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Why are PC hardware manufacturers incapable of making console sized cases?

I've tried a good dozen of ITX cases over the course of the last 2 years and I keep coming back to the Corsair 250D. I use this ITX setup as my GHTPC. I've thrown around the thought of using the RVZ02, just a little bit concerned with heat output issues. I have an i7 4790k, 8GB, and a 970 with 3 HDD's. I'm highly considering getting rid of my Xbox One since I already have a PS4 to help fund a 980 Ti which might add more heat in a RVZ02.
 

byropoint

Member
blower cooler plus some risers. the rvz02 comes with two risers - one horizontal, one vertical. it allows the card to be completely seperate from the motherboard, PSU, CPU, etc when it dissipates heat.

the hdd is mountable there if your card is 8" or below

Yeah it's a pretty good solution, that would definitely work better than the more conventional setup in the 304, that's not a blower card on the photo though :p I think a reference 970 would be the perfect card for a mITX build, I'd trade my 390 for one of those in a heartbeat.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
There are some good HTPC cases out there. My favorites are the Fractal Design Node 605 and the SilverStone RVZ02. The only thing I do not like is that the branding of the case's manufacturer is too prominent on most of them.
 
Yeah it's a pretty good solution, that would definitely work better than the more conventional setup in the 304, that's not a blower card on the photo though :p I think a reference 970 would be the perfect card for a mITX build, I'd trade my 390 for one of those in a heartbeat.

I know, I'm just talking about the perfect combo, then showed how my case does it :p

I'd kill for an 8 inch reference cooled 980ti though.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
Why haven't I seen this picture yet?
IMG_4215.jpg


Alienware Alpha OP

I wish they'd provide a version of the Alpha with high-end laptop parts like the 980M. Judging from laptops who come with these chips, including laptops from Alienware themselves, cooling and PSU should not be an unsolvable problem.
 

Nabbis

Member
My 780GTX is about as big as my Wii U. Could have something to do with that and the heat the components generate.
 

Ushay

Member
It's almost always due to heat issues I think, the higher end cards and chipsets produce waaay more heat than consoles can.

I rock a big-ass Cooler Master HAF 922 in my living room

NO REGRETZ


Oh man I had one of those back before I sold my PC, best case ever.
 
I wish they'd provide a version of the Alpha with high-end laptop parts like the 980M. Judging from laptops who come with these chips, including laptops from Alienware themselves, cooling and PSU should not be an unsolvable problem.

Yeah, I adore my Alpha and I hope they keep improving the hardware but keep the same chassis like they do with the X51!
I'd quite happily buy another one every 2-3 years
 

pislit

Member
Oh I'm totally aware of the challenges; some manufacturers like Silverstone almost get the form factor down close enough but then the cases just don't look as sleek/modern. Or Lian-Li with their VCR look. It's almost like everyone is trying to be too unique and the designs fall flat for me.

I'd pay a pretty penny for a box that looks sleek, can house all the hardware I'm trying to fit (mITX, SFX PSU, full-sized GPU probably with a riser), and is no larger than an XBO.

A4-SFX
 

pislit

Member
Jonsbo does make slim itx/atx cases, probably not as slim as those Durante posted. I don't know how is the availability there in the West, though.
 
so i moved my pc to a different area, and the increased airflow is really showing.

idle temps:
under load temps:

I wish that they would make slim ATX or mid ATX cases.

i think you're ending up targeting a niche that really isn't there with "small/thin" ATX cases. 99% of people who want smaller cases will go micro ATX or mini ITX eventually.

I've been considering a Gaming HTPC setup next time I decide to get a new computer (still on my 2009 GTX 275 / Q9550 build...) and came across this which looks pretty decent as far as form + power + price + noise combo goes: http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/performance-htpc/

It's using an i5-4570S + GTX 960. Unfortunately don't think it fits the "doesn't look like a VCR" requirement:

71TNVi5ZmQL._SL1500_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8CIZYS/?tag=neogaf0e-20

exact same price to get the windowless RVZ02 instead
 

ZombiPL

Neo Member
Hi Guys,

We really wanted to answer in this topic, but we had to wait ages for activation of our registration.

