Stalled Winter One -- 15.6L SFF case, 3090 Support, 3-slot GPUs, dual 280mm radiators, CFD Optimized Design

[WinterCharm]

Looks like the 3D printed parts came out good. I'm looking forward to see how it looks all assembled together.

?

If you go for a kickstarter campaign you could adjust the final way of manufacturing and price for backers depending on the pre orders you get.

That's definitely the plan right now. I just spoke to a manufacturer today, and they said I should plan for both, so I'll be doing a redesign for CNC machining (v10) and will then have two validated plans to see what gets done, going forward.

There may also be upcoming support for 3-slot GPUs

I hear you on extrusion and milling aluminum. The parts come out too expensive if you just want one run. I have to use laser cutting and my biggest gripe with it is that while it's great for flat pieces, it too scales poorly for cutting many smaller holes, as you have in your exterior pieces.

Exactly. Without having preorder numbers understood and figured out, it's tough to know what manufacturing techniques will be the best, so the goal now is to plan for multiple possibilities, and then pick the one that best matches Kickstarter numbers.

 

[iMik]

Front USB?

 

[WinterCharm]

Front USB?

Currently, that's not something I'm planning to do, but that may change... the survey is relatively split right now.

 

[iMik]

Currently, that's not something I'm planning to do, but that may change... the survey is relatively split right now.

I would not ask but mini-itx boards don't have enough usb ports. Only motherboard with more usb ports is Asus Impact which is DTX.

 

[Levi]

The quality of the 3D printed parts looks really good.

May I ask how much you paid for this prototype?

 

[WinterCharm]

The quality of the 3D printed parts looks really good.

May I ask how much you paid for this prototype?

This prototype came out close to $500. Much cheaper than a one-off machined case, but still very expensive for a 3D print. SLA Tough Resins are *excellent* for prototyping, because of the quality of parts that you get, you can actually test things like tolerance, screw placement, and more.

 

[Alho]

One of the best designs i've seen. I really appreciate the vertical design.
+1 buyer here, i would use this case for a "console killer" build.
Maybe you consider to use a two drive cage between the psu and the bottom radiator.
Your concept drawing shows room there and personally i would say two drives are enough.

 

[WinterCharm]

One of the best designs i've seen. I really appreciate the vertical design.
+1 buyer here, i would use this case for a "console killer" build.
Maybe you consider to use a two drive cage between the psu and the bottom radiator.
Your concept drawing shows room there and personally i would say two drives are enough.

Thanks for the feedback! I've been exploring how to handle drive cage stuff, and I've got a few different ideas for how to handle this. I'm worried about messing up the airflow by going "horizontal" with drives, but maybe going vertical in a few places would do the trick.

 

[WinterCharm]

WE ARE DESIGN COMPLETE!!!!!

10 iterations... almost 1 year of design work. About 46GB of simulation data on airflow...

A huge part of the focus from v0.8 --> v0.9 --> v1.0 was tolerances, and cost savings without affecting quality. I'm happy to report that we somehow got (TENTATIVE-- ALL PRICES SUBJECT TO MINOR CHANGES) our target price from the 400+ range into the lower 300's and might even be able to offer a $315 early bird special on the Kickstarter

It was an absolute herculean effort to do so while *improving* airflow performance in the case... I think in the last 4 weeks, alone I've dedicated nearly 250 hours to the project ?

Now... I wait for a final quote from the manufacturer(s). And sleep.

PSST: at 1000 rpm with 2x intakes / 2x exhaust fans in the vertical config with "solid" side panels, airflow in the case is up from 60cm/s to about 90cm/s. Nearly a 1.5x airflow improvement over 2 iterations.

 

[DrHudacris]

WE ARE DESIGN COMPLETE!!!!!

10 iterations... almost 1 year of design work. About 46GB of simulation data on airflow...

