Project Radster - Case Labs S8

Colin, I didn't order white case :D
And thank you for kind words, Dave :D

By the way, any of you could advice me on something?
S8 have a space of up to 2 x 3.5' hdd or 4 ssd under motherboard plate but I am a bit worried about heat. See, there is a cutout just around the CPU area and there is no way to put any ventilation around there. I was planning to get mSATA card as OS drive and to put 2 3TB HDDs under the motherboard, but now I am unsure. I didn't use 3.5' hdd for ages so don't know how much heat it can generate. Any ideas? Is it going to have any negative impact on CPU temps?
 
Bart_Hunt said:
Colin, I didn't order white case :D
And thank you for kind words, Dave :D

By the way, any of you could advice me on something?
S8 have a space of up to 2 x 3.5' hdd or 4 ssd under motherboard plate but I am a bit worried about heat. See, there is a cutout just around the CPU area and there is no way to put any ventilation around there. I was planning to get mSATA card as OS drive and to put 2 3TB HDDs under the motherboard, but now I am unsure. I didn't use 3.5' hdd for ages so don't know how much heat it can generate. Any ideas? Is it going to have any negative impact on CPU temps?
Click to expand...

I find with mine that the hard drives do get a little warm because of the lack of ventilation - one thing that I think is slightly bad with the case, but did you get the side cover with ventilation holes in it, as that should help a bit(I didn't) Other than that I have not found a way round this problem yet.
Yhe HDD certainly dont impact CPU temps as they are too far away from the cpu imho. Think you will be fine, as we are only talking maybe 2-3 degrees warmer anyway.

Mark
 
I think there may be an option, but need to see, when I get the case.
S8 comes with 1 hdd cage for up to 4 3.5' hdd, but it originally is mounted in the left, where I will have fans/rad. I could try putting it in front, so it gets some air from intake fans but the I would be blocking most of the air coming from there.
I'll see what optiins I have when I have the case assembled on Tuesday.
 
Hello guys

At last, after long time of waiting, my S8 finally arrived at my place :)
It was about 3 hours ago and first thing I did was instantly drop everything else and start assembling - my patience was tested to much in the last 2 weeks so don't blame me :D

First thing, the size of S8.
I forgot about numbers and just looked at the case on the CaseLabs site and it looked not so big at all, at least smaller than Corsair 540 which I had before. When I joined together the first 2 panels, it started to grow :D


Out of the whole hype I forgot to make pictures along the way.
So you have to forgive me that I will only show the case already at this stage:




But first thing I did, was finding the panels painted in primer gray color and spraying them in MTN Intense Red. They are still drying, so you will have to be patient.

I will post more pictures when the case is dry and fully assembled.
 
First impressions, huh.

In the last few years I mostly used Corsair and BitFenix cases, so mostly good quality cases. I won't try comparing, because there is no comparison.
Jumping from a mass product to completely customizable product, that should tell you a lot :D

What I can tell you is that this case is very well designed.
I didn't find a single thing I would put somewhere else (and it happened a few times with other cases i had).
Powder coat is very good, also the primer was great. I was planning to paint each part twice, but after first layer I checked and it looks great as it is.
One minor flaw I found is with the accessory I bought with the case.
It was a left side rad mount. It works fine with radiator screws but I tried to instal fans with Akasa rubber pins and didn't work - to big holes. So I tried to use the screws supplied with fans - to small holes :D Irony.
So I left the mount for later, maybe if I ever decide to go tri sli, then it will be useful.

The rubber feet supplied with the case could use some love.
They weren't the best quality (well, finish wasn't, had to use scissors to remove some bits of rubber).

Motherboard plate is great, also other features are also very well thought.

I mentioned the powder coat is great, I am very happy with the dark gray color I chose. It looks much better with red and also would fit green build, maybe yellow or blue as well. I think it is much better than black.

All holes were perfectly aligned, so there was no problems with mounting panels. Screws are very good quality and there is plenty to instal everything.
Plus you get spares.

So I have to say, I am satisfied with this case and I can't wait to start putting stuff inside :D

ps. Yes, worth it. Every penny :D
 
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I have few more pictures for you guys :)
Few parts dried so I installed them right away, also installed few fans and they sure look sexy :)

1. 140mm Exhaust fan fitted:


2. Front intake fans (left):


3. Front intake fans on rad mount, intake (right):


4. Power/reset buttons:


5. Inside doesn't look so pretty, have to do something with these cables :)


6. Managed to mount those fans on left side after all:



More pics soon :)
 
Looking really nice already - think this is going to look and perform seriously well when completed. I must admit the quality of Caselabs cases imho cannot be overstated. Ok some might say they look a bit agricultural(just a square or oblong box), but that would be to miss the point entirely.

For me these cases are such good quality, and everything just fits as well as it should, and also they have flexibility in abundance - you can put otr mount anything just about anywhere etc, etc.......

Think I will be sticking with my case for a l o n g while to come.
Looking forward to seeing your build take shape - you've made a great start.

Mark
 
Thanks :D

I jumped the gun and moved the whole system from old case to this one.
Took me few hours but it made me really happy.

I almost gave up when I had to move it from table I was building it on, to my desk. It looked like I may need some serious muscles to move it. But it was just an illusion, case is very light.
Unfortunately my camera can't make good pictures without natural light, so I have only one more for you today.


I need natural light, otherwise this red either turns orange or some other weird color.

One thing about the fans.
They are fantastic.
Right now the loudest part of my PC is my GPU, which is barely audible, maybe around 20 dba max. I can't hear those Enermax fans at all (and they are running at their max, around 850 rpm). You'd think that 8 120mm fans and one 140mm fan should do some noise, right?
Nope, nada, null, zero :D
Unfortunately they are no good for rads.
They keep ambient temp in the case low but the one I put on my Megahalems is struggling a bit.
I will have to buy a different model for rads, the PWM Enermax fans are faster and with better static pressure.

Still, temps on motherboard show 26 C ambient inside the case and Core Temp shows 23-26 C idle / 41-44 C under load on CPU.
I guess that's good enough for air cooling.

Next updates are going to come next week.
Change of plan a bit, have to prioritize buying new keyboard because the one I have is dying. I will be also buying a bigger HDD, new ram and sound card / speakers. Maybe few more bits, some cable management stuff probably.

That's it for now :)

Appreciate your comments
 
It is not as bright to be honest :)
Check the earlier photos of fans, that's the exact same red.
When I made this picture it was already getting dark.

Yes, day was fun indeed.
I was lucky. I called FedEx in the morning because their hub is 5 minutes walk from me and asked if I can pick up the parcel myself. They said it's due to be delivered sometime later and that it was already processed and in the car, so they couldn't do anything. But they called the driver and asked if he was still in town - and he was. So I got the case earlier than I thought ('Estimated delivery was by 6pm today).
 
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