Me and my brother (SaperPL), we are standard forum users and designers of Sentry PC case. We were searching for a specific SFF (small form factor) PC case, and when we didn't find it, we decided to make our own box. Our goals were similar to what we all wanted:
"a powerfull pc case, which can handle full length gpu's, has internal psu and it's internal volume is less than 7L, just like most of the consoles":.

We're not a pc case factory, so we needed a little help with our small project. We've made several prototypes togother with the community of [Hard Forum] and [Linus Tech Tips Forum], and now we just finished our 5th prototype.

For now, here You have a little teaser. Maybe tomorrow we'll make a gallery for our 5th prototype (similar to the one made for 4th prototype).



If You will have more questions, feel free to ask. Now we can answer :D
 

Saintruski

Unconfirmed Member
http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-o5s/

Best SFF case I've used but right now I'm using a caselabs tx10 (might be discontinued) and that weighs like 80 pounds empty...lol, like the customization, water cooling, using a custom loop on my GPUS, and a phase change on my CPU. Modding,endless things I can shove in it, I run a home server on the other side because it's a double wide. And it sits in my closet on a different room.

Really Lian li has some of the nices SFF cases out there.
 
For now, here You have a little teaser. Maybe tomorrow we'll make a gallery for our 5th prototype (similar to the one made for 4th prototype).



If You will have more questions, feel free to ask. Now we can answer :D

Your Sentry IV prototype looks pretty good. I like how the internals are laid out in the case. Prototype V looks like it has potential.
 

SMOK3Y

Generous Member
My "small" PC case tbh theres alot of wasted space could be smaller



i7 4770k water-cooled
16GB ram
EVGA GTX TITAN
4TB worth of SSD
4TB HDD

It's getting old now but still alright
 

No_Style

Member
blower cooler plus some risers. the rvz02 comes with two risers - one horizontal, one vertical. it allows the card to be completely seperate from the motherboard, PSU, CPU, etc when it dissipates heat.

the hdd is mountable there if your card is 8" or below

Thanks for this info! I came full circle for this answer. I recalled seeing the RVZ02 in this thread, did some research, noticed the 3.5" drive limitation and wanted to know what the shortest card was with one. I couldn't find a definitive answer on their site or reviews so I came back to this thread for alternative cases and there it was.

I've been progressingly getting smaller with my builds over time. ATX in Mid-size, m-ATX in smaller mid-size, mini-itx in Bitfenix Prodigy and now I want to try my hand at these console sized ones.
 

ZombiPL

Neo Member
While waiting for a new gallery, i have something more for You:



Atm we're uploading new photos. In few minutes/hours You'll get everything. :D
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
I suppose I'd have to use an external/ USB 3.0 capture card for that body but it seems good! It's something I'd consider for my next build in a year or two.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
Good question...
My gaming pc has enough space for 6 PS4s. Though i think most of the space is because of acessability for upgrades and space for heat to be ventilated out.
 

Piggus

Member
Hi Guys,

We really wanted to answer in this topic, but we had to wait ages for activation of our registration.

Me and my brother (SaperPL), we are standard forum users and designers of Sentry PC case. We were searching for a specific SFF (small form factor) PC case, and when we didn't find it, we decided to make our own box. Our goals were similar to what we all wanted:
"a powerfull pc case, which can handle full length gpu's, has internal psu and it's internal volume is less than 7L, just like most of the consoles":.

We're not a pc case factory, so we needed a little help with our small project. We've made several prototypes togother with the community of [Hard Forum] and [Linus Tech Tips Forum], and now we just finished our 5th prototype.

For now, here You have a little teaser. Maybe tomorrow we'll make a gallery for our 5th prototype (similar to the one made for 4th prototype).



