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

mxj1

Cable-Tie Ninja
Sep 13, 2020
179
451
While moving the PSU lower isn't an option in the case, there is about 2 cm of room above the PSU before you hit a fan / radiator. You should be able to cheekily route some G1/4 tubing through there 😉

What would stop one from flipping the bracket on the front cover?
 
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gelbetron

Caliper Novice
Sep 18, 2020
27
87
A little warning regarding those Koolance fittings: the paint comes off black ones very easily, they stained my GPU block...
I'd buy a bunch of Barrow/Bykski non-rotary elbow fittings instead and find one which would face the right direction when screwed in. On AliExpress they cost like 1/8 of Koolance elbow fittings.
That's exactly what I did. I bought 10 of those fittings, plus a pack of g/14 O-rings from basically every manufacturer on PPCS. It was good enough at several points in my loop.
 

WinterCharm

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Jan 19, 2019
428
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You were supposed to pretend as though that was an intentional design feature.

It probably was, and is likely in the documentation somewhere. As for why I forgot... At this point, the Design History File and Design Master Record contain:

1. 200 pages of hand-written / hand drawn notes, sketches, calculations, and other stuff.
2. Hundreds of cad drawings, iterations, sketches, renders
3. 100+ GB of CFD data.
4. A myriad of diagrams, and technical drawings
5. thermal data, checklists, milestones, 3D print files
6. Sun studies, and Augmented Reality files, as well as materials classification, references, and studies.
7. 250 digitized index cards, and 3 *stacks* of digitized Sticky Notes. (orange, purple, and yellow, from the rainbow pack)
8. Manufacturing controls, process diagrams, and other miscellaneous files.

During the development of Winter One, I always kept some form of paper / pen within arms reach. It would even be on my bed stand, in case I had a thought I wanted to get down before bed, or right when I woke up.

That system migration I was talking about that delayed the update a few weeks ago? that was me cataloguing, scanning, and organizing all of those things, and then setting up a backup scheme that included off-site / on-site backup, as well as encryption and versioning.

:)
 

carlover670

Average Stuffer
Oct 22, 2020
74
100


I dont think this occurred to me until now but the feet attach through the vent holes. Does that mean you can mount on the vented side panels for a horizontal orientation?

Not to beat around the dead bush but are those the finalized screws?😋

With all the talk about fan configs, have you considered spring contacts to connect the bottom and top fans? I think it would a cool idea since it would allow easier removal of the top and bottom panels. Having to fiddle around the mobo every time you want to open up the computer is a bit of a chore especially if you have a giant heatsink blocking your way.
I might try it when I have the case but it would be cool to see that as part of the SPK or an add-on.
 
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Goatee

King of Cable Management
Jun 22, 2018
739
1,513
Thanks!

As for the power cord, could you give us the dimension referenced in the image below?


Could you give some background as to why the power entry is here, rather than central (so missing the tubing?).

A 90 degree angled power cable (as used in the T1) might have avoided this inconvenience?
 

mxj1

Cable-Tie Ninja
Sep 13, 2020
179
451
Could you give some background as to why the power entry is here, rather than central (so missing the tubing?).

A 90 degree angled power cable (as used in the T1) might have avoided this inconvenience?

I've been looking at different mods for the internal PSU cable and haven't really come up with anything. It kind of surprises me that there's not more people offering some type of custom PSU power cable similar to the custom component cables.
 

WinterCharm

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Jan 19, 2019
428
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Could you give some background as to why the power entry is here, rather than central (so missing the tubing?).

A 90 degree angled power cable (as used in the T1) might have avoided this inconvenience?

Keeping it more central wasn't possible, because of the spine attaching to the rear panel, and the power cable screws requiring threading in the same zone meant interference between the spine / panel screws and panel / power cable screws. This was an issue in the v10 beta, that had to be solved. Moving it more outboard doesn't work, as the curvature of the rear panel makes mounting difficult.

90º PSU cable wouldn't have solved this problem. It would block even more tubing area against one side. With a straight cable, you have the option of routing tubing on either side. With an L-connector, you would block one of those sides, too, and for a radiator that sits against the panel, you'd still block the area above it. Developing a custom, super-low-profile connector doesn't make sense unless you're buying in quantities of 10,000+

Because of the density of this case when it's fully packed, It's tough to move it elsewhere. Putting it to the side of Motherboard I/O was considered, but I worried it would interfere with various CPU heat sinks (L12S, SPK, etc), or mess with routing tubing around the large motherboard I/O blocks and VRM and M.2 / chipset heatsinks that are commonplace now. (see: Asus ROG X570 Strix)

Ultimately, above or below the GPU seemed like the best choice. Above the GPU has the same problem as below the GPU (would interfere with the "exit" port of a radiator) but also blocks off GPU removal, unless you unscrew the power cable... so below the GPU was chosen instead.

Ultimately, I think we made the best choice, given the constraints.

Thanks!

As for the power cord, could you give us the dimension referenced in the image below?