A huge part of the focus from v0.8 --> v0.9 --> v1.0 was tolerances, and cost savings without affecting quality. I'm happy to report that we somehow got (TENTATIVE-- ALL PRICES SUBJECT TO MINOR CHANGES) our target price from the 400+ range into the lower 300's and might even be able to offer a $315 early bird special on the Kickstarter

It was an absolute herculean effort to do so while *improving* airflow performance in the case... I think in the last 4 weeks, alone I've dedicated nearly 250 hours to the project ?

Now... I wait for a final quote from the manufacturer(s). And sleep.

PSST: at 1000 rpm with 2x intakes / 2x exhaust fans in the vertical config with "solid" side panels, airflow in the case is up from 60cm/s to about 90cm/s. Nearly a 1.5x airflow improvement over 2 iterations.

Is that tentative price for the case alone or for the heatsink/semi-passive version?

 

[WinterCharm]

Is that tentative price for the case alone or for the heatsink/semi-passive version?

Still waiting on the Heat Sink Manuf. to get back to me on the SPK final pricing stuff. That's currently w/o the SPK.

 

[REVOCCASES]

PSST: at 1000 rpm with 2x intakes / 2x exhaust fans in the vertical config with "solid" side panels, airflow in the case is up from 60cm/s to about 90cm/s. Nearly a 1.5x airflow improvement over 2 iterations.

Wind-tunnel rulezzz! ?

PS: do you have some pictures to share?

 

[WinterCharm]

Pictures were requsted!!!!

Some other fun details about v1.0

1. PRODUCTION PROTOTYPES ARE ON THE WAY!!! (they've already shipped)
2. The Semi-Passive Heat Sink Kit (SPK) is very expensive to develop. It will cost about $30,000 in terms of further R&D and tooling to set up for manufacturing. However, the company I'm working with to make the SPK make some particularly well-regarded Fans and Heatsinks.... The SPK is slated to come out late next year, but I promise you, it will be worth the wait.
3. The case is going to likely go on sale in 1-2 months time, unless there are some unforeseen issues with the production prototypes, in terms of QC or tolerances.
4. Of the 5 prototypes being made, 3 will be sent to users here, as part of a Beta Program. The other two units are going to be reserved for reviews and personal testing on my end. (More details will be posted soon)

 

[REVOCCASES]

some clever and unique ideas there, love it!

short question: how would the MB/GPU brackets be fixed on the (extruded?) back panel? Would they be pressed in at the factory (non removable) or...?

 

[rayuma]

Is the SPK specifically designed to work only in this case?

 

[Qzrx]

Pictures were requsted!!!!

Some other fun details about v1.0

1. PRODUCTION PROTOTYPES ARE ON THE WAY!!! (they've already shipped)
2. The Semi-Passive Heat Sink Kit (SPK) is very expensive to develop. It will cost about $30,000 in terms of further R&D and tooling to set up for manufacturing. However, the company I'm working with to make the SPK make some particularly well-regarded Fans and Heatsinks.... The SPK is slated to come out late next year, but I promise you, it will be worth the wait.
3. The case is going to likely go on sale in 1-2 months time, unless there are some unforeseen issues with the production prototypes, in terms of QC or tolerances.
4. Of the 5 prototypes being made, 3 will be sent to users here, as part of a Beta Program. The other two units are going to be reserved for reviews and personal testing on my end. (More details will be posted soon)

Amazing work on the airflow simulation—I’m really curious to see how the case performs given the likelihood that a dual TX240 + NF-A12x25 setup will probably outperform the 240GTS with NF-A12x15’s. I’m already plotting out where to place a DDC pump inside that thing...

Are there any estimates on the thermal dissipation capacity yet for the SPK?

 

[WinterCharm]

some clever and unique ideas there, love it!

short question: how would the MB/GPU brackets be fixed on the (extruded?) back panel? Would they be pressed in at the factory (non removable) or...?

