SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

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just testing L9i with NF-F12 IPPC 3000-PWM.. i want to mod the fan to fit in.. temps is good but the noise too damn high :depressed:
 
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just testing L9i with NF-F12 IPPC 3000-PWM.. i want to mod the fan to fit in.. temps is good but the noise too damn high :depressed:

Is the fan too close to the case? That is usually the cause of excessive noise. Noctua has the 15mm thick 120mm fan now. But it is worth taking into consideration that most of the air a fan moves comes from the tips of the blades. So using a 120mm fan moves more air but the bulk of that air is being pushed around the perimeter of the heatsink, not through the fins like an appropriate sized fan.
 

Really nice photos :)

I have one question: If you will be using your case in a vertical position (on a stand), are you going to use the plugs we were sending with Sentry?

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I'm asking, because we saw many people who did not use them at all or were using feet instead (the same way you did in first 5 photos), and we were wondering 'why'?
 
Really nice photos :)

I have one question: If you will be using your case in a vertical position (on a stand), are you going to use the plugs we were sending with Sentry?

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I'm asking, because we saw many people who did not use them at all or were using feet instead (the same way you did in first 5 photos), and we were wondering 'why'?

Thanks! I actually use my sentry in a horizontal position. Vertical was only for photos, otherwise i would have used the covers.
 
So I haven't kept up with this thread for a while. My initial build in the Sentry was basically just a transplant of the PC I had a the time, and I am finally looking to upgrade. I know early on there were some concerns about space or heat issues with M.2 SSD's mounted on the underside of motherboards. I figured I would ask here to see if anyone with that in there setup has advice on that matter, or if it just blew over.
 
So I haven't kept up with this thread for a while. My initial build in the Sentry was basically just a transplant of the PC I had a the time, and I am finally looking to upgrade. I know early on there were some concerns about space or heat issues with M.2 SSD's mounted on the underside of motherboards. I figured I would ask here to see if anyone with that in there setup has advice on that matter, or if it just blew over.

I used a thermal pad to connect it to the chassis, which helped a bit. If you are using one of the newer drives (Intel 760p, Samsung 970 and so on), it shouldn't be that big of a problem for normal usage anyway.
I you do stress the SSD a lot, the thermalpad might be a good idea.
 
I used a thermal pad to connect it to the chassis, which helped a bit. If you are using one of the newer drives (Intel 760p, Samsung 970 and so on), it shouldn't be that big of a problem for normal usage anyway.
I you do stress the SSD a lot, the thermalpad might be a good idea.

Even then you only need a thermal pad on the drive controller, not the NAND chips. NAND actually has better longevity when it's warm (basically less than 60C). The controller is a tiny arm soc so it does prefer being cool, that's where you lose performance if it gets hot.
 
I used a thermal pad to connect it to the chassis, which helped a bit. If you are using one of the newer drives (Intel 760p, Samsung 970 and so on), it shouldn't be that big of a problem for normal usage anyway.
I you do stress the SSD a lot, the thermalpad might be a good idea.

Hmm, I purchased some M.2 thermal pads from SilverStone and the instructions suggest the pad be placed between the motherboard and the SSD. Because of that it will probably not be thick enough to connect to the chassis. Does anyone think they will still help or will they be uselems?
 
Hmm, I purchased some M.2 thermal pads from SilverStone and the instructions suggest the pad be placed between the motherboard and the SSD. Because of that it will probably not be thick enough to connect to the chassis. Does anyone think they will still help or will they be uselems?

As Ej24 said you want it on the controller. I added one and temps dropped from 75°C to 31°C. It was a 5mm pad.
 
Hmm, I purchased some M.2 thermal pads from SilverStone and the instructions suggest the pad be placed between the motherboard and the SSD. Because of that it will probably not be thick enough to connect to the chassis. Does anyone think they will still help or will they be uselems?

Between the ssd and the motherboard? Strange. Fiberglass isn't known for its thermal conductivity haha, probably best to apply thermal pads between the ssd and the steel of the case if possible with your system.
 
I ran a few searches in thread and was curious if anyone has more recent experience with running a non-blower GPU in their Sentry. I'm strongly considering jumping on a decent deal to trade out my 1080 Founders Edition for a 1080Ti SC Black (I've got 1440P @ 144Hz in my sights short-term).
I have the EVGA 1080TI SC2 you will be perfectly fine if you have a decent CPU cooler.


We just noticed that we never (directly) wrote here that we are moving the project to the next revision.

More information about SENTRY 2.0 you can find here:
https://hardforum.com/threads/sentry-2-0-evolution-of-console-sized-gaming-pc-case.1957662/


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This is great! Thanks for linking it. I just found out. I left some of my comments there from my experience with the sentry.
 
So I haven't kept up with this thread for a while. My initial build in the Sentry was basically just a transplant of the PC I had a the time, and I am finally looking to upgrade. I know early on there were some concerns about space or heat issues with M.2 SSD's mounted on the underside of motherboards. I figured I would ask here to see if anyone with that in there setup has advice on that matter, or if it just blew over.

Non issue.
My Samsung 960 M.2 is sitting on the back of the mobo and it's been fine, no thermal pads or any of that nonsense.
 
Out of curiosity how many people have an 8700K in Sentry? Obviously delidding is a must. How many people are thinking of a monster cpu like 8700k or 2700x?

I'm starting to get the itch to rebuild my z97 based i7-4790K system and obviously I want to go overkill. So just curious to know what I can expect.
 
