Completed MJOLNIR: The minimalistic – but not boring – 9.7L Case

[dlal1520]

So to be clear, moving forward the design of the glass is going to be a clean sheet? Also after testing, if it shows that the glass needs to be vented, is there a potential design plan for it? I think the case is in such a great spot, and the last thing to finalize are these panels.

 

[Cpt.Zakhar]

This is the most minimalist design I ever seen ,Definitely I will buy it
You didn't mention about power switch, is it Bluetooth like RGB controller?

RAM
Max height: 57mm (3.0")

 

[NinoPecorino]

RAM
Max height: 57mm (3.0")

️

 

[AlexTzone]

Merry Christmas guys! Hope everybody’s having a great time with friends and family.

Give me a day or so to complete the thermal tests & prototype pics & Kickstarter story/page and I’ll answer all your questions

 

[rosinbole]

Merry Christmas guys! Hope everybody’s having a great time with friends and family.

Give me a day or so to complete the thermal tests & prototype pics & Kickstarter story/page and I’ll answer all your questions

Merry christmas to you too, Alex!

 

[AlexTzone]

Snapping them pics

Note: 92 mm prototype

 

[2blentendre]

Looking amazing, could you let us know what parts are inside? Is that the Corsair RGB Pro RAM? Which Mobo, etc?

Thanks.

 

[AlexTzone]

glad to hear that! but i have a further question regarding the tolerances; is the ISO compliance a prospective standard on your end or is that already achievable on a consistent basis by the producers that you have in mind already?
additionally, have you thought about how the quality control and assurance process will proceed when the cases are being manufactured? do you plan on inspecting each case individually or will your team inspect a few random case during the entire production period? how about your experience in design and project management? i think it would be extremely helpful to the Kickstarter campaign if you share some of your past experience like what sort of work do you do and etc.

i apologize if im asking too much questions, but seeing that both you and louqe are making/made promises in regards to the quality and tolerance, etc of the product, im worried if this project may follow the path of the louqe case. (also before i get bashed, ive purchased the second batch of the louqe cases, but the complaints about bent pcbs and panels, missing magnets and screws, discoloration and dents are disappointing and worrisome to say the least)

edit:: you might want to revise your wording on this 'improper storage resulting in product get wet, corrosion, fell off, squeezed or exposed to inadequate temperature/humid environment' in the website. 'product get wet, ... fell off' doesn't sound grammatically correct

Regarding ISO - We will only work with producers that consistently achieve that standard, it's crucial for the tolerance optimization process we have used.

Regarding Quality Control - We'll use stratified random sampling for inspection; were the different stratum consist of the CNCd parts, sheet metal parts, cast parts and glass parts. 30 parts will be chosen at random from each stratum and inspected, this should give us a decent enough distribution.

Experience - Our experience is more academic than empirical as of right now since this is our first project. We strictly followed this in all the optimization processes and prototype creation, happy to say that we haven't been surprised yet.

Thanks a lot for noticing that strange section on our website, sound really strange indeed. Gonna get it fixed Ask on friend, happy to discuss anything.

Kudos on where you've arrived! Last update looks exquisite!
If you can deliver on manufacturing quality, I believe this will be a case to remember for many years to come.

A few comments though:
Inside mounted glass panels should suffer in terms of GPU temps while the AIO can save the CPU.Outside mounted glass panels should fare much much better.

The metal panels... I really think you should tweak the perforation to substantially increase the open-air %.

Or, I would go a step further and offer an "airflow" option by including a filter-panel like in the filter assembly you showed in but with the filter (not the frame) on the surface. That filter assembly looks really nice but you should already consider mounting the filter assembly with the filter side on the surface, since it would increase the fan effectiveness by giving them more room for airflow (especially at intake). I would include two of them in that "airflow" option so that all four sides come with the same filter design. Trust me, this "airflow" option would improve the case performance drastically.

