for AMD) with your usual Noctua NH-L9x or equivalent.

If you go for the 120mm AiO, you are limited to ITX VGAs, which means, as of today, being limited to RTX 3060s. Some Ti variants were announced, but I never found one in the wild.

With an air cooler, you have the entirety of the dedicated space for a VGA of the Sentry and you can go for some 2(ish) slot GPU. Here, you have a much wider range of choice, up to (but definitely not advised) EVGA 3090 XC3. EVGA XC3s, assuming you can find one, are your best options. Other than that, Inno3D offer some 2(ish) slot VGAs, definitely up to 3070 Ti, not sure about 3080s/Tis/3090s/Tis. Some other OEMs offer 2 slots VGA (Gigabyte Eagle up to3070s). On the AMD side, the reference design up to RX 6800 is a comfortable 2-slot design. Actually, RX 6800 XT's reference design do also fit into the Sentry, but fans are way too close to panel for my taste.

Depending on what you are gonna aim to, I'd stick to a 65W CPU and a 2 slot, max 250W~300W GPU (and those are already way over the recommended limit @SaperPL usually suggest) if you wanna build a gaming rig.
If you aim for a workstation, than I'd go for a good CPU with integrated GPU and a 240 AiO with low profile fans, ofc if a dedicated GPU is not needed, otherwise, we'd fall back to the previous setup.



Can't find anything I won't fully agree with here

Thank you for the detailed response! My 1.1 case has a 8700 which was a 65w cpu, delidded w/ rockit. Pure copper heatsink thermaltake with the noctua fan, still hits almost 100C on prime95.

1 build is going to be a workstation for my wife. She does a lot of high-resolution graphic design, lots of illustrator and photoshop. But we soon will have a 3d printer, so she will be doing modeling for that. She also wants to learn after Effects but more as a hobbyist. So, if it wasn't for that, an iGPU would be fine.
The other build will be more software dev heavy.

I was thinking evga xc3 3080, 3090 if I I currently have the 970 evga in the 1.1 case. 3060 isn't the end of the world.

 

[renatolmvanteze]

I have a Sentry 2.0 still in the box. I have been saving it for an AM5 build. The recent crops of CPUs from AMD and Intel however run so hot that I don't see much future in a Sentry. So I put my Sentry up for sale. Didn't manage to sell it yet though.

I was going to go for something larger (Fractal Ridge or Coolermaster NR200).

But while I don't manage to sell my Sentry, I am revisiting the idea of building upon it. Maybe go for a 65W Ryzen 5000 series or wait for the rumoured 7000 series 65W.

GPU wise, the new crop also disappointed for heat and thickness.

I would have to look for previous gen 2 slot GPUs. Probably would go for a EVGA XC3. I do like the design of Founders edition. How do they work with the Sentry, or are the XC3s a better choice?

I would be driving a 3440 x 1440 UWQHD monitor.

In that sense, could I maybe get by with a 3070, or should I go with a 3080?

Thanks for the help!

 

[labmonke101]

People keep saying “CPUs are too hot” but that isn’t really a factor….

power efficiency is the most important thing, as you can run ANY cpu in an SFF case and power limit + undervolt it.

A Ryzen 7950X with a 65-watt limit has the same performance as a 5950X at full power

the question just becomes how much performance you’ll lose, not if the case can handle it.

 

[LeChuck81]

I have a Sentry 2.0 still in the box. I have been saving it for an AM5 build. The recent crops of CPUs from AMD and Intel however run so hot that I don't see much future in a Sentry. So I put my Sentry up for sale. Didn't manage to sell it yet though.

I was going to go for something larger (Fractal Ridge or Coolermaster NR200).

But while I don't manage to sell my Sentry, I am revisiting the idea of building upon it. Maybe go for a 65W Ryzen 5000 series or wait for the rumoured 7000 series 65W.

GPU wise, the new crop also disappointed for heat and thickness.

I would have to look for previous gen 2 slot GPUs. Probably would go for a EVGA XC3. I do like the design of Founders edition. How do they work with the Sentry, or are the XC3s a better choice?

