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

[WinterCharm]

That pic above makes me happy. Looks like a 20-25mm gap. And no turbulence issues. You really designed a winner here.

Let's talk 2.5" drive mounting options. Have you considered adding the ability to mount a (1 or 2) 2.5" drives flat against the front panel as an alternative to losing one of the 140mm fans? Or perhaps some other orientation that preserves the fans?

Thank you!

So, there's not an easy way to do this, because of the way the front panel is a solid block of aluminum. That makes it hard to mount something like a hard drive because you cannot get behind it to screw something into to mount the drive.

However, those 4 tapped / threaded holes are excellent for modding, and you should be able to easily 3D print a bracket to hold a single drive if you need. The Drive Cage I'm making available makes sense for anyone who wants a lot of storage... but for a single drive, you could even velcro or 3M sticky pad it to the front, if you don't have access to a 3D printer.

Thanks for all of the information, WinterCharm - you answered all of my questions completely.

Looking forward to the build video! ?

Finishing up the voiceover.

 

[DmanX]

Is the CPU air cooler height still @ 67mm (L12 Ghost edition size) or has it been modified to fit the standard 70mm Noctua NH-L12S?

 

[Demthios]

Adding to DmanX I'm wondering if you can give an update to GPU comparability size now too. Wondering which 3090 I need to try and jump on.

 

[WinterCharm]

Is the CPU air cooler height still @ 67mm (L12 Ghost edition size) or has it been modified to fit the standard 70mm Noctua NH-L12S?

Yes, CPU Cooler Height is still 67mm.

Adding to DmanX I'm wondering if you can give an update to GPU comparability size now too. Wondering which 3090 I need to try and jump on.

3090FE and other GPUs up to 315mm will be supported. It'll be a tight fit, though.

 

[WinterCharm]

To all of you who were waiting for a build video, I'm so sorry it took a while... but here's a 5 minute guide to building in Winter One!

 

[TheMEXiCAN99]

Worth the wait and nicely edited. I like it! Do you have a [rough] date on the kickstarter yet? Sorry if you've answered this already but when do you realistically expect to be able to ship to customers?

 

[BioClue]

To all of you who were waiting for a build video, I'm so sorry it took a while... but here's a 5 minute guide to building in Winter One!

This case deserves lots of love and attention.. Not sure how I didn't know about it until recently.

It's hard to be patient after a teasing video of the case ?

Fans need to spread the word about this case to have an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign.

Quick question: is that the expected colors for the case?

 

[WinterCharm]

This case deserves lots of love and attention.. Not sure how I didn't know about it until recently.

It's hard to be patient after a teasing video of the case ?

Fans need to spread the word about this case to have an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign.

Quick question: is that the expected colors for the case?

In order to keep complexity down, we're going to have to start with just anodized black. However, if the KS campaign passes 300 units, I'll unlock a silver option as an additional perk, and everyone who placed an order can choose their color via survey around when the campaign ends

This prototype is 2-toned because I was testing out both colors and vetting different factories for their parts quality.

Here are the combos you can expect, if all goes to plan:

Worth the wait and nicely edited. I like it! Do you have a [rough] date on the kickstarter yet? Sorry if you've answered this already but when do you realistically expect to be able to ship to customers?

1. Kickstarter is coming later this month, and will end Early October Just waiting on KS to approve me, and a few other minor things to happen.
2. The case is about to arrive in the hands of a few beta testers!!!
3. All the Design work is done. With a typical 15-30 day turnaround on manufacturing, we're pretty confident in cases shipping to customers late October, and arriving early November.
4. If there are QA or QC issues, that could push back the timeline by about a week or so.

 

[Demthios]

Can't wait! Hopefully you will hit the 300+ backers so we can get the silver. I would love a two tone option similar to your prototype.

 

[WinterCharm]

Can't wait! Hopefully you will hit the 300+ backers so we can get the silver. I would love a two tone option similar to your prototype.

We're explore more color options in future batches, but for now the idea is keep things simple and deliver Winter One into the hands of people who've been waiting for a long time

 

[BRSxIgnition]

Have any tech influencers or YouTube reviewers like Ali from Optimum Tech or Eber from Hardware Canucks shown interest in building in the winter one or doing a video on it?

Would probably help the Kickstarter quite a bit, imo.