Thanks a lot, really appreciate it! I think it's an interesting idea and something definitely worth looking into. First we have to get production up and running; when that has stabilized there's definitely value in expanding the side panel section.

Yes, if you used unsleeved cables, it is posssible to achieve a much tighter bend radius. It's quite hard to get a nice look using this method, I would either use silver cables or white cables.

Silver crimped 15 AWG cables next to normal and low profile PCIe side-by-side

Its important to note that the low profile nature of the PCIe connector means that a portion of the metallic crimp will be exposed and so some kind of sleeving must be used, otherwise you do risk shorting out and probably damaging components or the PSU. However as I showed in my previous post, if you use normal sleeving, the bend radius is compromised.

So you have to wrap it up with heatshrink.

This method gets you pretty dang close to 20 mm

BUT you must be very careful with working with these cables (and it should be true to the ones Alex linked too) since the crimp part is outside the connector, it is fairly easy to bend the cables in such a way that the wire breaks off the connector. For the average user, I would imagine this would be catastrophic.

Thanks a lot for the demonstration, definitely need to be careful using such cables. How about something like this: https://store.supermicro.com/57cm-8pin-cpu-8pin-6pin-pcie-cbl-pwex-0790.html#tabs1

Those seem to be safer. At least there seem to be options out there for those with tall GPUs

I sent you an email through your contact us page, lets chat soon

Absolutely, let’s just give it a week or two for things to calm down and then we can have an in-depth discussion

@AlexTzone
Thanks for the update.

How much will the cases & panels cost in Euro?
Will you ship from within the EU?
Did you register a company or are you handling production & sales as a private person? I cannot seem to find an imprint on your website.

Due to us being in Sweden the price will be in Swedish krona (SEK), so 2700 SEK for standard edition and 3150 SEK for RGB edition. This is roughly equivalent to 299$ / 349$ or 262€ / 305€.

Still working on panel pricing, but it looks to land somewhere just under 100$ for a set of 3 panels (glass or metal). Keep in mind the they are tempered / machined and thus very expensive to produce.

We’ll ship from China. This a sole proprietorship (enskild firma) as of right now, we’ll convert THOR ZONE to a limited company (aktiebolag) shortly after the campaign. I’m a bit vary of having the organization number on the website since it’s linked to my personal identification number, best to avoid identification theft.

I initially didn't like this but its really growing on me. Functional and minimalistic. Goes well with the design language.

Also, what thickness for the 120mm RAD are you aiming for?

The total AIO height needs to be within 55 mm, so a 30 mm rad + 25 mm fan or 40 mm rad + 15 mm fan will work just fine

It's getting better and better.

Thanks a lot friend!

So to be clear, moving forward the design of the glass is going to be a clean sheet? Also after testing, if it shows that the glass needs to be vented, is there a potential design plan for it? I think the case is in such a great spot, and the last thing to finalize are these panels.

Yes they will be clean. Once the production & supply chain has stabilized I don’t see why we can’t introduce additional side panels for those who already own a MJOLNIR I

Based on our thermal tests, a blower style GPU will do fine with clean side panels. CPU thermals do suffer; however, but this can be remedied with a 120 mm AIO (not dependent on side panel intake).

This is the most minimalist design I ever seen ,Definitely I will buy it
You didn't mention about power switch, is it Bluetooth like RGB controller?

RAM
Max height: 57mm (3.0")

Thank you, that’s amazing! It’s Bluetooth controller via an app on IOS / Android. If we can find a similar controller with WiFi support, we’ll switch to that.

Looking amazing, could you let us know what parts are inside? Is that the Corsair RGB Pro RAM? Which Mobo, etc?

Thanks.

Thanks so much! Absolutely, here we go:

CPU: i7 8700
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L9i & NF-A9 PWM
GPU: Asus RTX 2070 Turbo
MOBO: Gigabyte Z370N WiFi
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB
PSU: SilverStone SX 700 lpt
Case fan: Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM
Storage: EVO 970 M.2 and EVO 860 SSD

 

[2blentendre]

Thank you for taking them time to reply to all of our questions. I just wanted to clarify one of your replies: are we to expect the case to cost ~$299/$349 PLUS $100 for the tempered glass panels or are the tempered glass panels included in the $299/$349 price? Also comes with the metal panels or we need to pick one or the other?

