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

ZombiPL

Airflow Optimizer
Original poster
DR ZĄBER
Apr 13, 2016
238
762
Been a couple weeks and was wondering if the prototype had came in yet? If it has, what are y’all inpressions?

We're still waiting for the prototype. If we would order something like 100 units then they would show up in 1-2 weeks. If we ordered only one or 2 single units... then who knows... We are waiting in the line... Please remember we are not a standard pc case manufacturer but we are almost in the similar place as you are... a sff enthusiast who are doing something for the community. In such case we have to wait for our submanufacturers to prepare our order. It takes some time if it is just one or two units instead of 100 or 1000. Please be patient... sorry :(
 
Last edited:

nph84

Chassis Packer
Jul 14, 2017
13
10
Is it still not recommended to use 2 15mm height 2.5" drives in this case? Are there any owners of this case that have this configuration installed?
 
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SaperPL

Master of Cramming
DR ZĄBER
Oct 17, 2017
472
882
Is it still not recommended to use 2 15mm height 2.5" drives in this case? Are there any owners of this case that have this configuration installed?
The 2.0 is not there yet, and it didn't change for 1.1.

As for 2.0 - no, we're not planning to support 15 mm 2.5" drives simply because the main rail doesn't have that much space for them, and it is dictated by the fact that GPU has to be mounted in the middle of the case's height, and that's for the rigidity on the corner where the card bracket is held with screws.

We are however planning to support 3.5" drive if you use ITX sized GPU or two if you don't use any graphics card (only IGP).

With 2.0 you should be able to install two 2TB 2.5" drives in the main rail + SSD for a system drive which should be kind of enough for gaming + some movies.

If you need more than that, you might be able to go for 1080 Mini or Vega Nano + 3.5" drive that has like 8TB or 12TB?
 

Nomo

Trash Compacter
Jul 5, 2018
54
51
You guys are Awesome, this project it's amazing, I love your effort and patient to us, take your time and please! give us a chance to order a prototype.
I don't know where can I order and I'm afraid of missing the opportunity.
 

SaperPL

Master of Cramming
DR ZĄBER
Oct 17, 2017
472
882
You guys are Awesome, this project it's amazing, I love your effort and patient to us,

Thanks :)

take your time and please! give us a chance to order a prototype.

We won't be selling the prototypes of 2.0, sorry. Prototypes are for testing purposes.

I don't know where can I order and I'm afraid of missing the opportunity.

We are currently not selling the case anywhere, so you're not missing the opportunity if there's none. Unless of course someone wants to sell his 1.1 from the campaign.

Rule of a thumb is being subscribed to our newsletter for any info about sales if you don't want to miss out next opportunity to order.
 

zustroy

Trash Compacter
Jun 19, 2018
54
33
The reason I decided to go with this case is the looks, material quality and support for 2 x 3.5" HDDs.
I'll use it as HTPC (2x4TB HDDs in mirror mode) and connect to 4K TV.

Maybe those Polish guys can't play decent football anymore, but they sure make good SFF! ;)
 

LeandroB

Average Stuffer
Jun 2, 2017
66
60
Dr Zaber guys, hey, i got a question here about cooling of parts with no active cooling.
Linus brought it up in his review in 2016. While the CPU and GPu manage to be around 85ºC under full load, parts of the motherboard got pretty hot at over 70ºC. However, Linus did kinda made a "extreme situation" test with some insane components for a SFF, wich shows how great the case is to keep good temps.
So, my question is: With a more gaming configuration, worse case scenario some i7 and gtx 1080, how are the temps of the coponents without ative cooling like in the case, like RAM, HDD, SDD, chipset, etc?
 
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loader963

King of Cable Management
Jan 21, 2017
660
568
Dr Zaber guys, hey, i got a question here about cooling of parts with no active cooling.
Linus brought it up in his review in 2016. While the CPU and GPu manage to be around 85ºC under full load, parts of the motherboard got pretty hot at over 70ºC. However, Linus did kinda made a "extreme situation" test with some insane components for a SFF, wich shows how great the case is to keep good temps.
So, my question is: With a more gaming configuration, worse case scenario some i7 and gtx 1080, how are the temps of the coponents without ative cooling like in the case, like RAM, HDD, SDD, chipset, etc?

Depends on that 1080 mostly imo. A blower card will dump heat out of the case, keeping some heat away from other components. An open air cooler OTOH, will throw all the heat inside the case, subjecting the components to more heat.
 

SaperPL

Master of Cramming
DR ZĄBER
Oct 17, 2017
472
882
Dr Zaber guys, hey, i got a question here about cooling of parts with no active cooling.
Linus brought it up in his review in 2016. While the CPU and GPu manage to be around 85ºC under full load, parts of the motherboard got pretty hot at over 70ºC. However, Linus did kinda made a "extreme situation" test with some insane components for a SFF, wich shows how great the case is to keep good temps.
So, my question is: With a more gaming configuration, worse case scenario some i7 and gtx 1080, how are the temps of the coponents without ative cooling like in the case, like RAM, HDD, SDD, chipset, etc?

