Log Slim wall-mount 7l pc case project

[samsonbl4]

Hi SFF.Network,

I want to make a slim case for a NAS with two 3.5" HDDs that can be placed on a TV stand, flush against the wall. I want to orient the ports downward to hide the cables behind the stand.

I'm not interested in making a simple NAS case, so I decided to make a case with two possible uses: a compact gaming PC or a NAS. I also want to add the ability to wall-mount the case; maybe someday I'll hang it above a monitor in my gaming setup.

I'm currently designing and modeling this case. I'd love for you to review my sketches and offer suggestions for improvement or point out any errors.

I'm also interested in how a TFX PSU will perform if the hot air exhaust is directed downward. I think the pressure generated by the fan is stronger than natural convection, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on this setup.

 

[samsonbl4]

You can now view 3D models (step format).

The game configuration model takes a very long time to open due to the heavy riser model.

 

[e214vall]

This is a wonderful design, I mean aeshetically it is very pleasant and the katana looks gorgeous. Especially the wall mounting option.
What are you planning to get in there in terms of specs?

 

[samsonbl4]

This is a wonderful design, I mean aeshetically it is very pleasant and the katana looks gorgeous. Especially the wall mounting option.
What are you planning to get in there in terms of specs?

Thank you
I am designing this case with the following compatibility specifications:
PSU for all mode - TFX
NAS Mode:
Motherboards: mini-ITX, mATX (up to 200×225 mm)
Drive Bays: 2×3.5’’ or 5×2.5’’
Gaming Mode:
Motherboards: mini-ITX
Graphics Cards: Length up to ~202 mm, thickness up to ~50 mm (2.5-slot)
Drive Bays: 1×2.5’’

Volume - 7 l

I want to install r3 2200ge, matx and 2×3.5’’ HDD

 

[e214vall]

Since the case will be in the living room, I suppose silence will be of paramount importance? Have you decided on a CPU Cooler yet? Noctua NH-L9i comes to mind. Of course Ryzen 3 2200GE has a TDP of 35W which shouldn't be a problem. Thermals will be diffiult to optimise as well because of the limited space. I also notice there will be 3x60mm fans as exhausts? Do you have these in hand to check how noisy they get? I am saying this because in my new build I tried a 92mm fan for the first time (smaller than the 120mms I am used to) and it becomes noticeably loud at high rpms, even though it is a noctua fan, which is supposed to be quiet silent. 60mm ones are even smaller and three of them running at full rpm when gaming maybe produce too much noise?
Have you also decided on the GPU?

 

[samsonbl4]

Since the case will be in the living room, I suppose silence will be of paramount importance? Have you decided on a CPU Cooler yet? Noctua NH-L9i comes to mind. Of course Ryzen 3 2200GE has a TDP of 35W which shouldn't be a problem. Thermals will be diffiult to optimise as well because of the limited space. I also notice there will be 3x60mm fans as exhausts? Do you have these in hand to check how noisy they get? I am saying this because in my new build I tried a 92mm fan for the first time (smaller than the 120mms I am used to) and it becomes noticeably loud at high rpms, even though it is a noctua fan, which is supposed to be quiet silent. 60mm ones are even smaller and three of them running at full rpm when gaming maybe produce too much noise?
Have you also decided on the GPU?

I'll be using the integrated graphics card because the drives take up the graphics card space when building NAS unit in this case. However, I want to try installing my ASUS Radeon RX 9060 XT DUAL to test compatibility before I start building NAS.
For cooling, I want to use amd wraith stealth with the ring removed. If noise issues arise, I'll consider replacing it.
When building NAS, I want to use a single GELID Silent 6 mounted above the drives. I used Noctua NF-A6X25 before, but I didn't like it. It probably had a low decibel rating, but the noise it produced was very low and oppressive. So I decided to try a thinner fan. If it gets too noisy, I'll reduce the speed. Hot air will be drawn upward from the drives anyway, so a powerful exhaust fan isn't necessary.

 

[samsonbl4]

Alternative cover with wooden slats

 

[samsonbl4]

The metal shop sent me a photo. I made two versions of the drawings. In the newer version, I changed the PSU mounting location to allow for both TFX and flex ATX PSU, and also added the ability to install 70mm case fans. But judging by the photo, they've put the older version into production. It's a shame, but I'm happy with the old version. The main thing is that the build quality looks good in the photo.

 

[e214vall]

Really excited seeing this take shape! Looking forward seeing the build inside as well!

 

[samsonbl4]

I finally received the parts from the metal shop. The PC case turned out well in terms of geometry, roughly matching the design dimensions of 220 x 440 x 73 mm. The paint has some imperfections in some areas, but I knew from the start that the coating could be spray-on, not powder-coated. Overall, I was satisfied. I managed to try building a single-drive system inside the case. It turned out well, but it turns out that during the design stage, I forgot to move the I/O window when I was repositioning the motherboard standoff holes. Now I'll have to finish the holes manually. I plan to make this adjustment this weekend and try building a gaming system inside the case.

