Stalled Z-CASE P50 v1.1: Innovative console-style SFF PC case

[britsches]

I've got the Case last week and made a test build in it. Just to see how it works out and everything fits into it.

The first impression was great. It looks awsome and the quality felt at first pretty good. But after looking deeper at it and disassembly my view at the case changed.

At first I noticed the top of the case was bent. Thats because there was a aluminium ring glued as spacer (why?). After I removed it, the bend was gone.

Than I looked at the USB ports. Why are they bent? They look like so cheap quality, incredible. And I wondered, why one of them is a bit loose. I unscrewed them and one of those four mounting rods in the case is shorter. How can that happen?!

And one Screw from the outer chassis of the case was missing. Luckily I had a similar to replace it (at the bottom, so it can't be seen).

After all, its a bit disappointing, how cheap the buildquality of the case feels. I really hope you can make it better, for example with better QC by yourself or a really trusted person.
I really hope for a version 2 of it.

@BernardoZ -> is it possible for the next batch / version 2, to make the case ~2cm longer, to fit longer GPUs? I have a few different here, but only one that fits in, because everyone is 1-2cm to long. And I don't think, its that different, to change just the lenght of the case?


But I really like the aesthetics of it. And its not that bad to build in it.
You can squeeze nearly every cable under the PSU shroud, which is great. Even the USB3 cable can be hidden behind the GPU with a short USB3 extension.
Little tip for the SATA cables, use Delock Flexi cables (https://www.delock.de/produkt/83838/merkmale.html?setLanguage=en). The connectors are very short and its highly flexible and very easy to route.

Specs of the test build (notice, I can't boot the PC, because the GTX 760 seems to have some sort of problems):
MB: Asrock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming-ITX/ac
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700
CPU cooler: Noctua NH L9i chromax (with AMD mounting bracket)
GPU: ASUS Mars GTX 760
RAM: HyperX Predator 3200
SSD: Sandisk SSD Plus
Fans at top: NoiseBlocker BlackSilent XR 1R

Some Pics:

I checked my USB Ports as well, it looks like they realized they dont fit and flexed off the outer frame...

 

[Ch3ck3r]

I checked my USB Ports as well, it looks like they realized they dont fit and flexed off the outer frame...

You may be correct. I checked how it looks on another cable and it seems like so ?

 

[TheGrine]

What are your temps like with that?

In BF5 64 Player Conquest (Rotterdam) @ 3440x1440 temps and clocks look like this with the mentioned config:

- GPU@stock: 72°C average, 73°C max
- CPU@-0.075V undervolt, Noctua NF-A9x14 as intake: 89°C average, 94°C max



Fan noise isn't that bad but I will try to optimise CPU-temps by adding 2 60mm fans.

 

[TheGrine]

I kind of finished building for now.

Since i disliked the glass-spacers, i thought of another way of cooling and tried a different approach on the CPU.
I use a Noctua NH L9x65 heatsink with two A4x20 fans at the bottom.
It has less than 1mm space to the glass, so it kind of fits perfectly.

The results were not awesome but its okay, i run a 7700k with disabled Turboboost.
Prime small fft's pushes it to 100 Deg only after several minutes, so i am okay with that.

I also changed the PSU fan to a A4x20 as well since the stock fan had some rattling noise coming from it.

Hope you like it!

Thats awesome!
I had a similar idea in the beginning to keep the low profile.

Do you think you can improve thermals by adding some kind of fan duct between the CPU-heatsink and the 2 60mm fans?
These should move 2-3 times more air than the 40mm ones!

 

[britsches]

Thats awesome!
I had a similar idea in the beginning to keep the low profile.

Do you think you can improve thermals by adding some kind of fan duct between the CPU-heatsink and the 2 60mm fans?
These should move 2-3 times more air than the 40mm ones!

I actually thought kind of the same thing, i yet have to experiment on that one.
I'm not quite sure on how to realize that.

Still, that should work, i think.

