Production Velka series cases for ultra compact and portable desktops

[Sziklapeti]

I'm so tempted but I shouldn't until my work stabilizes after covid... Have great joy with it Jpark! ^^

 

[kroken]

currently building the velka 7 now testing everything, i notice confusing with the screws. i got a few plastic bags with different screws, but none of them are m3x5mm, i have m3x4mm included. manual also tell me to use m3x5mm for the power supply which will not work because the head is to small..

 

[infinitypenguin]

Hello,

I have a pre-order for the Velka 7, but I have a concern around the PSU. I recently came across this Velka 7 build using a Corsair SF750 (dimensions: 100mm x 63mm x 125mm):

The Velka 7 specifications for PSU compatibility is "SFX (not compatible with SFX-L". I bought a Fractal Ion SFX-L for SFF which measures 125 x 125 x 63.5 mm. From the above picture, there appears to be a bit of additional room to fit my PSU by my estimation, but I'm worried I might be missing something. Can someone please weigh in on whether the Velka 7 would be compatible?

 

[labmonke101]

Hello,

I have a pre-order for the Velka 7, but I have a concern around the PSU. I recently came across this Velka 7 build using a Corsair SF750 (dimensions: 100mm x 63mm x 125mm):

The Velka 7 specifications for PSU compatibility is "SFX (not compatible with SFX-L". I bought a Fractal Ion SFX-L for SFF which measures 125 x 125 x 63.5 mm. From the above picture, there appears to be a bit of additional room to fit my PSU by my estimation, but I'm worried I might be missing something. Can someone please weigh in on whether the Velka 7 would be compatible?

He doesn’t have the other bracket installed (which normally goes in front of the PSU). I also don’t have mine installed and it seems totally fine, which is good news since maybe the 3080 FE will be ok in this case due to a vent on the other side of that rear fan

 

[gihaume]

I just finished to build the Velka 7 and all I have to say is Waw ! Thanks for this high quality work Michael !

 

[fury]

My first SFF build ever with my shiny new Velka 3 2.0. After a couple hours of unscrewing, screwing, cramming, and smooshing, I'm in love. It's so hot. In both ways

At full load, depending on which way it's oriented, CPU hits 85-95 C, GPU 68-76 C. I'm using a Noctua NH-L9A, Ryzen 3800x, Gigabyte Aorus x570i, and Gigabyte 2070 mini itx. I've tried reducing voltage for the CPU but all it seems to do is lower the clock speeds and the temps stay about the same. I can point a little fan at it and it'll trend toward 85. Is this about the kind of temp I should expect out of this or should I be looking into reapplying thermal goop, expanding that side of the case, or trying a different heatsink/fan?

 

[Brandon86]

My first SFF build ever with my shiny new Velka 3 2.0. After a couple hours of unscrewing, screwing, cramming, and smooshing, I'm in love. It's so hot. In both ways

At full load, depending on which way it's oriented, CPU hits 85-95 C, GPU 68-76 C. I'm using a Noctua NH-L9A, Ryzen 3800x, Gigabyte Aorus x570i, and Gigabyte 2070 mini itx. I've tried reducing voltage for the CPU but all it seems to do is lower the clock speeds and the temps stay about the same. I can point a little fan at it and it'll trend toward 85. Is this about the kind of temp I should expect out of this or should I be looking into reapplying thermal goop, expanding that side of the case, or trying a different heatsink/fan?

This is just my opinion but a 3800X inside the Velka 3 is probably too much. A 3700X would have been a better balance. You're not really losing much gaming performance going with the 3700X. Based on your GFX card choice, I'm assuming this is for a portable gaming rig. I just don't think the 37mm CPU cooler height requirement will ever be able to adequately cool a 3800X. You want to try and keep your temps from ever hitting 90C for longevity of the chip and to prevent throttling. 3800X in a Velka 7 makes sense because you can use a Cryorig C7G or a Alpenfohn Black Ridge cooler, but being limited to the Noctua NHL9A and other super low profile coolers, I'm just not sure you're going to get those temps down any further than you're currently getting.

Did you use Noctua NT-H1 or NT-H2 thermal paste, or something else? Also, if you're adamant about running a 3800X, you could lap the CPU and possibly get lower temps. The base of the Noctua Coolers is usually very smooth, so probably no benefit in lapping that as well. YMMV.

