SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[Deleted member 222586]

I'm not saying you need tons of materials for anything, nor that you have to target your product at thousands of units. I never said that nor I ever implied it. I'm simply stating that with a proper OP (proper = a decent description of what to expect of the product, not a list of all the non-standard stuff that might or might not fit) you save time.

I understand that many potential customers are a pain in the ass and will ask whether some very specific hardware will or won't fit: which is something that you won't even know unless you get that very specific hardware and stuff it in. I understand that such specific questions are useless and time consuming in their nature. But still, something along the lines of:

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO USE REFERENCE (IE BLOWER) STYLE CARDS. SUCH CARDS MEASURING UP TO XYZ MM WILL FIT. FOR ANY OTHER CARD WITH MEASUREMENTS DIFFERENT THAN THOSE OF THE REFERENCE CARDS YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPERIMENT SINCE WE WILL NOT TEST THEM.

Done. You have your ass covered and you can point to anybody that requests the same silly question to go read it.

---

Again, I have no idea why both this project and the DAN A4-SFX got his creators the idea that not showing all the information makes the whole project easier since "idiots" won't get into it. It makes absolutely no sense to take such a stance. We are all adults and people should apply CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyers beware, IE use your brain before your wallet) whenever buying. How stupid would I be to buy a keyboard kit that you have to solder... and then complain that since I have no skills on soldering I destroyed my kit?

The stance the NCASE team is a good one. Most of the what the product could or couldn't do was described in the OP, which made the process of joining or not a lot easier: you see the product, read the lengthy OP then use brain to decide. Then wallet. On the contrary, overcomplicating things has never helped anybody. And will not help you either.

 

[ZombiPL]

Thanks for You

I'm not saying you need tons of materials for anything, nor that you have to target your product at thousands of units. I never said that nor I ever implied it. I'm simply stating that with a proper OP (proper = a decent description of what to expect of the product, not a list of all the non-standard stuff that might or might not fit) you save time.

I understand that many potential customers are a pain in the ass and will ask whether some very specific hardware will or won't fit: which is something that you won't even know unless you get that very specific hardware and stuff it in. I understand that such specific questions are useless and time consuming in their nature. But still, something along the lines of:

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO USE REFERENCE (IE BLOWER) STYLE CARDS. SUCH CARDS MEASURING UP TO XYZ MM WILL FIT. FOR ANY OTHER CARD WITH MEASUREMENTS DIFFERENT THAN THOSE OF THE REFERENCE CARDS YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPERIMENT SINCE WE WILL NOT TEST THEM.

Done. You have your ass covered and you can point to anybody that requests the same silly question to go read it.

---

Again, I have no idea why both this project and the DAN A4-SFX got his creators the idea that not showing all the information makes the whole project easier since "idiots" won't get into it. It makes absolutely no sense to take such a stance. We are all adults and people should apply CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyers beware, IE use your brain before your wallet) whenever buying. How stupid would I be to buy a keyboard kit that you have to solder... and then complain that since I have no skills on soldering I destroyed my kit?

The stance the NCASE team is a good one. Most of the what the product could or couldn't do was described in the OP, which made the process of joining or not a lot easier: you see the product, read the lengthy OP then use brain to decide. Then wallet. On the contrary, overcomplicating things has never helped anybody. And will not help you either.

Thanks for Your support prava. I don't like the way (the words) You use trying to convince us to some moves, but constructive criticism is one of the reasons why we are here.

First of all i have a question: Did u notice what kind of information model did we pick? Most of the manufacturers make pc-cases, they start selling them, and after that they are getting reviews saying this, this and this is bad in their design. And most of them don't try to improve it. We picked different model. We still didn't say that the actual version of SENTRY is the final, because we decided we will treat reviews from Linus and other reviewers as engineering support, because this is a community project, and those reviewers are active part of this community. It means, if they will say we should improve something, we will try to do it before everyone will get their SENTRY.