I would be driving a 3440 x 1440 UWQHD monitor.

In that sense, could I maybe get by with a 3070, or should I go with a 3080?

Thanks for the help!

Yeah, I would at least wait for the non -K Intel's Raptor Lake and non -X AMD's 7000s. There should be some 65(ish) W SKUs and they will probably offer (much?) more perf per watt vs. a 5600X (nice little beast I'm sporting right now in my Sentry, btw).

For the GPU, EVGA's XC3s, if you can still get one at a reasonable price, are much better than Nvidia's FEs, I got a 3070 Ti FE into my rig and it definitely struggle, not being able to get air from one of the fans.
But I'd wait for the RTX 4070 and for the RX 7000s, if not the 7900s, I bet the 7800, mostly the RX 7800 non XT, will probably offer a nice perf per watt ratio. And this time, it seems AMD will also offer a decent performance in ray tracing. And both RTX 4070 and AMD 7000s will be much more future proof for 3440x1440 resolution.

Other than that, as @labmonke101 stated, if you are prone to tinkering with undervolt and power limits, the sky is the only limit in terms of hardware choice!

 

[Idle2824]

Did we ever settle on a good option for a pcie gen 4 riser replacement? Skimming through this thread, it seems like most of the discussion happened when gen 4 was new and most of the risers didn't work properly. Looking to get a Radeon 7000 series card and I assume I'll need a gen 4 riser for SAM/resizable bar. Does the linkup straight 5cm riser fit?

 

[riba2233]

Did we ever settle on a good option for a pcie gen 4 riser replacement? Skimming through this thread, it seems like most of the discussion happened when gen 4 was new and most of the risers didn't work properly. Looking to get a Radeon 7000 series card and I assume I'll need a gen 4 riser for SAM/resizable bar. Does the linkup straight 5cm riser fit?

Rebar works with gen3, don't worry

 

[Idle2824]

Well, I bought the INNO3D card and I can confirm that it just about fits in the Sentry. See below for pictures and comments:


As for performance and temperatures, I used MSI afterburner to undervolt it a bit, and I seem to have been able to get essentially stock performance with a max power draw of ~180W pretty easily, which the card handles nicely and pretty quietly (on par or slightly quieter than my EVGA GTX 1070 SC, I'd say, but I have no measurements to back that up). I've never done GPU undervolting/overclocking before, so it's very likely others could do better than me.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how well the card works in this case, and I'm glad that these cards run well at more sane power limits. If only they were available at sane prices...

I'm not sure how I managed to convince myself to spend £800 on a GPU, but here we are

 

[LeChuck81]

I'm not sure how I managed to convince myself to spend £800 on a GPU, but here we are

That's what's stopping me from getting one, prices are way too high.
I hope the RTX 4070 (non Ti) will have a more reasonable price. Or that the RX 7800 will have a better raster perf at a lower price.
Either or those will probably be my Sentry GPU for the time being.

 

[tja4430]

Upgraded the Sentry Build I had from 2 years ago - saving some of the parts for my brother, who wants to build his first Gaming PC.
5600x (B0 Stepping) -> 5700x (B2 Stepping)
16GB HyperX Fury DDR4-3200 CL16 -> 32 GB T-Group Expert DDR4-3200 CL14
New SK Hynix P31 2TB NVME SSD - went with this one due to very low power consumption, temps, and performance

Was able to use PBO2/CO to get slightly better all-core performance on the 5700x than at stock (able to do 4.2 GHz all core on the 5700x with temps reaching 80 degrees C). The B2 stepping doesn't seem to make performance any better, but certainly seems to have improved temps on the Ryzen 5000 chips.

Probably gonna be my last set of upgrades on this PC. For my next build, I probably am waiting for the Sentry 3.0 to decide between that or the new Fractal Ridge.

 

[Dax911]

Hey guys, any of you got a 4.0 riser recommendation that fit the sentry 2.0 ?