 

[fury]

This is just my opinion but a 3800X inside the Velka 3 is probably too much. A 3700X would have been a better balance. You're not really losing much gaming performance going with the 3700X. Based on your GFX card choice, I'm assuming this is for a portable gaming rig. I just don't think the 37mm CPU cooler height requirement will ever be able to adequately cool a 3800X. You want to try and keep your temps from ever hitting 90C for longevity of the chip and to prevent throttling. 3800X in a Velka 7 makes sense because you can use a Cryorig C7G or a Alpenfohn Black Ridge cooler, but being limited to the Noctua NHL9A and other super low profile coolers, I'm just not sure you're going to get those temps down any further than you're currently getting.

Did you use Noctua NT-H1 or NT-H2 thermal paste, or something else? Also, if you're adamant about running a 3800X, you could lap the CPU and possibly get lower temps. The base of the Noctua Coolers is usually very smooth, so probably no benefit in lapping that as well. YMMV.

I'm not married to the 3800x, it's just what I had handy and figured I'd "get by" on it until Zen 3 comes out. I had a spare from when I was trying to figure out what broke on my big rig.

I used the stuff that came with the heatsink, which looks like it's NT-H1. I have no idea if I applied it correctly but I can take it apart and give it a looksee, maybe squirt a little more if it looks like it wasn't making complete contact.

This is a Linux machine that will be doing cryptocurrency mining while I'm not doing something else on it - gaming, game development, stuff like that. I mostly bought it for the size even though I don't do a whole lot of traveling. This is just my first SFF build and I fell in love with the idea from the LTT & Optimum Tech videos.

I do have a Windows box with a 3800x and a 2080 Ti, it's in probably the most polar opposite case, a Fractal Design Define XL R2. I feel like I could fit 20 or 30 Velka 3s inside that thing!

I noticed there is a BIOS option for 65w mode. Might give that another shot tonight and see what it does to the temps. Would that be the same as just sticking a 3700x in there?

I assume watercooling is out of the question.

 

[MaxBurnout]

For people talking about cooling issues with the 3080 FE in V7: I was gunna get one prolly and revise the psu so the psu sucks air from the 3080 bottom fan, and otherwise only cables that should be blocking are like Mobo, CPU, and 2x graphics plugs if u have no sata ssd

as for temps I have:
84C 2080FE max
74C max Ryzen 2700 (3.8OC 4 cores disabled)

 

[ripton]

Guys, if anyone in the UK is looking for a brand new Velka 7 please contact me. I paid £250 total for the case + shipping (import taxes) and I am looking to sell the case for around £230.
The reason why I am looking to sell it is because my motherboard (MSI Meg Unify Z490i) has a super weird 24 pin connector, making it impossible for me to close the front panel.

I apologise if posts such as these are not allowed!

 

[kroken]

For people talking about cooling issues with the 3080 FE in V7: I was gunna get one prolly and revise the psu so the psu sucks air from the 3080 bottom fan, and otherwise only cables that should be blocking are like Mobo, CPU, and 2x graphics plugs if u have no sata ssd

as for temps I have:
84C 2080FE max
74C max Ryzen 2700 (3.8OC 4 cores disabled)

I guess this wont happen unless you were lucky to get your hands on the FE... there are no other 3080 that will fit velka as of now which IMO is pretty shitty

 

[StonedTablet]

If it is indeed 40.9mm, though, will it fit? I think the figures above were quoted from an EVGA rep on their official forums, so I expect them to be trustworthy. (Also, what does "side panel offset" mean?)

XC3 black protrudes friom below the metal slots by about 4.2mm, others by about 4.84mm. EVGA reps info just told us that the backplate is 4.2mm thick which is irrelevant. Compare the pixels of the pics of the metal slots and you can see the protrusion.

 

[MaxBurnout]

I guess this wont happen unless you were lucky to get your hands on the FE... there are no other 3080 that will fit velka as of now which IMO is pretty shitty

I got the 2080 on release day, but didn’t go for the 3080 on release cuz I feel a 20gb variant might be coming in 6 months who knows, anyways also cuz RDNA is coming (not that I necessarily want but it might pinch NVidia to early release better variants). Lastly I have a ryzen 2700 and need one of those bad ass ryzen 4700x coming soon to justify having a 3080

Ur yes unfortunately it seems cards that will fit this gen will be far less due to power increases and needs for thicker thermals

 

[evenather]

Just finished building my Velka 5

It was my first time building a SFF PC and it went better that i anticipated.
The actual building took me 45 mins.