Secondly, we don't have enought information to say something like You said: "WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO USE". What did we test? Several GPU's, some CPU's with one or two CPU coolers? It is to early to say what we 100% recommend. Linus and other people who will make reviews have more equipment to benchmark our pc-case. We are going to wait for their feedback, and then we will use Your "recommendation phrase".

Finally, about "CAVEAT EMPTOR". I think most of the people don't bother reading the information texts (most of the readers didn't notice our configuration utility on our website), and i think i know why. In European Union we have a law, saying that almost everything bought online can be sent back with no reason within 14-days. It means most of stuff can be checked by buyers, and if they don't like the product, then they can return it. However i'm not sure if this also applies to "made-to-your-order" stuff, like most of pre-ordered, custom made things, like for example SENTRY at this moment. Maybe someone has better knowledge in this matter and can share it with us?

Once again, thanks for constructive criticism. We will think about some improvements.

p.s.
Oh. And i could forgot. You mentioned a NCASE as a good example of giving information to the people. I didn't follow the NCASE M1 design process, but i remember when Linus made his Youtube unboxing of M1, the only thing he was complaining about was lack of information, because there was no manual included in the package or even on a website. That is why i don't think this producer as "information-center" is a good example Since then, there is still no manual for this case (or i can't find one), but tbh, the FAQ was improved.
You will never please everyone. For example, we made an educational book for our wind turbines, and people who want to spend thousands of dollars don't even read it. They just want to know: "is it good?" .

p.s.2
prava, we made a manual (http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/manual.pdf). You could read it, and give us some feedback by saying what we could improve there. You are ultra-active in the last few days, so we count on your support

 

[Deleted member 222586]

Thanks for You



Thanks for Your support prava. I don't like the way (the words) You use trying to convince us to some moves, but constructive criticism is one of the reasons why we are here.

First of all i have a question: Did u notice what kind of information model did we pick? Most of the manufacturers make pc-cases, they start selling them, and after that they are getting reviews saying this, this and this is bad in their design. And most of them don't try to improve it. We picked different model. We still didn't say that the actual version of SENTRY is the final, because we decided we will treat reviews from Linus and other reviewers as engineering support, because this is a community project, and those reviewers are active part of this community. It means, if they will say we should improve something, we will try to do it before everyone will get their SENTRY.

Be careful with this. You got this far because YOUR VISION is being followed by many users. It is your doing, and yours alone. It is good to take other people's criticism but, in the end, you shouldn't do something just because somebody with a huge reputation and following says so. What if they don't like it? It doesn't matter. You should take their reviews as exposure. Yes, if they have an idea that is simple to apply then go for it... but you shouldn't base the release of your product simply because they liked it or they didn't.

My take on your case: the only thing that worries me is hdd temperature (I tried to look into your thermal testing and didn't see any temperature numbers). It is one of the biggest problems in cases that have no forced cooling.

Secondly, we don't have enought information to say something like You said: "WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO USE". What did we test? Several GPU's, some CPU's with one or two CPU coolers? It is to early to say what we 100% recommend. Linus and other people who will make reviews have more equipment to benchmark our pc-case. We are going to wait for their feedback, and then we will use Your "recommendation phrase".

I think you do. You can simply be conservative. People interested in such small cases will adapt their hardware to the case. Those who want flexibility don't want this case... or want it but can't have any use of it. This product is targeted at a very hardcore audience... and they will buy the case then check whether the things they bought fit in and, if they don't, they will get new stuff. With small cases this is what happens all the time, and people ride along. What would happen if you say this case supports up to 260mm and then supports 290mm (note, I'm making up the data, its an example)? Well, people would a product with certain specs... that ended up being better. This is good. Being conservative on niche products is good, most of the time.

Finally, about "CAVEAT EMPTOR". I think most of the people don't bother reading the information texts (most of the readers didn't notice our configuration utility on our website), and i think i know why. In European Union we have a law, saying that almost everything bought online can be sent back with no reason within 14-days. It means most of stuff can be checked by buyers, and if they don't like the product, then they can return it. However i'm not sure if this also applies to "made-to-your-order" stuff, like most of pre-ordered, custom made things, like for example SENTRY at this moment. Maybe someone has better knowledge in this matter and can share it with us?

