Phobya water-cooled case design thread - Stage 2

This was a good idea; helps to convey a better sense of the size and physical presence than static images. Here's mine with the same comparison (note this version is very WIP-y - no materials or detailed components).

 

wow , I really thought your case would be much bigger nice compacting

 

I'm kind of taking the approach of not worrying too much about engineering details. We were only given vague guidelines about manufacturability so I'm assuming they're looking at this more as an opportunity to tap the community for overall ideas and approaches. I can't imagine they really expect any one person to work out every little detail by themselves, particularly without having substantial knowledge of their manufacturing capabilities. Odds are, whatever you/we come up with will need to be revised/re-engineered anyway.

I, for one, have no experience as an engineer, and I doubt whatever attempts I make at engineering would be that useful to them. I'm looking at this as what it's labeled as: a design contest, which to me means 1.) conceptualizing the overall layout and functionality and 2.) the aesthetic qualities and user experience. The engineering details should, in my mind, be left to the engineers to work out.

Having said that, I realize it's important to conceptualize a design that stays within the realm of manufacturing feasibility; it's easy enough to come up with an awesome concept design, but if it's not manufacturable, it's essentially worthless. So my approach has been to make something that, in my estimation, and acknowledging the limitations of my engineering experience, at least seems like it lends itself to manufacturability. I am also making some attempts at the engineering in my design, if only to see how things might fit together and to determine plausibility of specific features. But I'm not going to worry overly much about designing drive cages with the least material and number of bends. They can do that.

edit: I also wanted to add something in here about designers not making good engineers/engineers not making good designers. You can't expect a single person to be good at design, functionality/layout, and engineering. You'd be lucky to get someone good at even two of the three. Typically, these would be handled by several different people, or teams on larger projects. Also, this is unpaid work by (mostly) amateurs, with a prize value that doesn't come remotely close to what professional development would cost. This is really only worth doing if you really want to see your case design go to market, or you enjoy the challenge and have a lot of time on your hands. Or you want the recognition. The prizes are really not worth the time investment otherwise.

Thanks. Funnily enough, it actually used to be even smaller than it is now. This version is about 20mm taller and 10mm wider than the earlier version (although at the moment it's not quite as deep).

 

Here´s some thoughts about your designs.. Sorry in advance if these comments sound too harsh - you guys are doing a great job.

@Roboduck - I really like the new front grille with Phobya logo and slim bluray/dvd-drive is also great. However, I don´t like at all that feet, visible screwheads and hump on the roof. Makes the case look a bit cheap (and HAF-like). I also can´t help thinking that inverted-ATX would be much better for your case (less cluttered tubing). Also is it possible to make all the vents similar to the front grill?

@Subtec - I think your design is one of the best in this competition. I can easily imagine that your case would be pretty silent while offering amazing cooling. There´s just one thing that bothers me - you have three huge fans pushing air out of the case and pulling air with dust inside from the every seem and hole. I hope you are planning easily removable dust filters..

@ĿªЪяεġø™ - Inverted-ATX is great and I like the modular look of the case, but it´s just way too large.

@SnowyOwl - Your case definitely has the best looks in this competition. But still I´m wondering if the front grill is really needed for cooling as it kinda ruins some of the looks?

@Razer2007 - Your case has lots of room for great cooling and details are well thought. But I don´t like that huge window and vents on the sidepanel. Imo it would be a lot better with lower, but longer window and not a single vent on the side panels.

 

I used the "Old Industrial Hall" from here. use the exr file for the environment. Hope this helps!

Nice, I missed that. Great little project btw

It may not be everyone's cup of tea but the exposed screw heads and the foot are part of the design for me. I wanted a more industrial look instead of the super clean, apple design cues everyone seems to be shooting for nowadays.

What about the front grill do you like? I was actually planning on changing that one to match the side grills.

 

Hello everyone,

here are some updates. Sorry, but still no outside preview ... I drew the outside design out on paper, based on the inside layout, it's coming soon.

I made the Cooling tray and went for a black and white color scheme :







And the tray inside the "will be" case.









I'll now add the EVGA SR-2, GPU, Tubing and trays handles ... an of course, the outside . Again, I really do like all designs here :

@ROBODUCK : I'm a big fan of industrial / rough design, would fit in my house. Is there really no way you can add one HDD ? Could be usefull in case of RAID conf.

@SUBTEC : Very nice design, reminds me of IBM style. I was thinking of a vented bottom too. Maybe you should add a filter to prevent dust too be sucked in (a single full bottom size filter removable from the front of the case.

@RAZER : beautiful case and layout, not too big and nice optical drive slot. Would love this case on my desk.

@Snowyowl : Very clean and good looking. The only thing I see is that you should maybe add a cover to 5.25" bay drives. It will blend a lot better. Your case is too nice to have a poor DVD player right in the middle of it

@ĿªЪяεġø™ : Could you add the size of your case to have a better idea ? I like the toolbox, I have one on my Antec case and it serves me more than one time.