EDIT: upon further exploration, i think its very difficult to "seal" it off. I won't try it..

 

[JohnCA]

Do you think you can improve thermals by adding some kind of fan duct between the CPU-heatsink and the 2 60mm fans?

Interesting idea, here is something similar I found:

 

[britsches]

Interesting idea, here is something similar I found:

I think the point is to have a push/pull config and not 60mm's pushing air into the heatsink upfront? Nontheless nice find!

 

[2kaulitz]

Interesting idea, here is something similar I found:

i like that idea and i'm allways a sucker for white build

 

[2kaulitz]

Should be finshing my build this weekend

 

[Bowspin]

I tried to contact the op by here, private message, e-mail, newsletter, he's completely ghosting

 

[2kaulitz]

I tried to contact the op by here, private message, e-mail, newsletter, he's completely ghosting

There are pretty slow at responding by emails for me but they do respond.

 

[DrKatona]

Hi,
I have built my setup {Intel® Core™ i7-9700, ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition 11GB GDDR5X 352bit PCIe, MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC, Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3333MHz, Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 PCIe, LG 32UD99, Z-Cases P50, Noctua NH-L9i }. I have some notifications and I would like to get some helps:
- The biggest problem: my CPU (65W TDP) makes throttling when I do stability test. Some temperature datas: min: 34°C, current: 45°C, max: 99°C. How could I increase the efficency of the cooling. I have already fixed one packet standoffs. I am really dissapointed with this CPU cooler. Would it be better if I used Noctua bf-a6x25?
- My screws' hole of the VGA holder in wrong position, if I use that my outputs of the VGA can not be used since it is half hidden.
- The window is too dark.
- One screw has damaged after two times using so I can not get it out.

 

[Instran0]

The biggest problem: my CPU (65W TDP) makes throttling when I do stability test. Some temperature datas: min: 34°C, current: 45°C, max: 99°C. How could I increase the efficency of the cooling. I have already fixed one packet standoffs. I am really dissapointed with this CPU cooler. Would it be better if I used Noctua bf-a6x25?

no.

your cooler is fine.

try an i7-8700 instead.

The window is too dark.

this is very common.

some solutions have been suggested above.

 

[2kaulitz]

I was supposed to finish my build this weekend but had car issues to take care of (dang car eats my $) I may even have to sell my P50 off but trying not too

 

[JDragon]

Has anyone replaced the USB ports with any that don’t look like they were cut out by hand?

 

[chrimen]

Has anyone replaced the USB ports with any that don’t look like they were cut out by hand?

I used these

RGEEK 1 feet Dual Ports USB 3.0 Female Screw Panel Mount to Motherboard 20 Pin Header Flat Cable Cord
I had to use very specific length of screws to get the usb to stick out just right to be flush with the case. The don't fit perfectly so you have to play around a bit to get everything just right.

I had to file down the edges of the usb. There small lips on the usb female port and these have to be filled down so they can fit through the idonized colored portion of the case.

I like these because they were black and flat and easier to deal with than the ones I got with the case.

 

[JDragon]

I used these

RGEEK 1 feet Dual Ports USB 3.0 Female Screw Panel Mount to Motherboard 20 Pin Header Flat Cable Cord
I had to use very specific length of screws to get the usb to stick out just right to be flush with the case. The don't fit perfectly so you have to play around a bit to get everything just right.

I had to file down the edges of the usb. There small lips on the usb female port and these have to be filled down so they can fit through the idonized colored portion of the case.

I like these because they were black and flat and easier to deal with than the ones I got with the case.

Thanks, what screws did you use?

 

[chrimen]

Thanks, what screws did you use?

I used m3x12 or m3 x16 I forget which exactly. One of the plastic pieces around the usb holder cracked. They screw through the USB holder in a funky way.

 

[chrimen]

What kind of temperatures are you guys getting on your gpu?

 

[revan]

What kind of temperatures are you guys getting on your gpu?

My 5700 XT AE seems to settle around 72°.