Thanks.

 

[AlexTzone]

Thank you for taking them time to reply to all of our questions. I just wanted to clarify one of your replies: are we to expect the case to cost ~$299/$349 PLUS $100 for the tempered glass panels or are the tempered glass panels included in the $299/$349 price? Also comes with the metal panels or we need to pick one or the other?

Thanks.

Happy to answer them

It’s 299$ / 349$ for a MJOLNIR I with these choices:

• Color choice: DARK or STEEL
• Panel choice: Metal or Tempered Glass

So 1 set of panels are included

If you want to get an extra set of metal or tempered glass panels it will run an additional ~100$

Did that clear things up?

 

[2blentendre]

Happy to answer them

It’s 299$ / 349$ for a MJOLNIR I with these choices:

• Color choice: DARK or STEEL
• Panel choice: Metal or Tempered Glass

So 1 set of panels are included

If you want to get an extra set of metal or tempered glass panels it will run an additional ~100$

Did that clear things up?

Crystal clear! I think that's perfectly fair.

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

 

[rcradiator]

Just wondering, who's the OEM/factory that will be making this case? I'm personally worried if I go for this case and the OEM doesn't bother to check for QC issues like what happened with the Loque Ghost S1.

 

[JDK]

Again, thanks for the updates.

Due to us being in Sweden the price will be in Swedish krona (SEK), so 2700 SEK for standard edition and 3150 SEK for RGB edition. This is roughly equivalent to 299$ / 349$ or 262€ / 305€.

Still working on panel pricing, but it looks to land somewhere just under 100$ for a set of 3 panels (glass or metal). Keep in mind the they are tempered / machined and thus very expensive to produce.

We’ll ship from China.

Is the pricing already including VAT? How about shipping? Do we Europeans have to pay import taxes (VAT & customs)?

This a sole proprietorship (enskild firma) as of right now, we’ll convert THOR ZONE to a limited company (aktiebolag) shortly after the campaign. I’m a bit vary of having the organization number on the website since it’s linked to my personal identification number, best to avoid identification theft.

Aren't you obliged by Swedish law to have an imprint in your website? At least in Austria we have such laws in place.

 

[AlexTzone]

Hey guys,

Check out thermal tests for MJOLNIR I and let me know your thoughts Obviously Noctua NH-L9i will have trouble cooling an i7 8700 (even though the 25 mm fan was able to keep it from throttling with no side panels). Please check out our 120 mm Model predictions and see if you find them reasonable

NOTE: These tests are done on the 92 mm prototype. Will do 120 mm AIO tests in March 2019.

Best,
Alex

 

[Allhopeforhumanity]

Will do 120 mm AIO tests in March 2019

Noticed a typo in your thermal testing documentation. On page 2, the first paragraph reads "These tests will be done in Mars 2019"

Also, quick follow-up, were any noise measurements taken during the thermal tests?

 

[dlal1520]

My only concern thus far with these thermal results are with the much more common open-air gpus. Do you guys think you could run a similar test with an open air gpu? It would be very helpful as most of us are most likely going to be using an open-air gpu (especially since nvidia ditched that design with the rtx line).

 

[For_Science]

Hey guys,

Check out thermal tests for MJOLNIR I and let me know your thoughts Obviously Noctua NH-L9i will have trouble cooling an i7 8700 (even though the 25 mm fan was able to keep it from throttling with no side panels). Please check out our 120 mm Model predictions and see if you find them reasonable

NOTE: These tests are done on the 92 mm prototype. Will do 120 mm AIO tests in March 2019.