 

That what I thought , so I made a smaller version and I'm very happy with the result

​

Still a lot to do

 

You're the second person that's said something like that... the other likened it to a "retro workstation" look. I guess I understand where that's coming from, in the sense that my design and many of IBM's designs are "dark" and "linear," and they have similar vent styles, but the asymmetry they incorporate into their designs is something I find off-putting.





Really though, I was more inspired by the design of the Maingear Shift:




It's just a shame they had to plaster that huge logo all over it. So tacky. It also has some unfortunate asymmetrical design elements I don't care for.


My design also bears more than a passing resemblance to the Silverstone Raven RV02 -



- which wasn't entirely intentional on my part. The RV02 styling is too overdone as well, in my opinion, especially the top panel.


I wanted my design to have clean lines and a minimalistic, somewhat monolithic look, like the Shift nearly achieves, but with more symmetry and subtlety.

Re: the bottom filters - I'm aware of it, and I'm going to have to work them in there. I really don't want the case any bigger than it already is, but it may have to be for filters and bottom-mounted fans to fit without obstructing the bottom slot. It would still be smaller than any other case on the market that supports the SR-2.

 

Looking good!


Everyone is focusing on how to make their cases small and I got a little bored today so I decided to see what the "extreme" edition of my case would look like

THIS IS NOT MY SUBMISSION! THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!

710mm X 697mm X 244mm

-2x 560mm rads
-1x 420mm rad
-SR2 compatability (not shown)







I am working on making a 5 HDD bay I will post images a little later.

 

Dark and monolithic are good to me. Maybe you could design something like that as a dust filter



Attached underneath the case bottom and slidable from one side. I don't know what could be the best : 1 giant size (the whole bottom) or 2 / 3 filters to cover the whole bottom.

I think you did a good job at shrinking the beast .... mine looks like a mammoth, even if it's not that big (389 width, 450 depth, 640 height). I'm trying to shrink things down.

 

@GuilleAcoustic
That looks reasonable. The bottom ventilation is actually only 2/3rds the length of the case; the forward section is vented on the sides and front instead, so I would probably want filters on the sides as well.

112 liters is pretty hefty... the Corsair 800D, which many consider quite a large case, is about 90 liters. And Roboduck, @120 liters. Ouch! Trying to out-size Mick64? Definitely stick to the standard version IMO.

There's a niche for cases that big, to be sure - Mountain Mods is proof of that. I guess it's ultimately up to Phobya to decide if they want to market to that niche.

 

Like I said its just for fun. I am staying with the smaller version, I was just curious what a really extreme version of my case would look like. Who knows maybe Ill end up making the "extreme" version as a personal project?

Edit: @subtec- I was just thinking is there enough room to fit 2 rads on their sides in the top compartment or only one rad with the fans facing up? If you could give it the option for both I could see a big benefit. Just my thoughts.

 

It's something I've considered. Right now, the clearance above the motherboard is about 100mm, so the case would need to grow at least another 30mm just to fit 120mm rads on their side, never mind 140s. Then there's the issue of mounting radiators to the sides. And ventilation. I guess I'm not thrilled with the idea of making the case larger and visually busier... I may give it a try anyway though, to see what you guys think. I guess you guys really want your dual quad 120/140s, eh?

 

no no no!!! too good to compete!!! grrr.

That is so awesome!!! I love it 10X above the smaller one!!! dude! Totally EPIC!!!

+rep if I can give anymore!!!



EDIT: Just make the whole damn side panel a window.

 

Well after much mucking about with Vray and thumb twiddling I managed to come up with a render that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out, thanks in part to Dark~3nergy's tutorial.



Apologies for the relative suckiness after Roboduck and Razor's lovely renders.

 

No No NO, that is awesome subtec, very very nicely done. Did you use IES lights? And wheres the window?

+rep

 

That looks great subtec, I'd buy it

Gives a better impression of its modular side panels too, which I think would be ruined with more ventilation for side mounted radiators.

 

You have my vote guy . Truly magnificent ! I love the slick, dark, matt aspect of your case.

Sorry Razer, but I think it's better w/o the window (or maybe a very dark tainted window).

 

subtec - I think you have a winning case there

Roboduck - Going X-large is a better look in my opinion, alas we all have to put the squeeze on...

Labrego - I thought I had the largest case in the competition, but after seeing yours side by side with the TJ07 I believe yours is actually taller.

I think I figured out how to get the geometry of my case built in Sketchup, I will try to get that done sometime today, and hopefully I will get some more useful pics posted ( not sure about renders, kerkythea keeps crashing, but I think I traced the crash to a bad texture "GTL.tga" that is being called out by something from the Sketchup collection, still trying to figure out which one )

 

I think it looks great! Very nice job

Haha, I'm glad you like it. unfortunately I will be sticking to the smaller version for the competition. As much as we would all love to have a insane amount of rads its just not practical for the majority of consumers.