I'm not a lawyer although I'm spanish and I know our consumer laws regarding warranty and returns very, very well (and they are based in EU law, since the latter supersedes our own). Basically, returns do not apply to bespoke or made-to-order products... and I'm pretty convinced that your product would fit in this category since it is made-to-order.

By the way, you should try to put that awesome configurator tool at top. It is very, very useful. It should be almost the first thing potential customers see.

Oh. And i could forgot. You mentioned a NCASE as a good example of giving information to the people. I didn't follow the NCASE M1 design process, but i remember when Linus made his Youtube unboxing of M1, the only thing he was complaining about was lack of information, because there was no manual included in the package or even on a website. That is why i don't think this producer as "information-center" is a good example Since then, there is still no manual for this case (or i can't find one), but tbh, the FAQ was improved.
You will never please everyone. For example, we made an educational book for our wind turbines, and people who want to spend thousands of dollars don't even read it. They just want to know: "is it good?" .

p.s.2
prava, we made a manual (http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/manual.pdf). You could read it, and give us some feedback by saying what we could improve there. You are ultra-active in the last few days, so we count on your support

In my opinion a manual isn't needed on these niche cases, unless there is something very specific of that case that needs some explanation. I know a user manual would have solved nothing for me when I started assembling my M1. In the end it is a computer case, and if you have problems sorting out where does stuff go... you shouldn't probably be looking at mounting such small cases.

So, when I mentioned the NCASE M1 I was refering to the way they handled information in general. Well, to be honest, they handled the whole process very, very, very well. I suggest you look at how they handled every step of the project (specially once the product was funded and was being produced, and later sent and serviced) because they did it as good as one could do it. Their service pre and post-sale was very, very good. And It reinforced the idea that the product was solid because so was the service.

PS: I read the manual. Seems pretty straight-forward and easy to follow.

 

[ZombiPL]

Be careful with this. You got this far because YOUR VISION is being followed by many users. It is your doing, and yours alone. It is good to take other people's criticism but, in the end, you shouldn't do something just because somebody with a huge reputation and following says so. What if they don't like it? It doesn't matter. You should take their reviews as exposure. Yes, if they have an idea that is simple to apply then go for it... but you shouldn't base the release of your product simply because they liked it or they didn't.

My take on your case: the only thing that worries me is hdd temperature (I tried to look into your thermal testing and didn't see any temperature numbers). It is one of the biggest problems in cases that have no forced cooling.




I think you do. You can simply be conservative. People interested in such small cases will adapt their hardware to the case. Those who want flexibility don't want this case... or want it but can't have any use of it. This product is targeted at a very hardcore audience... and they will buy the case then check whether the things they bought fit in and, if they don't, they will get new stuff. With small cases this is what happens all the time, and people ride along. What would happen if you say this case supports up to 260mm and then supports 290mm (note, I'm making up the data, its an example)? Well, people would a product with certain specs... that ended up being better. This is good. Being conservative on niche products is good, most of the time.



I'm not a lawyer although I'm spanish and I know our consumer laws regarding warranty and returns very, very well (and they are based in EU law, since the latter supersedes our own). Basically, returns do not apply to bespoke or made-to-order products... and I'm pretty convinced that your product would fit in this category since it is made-to-order.

By the way, you should try to put that awesome configurator tool at top. It is very, very useful. It should be almost the first thing potential customers see.




In my opinion a manual isn't needed on these niche cases, unless there is something very specific of that case that needs some explanation. I know a user manual would have solved nothing for me when I started assembling my M1. In the end it is a computer case, and if you have problems sorting out where does stuff go... you shouldn't probably be looking at mounting such small cases.

So, when I mentioned the NCASE M1 I was refering to the way they handled information in general. Well, to be honest, they handled the whole process very, very, very well. I suggest you look at how they handled every step of the project (specially once the product was funded and was being produced, and later sent and serviced) because they did it as good as one could do it. Their service pre and post-sale was very, very good. And It reinforced the idea that the product was solid because so was the service.