Linus tested all of this on AfaiR 145W TDP Xeon with inadequate cooling. This means that the CPU cooling not only did help moving hot air outside the motherboard area, it just added more heat to that. He ran this with 250W TDP Titan which didn't really help, although the card was blower style which means a lot of the heat should get exhausted through the bracket, but 250W isn't that easy to push out fast.

For 1.0 we recommended using 65W TDP CPUs and 150W TDP GPUs and for that everything was perfectly fine. Your CPU fan should be enough to vent the motherboard area and replace the hot air with fresh air taken straight out from the outside through the vent. Remember that going through hot radiator doesn't mean that ambient temp fresh air will get to 40ºC right away - it happens over time if it's recycled in closed loop. Stretching up to 95W K-SKUs was a bit harder. That's for 1.0.

For 2.0 we will have more venting area by closer distance between vent holes and more of those in general thanks to that. This should in effect help both thermal performance and acoustics of fans being close to the perforation.

Also note the fact that 80/85ºC are target temperatures for GPUs and 70ºC on the CPU on full load/stress test is pretty fine with average cooling. Modern electronics can safely run at such high temperatures, it's just that people think about those temps with own measure, meaning the temps safe for ourselves.

We will of course have to test temperatures for the 2.0 to see how much did it improve, but unless you go crazy like Linus did, you should be fine.
 

loader963

King of Cable Management
Jan 21, 2017
660
568
Linus may have used a titan, but I still would think a 250 watt blower card would still give you lower case temps than an open air 180 watt 1080 wouldn’t it? Especially if target temps were the same around ~83C?
 
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SaperPL

Master of Cramming
DR ZĄBER
Oct 17, 2017
472
882
Linus may have used a titan, but I still would think a 250 watt blower card would still give you lower case temps than an open air 180 watt 1080 wouldn’t it? Especially if target temps were the same around ~83C?

Temperature may be the same, but the area of the chip being the same temperature may be significantly bigger which means proportionally more heat dissipated throughout the case.

But yes, it could have been potentially similar to 180W open air.
 

dragon50305

Trash Compacter
Jul 3, 2018
49
33
I'm in love with this case. I'm planning a sort of all-in-one build with it.

Would it be possible to get a CAD file of the case so I could model a model a 3-D printed extension/addition to the case? Thanks!
 
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SaperPL

Master of Cramming
DR ZĄBER
Oct 17, 2017
472
882
I'm in love with this case. I'm planning a sort of all-in-one build with it.

Would it be possible to get a CAD file of the case so I could model a model a 3-D printed extension/addition to the case? Thanks!

We won't release the cad files for the case for sure, but we will probably release simple drawings with front and side dimensions like we did for the 1.0, but we'll do that after finalising the designs for 2.0.

What kind of all-in-one do you want to make?

If you want to mount the monitor on the side of Sentry, it probably won't be a good idea - it'll easily tip over. The same goes for mounting the case on the back of the monitor.

If you want to do this properly, you'll need to make a whole custom stand for both screen and case and that is something that may get really challenging to do with just 3d printing.
 

LeandroB

Average Stuffer
Jun 2, 2017
66
60
Depends on that 1080 mostly imo. A blower card will dump heat out of the case, keeping some heat away from other components. An open air cooler OTOH, will throw all the heat inside the case, subjecting the components to more heat.
Yeah, i was thinking in a blower style 1080 like the one i have today.
 

LeandroB

Average Stuffer
Jun 2, 2017
66
60
Thanks for the answer, mate.
Indeed 85ºC is safe for today's standard, and its a great achievement for the Sentry since Linus configuration was so over the top.
I will be waiting for the tests with the 2.0!
As aways, great work, guys! I hope to get one soon! =)
 

dragon50305

Trash Compacter
Jul 3, 2018
49
33
We won't release the cad files for the case for sure, but we will probably release simple drawings with front and side dimensions like we did for the 1.0, but we'll do that after finalising the designs for 2.0.

What kind of all-in-one do you want to make?

If you want to mount the monitor on the side of Sentry, it probably won't be a good idea - it'll easily tip over. The same goes for mounting the case on the back of the monitor.

If you want to do this properly, you'll need to make a whole custom stand for both screen and case and that is something that may get really challenging to do with just 3d printing.

I plan on printing an extension to the side of the case to hold cables and serve as a tiny storage compartment, and mounting a portable monitor on the side that will flip up. The side mount will also hold the mouse and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to attach the keyboard. It's not quite an all in one it's more just having everything stored on the case so it can be easily packed and then removing everything to get a full PC experience wherever.

As for the monitor tipping the stand, I plan on having the case be in the horizontal configuration, and I believe the monitor I chose is only about a kilogram

Edit: Also if I can't get it working with 3d printing I plan on getting something CNC'd.