Production Velka series cases for ultra compact and portable desktops
- Thread starter VELKASE Michael
- Start date
I would preorder and pay in advance, either an old batch or new, even if it means I might be waiting a month or two or three because of sheer demand. Better than setting alarms to 10 minutes before it went on sale, wearing out my refresh button, clicking as fast as I can, and still being too slow by a few seconds...I want to build something with this neat little case soon 
How does the cooling in the 2.0 case with no fans compare to the 1.2 revision? Noise levels?
I can wait for July's release as long as they will be in stock for more than a minute, but the only thing that I don't like is dropping support for fans and increasing the pricing.
I can wait for July's release as long as they will be in stock for more than a minute, but the only thing that I don't like is dropping support for fans and increasing the pricing.
I think today's case is somewhat different as it announced to be a extremely small batch. But I agree with you with the preorder, i guess Velkase has to figure out what's the risk on the preorders, and if it's viable.I would preorder and pay in advance, either an old batch or new, even if it means I might be waiting a month or two or three because of sheer demand. Better than setting alarms to 10 minutes before it went on sale, wearing out my refresh button, clicking as fast as I can, and still being too slow by a few seconds...I want to build something with this neat little case soon
At this point I don't really want to build into any other case tbh.
Michael, can you add a Captcha feature to the checkout process somewhere? Sounds like a few people were riding that F5 key hard, and unless there were literally like 5 in stock, they were gone faster than I've seen anything sell out online in 20 years.
Wouldn't be too difficult to set up macro bots to churn through the checkout process, and while I know it's money in the pocket for the designer either way, all these are going to do is get swallowed up and resold online at 300% markup.
Not sure what platform you're using, but if it's possible to add a Captcha system during the checkout process that'd cut down on bot traffic a ton.
(Hopefully it's just an insanely caffeine fueled user base, but it was mind-blowing how fast those sold out.)
Wouldn't be too difficult to set up macro bots to churn through the checkout process, and while I know it's money in the pocket for the designer either way, all these are going to do is get swallowed up and resold online at 300% markup.
Not sure what platform you're using, but if it's possible to add a Captcha system during the checkout process that'd cut down on bot traffic a ton.
(Hopefully it's just an insanely caffeine fueled user base, but it was mind-blowing how fast those sold out.)
Same here - got one in the cart and then was out of stock...
There seems to be a demand for the Velka 3 v1.2. If they reissue, I'm sure there will be a market.
I would be interested in buying if there was another production run of the older revision
Obviously I can't speak for Michael on the cooling in the 2.0 case, but the cooling in my Velka 3 mk 1.2 without the fans is about the same. The MB, cpu and gpu temps are all similar (within a degree or two).
I've done a few very unscientific tests with smoke pens and it appears the side panel holes that are above the heatsinks of the cpu and gpu actually draw in outside air that is then exhausted by the top case fans. I don't have a way to measure how much of the outside cool air vs hot air is actually exhausted by the case fans, but some is certainly, which means the pressure gradient from the hot components below this area of vents won't benefit as much as they could. Obviously this itself doesn't mean the fans aren't effective at cooling the case (more than a few people seem to have reported favorable results), as heat (infrared energy) will always move that direction.
I bet the PSU will bebefit from the source of cool air far better than the other components will benefit from the chimney being open.
I forgot to mention above that my setup is an x570 board with a 65 TDP CPU and a RX5700 with a TDP of 180w.
@VELKASE Michael
I'm looking forward to the VK3 2.0 revision. Unfortunately I'll need to wait until there is a color option other than black.
I also want to ask you about the possibility of a future revision offering an alternate location for the power button? I understand and appreciate the work (both design and production) that went toward this, but as others have expressed as well a "stealthed" front would be pretty slick. Is there room enough on the top of the case, both on the surface and depth within the case, for an anti-vandal switch?
@VELKASE Michael
I'm looking forward to the VK3 2.0 revision. Unfortunately I'll need to wait until there is a color option other than black.
I also want to ask you about the possibility of a future revision offering an alternate location for the power button? I understand and appreciate the work (both design and production) that went toward this, but as others have expressed as well a "stealthed" front would be pretty slick. Is there room enough on the top of the case, both on the surface and depth within the case, for an anti-vandal switch?
Michael himself posted the following testing - though now the attachments/user account have been deleted. I recall a difference of 5-10c with fans as he claims that vk3 + fans >= open air.
PSU with the vents facing up to draw cool air will certainly benefit it slightly, but at the same time, it is blocking the whole top panel with the GPU/CPU heat blowing directly onto it. In addition, the top is now sealed shut with respect to the exhaust of CPU/GPU heat.