Thank you! The MB/GPU brackets are fitted into slots on the rear panel, and held in place by some screws. It's a combination of the two so that strain is not entirely shared by the screws. They are removable, as it makes the case easy to flat-pack for shipping. (which cuts down on the shipping costs people would have to pay).

Is the SPK specifically designed to work only in this case?

Yes, the SPK is being specifically designed to work in this case. There are some unique design challenges, when it comes to semi-passive heatsinks, and requires extensive modeling of the airflow in the case to ensure that in semi-passive and passive modes, there is adequate airflow over the heatsinks. At the same time, for semi passive cooling, in order to reduce drag through the heatsink, the fins *must* be spaced wider apart, so you very quickly run into constraints of how much room there is. The SPK extends in to the radiator area above and below the motherboard. It only leaves room for 25mm case fans on both ends.

The manual will include recommended cooling configurations for this case, which have all been solved for / backed by CFD that's done on the case with various setups / configurations. Edge cases may exist with particular parts, but apart from some rare exceptions, the recommended configurations will be handy for first time builders, or even experienced builders new to SFF.

Amazing work on the airflow simulation—I’m really curious to see how the case performs given the likelihood that a dual TX240 + NF-A12x25 setup will probably outperform the 240GTS with NF-A12x15’s. I’m already plotting out where to place a DDC pump inside that thing...

Are there any estimates on the thermal dissipation capacity yet for the SPK?

Right now it's looking like it'll be able to passively cool nearly 170W GPUs, and 75W CPUs while operating fanless. But, that could change. We're still doing some extensive refinement of the design, and will continue to do so for the next 6 months, at least. The goal here is for the SPK to work pretty well for passive cooling, but handle top tier components while semi-passively operating (only using the 4 case fans at 1000 rpm or below). I can't promise anything yet (all of these numbers are subject to change) because development is still ongoing. I'll probably be more ready to share stuff about the SPK by next year, but I can tell you that our targets are 300W+ for the GPU and 165W+ for the CPU. Hopefully we can hit those..

 

[WinterCharm]

WINTER ONE - V1.0 UPDATE

--------------

Big Updates:

WINTER ONE IS DESIGN COMPLETE!!!

1. The version number indicates the 10 iterations... almost 1 year of design work. About 46GB of simulation data on airflow... It was an absolute herculean effort to do so while *improving* airflow performance in the case... I think in the last 4 weeks, alone I've dedicated nearly 250 hours to the project ?

2. A huge part of the focus from v0.8 --> v0.9 --> v1.0 was tolerances, airflow tweaks, and cost savings without affecting quality. I'm happy to report that we somehow got (TENTATIVE-- ALL PRICES SUBJECT TO MINOR CHANGES) our target price from the 400+ range at the beginning of the project, into the lower 300's and might even be able to offer a $315 early bird special on the Kickstarter

3. At just 1000 rpm with 2x intakes / 2x exhaust NF A12x25 fans in the vertical config with "solid" side panels, airflow in the case is up from 60cm/s to about 90cm/s. Nearly a 1.5x airflow improvement over 2 iterations. This means the case is cycling through all the air contained within, about 5x per second. This is significantly better than many other cases on the market and I'm confident this thing is going to cool whatever parts you put in here *very* well.

4. PRODUCTION PROTOTYPES ARE ON THE WAY!!! (they've already shipped... There's going to be a Beta Program, where I will be selecting 3 people to do some test builds!!!) -- applications will open **later this week!!** so keep an eye on the subreddit.

5. The Semi-Passive Heat Sink Kit (SPK) is very expensive to develop. It will cost about $30,000 in terms of further R&D and tooling to set up for manufacturing. However, the company I'm working with to make the SPK make some particularly well-regarded Fans and Heatsinks (in fact, I've been modeling airflow in the case with their fans, hint hint).... **The SPK is slated to come out late next year (tentative!!!), but I promise you, it will be worth the wait. Despite it being expensive, it is a thing I want to do, as it will set this case apart from a lot of others in the market. **The SPK will be compatible with v1.0** and is being developed around this design.

