My SFX PSU has just gotten here today and I had a little bit of time to try and fit a 3-slot card into this case and would like to report a potential compatibility issue. My card is the Palit 2080 Ti Gaming Pro which has a backplate, and on this card the backplate clash with the bottom left ATX motherboard mounting post. The stand-off was just tall enough to prevent the card from being able to fit into the case. Also the PCIe riser was ever so slightly too short for this card (even if the motherboard mounting post wasn't there, the riser would've been too just slightly too short to be able to plug into the PCI slot. I briefly thought about getting the dremel out and removing the mounting post to make it fit (seeing as I don't plan on using an ATX board in this case, but in light of the shortness of the riser, I decided not to and just go back to my temporary ITX placeholder card).
Even though not all card may be affected by this (the backplate on my card has the top surface about 2mm higher than the top surface of the GPU PCB, the motherboard stand off was sitting close enough that even on a card without the back plate, I would be a bit concerned about this standoff coming into contact with SMD components on the back of the board. @riba perhaps the bottom row of stand-off could be modified in future revisions of the case to make them removable just like the MicroATX stand-off? I don't know how much this would add to the BOM, and how many triple slot cards are affected by this (I only have a sample size of one). Just a suggestion
Also, while we're talking about PCIe riser, I hope future revisions could also include a slightly longer length to better accomodate triple length cards (after failing to install my 2080 Ti, I gave up and tried installing my double slot card with the riser in the 3-slot position and found that I still couldn't plug it in due to the shortness). I also have found that my PCIe riser has actually split where the retainer rivet is (
image). While the riser still works, it looks a bit precarious. I've clamped it back together and cover it with epoxy and let it cure, hopefully it holds up (I have also epoxied the fabric sleeving around the riser ribbon too, as that has started to split and pull away from where it meets the PCB). It seems to be OK for now but I would like to buy a replacement eventually, whenever it is available. Also the riser currently have the ribbon cable comes out the front of the PCB, meaning you have to fold it under the PCB and out the back when you screw it into the bottom of the case, for future revisions I think a riser with the ribbon coming out the back of the PCB would be better (eliminate the need to have one 180 degree bend as well as giving you a little bit extra length to work with.
I would also like to report a problem with the FlexATX PSU mounting bracket as it is currently set up. Currently, the bracket is designed such that the only way to mount a FlexATX unit was to have the side with the air inlet face the unventilated section of the case. I think the bracket needs to be reversed. (
you can see the inlet holes completely blocked here ). I think this should be fixed (Probably not too much work to do, the actual design of the bracket is OK, but it needs to be mirrored 180 degrees where the longer arm needs to be towards the middle of the case instead of being adjacent to the face place).
Hopefully you find these suggestions useful in making future improvements
Aside from those niggles, the case has genuinely been very easy to work with, build quality is very nice one everything is assembled and noise level was actually quite pleasant, there's not much turbulent noise at all. I can't wait to put some watercooling in this (I did some quick measurements and determined there's adequate room to fit a HWLabs GTS 120 XFlow in this, just need to get all the hardware together)