PS: I read the manual. Seems pretty straight-forward and easy to follow.

Thanks for help.

1. Feedback doesn't mean we have to do everything what someone says. This is a conversation, and if someone gives some reasonable points, then we should at least talk about what can we do about it.

2. We will think about making this configuration tool more visible.

3. I think You shouldn't compare us like apples-to-apples to other pc-case designers, because we don't have any feedback from any manufacturer. If a pc-case manufacturing company like Lian-Li would make some part of work for us, then everything would be easier and make things faster. It is very easy to give the project to some other company who handles almost everything from technical and logistic side, while you only address delivery-boxes and prepare website for external information for future clients (or maybe you're not even addressing the boxes, but giving them to someone else to do it...). We're not someone like that. Right now only laser-cut, bended steel parts are made by our manufacturer and almost 100% of all other operations we are doing by ourselves (including 1st, 2nd and 3rd quality control, ordering every single screw, o-ring, feet and other 30 or more different parts from different suppliers and even including such operations like glueing rubber feet to a stand, or driving for printed transport boxes from a printing house). It means, that every SENTRY will be quality checked, assembled, packed and addressed by me and my brother personally. It also means that we are handling information services on our own way (depending on how much time we have). Maybe not the best way at this moment, but we will try to improve it. And about the quality of our service: we design and manufacture heavy-duty machines which usually work in heavy industry without problems for 15-25 years. If suddenly some problem happens, then we fix it in 24h. The similar way we are going to work with handling the warranty issues for SENTRY.

4. You asked about the hdd/ssd temperatures. Maybe Saper will answer on that one, because he's using SENTRY for about a year or something like that, but as i remember those temps at high load weren't much different from those you can see in standard big ATX-towers. Everything is more than fine.

5. We will talk to a lawyer about those "made-to-order" procedures.

 

[Tallando]

Hi, thanks for always answer questions.
Back to the M3 Cable speech, you say it's the best ever.
The Raven RVZ02 all less than 90 euro costs, so they use a more economical cable, I do not think that their homes may not work with this more econimico cable.
then a sentry with a more economical cable?
or did I miss something
thank you

 

[KawaiiLover92]

Hello, I have been browsing this forums for almost six months. I'm very exciting for whenever this pc case gets released, but it is above my budget. How long would it take for this case to be mass produced?

 

[SaperPL]

WEBSITE UPDATE:
We've figured that a lot of you didn't notice the fact that there's a tool on our website explaining how components fit inside the case.

That section has been updated to even more encourage you to play with this tool. Go and check it out on the website: DR ZĄBER SENTRY - Console-sized gaming PC case

There's also new GPU Compatibility section added to the specification on the website with card dimensions explained like this:

By the way we have finally launched the new company website and ditched the old one so if any of you are interested in what our company is doing on daily basis then you can check it out here: DR ZABER - Special Machinery Design

STATUS UPDATE:
We're going to package first review units today and we'll be shipping them as soon as possible, most likely on Monday to LTT

Hi, thanks for always answer questions.
Back to the M3 Cable speech, you say it's the best ever.
The Raven RVZ02 all less than 90 euro costs, so they use a more economical cable, I do not think that their homes may not work with this more econimico cable.
then a sentry with a more economical cable?
or did I miss something
thank you

If you're talking about the riser used in A4-SFX, the one from M3 then the problem in that chassis is riser length - Sentry, Raven RVZ01/RVZ02 and Node 202 all have the standard distance between the gpu and its slot around 40mm and A4-SFX needs a 300mm riser and that's what makes its riser so expensive to be sure it'll work properly on such lengths.

Hello, I have been browsing this forums for almost six months. I'm very exciting for whenever this pc case gets released, but it is above my budget. How long would it take for this case to be mass produced?

It'll depend on how the sales will go and if there's going to be any opportunities for us from system builders and resellers to launch mass production.