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Oh and by the way, in case anyone is looking to add 2TB of sata ssd storage in their Sentry system, this has caught some peoples attention. Its the Micron version of the MX300 from their consumer brand Crucial. You can find it on ebay and amazon. I know with the space constraints of working with SFF cases, finding anything in 2.5in form factor more the 1TB can be difficult even with old spinning HDDs. Just thought I'd share with the Sentry group in case you guys haven't seen this deal.
 
Hey everyone, anyone selling a black sentry? Im thinking about modding to add liquid cooling on this rig.
 
Hey everyone, anyone selling a black sentry? Im thinking about modding to add liquid cooling on this rig.

Wait for 2.0 if you want to go liquid cooling. In my modded 1.1/prototype it's quite tough job to fit AIO and it required A LOT of modding. Changes in 2.0 are significant and quite important for water cooling support.
 
Wait for 2.0 if you want to go liquid cooling. In my modded 1.1/prototype it's quite tough job to fit AIO and it required A LOT of modding. Changes in 2.0 are significant and quite important for water cooling support.
I am following Sentry 2.0 thread now but I dont think I can wait for another year or two before pre-order unless your planning to have crowd funding this year?
 
I am following Sentry 2.0 thread now but I dont think I can wait for another year or two before pre-order unless your planning to have crowd funding this year?

Yes, we are planning crowdfunding this year. Currently we are aiming with crowdfunding campaign at the mid or the end of Summer.
 
Yes, we are planning crowdfunding this year. Currently we are aiming with crowdfunding campaign at the mid or the end of Summer.
That would work! wow this is great news! Please also list the appropriate 92mm aio for this set up so we can prepare. Are you planning to ship this year as well?
 
Please also list the appropriate 92mm aio for this set up so we can prepare. Are you planning to ship this year as well?

AfaiR there is only one asetek 92 mm AIO and it is significantly thicker than what we can support because of 92 mm fan diameter. We are going to support 120 mm AIO with thickness of radiator + fan up to around 50 mm, but there are more variables here than simply this and we will make support list and fitting reference after we get to test how this works with prototypes. If you want to discuss this further, it would be good to go to the thread about 2.0 here: https://hardforum.com/threads/sentry-2-0-evolution-of-console-sized-gaming-pc-case.1957662/
 
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anyone have try cryorig C7 Cu on sentry? somesay its better than LP53..

I did not have a C7 on the Sentry yet, but If you mind noise, I would stay away from it, as it's to close to the sidepanel and will cause a lot of noise.
I tried a titan cooler, which even is a bit smaller than the C7 and it was a lot more more annoying than the LP53 with the same noctua fan at the same RPM settings.
 
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I did not have a C7 on the Sentry yet, but If you mind noise, I would stay away from it, as it's to close to the sidepanel and will cause a lot of noise.
I tried a titan cooler, which even is a bit smaller than the C7 and it was a lot more more annoying than the LP53 with the same noctua fan at the same RPM settings.

Yeah my friend offer a group buy for C7 Cu.. The price is quite high.. I'm just thinking is it worth the price? I'm using L9i at the moment ..

Btw you have tried using LP53? The Temps is good?
 
Yeah my friend offer a group buy for C7 Cu.. The price is quite high.. I'm just thinking is it worth the price? I'm using L9i at the moment ..

Btw you have tried using LP53? The Temps is good?

I've been using the LP53 in my Sentry for over a year now. It's roughly 10C better than the NH-l9i, in my experience, using a delidded, undervolted i7-4790K (88w tdp). I made a small review, here.
 
Yeah my friend offer a group buy for C7 Cu.. The price is quite high.. I'm just thinking is it worth the price? I'm using L9i at the moment ..

Btw you have tried using LP53? The Temps is good?

I'm currently using one with the normal noctua fan 15mm fan (not the fast one that comes with the l9i) on a delided and lapped i7 6700k @4Ghz with 1.185V. I like to have silent system so I've set the fan to spin at a maximum of 1600RPM under heavier load. In almost all games it hovers around 1300-1400 RPM at 70-80°C (with an ambient of around 22° I would guess. Since it's getting warmer and warmer now the temps are more in the high 70 to low 80).
If you are not so noise sensitive like me, you can crank up the fan speed and get better results.

Just from experience, I would guess hat around 90w-120w depending on the ambient and the fan is that absolut maximum this cooler can handle with the thin noctua fans. Would be interested in what other peoples thoughts and opinions on this are, since I'm currently thinking about a 2700x or the successor to that (or maybe even the rumored 8 core I7).
 
I've been using the LP53 in my Sentry for over a year now. It's roughly 10C better than the NH-l9i, in my experience, using a delidded, undervolted i7-4790K (88w tdp). I made a small review, here.

I'm currently using one with the normal noctua fan 15mm fan (not the fast one that comes with the l9i) on a delided and lapped i7 6700k @4Ghz with 1.185V. I like to have silent system so I've set the fan to spin at a maximum of 1600RPM under heavier load. In almost all games it hovers around 1300-1400 RPM at 70-80°C (with an ambient of around 22° I would guess. Since it's getting warmer and warmer now the temps are more in the high 70 to low 80).
If you are not so noise sensitive like me, you can crank up the fan speed and get better results.

Just from experience, I would guess hat around 90w-120w depending on the ambient and the fan is that absolut maximum this cooler can handle with the thin noctua fans. Would be interested in what other peoples thoughts and opinions on this are, since I'm currently thinking about a 2700x or the successor to that (or maybe even the rumored 8 core I7).

Thanks for the replies..

I'm using L9i on i7 6700k non delided in sentry case for almost 1 years.. The heat sometimes go to 90 when I'm not using air conditioner..

So for upgrading my L9i, it's better to change it with LP53 + noctua NF-A9x14 (2500rpm) than C7 Cu?
 
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