 

[samsonbl4]

I also forgot to mention that my concerns about the bottom exhaust for the power supply turned out to be unfounded. You can clearly feel the airflow coming out of the power supply with your hand. And the Gelid Silent 6 fan turned out to be very quiet, with a relatively pleasant sound profile. What's more, the airflow from the Gelid Silent 6 feels very good.

 

[samsonbl4]

I finished drilling the standoff holes and did a test assembly of the gaming setup. I'm happy with the results.

I was worried about routing the cables without interfering with the fans, but it worked out well, and the cables are hidden above the power supply.

Unfortunately, I can't run temperature tests because I only have a mini-ITX setup with an LGA1155 and a 300W PSU. I had to buy an inexpensive PCIe riser for testing, but I think it will come in handy for future projects.

In any case, I don't think there should be any thermal issues. Due to the horizontal orientation and the components being installed in a straight line on a single plane, each component sits in a virtually isolated thermal envelope. Only the 2.5-inch SSD installed under the graphics card might get hot. However, it's not a critical component for the system, and I only had to add two holes to the case to accommodate it.

During the build process, I also figured out the maximum graphics card length, which is approximately 205–206 mm vs 202 mm at the project stage. So, the MSI Inspire RTX 5060ti 16GB, measuring 204 mm in length and 50 mm in thickness, may be a great choice for this case.

Now all that's left is to build a NAS for future use and make a cover with wooden slats. That's my plan for next weekend.

 

[samsonbl4]

While I'm waiting for the wooden slats, I'll show you how I wanted to make a universal mount on the chassis for TFX and Flex ATX PSUs. I think it turned out pretty well, and the manufacturing cost is no more than a standard TFX mount.
As a bonus, I added a mount for a 2.5" SSD in the freed-up space under the Flex ATX PSU. I'm not sure how convenient this will be for cable management, but it only adds four extra holes to the rear panel of the case.
Incidentally, if a TFX PSU exhausts against natural convection, the situation for a Flex ATX power supply would be ideal. Air intake is from the bottom, flows upward along the PSU case, and exhausts out through the perforations on the front panel.
A possible issue with using a Flex ATX PSU in my case is the cable bending radius, only on units where the modular cables connect perpendicular to the PSU board. Since the case cover is quite close to the PSU, this could be tight. But I think if the cables are flexible, everything will be fine. If the cables are connected to the end of the unit, there shouldn't be any problems.
If anyone finds this helpful, I'll attach a file (.step) showing this mounting area.

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

Ok, wild, this looks somewhat like a shrunken down in height version of the Silverstone ML05.

Also reminds me of the idea I had with the Ophion 7L, as in: when I put in the HDPlex GaN 500, together with the Asus Phoenix RTX 3050 8 GB, I briefly contemplated building this in a console-style fashion, repurposing the 90° riser from the SSUPD Meslicious.

Oh, and there was indeed someone who did a complete rebuild of the Ophion 7L case in exactly your layout, ie. MB + GPU side-by-side. For this, said person cut out a part of the side exactly to the size of the back IO plate, and then apparently had to just rotate the MB - except for that one mounting pin, but I cannot remember if it was just removed and realigned or skipped out. Seen this I think on r/sffpc, but might also have been elsewhere.

cu, w0lf.

 

[samsonbl4]

Ok, wild, this looks somewhat like a shrunken down in height version of the Silverstone ML05.

Also reminds me of the idea I had with the Ophion 7L, as in: when I put in the HDPlex GaN 500, together with the Asus Phoenix RTX 3050 8 GB, I briefly contemplated building this in a console-style fashion, repurposing the 90° riser from the SSUPD Meslicious.

Oh, and there was indeed someone who did a complete rebuild of the Ophion 7L case in exactly your layout, ie. MB + GPU side-by-side. For this, said person cut out a part of the side exactly to the size of the back IO plate, and then apparently had to just rotate the MB - except for that one mounting pin, but I cannot remember if it was just removed and realigned or skipped out. Seen this I think on r/sffpc, but might also have been elsewhere.

cu, w0lf.

Thank you.

Repurposing the Ophion 7L for this layout is a lot of work. I'd be interested in seeing photos.

I came up with this idea when I was looking at my first wall-mounted PC case with a console layout and a soundbar mounted next to it. At first, I wanted to build a case like this for my workstation with compatibility for mATX, ATX, and 3.5'' HDD, to replace my Zalman N2, which I'd been using for ~10 years and was a bit tired of its appearance. But eventually, I decided to keep at least one desktop PC and bought a Tecware Fusion Air M2 equivalent.