 

[dotnetapp]

1. Kickstarter is coming later this month, and will end Early October Just waiting on KS to approve me, and a few other minor things to happen.
2. The case is about to arrive in the hands of a few beta testers!!!
3. All the Design work is done. With a typical 15-30 day turnaround on manufacturing, we're pretty confident in cases shipping to customers late October, and arriving early November.
4. If there are QA or QC issues, that could push back the timeline by about a week or so.

Hi, will you ship the Case to germany?
Also any info about the final sizing of possible Rad+ Fan ? (30+25 maybe possible ?)

 

[WinterCharm]

Hi, will you ship the Case to germany?
Also any info about the final sizing of possible Rad+ Fan ? (30+25 maybe possible ?)

30mm radiators + 25mm fans will work!

And yes we will be shipping to USA / CAN / All of the EU / The UK / Ireland and a few others.

 

[Jayanth]

Hey, really nice work. I’m just a bit concerned about the shear on the screws holding up the motherboard and the GPU. Do you think these will hold up to the wear and tear of travel, as people often do with SFF PCs? Maybe hard tubing could help add some rigidity. Other than that small concern, I’m definitely all in I love my Formd T1, but I’m not convinced it can handle a 3090 and an upcoming 4700x with a single 240mm slim rad.

 

[WinterCharm]

Hey, really nice work. I’m just a bit concerned about the shear on the screws holding up the motherboard and the GPU. Do you think these will hold up to the wear and tear of travel, as people often do with SFF PCs? Maybe hard tubing could help add some rigidity. Other than that small concern, I’m definitely all in I love my Formd T1, but I’m not convinced it can handle a 3090 and an upcoming 4700x with a single 240mm slim rad.

Those arms slot into the rear panel. It's not just the screws holding everything up.

 

[Jayanth]

Those arms slot into the rear panel. It's not just the screws holding everything up.

Great, I must’ve missed it in the video. Thanks for clarifying, and good luck with the Kickstarter!

 

[WinterCharm]

Have any tech influencers or YouTube reviewers like Ali from Optimum Tech or Eber from Hardware Canucks shown interest in building in the winter one or doing a video on it?

Would probably help the Kickstarter quite a bit, imo.

I haven't been able to get a hold of Ali from Optimum Tech. I think he's really busy, or my emails are going straight to spam because of a filter or something... I did send a prototype to Linus (LTT).

Great, I must’ve missed it in the video. Thanks for clarifying, and good luck with the Kickstarter!

No problem at all, you were asking the right questions!

 

[Aleksander]

Would it be more beneficial with a sidepanel with cutouts only in the gpu area? Cold air would be forced in to the gpu with top and bottom fans blowing out. Ie more control of the airflow.

 

[WinterCharm]

Would it be more beneficial with a sidepanel with cutouts only in the gpu area? Cold air would be forced in to the gpu with top and bottom fans blowing out. Ie more control of the airflow.

None of the CFD backs this up, so No. Airflow in this case was meticulously designed with CFD (see the link), and having these holes lower is better balancing the intake flow in all-exhaust situations, where you want to maximize radiator access to clean air, and minimize restriction. Components near the holes would severely restrict practical flow in those situations, so having a few extra rows above / below makes for better intake. I added 2 more rows of holes, over the original design, despite the increase in cost, because the benefits were clear to airflow, without affecting the airflow delivered to components in all-exhaust.

There were also clear benefits to bottom >> top airflow configurations with the slightly expanded holes, where the airflow creates a jacket delivering fresh airflow into the intake of any fans that are pulling air in through perforated panels, while also disrupting any potential of recirculated hot air from a top-down cooler being sucked back into the intake of a part like NH-L12 or a GPU cooler. If you don't do this, especially for GPU's that are taking air in from the side and blowing it top / bottom, you get a lot of recirculation. This is one of the major flaws of sandwich cases that have weak or nonexistent airflow, and why just one or two fans amounts to a huge drop in temperatures.

 

[DmanX]

I am wondering if perhaps it's possible to adjust/reduce the mobo standoffs by 2- 3 mm to allow the popular Noctua L12S to fit without having to bend it. Who knows how long the Ghost S1 edition L12 will be around. That and the L12S with it's 120mm fan is demonstrably better than the Ghost edition.