6. Following the Beta Program, **the Kickstarter will open before the end of August!!!**, unless there are some unforeseen issues with the production prototypes, in terms of QC or tolerances, or some other error / concern / issue discovered by the Beta Testing team.

7. Of the 5 prototypes being made, 3 will be sent to a few users who apply to the Beta Program. The other two units are going to be reserved for reviews and personal testing on my end. (More details will be posted soon).

----------------------------

Design Goals

The case was designed to hit a balance between 4 main goals:

• Premium build quality, look, and feel with a machined, Anodized, bead blasted Aluminum enclosure, and a power button that *actually* feels great to press.
• Focus on proper cooling capability, with **Viable** options for liquid and air cooling, as well as semi-passive (case fans + heat sinks), and passive (heat sinks ONLY) cooling.
• Compatibility with widely available parts (ITX motherboards, low profile CPU coolers, full length 2.n slot GPUs, off the shelf SFX power supplies, 240mm radiators)
• Around 15L so it’s squarely an SFF case. (not toeing the 20L line).

---------------

What niche does this case sit in?

Winter One sits on the opposite side of the cooling vs compactness tradeoffs we usually see in the SFF market (cases typically forego fan mounts, radiator space, and good airflow in order to shave down to sub-10L). Silent Winter is a CFD-Driven, airflow optimized take on the premium SFF case, with maximum compatibility in mind. Even if it makes the case slightly bigger (14L vs sub-10L), the benefits of better airflow are hard to argue with: More air lets you handle hotter components, gives you more OC headroom, or allows for lower fan RPMs, and therefore a quieter system.

The linear airflow path (bottom >> top), and a design that emphasizes low air resistance in this case allows for natural convection, as well as maximizing airflow at lower fan RPMs in semipassive or active cooling setups. This design enables an *entirely silent* passively cooled mid-range system (3700X + 2060 Super) or a whisper quiet high end system (3950X + 2080Ti) using 4 case fans and huge heat sinks. In Active Air-cooled mode, you can maximize part compatibility (Something like a 3800X + 2070 Super) for a reasonably quiet and very flexible system.

In Active Liquid Cooled mode, dual 240mm slim (30mm or thinner) radiators ensure gobs of overclocking headroom even on high end components (9900k OC + 2080Ti OC) for the hardcore enthusiast. If you don't want to go semi passive, or liquid cool, Winter One also supports a 67mm CPU cooler heights, and triple slot GPUs -- at the same time!!! Toss in some 140mm fans (maybe the NFA14x25's when they come out!) and you'll be well on your way to an impressive stock air-cooled build.

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Physical Dimensions

Length: 31.5 cm

Height: 31.5 cm

Width: 15.5 cm

Volume: 15.38 L or 15,380 cm^3

------------

Part Compatibility

Motherboard:
Mini ITX with dual rad & quad fan
Mini DTX with Single rad & quad fan
{!}(Air Cooling Requires 3 fan headers on Motherboard)
{!}(Liquid cooling Requires 2 fan headers + 1 pump header on Motherboard)
{!}(Semi-passive Mode Requires 2 fan headers on Motherboard)
{!}(Fan headers on your motherboard should support 2A in order to use a splitter)

CPU Heat Sink:
67 mm max height.

GPU:
300 mm x 54mm x 150 mm max (3 slot thick extra-tall)
170 mm x 54mm x 150 mm max {!}(Short GPU REQUIRED with pump/res)
{!}(Perforated Side Panel Option is Recommended, if you are using a 3-slot card)

Radiators:
Dual 240mm (300mm x 140mm x 30mm) dimensions, paired with 15mm slim fans. (NF A12x15 recommended)
Dual *slim* 240mm (300mm x 140mm x 20-25mm), paired with 25mm fans. (NF A12x25 recommended)