Then I started thinking about building a NAS. Its horizontal, elongated shape still feels unusual.

I'd also be interested in trying this layout for a case with an HDPlex GaN 250 and LP GPU; I think it would make a good backpack option. But right now there are a lot of ideas about wall-mounted SFF cases that I want to try first.

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

Thank you.

Repurposing the Ophion 7L for this layout is a lot of work. I'd be interested in seeing photos.

It was indeed here on SFF.net, but some of the pictures are gone thanks to imgur being .. imgur:

Log - ophion 7l modding for fullsize dualslot gpu and more

after my bt 02b u3 build hitted snag, i decided to try something else and digged my ophion 7l case out of storage. some brain storming later i decided to utilize pcie riser and rotate mobo 90 degrees to install dual slot gpu (rx6600, gonna give gtx 1060 to friend) and hdplex, there will also be...

smallformfactor.net

Personally I think sth like the Silverstone ML05 would be better for that, as it already has the side-by-side layout. Or maybe the ML09, albeit that'd probably need a longer riser cable.

I'd also be interested in trying this layout for a case with an HDPlex GaN 250 and LP GPU; I think it would make a good backpack option. But right now there are a lot of ideas about wall-mounted SFF cases that I want to try first.

That was my original plan for the Ophion 7L, but with the HDPlex GaN 500. But when I had it in there I realized that even a regular sized GPU would fit side-by-side; tested it with my Asus Phoenix RTX 3050. I eventually moved to a different case because I wanted better CPU cooling options, and realized I needed a working system RIGHT NOW, not in a few weeks or months.

cu, w0lf.

 

[samsonbl4]

It was indeed here on SFF.net, but some of the pictures are gone thanks to imgur being .. imgur:

Log - ophion 7l modding for fullsize dualslot gpu and more

after my bt 02b u3 build hitted snag, i decided to try something else and digged my ophion 7l case out of storage. some brain storming later i decided to utilize pcie riser and rotate mobo 90 degrees to install dual slot gpu (rx6600, gonna give gtx 1060 to friend) and hdplex, there will also be...

smallformfactor.net

Personally I think sth like the Silverstone ML05 would be better for that, as it already has the side-by-side layout. Or maybe the ML09, albeit that'd probably need a longer riser cable.


That was my original plan for the Ophion 7L, but with the HDPlex GaN 500. But when I had it in there I realized that even a regular sized GPU would fit side-by-side; tested it with my Asus Phoenix RTX 3050. I eventually moved to a different case because I wanted better CPU cooling options, and realized I needed a working system RIGHT NOW, not in a few weeks or months.

cu, w0lf.

This is an interesting solution. Honestly, I didn't expect PSU to end up under GPU. I thought PSU would be pressed against the side of the case, and I couldn't figure out how GPU would fit between it and the mobo.
I wonder how the temperatures are going to be affected, but I think that when installed on a table, the temperatures will not be critical. Because of my wall-mounted case projects, I already automatically think about how this will work with cooling on one side, lol.

 

[samsonbl4]

So, I've finished assembling NAS and setting it up. I've never used Linux, so I built the system on Windows 10 Pro, although an operating system for NAS would probably be a better solution.
The assembly process went well, and the ability to rotate the drive, which I implemented in the enclosure design, was very useful. Without it, the cable with the intermediate connector wouldn't have been long enough, and I would have had to connect the drives with two cables instead of one.
In my setup, I used a new 4 TB Iron Wolf drive for all my files and an old 1 TB Baracuda drive for backing up important folders, like photos. I'm not very familiar with how Windows manages drives, so I had to consult with the AI. Before the AI, setting it up would probably have taken me hours of searching forums, because I don't understand network settings or scripting, but now I can simply process the information from the AI logically.
I came up with a strategy of limiting Windows' interaction with the 1 TB drive, because the Baracuda isn't designed for 24/7 operation, and I want the spindle to be idle most of the time. The 1 TB drive is constantly "offline", and the task scheduler runs an AI-written script every night: the drive wakes up, RoboCopy mirror is run, a log is written, and then the drive goes "offline" again. This has been working well for several nights now, although I'll need to check how often the system accesses the drive. I'd be interested to hear opinions and advice from people who actually understand this, as the AI's advice varied: sometimes disabling the drive at the software level was sufficient, while other times it required disabling it at the driver level. For now, I've been using the simpler strategy.
In the end, I really like having NAS at home. It's even better than I expected. For a few days now, I've been able to access files from any of my devices and manage torrents from my phone. Even my wife liked the ability to move files from her phone without getting out of bed. This is probably the first pc she's ever liked at home, lol.
Now all that's left is to make the cover with wooden slats. I'm already anticipating a lot of dust from sanding the wood, but there's no other choice.