We'd have to have around $10 000 of disposable money for the bending matrices or have it calculated into crowdfunding and we'd have to have something like 5000 units minimum order quantity to cut costs properly for this and also to reduce the cost of components we're bundling with the case such as risers and cables.

As much as I'd like to make this possible as a $99 case it's not possible until we sell a proper volume to get the product known around the world and to get proper feedback from the users to fix more things if we can before making those expensive bending matrices. Nothing is perfect from the start and custom production gives us opportunity to improve the design if we can.

 

[iFreilicht]

you should start wondering why so many people need to send you their queries personally

Because 90% of them are lazy. The DAN-A4 thread is such a good example for this. People just post "Will this GPU fit?" over and over again, even though Dan has loads of information on his website and in the thread and you can easily search both, just because it's easier than trying to find that information by themselves.

 

[darksable]

Go and check it out on the website: DR ZĄBER SENTRY - Console-sized gaming PC case.

New website looks great! Just fyi, after noticing it on my phone, I checked using the vpn on my htpc; your "cookies" notification only shows up in... Swedish? (Sorry, but it's late and I can't remember what country it is exactly.) This appears to happen no matter the country or native system language.

I'm so excited to hear that Linus will be reviewing a Sentry soon-ish; I'm practically bouncing. I haven't been more excited for a case since the first Prodigy, which got me into small form factor computers. (And yes, I know that thing is a behemoth, comparatively.)

This also looks to be one of the best set up cases to mod in a _long_ time. Wish I knew what that paint does under heat and abrasion, but I'm certainly not going to ask you guys to take a Dremel to one of your babies. If you have a painted scrap piece for whatever reason, though, I'd love to see a sample cut in it.

 

[SaperPL]

New website looks great! Just fyi, after noticing it on my phone, I checked using the vpn on my htpc; your "cookies" notification only shows up in... Swedish? (Sorry, but it's late and I can't remember what country it is exactly.) This appears to happen no matter the country or native system language.

Thanks for this note, I't should be fixed by now

This also looks to be one of the best set up cases to mod in a _long_ time. Wish I knew what that paint does under heat and abrasion, but I'm certainly not going to ask you guys to take a Dremel to one of your babies. If you have a painted scrap piece for whatever reason, though, I'd love to see a sample cut in it.

The thing with our case is - if you're a modder and you want for example mod the case cover for venting, attaching the water cooler or whatever else you want then you can simply get dimensions of our cover, draw that up in CAD of your choice and have your own custom styled vents and mounting points for water cooling if you can fit some since there's no "rocket science level" bending in that part and you can redesign it from scratch for your build.

As for the modding the case itself - while 1mm steel should behave better than slim aluminium when being drilled, you should get some knowledge how to fix up powder coating and will happen if you want to respray it or fill up coating with something else.

 

[darksable]

The thing with our case is - if you're a modder and you want for example mod the case cover for venting, attaching the water cooler or whatever else you want then you can simply get dimensions of our cover, draw that up in CAD of your choice and have your own custom styled vents and mounting points for water cooling if you can fit some since there's no "rocket science level" bending in that part and you can redesign it from scratch for your build.

As for the modding the case itself - while 1mm steel should behave better than slim aluminium when being drilled, you should get some knowledge how to fix up powder coating and will happen if you want to respray it or fill up coating with something else.

That's actually a really cool thought; I hadn't even considered that. Now I'm even more excited!

And yeah, I've patched powder coats before, and the only way to make it look nice is to restart from the beginning - I don't have enough skill to blend it seamlessly.

 

[SaperPL]

There's another thought - if after years you want to respray it completely than 1mm is enough to survive metal blasting/sanding and then you can start the project from scratch (also remember about damaging zinc surface).

