Phobya water-cooled case design thread - Stage 2

Congrats who is in the 2nd round !

 

Who's the one to decide if something matches these requirements?

I'd guess, that most of the users don't care about this question but only look at pretty pictures again, when they're asked to vote for the participants of the final stage.

Some of the designs that made it through to this stage clearly don't match the request there.

 

First of all a big thank you to everyone who voted for my design! I guess Ill start out with a quick stage 1 summary and current/future design plans.

Stage 1 Entry Summary: Roboduck's Phobya Case

Phobya Concept Case By Roboduck

-570mm x 576mm x 234mm
-5x 3.5" HDD Bays
-3x 5.25" Drive Bays (Side Facing)
-1x Slim DVD Drive Bay
-Dedicated Design For Water Cooling (Not Air Cooled Case Adapted For Liquid Cooling)
-Removable Compartment For Up To 2x 420 Radiators
-Optional Top Mounted Radiator (Up To 280)
-Enclosed Compartments (Motherboard, PSU/HDD/DVD Drives, and Radiators)
-Compact Design While Leaving Plenty of Room For Clean Cable Management
-Angular "Industrial" Look
-Open Design for Easy Customization/Modding
-Simple, Easy To Manufacture Design

In-Development Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/bruins.scott/PhobyaCase#

3D CAD Model (SolidWorks 2011): http://www.grabcad.com/cadfiles/phobya-case-002

Stage 1 Final Concept Configuration Renderings





Current Design/Future Changes

Recent Changes
-Added manufacture details (fasteners, structural bends, ect..)
-Revised visual design
-Started cable management/layout

Future Changes
-Optional removable 5.25" bay to replace radiator bay
-Additional cable/hose management features
-Finish manufacture details and prints
- ???

 

Roboduck, are you like some undercover Silverstone or whatever case designer? That is just unhumanly awesome!!!

I'll post mine later, stay tuned.

 

Sold... Put this baby into production and I'll gladly spend a paycheck on it!

Make it in Gunmetal black, or blacked out chrome and that case will be a piece of art.

 

Here it is:

Razer2007's Phobya Gladio

(I used Roboduck's specs as a guideline for mine)

-580mm x 597mm x 305mm
-6x 3.5" HDD Bays (Will improve placement)
-2x 5.25" Drive Bays (Side Facing)
-2x Pump mounts
-Designed for watercooling
-Up to 3 Radiators (2x 480; 1x 140)
-up to 5 reservoir locations (2x built in)
-Enclosed Compartments for neatness and cooling
-Awesome cable management
-Sleek and simple look
-Easy to mod
-Constructed form Aluminium
-Huge side panel window

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Right, so I'll just post a few pics from my stage 1 entry:







The spec rundown:

- Triple 200mm radiator support

- SR-2 motherboard support

- 10 expansion slots

- 2x dedicated 5.25" bays

- 5x dedicated internal 3.5" bays

- 2 reconfigurable bays for dual PSUs, 5.25"/3.5" drives, or single radiators


I have since added (not shown in these pics)

- Rotated motherboard support (for air cooling only)




So one of the defining characteristics of my design is the support for a triple 200 rad in the top. The questions are, a.) would Phobya consider building such a radiator, and b.) would people actually buy it? If either answer is a likely no, I could drop support for the larger radiator, opting for a max of a quad 140 in the roof instead (which it already supports, mind you).

Additionally, how much do people want SR-2 support? The SR-2 is a huge board; dropping support for it would save a ton of space.

The case as-is isn't particularly tall or wide, but it is pretty deep. It could be a fair bit less deep, but it would require the previously mentioned changes.


So my questions to you are:

Would you be interested in a triple 200mm radiator?

Should I keep SR-2 support?


Any other thoughts you may have are welcome.

 

I think you should keep the 3X200mm rad support, for when there are one available one day, and you can also just put in 3X 200mm fans for air cooling.

IMHO, you can leave the SR2. One can build his own case for a mobo like that.