If You will have more questions, feel free to ask. Now we can answer :D

This looks great and is definitely on my radar now. I've been wanting to build a mini-ITX-based PC for a while since my desktop (NZXT Switch 810) is massive and really hard to transport.
 
While waiting for a new gallery, i have something more for You:



Atm we're uploading new photos. In few minutes/hours You'll get everything. :D

Very impressive! I really like the internal compartments of the case. Does the case take a full ATX power supply or an SFX one? And when can I buy this? I am serious, I love the design.
 
They're show up more and more frequently thanks to steam consoles & the desire to go to Mini ITX boxes. I think that video card length & heat are the two biggest factors currently. You also have to deal with a standardized PSU instead of a specialized.
 
can anyone thing of anything like the raven rvz01 but for ATX. Im not worried about length or depth, but I would like something that isnt as tall as my current case.

Ill probably eventually rebuild my HTPC as an ITX rig, but for now I have an ATX that works fine for what I need
 

Quotient

Member
I build my I7-6700k with MSI GTX970 and 2 SSDs inside a Node 304.

Very happy with the build though it was a challenge managing the cabling since the space between PSU, Motherboard and GPU is so tight.
 

ZombiPL

Neo Member
Very impressive! I really like the internal compartments of the case. Does the case take a full ATX power supply or an SFX one? And when can I buy this? I am serious, I love the design.

Our pc case supports both SFX or SFX-L psu. It depends what You need.

Sfx or sfx-l depending on the number of ssds you need. Cool!

Exactly! If You want to have cooler and quieter pc case, then You want to go for SFX-L, but then You will loose one 2,5'' hdd compartment. If You don't want to use long graphic card, then You can place some additional 2,5'' hdd's in the GPU compartment. If You don't want to use GPU at all, then You can place even more hdd's in the GPU compartment.
Everything depends on what You need. Powerfull PC with long GPU? OK. Powerfull PC with short gpu + more drives? OK. Home version of NAS server? OK.

When we'll be ready for the production, then we'll release a website with Sentry-generator. Then You will be able to see most of the configurations You can make with our box.
 

Momentary

Banned
Man if I were to go for and ITX case the, Sentry would be it. It looks like it isn't made from toy parts.

I really wish that companies would make Slim Micro ATX cases. I'm sure with Micro ATX they can figure out a way to fit 2 cards. The Lian Li O6S is about the only thing out there like that.
 

ZombiPL

Neo Member
It looks like it isn't made from toy parts.

+1.

Most of the pc-cases are made of 0.5-0.75mm sheets of steel/aluminium. We decided to go with full 1mm galvanized steel + structural powder coating. Many people are going to transport this case in 17'' laptop bags, so we had to be sure our case won't be distorted by some heavy stuff placed on it in a car's trunk. We're also making our case strictly according to European electrical, mechanical and safety Norms and Standards not only for home but also for industrial use. It means we can give a CE mark to our case just after design stage, unlike other pc-cases designers, who are eventually checking if they can give CE for their product after making it.

As our daytime job we're not a pc cases designers.This is only our private hobby. At our normal work we are designing heavy duty machines for heavy industry and also wind turbines. This is also a reason why we designed our case, that it looks like it was made for industry, not for home use. We thought about changing its industrial look, but it turns out, that most of the people want the Sentry just like it looks now. So we stayed with what we have now. We'll see how many people really want it in actual design during preorder stage and then we'll decide if we took the right way.
 

SaperPL

Neo Member
Hello there, I'm new here - thanks for letting me in on the forums :)

We're getting pretty close with Sentry project and I wanted to keep you up to date with that here in this topic since I cannot start threads yet.

Our last, white prototype unit photos has been added to the gallery:



We were supposed to send this unit to LinusTechTips for review, however there were some technical difficulties with manufacturing for this one and we've had to slightly update final design. There's also a functional fix for cable management with that design update.

We have ordered first production batch of 25 units. Some of them will be sent as review samples. While waiting for those we've got to figure out packaging.

If you have any questions feel free to ask anything about the case :)
 
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