 

[MrNateTheGreat]

I joined this forum just for this case. I've been looking for a case that does exactly this. no I'm not going to crazy OC or water cool.
I work as a merchant mariner on a ship and just want a case that's easy to transport once every couple months and can do VR at home and play high end games when on the ship. This is exactly what I've been looking for and have been excited since I saw it a couple months ago. I'm looking to build in November/December and will be ordering one as soon as it's available. I'm so sick of laptops and want something serious yet reasonably portable.
I think you're doing great work and REALLY appreciate you not crowd funding (I'm tired of Kickstarter) and taking the time to sell direct. I have already set aside the money to order this at the drop of a hat as my main system and I really appreciate all your feedback and how often you post and update.

 

[Tallando]

add a mini "zefir" above the sentry to recover part of the energy dispersed in the form of heat?
joke

 

[ZombiPL]

*Little update*

SENTRY sent for the first external review to LTT.

 

[octagoncow]

*Little update*

SENTRY sent for the first external review to LTT.

Awesome! I realize he still has to take time to review it, but do you know when he should be receiving it?

 

[ZombiPL]

Awesome! I realize he still has to take time to review it, but do you know when he should be receiving it?

Our transport company claims "3-5 working days". Courier picked up the package yesterday.

 

[RosaJ]

Oh boy that'll be quick! Can't wait to see some tests and review of SENTRY from LTT!

 

[SaperPL]

Note the fact that linus might take his time with it before making a video.

 

[Aircoookie]

Yep Linus has the Dan A4 since ~20 days and there's no video out yet. At least he posted some teaser images so we know he is working on it.

 

[AstroWan]

I hate to ask, but what pci-e adapter and psu power plug rerouting cable did you use? I'm planning to toy around with some acrylic to make a clear case computer and was wondering if you could point me the right direction for those particular items.

 

[ZombiPL]

I hate to ask, but what pci-e adapter and psu power plug rerouting cable did you use? I'm planning to toy around with some acrylic to make a clear case computer and was wondering if you could point me the right direction for those particular items.

No problem mate. We have nothing to hide

Power cables are our own design with additional grounding connector, manufactured at local cable factory. If You just want something like this for yourself then maybe just buy angled power cord and C14 panel mounted connector to wire it up yourself?

For our PCI-E extension, we picked a high-quality riser from Sintech. Here You have a link to their online store: link. We were thinking about 3M risers, but the quality of Sintech riser is as good or even better. Its length of 50 mm is a standard for them (3M has standard 250 or 500mm, every other length is more expensive, because it's custom / non-standard, and harder to replace in case of damaging it), and Sintech has strengthened soldering with additional bar covering it, which puts it above 3M (You don't have to worry about bending Your riser next to the soldering).

 

[FiDDy]

"SENTRY sent for the first external review to LTT" Saper

what exactly do you mean by first external review ? will there be more ? if so, do you already know who? and also did you finish their prototypes yet ?

 

[SaperPL]

We'll try to ship some review units to other reviewers after LTT releases their review. We've got some reviewers in mind and we've got a few more units to spare.

We're waiting for the review from LTT because we want some attention from other serious reviewers to get in touch with rather than throwing randomly samples at them wishing they'll care and pick those up for a review fast, as well as the fact that we've promised Linus the priority on a review and we know he can take his time before releasing a video to properly review a product.

 

[iFreilicht]

*Little update*

SENTRY sent for the first external review to LTT.

Post ID 1337. Well done!

 

[AstroWan]

No problem mate. We have nothing to hide

Power cables are our own design with additional grounding connector, manufactured at local cable factory. If You just want something like this for yourself then maybe just buy angled power cord and C14 panel mounted connector to wire it up yourself?

For our PCI-E extension, we picked a high-quality riser from Sintech. Here You have a link to their online store: link. We were thinking about 3M risers, but the quality of Sintech riser is as good or even better. Its length of 50 mm is a standard for them (3M has standard 250 or 500mm, every other length is more expensive, because it's custom / non-standard, and harder to replace in case of damaging it), and Sintech has strengthened soldering with additional bar covering it, which puts it above 3M (You don't have to worry about bending Your riser next to the soldering).

Thanks a bunch , really appreciate it. Now I hope you don't mind, but I have a few more questions.