** Other thought: include an exhaust fan at the back.

 

subtec - I wouldn't be interested in any type of 200mm radiator yet. There's no fans currently available that'll match the performance of 120mm size for size. This is a guess but I would say the majority of enthusiast watercoolers use triple 120 rads. I personally prefer quad rads but providing there were space for 2 triples would be OK with that. I would be put off slightly with the cramped space.

Roboduck - Is the PSU in the bottom front of your case? Although slimline Blu Ray drives are available they're really pricey compared to normal size ones although that wouldn't necessarily put me off your design. I personally wouldn't be too keen on the side facing drive bays at the bottom.

Razer2007 - Whereabouts are the external drive bays in your design. I know you've mentioned side facing but I can't place them.

EDIT: I forgot to add that any drive bays that didn't have the option for some form of noise isolation would put me off straight away. I generally mount mine either in sound proof isolators in 5 1/4" drive bays or with elastic suspension, again in 5 1/4" bays.

 

Thing is, keeping the 600mm rad means the case can't really be any smaller (the rad itself would be 645mm long), so it may as well keep SR-2 support too.

Already in the new revision
Though it's just a 120mm, which seems almost pointless when you've got three 200mm fans pulling air out the top.

 

Thanks Razer! But no I am not an undercover Silverstone designer.... or am I?

Glad you like it! I will play around with colors a little later but I like the gunmetal idea.

I agree with Razer, keep the 3x200mm rad support and SR2 support. I would focus on using more common components but I would keep the support for the more extreme parts. I also agree that a fan or at the very least some mesh in the back would help with airflow. Edit: I see you already adressed this so NVM

I love the design, keep it up!

Edit:

Yes the PSU is behind the HDDs its hard to see from the pics. For the production case Phobya would most likely use a cheaper DVD/CD drive instead of Blu Ray but the option would be there. I will be adding a removable drive bay that will replace the radiator bay with one that supports 5.25" drive bays and dual 2x 120mm rads.

 

A pair of 360s won't fit. You could do a quad 120/140 in the top easily, and a dual 120/140 in the bottom, though, which would get you the same (6x120) or more (6x140) rad area. Could also put a single 120 on the back fan mount and another 120/140 in one of the reconfigurable bays. Total, up to eight 120s, or seven 140s plus a 120. Lots of options.

Space shouldn't be cramped by the way - it just looks that way with the SR-2 in. This is what it looks like with a more modest set up:

 

subtec - Wow, that SR2 must be massive. Looks a lot more spacious with a normal size motherboard in there. You could actually probably get a quad rad on the back fan mount, I've done that with a few cases, mainly because reasonably priced cases don't have an internal option.

Just checking but a pair of D5 pumps (without aftermarket tops) would also fit in the base?

I guess I'm one of the target market for a case specifically designed for watercooling and had planned to import a Mountain Mods, despite the high cost, later this year.

 

It is - some five and a half inches wider.

Yeah, though you you probably wouldn't want this case even deeper than it is

Short answer is yes, but with some caveats: they will just fit side-by-side (where the EK-topped laing DDCs are now in the pics), inlets facing the rear, but not with the SR-2 mounted. Also, it trades space with the bottom radiator location (which is to be expected). There are a lot of other potential mounting options for pumps throughout the case, though - something I haven't completely nailed down yet.

 

I will put them in later this stage so you and all others can see

The design is rough. I will add more detail later on. but thank you for the input big elf

 

@roboduck and razor2007

I just realized both your guys' cases are nearly the same size, at 103 and 105 litres... and here I was worried about size - I don't feel hardly as bad now with mine coming in at ~75L. Practically a lightweight! Mine is still longer though (that's what...

Awesome renders btw, both of you. I'm going to have to up my game if I ever hope to compete with you guys.

 

Mine is a big boy, its roughly the same size as a TJ07. I did realize my size dimensions were wrong it really is 570mm x 576mm x 234mm (I fixed it in my first post as well). It is really closer to 76L so about the same size as yours.

Edit: I may remove the bottom "foot" to reduce the height as well as the material required to manufacture the case. It would take 50mm off the height and bring it down to an even 70L.

 

aah mine is monterous then .... is it good? you guys got a better chance of winning at the end of stage 3 then.