Thank you for your input.
The graphics card is secured internally. It does not move during transport. I am considering adding a mount to the outside as suggested.
With the correct power supply choice, it is not a drawback in terms of silence. For example, I am using an FSP Group 500W Gold power supply. The Noctua fan on an NH-L9i/a is more audible than the power supply fan regardless of the fan curve at both idle and load.
+1 for GPU additional fastening
As for the PSU, I never heard about silent flex PSU with proper efficiency. Maybe there is a solution for that somewhere, but I predict it will be something like a high power PSU with passive cooling option (for example 800W PSU for a 300W system and low fan ramp). The main problems with quiet flex PSUs are probably poor availability and lack of other options. It means, if you say that there is a manufacturer for quiet flex PSU, then can you mention one ot two more, so people would have options to choose from? There is nothing worst for a design than closing it for only one supplier for its parts. I really would like to see some tests of those silent flex power supplies, because i had contact with many of them, but none were at least as silent as standard sfx PSUs.
It is not high.
-PCI-E risers cost as little as 20 USD
-The total cost of this case for a US buyer would be 135 USD. For a European buyer, it would be about 170 USD (150 EUR) after import fees. That is still less than comparable cases.
For small production run the price may be justified by a very small amount of manufactured units. With bigger production you should ask your subcontractors for better offers, so you could lower the final case price and get more buyers.
-The fact that there are no welding points, punched holes, rivets, plastic feet, rubber plugs, etc means little. The demand for a product, not its cost to manufacture, largely determines its price. The product's manufacturability determines whether it is viable to produce and sell such a product at the price that people are willing to pay. Over-engineering a design by welding, making unnecessary components, etc cannot be used to justify a higher price.
That is not fully true. Everything depends on where you are with your product (in time). At a place where you are with your case, to sell it at a certain price you have to justify it (clarify to you clients why this product is worth their money and why it is better then other similar products they can buy for the same amount). If not, you will not build a proper demand for your product.
-The mesh replaces the side panels. Just because it doesn't have sheet metal on each side doesn't mean that the components inside are not protected. It actually feels fairly solid when attached to the case. When you use this case, the fact that the side panels are mesh is not something to cross your mind because the case looks like a plain black box (unless if it is right in front of your face for some reason). Either way, I might introduce sheet metal side panels soon for those who want them.
Tbh I did not notice that this mesh is going to be permanent (only for prototype or something like that...). If you want it that way, then why you just not add some steel tapes on the sides and place a proper magnetic dust filters, like those from
www.demcifilter.com?
First, you do not the know my production costs. Second, this is already the least expensive case that uses brushed and anodized aluminum of a decent thickness. My batch size is much smaller than 50 units.
Ok. High price in your case is justified by low production run. Got it. I thought there is something else (in your design) which generates high costs.
If you would like, I can head over to your case discussion and ask some thought-provoking questions. For example, why is a case produced in the hundreds priced as high as it is, at the same time forcing any buyers to wait an undetermined amount of time for availability?
Please, do it! I invite you to participate in our project threads. All those questions were asked hundreds of times and you can find answers for them.
What is more, Sentry is a community project, so current version 2.0 is mostly redesigned by people who already bought previous version. We are talking about problems, possibilities, improvements, costs, prices, timelines all the time. I don't remember other case project in which feedback from people had such big influence on the final design and in which people knew so much about its manufacturing costs. Our daytime jobs are somewhere else so we are not scared to give answers.
I cannot believe the amount of negativity this design has received about its price. All of other design elements, yes, please go ahead and criticize them so that they can be improved. But criticizing the price? Why choose this case to criticize and not the $200+ cases that use the same or cheaper materials and have been made in the thousands? And no, the mesh was not a cost-cutting decision. Not to point fingers, but NFC, if I recall correctly, sells power buttons for $25 that can be bought for $5-15 elsewhere and no one seems to be complaining about that. They are not doing anything wrong because the demand determines how a product is priced. However, when there are so many examples of high profit margins in this market, for some reason my design is being criticized for its price despite the fact that it is less expensive than any comparable offerings and the fact that I am literally NOT MAKING MONEY OFF OF THIS.
I think you overreacted a little bit. If you felt attacked by my questions, I am sorry for that. That wasn't my point. In the world where something like 95% of pc cases production comes from China, you are making your cases in the USA like Josh used to, and I thought you might be a good source of proper information about real costs of production there. That's why i asked those questions.
I think if you come to technical forums you should be prepared for such questions. If you find people complaining about something and you can't or don't want to defend your decisions properly, then you should stay on reddit. In forums like SFF or [H]ardForum we are talking about every aspects of design, including its improvements, flaws, manufacturing costs, etc. If people will see that you came here only to talk how good is your design, and you will not going to listen to them or give them answers why you did this and this in that way, or if you can make this and this better or cheaper, then they will think that you are only making an advertisement of your product. You won't build a demand that way. Please also visit Sentry, A4-SFX, NFC, Ghost threads and check if there is no complains about costs and prices. I can assure you are not the only one who have to face those questions and with prices $200+ there is way more complaints than you have to deal with