Best,
Alex

Hi Alex,

Great tests reports, that I think as a reader would be happy to accept is representative of the product (i.e. the numbers look honest and believable). Apart from the above mentioned Swedish that made it through to the draft, I couldn't find anything glaring in the reports (apart from unlabeled y axis, but I guess that's an industry-wide bad practice).

The results are within my realm of "expected" but certainly are not great, especially for the tempered glass panel. Disabling turbo would be considered an "advanced" user option in my opinion. 8 degree delta for a blower card is also reasonable, but thats what blower cards do, they survive in even the harshest conditions (we routinely stack 4 together for our workstations). What's more upsetting of course is the 20-30 degree delta for the glass panels on an undervolted (also an "advanced" option in my opinion) 8700. Perhaps ThorZone needs to provide some guideline of max TDP (or watts consumed, or somethning) to make sure people don't come back complaining their CPUs are overheating and throttling.

I also think that providing numbers for the AIO are a bit hasty and probably not realistic. I would especially anticipate there to be a VERY big difference between the following possible configurations. Therefore any number giving should be conducted with the actual prototype and any "predictions" will only lead to disappointment since if it's worse than what you predict, people will be upset, and if its better, nobody would care a lose-lose situation.

AIO on the top + mesh top >>>>>> AIO on the top + metal top >>> AIO on the bottom + Mesh bottom = AIO on the top + glass panel top

I would hope that like with the DAN A4 SFX side panels, ThorZone would be happy to release the measurements of both the metal panel (flush against the window) and the glass panels (space around the window) so that those interested can cut out their own panels of whatever material. I personally think this can actually be a great feature of the Mjolnir I since the side panel itself is a single piece with no additional parts required unlike some competing products that require either some kind of standoff attachment to the side panel (Ncase M1, A4 SFX), or something other than holes to mount (Ghost S1).

 

[For_Science]

Thanks a lot for the demonstration, definitely need to be careful using such cables. How about something like this: https://store.supermicro.com/57cm-8pin-cpu-8pin-6pin-pcie-cbl-pwex-0790.html#tabs1

Those seem to be safer. At least there seem to be options out there for those with tall GPUs

With regards to these extensions, I think it would be better to not recommend these to people as they are not suitable for a couple of reasons. I think those that want to use low profile PCIe connectors should just get the MODDIY ones and "be careful".

1 - These are supposedly a 8-pin ATX to 6 + 8 pin PCIe connector (although the picture looks suspiciously like a 6 + 8 + 8 PCIe connector). However not all PSUs are guaranteed to have the same pinout for the 8-pin ATX side, and I have no idea how these cables have been routed. Potentially the 12 V and grounds are not in the right place for non-supermicro systems

2 - Not compatible with 8 + 8 pin GPUs

3 - They look way too long for this case

 

[Ghost_Pack]

Happy to answer them

It’s 299$ / 349$ for a MJOLNIR I with these choices:

• Color choice: DARK or STEEL
• Panel choice: Metal or Tempered Glass

So 1 set of panels are included

If you want to get an extra set of metal or tempered glass panels it will run an additional ~100$

Did that clear things up?

Long time lurker here, couple of questions for Alex,

Will users be able to mix/match the panels they receive? In my case, I like the glass side panel look but dislike having glass on top of my case, both for transport and cable management reasons. Would I be able to order a Mjolnir with two glass side panels and a metal top panel, or would I need to buy an additional set of panels?

Another question that's more of a clarification, I keep seeing talk of low profile PCIE Power connectors. Are the max GPU dimensions on your site representative of GPUs when using normal PCIE connectors (i.e. listed measurement + 20 to 30mm for PCIE cables) or when using low profile PCIE cables? If so, what is the actual clearance between the listed max GPU dimensions and the top of the case?

(for reference my current GPU is a Gaming X 1080, which is 4mm over the specified GPU limit)

Thanks guys, and great job so far! Really looking forward to this case!

 

[2blentendre]

Ghost_Pack, great questions. I'm wondering regarding the PCIe connectors too...