1) So when you cut open the angled power cord, are the wires in a relatively understandable order that I could figure out how to sold them to the C14 panel mounted connector to wire it up myself? As in, are negatives and positives + ground pretty easy to differentiate once i lop off the end of the connector.

2) So generally speaking, if you're using a flexible style pci-e 16x flexible adapter, how do your support the gpu so that it can't move around the case easily when the case is jostled? I've seen a few adapters that screw into the case (like the silverstone one for the silverstone milo ML08b and Raven) and I thought that were pretty stable, but I don't wanna yank it out of my case as I wanna keep it to resell the case to my friend later; for this reason, I was wondering how you guys handled that problem.


Thanks again guys, I love the work you did with the sentry, if it wasn't for the fact that I was a bit impatient I would've of bought your case as I love the tower design. In any *case*, I really appreciate your guys support on helping my try out this project, and wish you the best of luck in getting the product finalized and ready for sale. Cheers

 

[RosaJ]

Thanks a bunch , really appreciate it. Now I hope you don't mind, but I have a few more questions.

1) So when you cut open the angled power cord, are the wires in a relatively understandable order that I could figure out how to sold them to the C14 panel mounted connector to wire it up myself? As in, are negatives and positives + ground pretty easy to differentiate once i lop off the end of the connector.

Yes, I cut the end off my PSU cord and used three of these connectors to the C14 mount, wrapped in electrical tape and then heat shrunk. There should be three wires color coded as green, white, and black. Here is a nice picture to reference the cable specs.

 

[SaperPL]

I'd rather check the wires with multimeter because you never know if it wasn't made in china with no regards to the specs.

 

[ZombiPL]

2) So generally speaking, if you're using a flexible style pci-e 16x flexible adapter, how do your support the gpu so that it can't move around the case easily when the case is jostled? I've seen a few adapters that screw into the case (like the silverstone one for the silverstone milo ML08b and Raven) and I thought that were pretty stable, but I don't wanna yank it out of my case as I wanna keep it to resell the case to my friend later; for this reason, I was wondering how you guys handled that problem.

Of course our riser has some holes in it's PCB which we could use to screw it to the case, but we decided we want to support almost every PCI-E riser that exists. It means we are using riser's PCB only to hold it in the mounting place (we do not use those mounting holes, which every riser has in different place), and we use screws to grab the sides of the PCI-E slot in a clinch made by steel sides. I'm sure Linus will say something about that, because this is not a typical design, but it's very stable and thanks to that You don't have to think a lot about what should be the riser's PCB shape. All GPU's we have are stable in there like they were mounted in your standard big tower (Saper is travelling with SENTRY for about a year - 200km every week in his 17'' laptop backpack, and his GTX970 is happy in our pc-case).

What is more, we know that many manufacturers added some additional GPU holders which holds your graphic card from the other side (for example in Node202), but they did it mainly because they did a terrible design with holding the PCI-E riser PCB. In this example, they didn't screw the last part of the extension adapter to the pc case, so in situation of moving the pc case with the installed GPU, you could damage the riser's PCB. We wanted to avoid such situation in SENTRY, and also we wanted do give people a chance to pick the riser they want or have (longer, more expensive or cheaper, etc., etc.) without worring about if it will fit or not. In SENTRY, if your PCI-E riser has standard dimension of pci-e slot (this plastic part where you insert GPU's data connection surface), then you should be able to use it.

We know, that this is not a typical idea of solving the problem, but we wanted that, people will have a choice what they will put in their case, and i'm sure if this is a bad idea, Linus will roast us for that

 

[SaperPL]

I'm currently still working on manual and updating the file on the server:

http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/manual.pdf

I'd appreciate any feedback on what we could add more to this document to clarify how things work inside the case and how to assemble your rig in it.

I've added explanation on how the riser is mounted as well, in exploded view on page 9.

 

[ItsTheDEMON]

I just made an account on this forum, just to tell you guys you did some amazing work. I really love the case, and I will buy it as soon as it is released.