Parts used:
M/B: MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC Link
CPU: INTEL i5-9600KF Link
CPU COOLER: CRYORIG C7 Link
TIM: Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut Liquid Metal Link
RAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Link
M.2: XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB Link
M.2: ADDLINK S70 1 TB Link
PSU: CORSAIR SF600 — 600 Watt 80 PLUS Gold Link
GPU: ASUS Strix GTX 980 Link

Preparation:

I re pasted the GPU with Conductonaut
same was used for the CPU

Assembled everything outside of the case (obviously),

Fitting components in the case was pretty strait forward, cable management was fairly easy (for the size of the case)

My main issue was with the fitting of the GPU, a it is quite large, even after the installation of the optional brackets, bottom fan was still scraping in the cover
i had to stick a double sided foam tape on the GPU cooler to gain 1 mm of extra clearance.

Temps & Noise

Ambient temp: 24 C

Idle:

GPU: Temp: 30 C, Fan speed: 0
CPU: Temp: 37 C, Fan speed: 30% (min that can be set in M/B)
PSU FAN: 0
Noise: inaudible

Stress test GPU & CPU (GPU stock)

GPU: Temp: 67 C, Fan speed: 38% (178W)
CPU: Temp: 78 C, Fan speed: 100% (all cores at 4.3 Ghz / 75W)
PSU FAN: Running
Noise: Only CPU fan is audible, but not very loud or annoying (42 db)

Stress test GPU & CPU (GPU +100 Mhz core, + 200 Mhz memory)

GPU: Temp: 68 C, Fan speed: 42% (187 W)
CPU: Temp: 78 C, Fan speed: 100% (all cores at 4.3 Ghz / 75W)
PSU FAN: Running
Noise: Only CPU fan is audible, but not very loud or annoying (42 db)

Gaming (GPU +100 Mhz core, + 200 Mhz memory)

GPU: Temp: 68 C, Fan speed: 40% (187 W)
CPU: Temp: 55 C, Fan speed: 50% (all cores at 4.3 Ghz / 60W)
PSU FAN: 0
Noise: Only CPU fan is audible, but not very loud or annoying (38 db)

Photos

Added Custom carrying handle

 

[englishlayup]

I have a problem with my Velkase 5 rev2. My 24 pin tab is preventing the front panel from fully closing.

I tried removing the I/O Shield but it's not enough. I also tried to buy a 30cm 24 pin extension cord () and shave off the tab but then the longer cable wouldn't fit inside the case. Can anyone suggest anything other than cutting/sanding the tab?
Many thanks!!!

 

[gihaume]

Same here, I cut it. It doesn't seem useful when you realize the amount of force needed to remove the connector...

 

[LimitRTX]

My first SFF build ever with my shiny new Velka 3 2.0. After a couple hours of unscrewing, screwing, cramming, and smooshing, I'm in love. It's so hot. In both ways

At full load, depending on which way it's oriented, CPU hits 85-95 C, GPU 68-76 C. I'm using a Noctua NH-L9A, Ryzen 3800x, Gigabyte Aorus x570i, and Gigabyte 2070 mini itx. I've tried reducing voltage for the CPU but all it seems to do is lower the clock speeds and the temps stay about the same. I can point a little fan at it and it'll trend toward 85. Is this about the kind of temp I should expect out of this or should I be looking into reapplying thermal goop, expanding that side of the case, or trying a different heatsink/fan?

I think you should manually set the frequency of the 3800x and the voltage to reduce temps. This method should work on the 3800x since its basically the same as the 3700x except the 3800x has higher boost clock which gives it the higher TDP rating.

 

[revo175]

I have a problem with my Velkase 5 rev2. My 24 pin tab is preventing the front panel from fully closing.

I tried removing the I/O Shield but it's not enough. I also tried to buy a 30cm 24 pin extension cord () and shave off the tab but then the longer cable wouldn't fit inside the case. Can anyone suggest anything other than cutting/sanding the tab?
Many thanks!!!

Is that a backplate your motherboard has? maybe that could make a difference o 1 mm or 2, and in addition to the other things you've done.

 

[labmonke101]

im going to go ahead and order custom cables from Ray for my VK7. i did some measuring and went on the slightly longer side just in case, let me know if these sound crazy or if anyone else has already ordered some and can confirm

CPU 8-Pin - 150mm
GPU 8-pin x2 - 90mm
ATX 24-pin - 180mm

 

[StonedTablet]

Managed to get a FE order through. Will be testing one in Velka 5 v1 and report back results next week.