YCG-01 - Chinese Mini-itx Case

[SSoC]

Hello there! I've been watching this forum for a while, and decided I'd post some of the builds I've made. I've been into SFF cases for some time now, and recently gotten into finding unique cases out there. If you have any questions, want more detailed photos, or just want to know more about the case before getting it yourself, feel free to ask!

I found this one on Taobao and thought I'd give it a go. I've had some mixed results with some of the cases I've gotten, but this turned out to be of a rather good quality (more info at bottom for those interested.)

On the product page it's google translated as the "Yuchuang aluminum desktop computer chassis mini chassis itx high performance large side long graphics card a4." Its main feature is its hinge mounted side panels which allows you to open them and easily access the insides or improve airflow. They are fairly sturdy, and can hang at pretty much any angle.

Build quality is overall pretty good with some minor small bumps and paint splotches on one side. It feels very solid and decent. That being said, this build has some weird quirks to it:

-There is no latch mechanism to keep the case closed. You can angle the panels and they'll stay, but you can't close it 100%.
-If you don't have the side panels open, the only air intake is from the bottom. The main issue there is that this case will only accept super slim 80mm fans (less than 11-12mm IIRC). It's better than nothing, but it's not the best in the world for airflow. On top of that, even with super thin fans it's hard and awkward to fit underneath due to how little space there is.
-As you may have noticed from the photos, there are two buttons on it (one on top and one on bottom). This is because the builder decided to have the power and reset as there own dedicated buttons.


Build Specs

Spoiler

Case: Yuchuang Custom ITX case (132 x 204 x 640 mm)
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600x
Cooler: Thermalright AXP-100 Full Copper w/ Graphene Coating + Noctua 80mm Fan
MoBo: MSI B450i Gaming Plus AC Mini-ITX motherboard
GPU: ROG STRIX T8G "TOP OC" RX580 w/ Liquid Metal
Boot Drive: Force Series™ MP500 480GB M.2 NVMe SSD
OS: Windows 10 Home
Memory: Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15
PSU: Corsair SF Series SF600 80 Plus Gold
Misc: EVERCOOL 80mm x 10mm 3 Pin Ball Bearing Fan x2 + bottom filters/fan guard x2

Info/Pics from Taobao Page

Spoiler

Product Page: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=552223393981&spm=1101.1101.N.N.355658f
Google Translated:
The outer material of the chassis is 3mm magnesium alloy, the inner frame is 2mm magnesium alloy, and the side plate is equipped with 3mm gray transparent acrylic plate, which is stylish and beautiful;

The chassis supports up to 310*52*160mm large-size graphics card, and can install a 3.5-inch hard disk, which is compact and has high compatibility;

The chassis is equipped with a high-compatible pci-e 16x graphics card extension cable, which can support most graphics cards, but it does not rule out the incompatibility of a small number of graphics cards. Mindful shots can be purchased by the player (reference length 250mm);

The power supply is recommended to use a standard SFX power supply of up to 100mm (only when using a SFX-L power supply with a length of 130mm, only one 2.5-inch hard disk can be installed at the bottom of the power supply)

 

[smitty2k1]

OMG I'm dying - I love the tooth shaped opening. Was not expecting that after the first two photos!

What's with the side panels? Are they just protective film over glass?

 

[tinyitx]

Interesting case.

I note:-
-Having no latch to completely close the top is by design, rather than by lack of design. The gap at the top is supposed to act as traditional case top panel openings for the air to escape upward. The design features list 'excellent air flow' at the top of the list. So, I suppose this case has the 'chimney' design, mainly having cold ambient air entering the case from the case bottom and then escaping through the case top
-the 2 bottom 80mm fans do not seem sufficient, mainly due to the thickness is limited to 10mm. But, from one of the pics, one way to alleviate is to put the fans on the case bottom outside. This should allow using 25mm thickness fans. But then, one might also need to replace the stock case feet to taller ones
-the case top design looks like a 'crack' to me, like it was spilt up? Or, maybe it looks like a 'bear trap'?

Lastly, its material is not magnesium but aluminum. Side panel is grey transparent acrylic.
As the model no. is YCG-1, I look forward to see what YCG-2 will look like.

 

[SSoC]

What's with the side panels? Are they just protective film over glass?

Yup! More specifically acrylic panels. I'm planning on selling this build.

Interesting case.

I note:-
-Having no latch to completely close the top is by design, rather than by lack of design. The gap at the top is supposed to act as traditional case top panel openings for the air to escape upward. The design features list 'excellent air flow' at the top of the list. So, I suppose this case has the 'chimney' design, mainly having cold ambient air entering the case from the case bottom and then escaping through the case top
-the 2 bottom 80mm fans do not seem sufficient, mainly due to the thickness is limited to 10mm. But, from one of the pics, one way to alleviate is to put the fans on the case bottom outside. This should allow using 25mm thickness fans. But then, one might also need to replace the stock case feet to taller ones
-the case top design looks like a 'crack' to me, like it was spilt up? Or, maybe it looks like a 'bear trap'?

Lastly, its material is not magnesium but aluminum. Side panel is grey transparent acrylic.
As the model no. is YCG-1, I look forward to see what YCG-2 will look like.

Thing is that even fully "closed," the top jaw part so to speak doesn't fully close. There's a fair amount of space between them which means there's still room for air to flow out even if it's only a small amount. Plus, It'd be helpful if you needed to transport or store it if you could keep it fully closed with some latch or something.

i thought about placing the fans at the bottom, but I didn't like how it looked, and I think being so close to the ground it'd be even harder to pull in air without modifying the feet as you mentioned.

 

[tinyitx]

Yup! More specifically acrylic panels. I'm planning on selling this build.

Thing is that even fully "closed," the top jaw part so to speak doesn't fully close. There's a fair amount of space between them which means there's still room for air to flow out even if it's only a small amount. Plus, It'd be helpful if you needed to transport or store it if you could keep it fully closed with some latch or something.

i thought about placing the fans at the bottom, but I didn't like how it looked, and I think being so close to the ground it'd be even harder to pull in air without modifying the feet as you mentioned.

I think, it is deliberately designed in such a way that the top cannot be fully closed. It is a design by choice to have such an opening or gap there. The purpose is for the air to escape through the gap. I guess, this feature is not a design mistake or overlook. The gap is necessary, thermally speaking.
Of course, this design does not go well when you need to transport the case. But this could be easily fixed by using, say, a belt to tie around the case?