Kindest regards from the Netherlands

 

[Fero]

I'm currently still working on manual and updating the file on the server:

http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/manual.pdf

I'd appreciate any feedback on what we could add more to this document to clarify how things work inside the case and how to assemble your rig in it.

I've added explanation on how the riser is mounted as well, in exploded view on page 9.

Hi dear creators of Sentry project. I wait your case since December, and I'm sure you will succeed. I have red almost all of the information about your case, mais did not found clearance under motherboard, will m.2 drives fit in? Waiting your case with impatience, hoping to get it as soon as possible. Sentry is really beautiful case, best case that i have found. I'm already planning all components of pc with that case. I leave about 215~$ for case and shipping, hope it is enough. Manual is good and simple. Sorry for my English.

 

[RosaJ]

I have red almost all of the information about your case, mais did not found clearance under motherboard, will m.2 drives fit in?

M.2 drives will fit under the motherboard as the SENTRY will have standard 7mm motherboard standoffs so there will be space for them.

While I of course recommend M.2 + single 2.5" hdd along with SFX-L PSU and full length blower card as the target config (Reference blower GTX 1070 and low TDP i7 recommended as well) you can also go for two drives easily - one on the rail above the motherboard in the middle of the case and second one either in front of short SFX psu (get 92mm fan version if possible) or below blower gpu.

No worries on your English, it reads well enough

 

[ZombiPL]

M.2 drives will fit under the motherboard as the SENTRY will have standard 7mm motherboard standoffs so there will be space for them.



No worries on your English, it reads well enough

I see we've reached the point, where we are not needed here thanks.

 

[Fero]

I see we've reached the point, where we are not needed here thanks.

Only to finish your project If you want, you can write info about m.2 on main site, because its difficult to find any info here (ive used search, but ive missed info about m.2), actually all other info necessary ive found on main site of a project.
Ps: if you have m.2 info on site than i'm completely blind.

 

[SaperPL]

If I remember correctly, the m.2 slot requires clearance around 5.3mm and we've got 7mm standoffs under the motherboard so it should be okay.

We don't have info about M.2 since it's not the thing we should support as it's a part of the motherboard assemble and we just have to keep up with ATX specification and it's on the side of board manufacturer to ensure that his slot fits within the ATX specification.

Nevertheless we've got 7mm of clearance while ATX specifies required 6.35mm so we should be okay.

 

[EdZ]

I'm currently still working on manual and updating the file on the server:

http://zaber.com.pl/sentry/manual.pdf

I'd appreciate any feedback on what we could add more to this document to clarify how things work inside the case and how to assemble your rig in it.

I've added explanation on how the riser is mounted as well, in exploded view on page 9.

P2: move the arrows to be next to the screws. Currently, if you view only this page without flicking over to the next page, the instructions appear to be telling you to pull the sides of the lid away from the case and then lift it off.
- It could be an idea to try using different coloured arrows, one to indicate screw direction, and one to indicate component movement direction. That avoids having to add a separate arrow for each individual screw.

P9: I understand the intent is to demonstrate that the screwholes in the riser should not be used, but it might be better to omit the unused screwholes from the illustration of the riser entirely to prevent confusion.

 

[Morbo66]

Just curious, how tall are the rubber feet? Got a picture of what they look like?

New website looks great!

 

[SaperPL]

Rubber feet are 6.4mm tall - they look like this (the photo shows taller version)

We initially wanted to use 4mm ones but in tests using 4mm, 6,4mm, 10mm and 13mm there was a notable difference between 4mm and all other heights so we chose the 6.4mm.

Those are quite generic and in if you'd want to replace those for any reason it shouldn't be a problem to get them

 

[FiDDy]

We'll try to ship some review units to other reviewers after LTT releases their review. We've got some reviewers in mind and we've got a few more units to spare.

We're waiting for the review from LTT because we want some attention from other serious reviewers to get in touch with rather than throwing randomly samples at them wishing they'll care and pick those up for a review fast, as well as the fact that we've promised Linus the priority on a review and we know he can take his time before releasing a video to properly review a product.

I have to say that makes perfect sense.