The exact distance is 54.5mm to that lower edge you pointed out in the drawing.
That edge only sticks out by 8mm. After that, the distance steps to 56.8mm. and slopes upward to 58mm.
 
Last edited:

Goatee

King of Cable Management
Jun 22, 2018
739
1,513
90º PSU cable wouldn't have solved this problem. It would still block the tubing, and would block even more tubing area against one side. With a straight cable, you have the option of routing around it on either side. With an L-connector, you would block one of those sides, too.

Because of the density of this case when it's fully packed, It's tough to move it elsewhere. Putting it to the side of Motherboard I/O was considered, but I worried it would interfere with various CPU heat sinks, and/or mess with routing tubing around the large motherboard I/O blocks and VRM heatsinks that are commonplace now.

Ultimately, above or below the GPU seemed like the best choice. Above the GPU has the same problem as below the GPU, but also blocks off GPU removal, unless you unscrew the power cable... so below the GPU was chosen.

Sorry I was unclear, I was asking if moving the power entry port to either location in red (awesome model @nikfloyd)



And using a 90 degree (something like this) to allow routing of the power cable to the PSU.

 

WinterCharm

Master of Cramming
Original poster
Jan 19, 2019
428
1,941
Sorry I was unclear, I was asking if moving the power entry port to either location in red (awesome model @nikfloyd)



And using a 90 degree (something like this) to allow routing of the power cable to the PSU.

So, that looks good in theory, but isn't practical when you consider the tradeoff.

The T1 is able to do this by working with 240mm radiators, and making the case 8mm longer than the Winter One. If you used a 280mm radiator, and 2 x 140mm fans, it would have barely enough room on the ported side, and the L connector would still need to contend with having to route around against or over the fans, and potentially interfere with tubing on one side. So, not ideal.

Then, come the other issues: doing this introduces a flexibility problem as well -- It would completely discount rotating either the bottom or top 280mm radiator to have an outlet port at the front, because then there is not enough space between where a 140mm fan mounts, and the (non-ported) end of the radiator touches the wall, for that L-shaped power connector. It would also completely discount any setup where the fans and radiators are flipped for bottom >> top airflow, or side panel intake + pull configuration.

That's a lot of important choices and layout flexibility removed if you place the cable in such a way that there is only one "correct" configuration for the bottom (or top) radiator. I think the addition of "you may need 1 or 2 90º fittings" was worth it, because it opens up much more radiator configuration flexibility.

In its current form, the power connector can be unscrewed from the rear panel, and moved out of the way of straight line tubing by using the rectangle cutout to run it at a very sharp angle, if you're okay with it dangling out the back a bit. There is enough slack in the cable to allow for this (as a planned configuration option). I could create a 3D printable bracket to make this an officially supported configuration, if that puts people's minds at ease in making an "officially supported" configuration. That's probably the best solution, until we get to the point where custom wiring can be created.
 

Goatee

King of Cable Management
Jun 22, 2018
739
1,513
So, that looks good in theory, but isn't practical when you consider the tradeoff.

The T1 is able to do this by working with 240mm radiators, and making the case 8mm longer than the Winter One. If you used a 280mm radiator, and 2 x 140mm fans, it would have barely enough room on the ported side, and the L connector would still need to contend with having to route around against or over the fans, and potentially interfere with tubing on one side. So, not ideal.

Then, come the other issues: doing this introduces a flexibility problem as well -- It would completely discount rotating either the bottom or top 280mm radiator to have an outlet port at the front, because then there is not enough space between where a 140mm fan mounts, and the (non-ported) end of the radiator touches the wall, for that L-shaped power connector. It would also completely discount any setup where the fans and radiators are flipped for bottom >> top airflow, or side panel intake + pull configuration.

That's a lot of important choices and layout flexibility removed if you place the cable in such a way that there is only one "correct" configuration for the bottom (or top) radiator. I think the addition of "you may need 1 or 2 90º fittings" was worth it, because it opens up much more radiator configuration flexibility.

In its current form, the power connector can be unscrewed from the rear panel, and moved out of the way of straight line tubing by using the rectangle cutout to run it at a very sharp angle, if you're okay with it dangling out the back a bit. There is enough slack in the cable to allow for this (as a planned configuration option). I could create a 3D printable bracket to make this an officially supported configuration, if that puts people's minds at ease in making an "officially supported" configuration. That's probably the best solution, until we get to the point where custom wiring can be created.
Makes complete sense, it came to mind (theory) so I asked. 😁

I wonder if a PCI Slot Cover plate could act as a good place to route such a cable, you can already get them for G1/4, so the use of an aviation connection rather than a C14 should work.

Either way thanks for answering so quick.
 

August

SFF Lingo Aficionado
SFFn Staff
Silver Supporter
Jun 19, 2019
124
207
gusmiller.com
Do you plan to put them on Amazon for selling in US?
I think this is just letting us know that batch #1 is entering full production (after a brief pre-production period that had to get validated). Batch #2 will come later, then sales for future batches.

As for logistics, it sounds like sales will be through the website itself, not via partners.

Source!
 
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