All in all, I am not sure why this change was warranted since I don't see reports about PSU overheat. (Also, PSU fan noise are usually dynamic to wattage, not temps). I reckon many will add some tall case feet, or even better flip the case upside-down (back to v1.x orientation) to allow some additional exhaust from the "bottom" panel.
@VELKASE Michael Care to weigh in? Maybe I am missing something.
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Yes I read that. I don't know what configuration he tested. I hate to rehash it, I'm just giving my own observations. I do believe that his data showed that otherwise he wouldn't have included support for it. I don't wish to speak for Michael but his design philosophy has shown he favors functional design and he certainly made a priority of reducing the VK3 case volume.
I suppose the type of heatsink and fan also makes a measurable difference. Prior, I had top exhaust fans and a 1660 Super (TDP ~135W) with a axial fan. After replacing it with a RX5700 (XT bios, TDP 180W) with a rear exhaust and top exhaust removed the thermals inside my case are improved. Air is a weird thing. a small change in case geometry can have substantial results.
I agree that it's ridiculous, but it shouldn't be an issue for the most part going forward. Those cases sold out quickly because people have been waiting for months and there were only a few dozen available. I might look into using captchas if the stock ever becomes as limited as it was on May 25th, to keep things fair.
It's on Squarespace.
They have been tested in AIDA 64 Extreme with an R7 1700 cooled by a Noctua NH-L9a, on an ASRock Fatality X370 Gaming motherboard, with a Gigabyte mini GTX 1080, fan speeds set to maximum.
The CPU (~60W) and GPU (~180 W) ran 2 degrees C warmer in the revision 2.0 case compared to the revision 1.2 case without exhaust fans. Generally speaking, the greater the power consumption, the greater the temperature difference you should expect between these two cases and vice versa. However, I've found that the 2 degree difference in temperature stayed the same (or rather, very similar) when the R7 1700 was overclocked to 3.7 Ghz at 1.25V (~90W). I don't have data on noise levels but you can expect noise levels to be the same or slightly higher in the revision 2.0 case compared to the revision 1.2 case without case fans depending on how your fan curve is set up.
When you add two exhaust case fans to this hardware configuration, the CPU runs about 1 degree cooler for every 10% (380 RPM) increase in exhaust fan speed all the way to 100% (3800 RPM). That particular graphic card does the same but until around 50% exhaust fan speed (1900 RPM) but others will behave differently depending on their fan shroud design and heatsink fin orientation.
There is enough space at the top of the Velka 3 for a button, but if the same were to be offered on the 5 and 7, it would have to be off-center. Although I wouldn't be opposed to an off-center top power button, it would make a good anodizing job on the front panel impossible because there need to be some openings on the panel for it to be hung by during anodizing. The places where those hooks touch the panel during anodization can be left with some cosmetic imperfections, so it's really convenient to cover that one hole needed for anodizing with a power button.
The account was in fact deleted. Here is a link to the testing you are referring to. I believe those two slides titled "maximum fan speed" involved an overclocked R7 1700 at 3.7 Ghz and 1.25 V, although this was not noted on the slides.
The power supply was moved to the top of the case because it fixes a cable management issue with Flex ATX power supplies and the power button (minor detail), and allows the motherboard tray to be connected to the bottom of the case as opposed to the top. The latter is mostly done to improve appearance as these asymmetric screw holes for connecting the motherboard tray can be hidden away at the bottom. This is what the bottom of the case looks like.
Moving the power supply to the top does not reduce noise output, and it would run fine on the bottom as well, but can still improve the longevity of some units.
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Yes please! I am very much eager to confirm a Velka 5 for me. Pre-orders would be great!
We were right! Look on eBay for the ones sold on May 25th. Garbage like volly25 has it on sale for $500 AND you have to pay $20 for shipping
I appreciate your detailed and transparent response. A lot definitely went into making this design decision - looks a lot more refined at the slight cost of temperatures. I guess this also expands modular flex ATX compatibility since the space is no longer blocked by the power button. However, seems like user would not get any temp drop for flipping the case up-side down as the bottom side is not vented.
Thanks. Some vents can be added to the bottom after this first production run. The revision 2.0 case can be flipped while keeping the button at the bottom and revision 2.1 might have bottom vents to give users a choice between the top/bottom orientation. This couldn't be done in the first batch because it would either require extra prototypes with bottom vents (resulting in a launch delayed an additional 1-2 months) or adding that to the production model without prior testing.
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