Fans:
Quad 140mm x 25mm fans (In anticipation of NFA14x25)
Quad 120mm x 25mm fans (NF A12x25)
Quad 120mm x 15mm slim fans (NF A12x15) {!}(needed with "standard height" 30mm radiators)

Pump/Res:
Recommended Pump/Res Dimensions: (113mm x 100mm x 48mm)
{!}(with Full Length GPU)
Maximum Pump / Res Dimensions: (209mm x 76.5mm x [300mm-GPU L]mm
{!}(with shorter GPU)
Alpahcool Ice Station DC-LT Solo Top (50.62 x 50.62 x 37.2 mm)
Alpahcool Ice Station DC-LT40 (60 x 40 x 40.48 mm)
Alpahcool Ice Station DC-LT 80 (50.62 x 50.62 x 77 mm)
EK-Quantum Kinetic FLT 120 DDC (120mm x 105mm x 51.2mm)
EK-XTOP SPC-60 PWM (62mm x 62mm x 51mm)
Swiftech MCRES MICRO REV2 RESERVOIR (101mm x 103mm x 38mm)
Swiftech MCP35X Micropump (59mm x 92mm x 62mm)
Swiftech MCP35B Micropump (59mm x 92mm x 62mm)
Swiftech MCP355 Micropump (44mm x 87mm x 61mm)
Alphacool DC-LT Pump w/ FrozenCPU Res (49mm x 49mm x 65mm)
Lightobject DC24 Straight-through brushless pump (116mm X 50mm X 50mm)
{!}(Pumps Typically mount under the GPU, to the front panel)
{!}(Check GPU & Pump/Res dimensions carefully!)

Power Supply:
SFX (100 x 125 x 63.5 mm) or SFX-L (125 x 125 x 63.5 - not recommended, but okay)

Power Button:
Kailh Box LtBlue with custom round aluminum keycap (changeable for modding).
{!}(Changeable by the user. Keycap Modding will also be possible)

SATA SSDs:
Room for 4 x 2.5" SSDs or HDD's. (100mm x 70mm x 6.8mm)
{!}(Mounting Extra Drives will Require the Drive Cage add-on
{!}(Drive Cage changes Bottom 240mm radiator compatibility --> 120mm)

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FAQ's

Why Slim or only 30mm radiators?

Thicker radiators are less volume efficient, in terms of cooling performance. If you take a single 30mm radiator in push configuration, and compare it to a 60mm radiator, the 60mm radiator in push/pull, is only about 30-40% better. However, Two 30mm Radiators (not double stacked) in push configuration, will be 2x better than a single 30mm radiator, despite taking up the same space as the 60mm radiator + push/pull.

Will the SPK be available for other cases?

It's very large. It's a 210mm tall heatsink... stretching into the radiator area of this case, above and below the motherboard / GPU. This is necessary because semi-passive and passive heat sinks have widely spaced fins to better facilitate natural convection.

Will you be making the CFD data available?

CFD informed cooling configurations will be recommended in the manual, so that first time builders, experienced builders new to SFFPCs, and even experienced SFFPC enthusiasts, can be confident that they have the best layout (fan orientation, and panel choice) for their chosen cooling setup. There may be some edge cases where a particular combination of parts might out-do a suggested setup, but for the most part, these recommended configurations will give you the best possible CPU / GPU thermals in Winter One However, we will not be directly making CFD data available to the public.

Is there a way to get notified?

Yes! You can Sign Up Here to receive update emails for when the website goes up, the Beta Program goes live, and the Kickstarter is launched

 

[DrHudacris]

Amazing! I'm definitely picking up what you're putting down regarding manufacturing partner for the SPK... but they are also know for loonnnngg delays. I really really hope the SPK hits its expected launch date, because that is what sets this case so far apart from others! I'll be following this closely!

 

[WinterCharm]

We're going to do our best to make sure that's the case. And we hope the work we put into CFD and making the SPK a reality is what will set this case apart from many others in the market.