Titan ITX SFF gaming chassis to be released soon.

[TitanITX]

Hey Joe, I figured I'd hop over here (from TPU) to update the status on the chassis so everyone here knows what's going on.

The project started in 2008 and since then a handfull of companies like Dell and Falcon Northwest have released SFF/thin ITX gaming systems but this will be the first chassis available to the public for building your own systems.

At the moment, some parts are in production while others are in finished and in stock waiting for assembly. I'm still waiting on quotes for the sheetmetal and to hear back from the anodizer about the questionable finish quality on my test samples.

The original design called for an SFX power supply and a few companies have put out some impressive SFX units but after testing quite a few of them, it became obvious that they fall just short of enthusiest's power demands and make too much noise under load.

With high-end GPUs demanding 250w and overclocked i7s eating another 150w, it was clear that the SFX power supplies couldn't sustain the load, or keep quiet doing so.

I decided to modify the design to accept an ATX power supply. The supply is a modified 500w(cont.) Antec unit and included with the chassis. The only modification was to eliminate the bulk of the wiring and reduce it to a minimum.

The first 50 units are a trial run to provide samples to reviewers and work out any kinks they might find. Techpowerup.com and Overclockers.com will be the first to recieve production samples.

Enough already, what is it?

Titan ITX is manufacturing various ITX-based PC chassis. The first to be released will have the following specs...

ATX power supply (500w continous. 12v1 18a, 12v2 18a)
ITX motherboard
2.92"(73.66mm) of height for CPU cooler
1x 2.5" HDD bay
1x 3.5" (or two more 2.5") HDD bay with anti-vibration grommets
1x slot-loading slim optical drive
4x 80mm case fans (place as required. Two silent fans provided.)
Manually adjustable fan controller (internal) with motherboard PWM compatability
2x front USB 3.0 ports
Front headphone/mic ports
Optional front panel display
Designed for horizontal positioning in a home theater or desktop environment.
Top and bottom panels do not contain any venting holes.

And what you've all been waiting for...

Full size GPU support up to 12.3" in length.

The chassis is made from 14ga anodized aluminum with a solid anodized aluminum faceplate. The HDD LED was omitted and the power LED shines through a small hole to limit it's anoyance. The entire chassis slides out of the rear of the enclosure for easy access to the components. All drives are mounted to a single removable tray for ease of replacement. For those who don't wish to use a graphics card, an optional harddrive bracket can purchased that supports two more 3.5" HDDs, on grommets of course. This gives you 12TB (3x4TB) of storage potential in addition to the 2.5" SSD for your OS. The 80mm fans are easily removable for replacement.

It is aproximatly 0.456 cubic feet (12.9 liters) in volume with an external dimension of 14.831"(w) x 3.96"(h) x 13.44"(d)

I'll update the thread with details as things progress. Here's a short youtube vid.

Pics in a moment...

 

[SeeThruHead]

How about support for 2 ssd and some radiators in place of 3.5 inch hdd. That would be really interesting.

 

[TitanITX]

2 SSDs and a radiator would consume much more space then a 3.5" harddrive.

Watercooling doesn't have a place in a small form factor computer. Small computers are already tight on space. The volume of space consumed by the pump, hoses, and radiator would be better suited for a larger quieter fan and a larger heatsink with more surface area then a small radiator can provide.

I am considering a cooling unit that would match the chassis and be self-contained and USB controlled. It could be hidden behind a desk or entertainment center. That would allow radiators large enough to make liquid cooling functional.

 

[SeeThruHead]

I disagree. The compact splash and ncase m1 are great examples of sff with water cooling. They don't Conform to the htpc look like you're going for though. I'd love to see an htpc case designed for water-cooling. Maybe your next case design?

 

[TitanITX]

Those are more of a cube or lanbox design. I was excited for the M1 for awhile. Did it ever make it off the ground?

I don't plan on putting water cooling in my cases. There are many factors that lead me to that decision. Mainly due to it being a limited market and a handfull of water cooling enthusiasts doesn't justify costs at this time. The other thing was the limited gains due to limited space. There's no magic to water cooling. The coolant is simply a method to transfer heat to a radiator. Once there, it's all up to the surface area of the fin and cfm through it. When limited to a 80-90mm radiator, one can fit much more fin and fan into a limited space by using heatpipes. Same reason a good 120mm HSF outperforms a 120mm radiator like the H50 or H60. There just isn't enough surface area. Once you get into 2x120 rads then you see decent improvements over a HSF but I cant fit that, 2 120s, and a pump into a small space. If I made it bigger then it's just another cube case.

Thanks for the input though.

EDIT - You had me wondering if the low profile all in one loop would fit in there and I mis-measured the available cooler space. It's actually 2.92"(73.66mm) NOT 3.11"(79mm). That said, If a system like the Corsair H55 has a pump less then 23mm thick then it might fit. If you use a 15mm fan you'll have 28mm for the pump. I can't find dimensions on the pump. I only found 25mm for the rad and 25mm for the fan.

I had some other thoughts. The way the chassis is designed, it is possible to place a radiator in there without the fan attached and use the two 80mm fans to draw air through it. It may even perform better since the fans aren't up against the radiator. You'll have to see it. The chassis is very mod friendly.

 

[EarthDog]

Hey titan, thanks for sharing with us!

 

[TitanITX]

Earthdog - There you are . I'll need to get your mailing info.

SeeThruHead - It looks like an AIO 120mm radiator will fit in here without any major changes. A mounting bracket and vented top panel are all that's required. I'll make them available seperatly. A few holes have to be placed on some other parts and I've made those changes today.

The 120mm fan, that come with the AIO loops, will not be needed. The current 80mm case fans will provide airflow through the radiator and also allows thicker radiators to be used. To compare, the Corsair H55 uses a 120mm 1700rpm fan rated at 57cfm. The 80mm chassis fans are 2000rpm rated at 31cfm. Combined they move 62cfm and are not directly against the radiator. That may help with airflow vs. a 120mm fan placed against the radiator.

 

[cullam3n]

Interesting! A few questions:

1. Your video has the GPU card at a 90 degree angle with the fans lying down. With no holes or ventilation in the bottom panel, how will that work?

2. Going with the sleek HTPC look, is it worth considering having some kind of [sliding?] cover over the USB/aux ports when not in use?

3. Not having any bright LEDs that would be distracting when watching TV?

4. How much space would you think you need on the sides for adequate ventilation?

5. Without a bottom/top panel ventilation, the PSU would have to be a push-pull type. Will there be a recommended list of PSUs for use?

 

[Tokae]

This is really interesting!

I have been thinking about a mini itx build for a while but I too have been concerned with power limitations.

Subbed!

 

[TitanITX]

Interesting! A few questions:

1. Your video has the GPU card at a 90 degree angle with the fans lying down. With no holes or ventilation in the bottom panel, how will that work?

2. Going with the sleek HTPC look, is it worth considering having some kind of [sliding?] cover over the USB/aux ports when not in use?

3. Not having any bright LEDs that would be distracting when watching TV?

4. How much space would you think you need on the sides for adequate ventilation?

5. Without a bottom/top panel ventilation, the PSU would have to be a push-pull type. Will there be a recommended list of PSUs for use?

1: It's a secret.

2: Small things like that can get very expensive. Even the die to make a small power switch retainer was 1000s.

3: The power LED shines through a .060" hole. The HDD LED was omitted completely.

4: About an inch.

5: It comes with a 500w PSU tested to 500w. No generics. I have yet to see a single-GPU PC need more then that.

It's been a slow process getting this chassis produced. I have to rely on quite a few companies to produce various parts and when they all take months to get back to me, it adds up. I'm sure if I was ordering 100,000 of everything they would get right on it.

 

[freakdiablo]

It's been a slow process getting this chassis produced. I have to rely on quite a few companies to produce various parts and when they all take months to get back to me, it adds up. I'm sure if I was ordering 100,000 of everything they would get right on it.

Yeah I bet. The small guys usually get tossed on the back burner

Looks interesting. Always wanted to build a smaller ITX unit like the Zotac I'm using as an HTPC, but didn't want to be limited to the ~150w power brick a lot of these case manufacturers like to stick to. Good for a basic HTPC, not good for a console replacement

 

[TitanITX]

Good for a basic HTPC, not good for a console replacement

There's a smaller one in the works that's about the size of an xbox360. Internal PSU (300w) and a bit proprietary in design and sold as a complete PC only. GFX is somewhat limited. There's little about it that's universal other then it being based on an ITX motherboard. That project is on hold until this one gets finished.

 

[Codeman05]

Nice! I've always liked ITX builds (on my 3rd currently).
Looking forward to the finished product.

 

[RyanCouch]

Nice! I've always liked ITX builds (on my 3rd currently).
Looking forward to the finished product.

random thing I noticed your sig. said a "i7 3570k" the 3570k is a i5 right?

 

[Codeman05]

Doh, yep my dyslexia must have kicked in

 

[RyanCouch]

Doh, yep my dyslexia must have kicked in

just trying to help out man haha