[Carniflex]

I was very seriously considering getting a TU-200 as it sure is one damn sweet case. Unfortunately I needed to go a bit larger this time (because of using existing components for budgetary reasons) so just bolted a handle to one of the smallest ATX cases I found

420x420x185 mm, Total weight 12 kg. And not looking quite as sweet as TU-200 is. I just absolutely needed to have 3 HDD's + 2x SSD's and 64 GB of RAM (LGA2011 platform).

However, one day when I have enough funds I will do a TU-200 build. Probably.

 

[Carniflex]

Few opinions:
(1) You could get away with cheaper RAM easing the budget a bit for better components where they give more noticeable effect. Considering TU-200 has no window and a cheaper set can go as far as high end set if you are not over-clocking or are not over-clocking much. I.e., 16 GB + 970, for example or i7 + 970.
(2) You can get away with something as low as even 300...350W for that setup as long as you have the needed PCI-e connector for the GFX card. The real power draw for the entire system would be sub 200W with the noted components and if you do not over-clock or over-clock only a little. That said SX500-LG seems quite good bang for buck.
(3) I would go with i5 + 16 GB + 970 - then again it really depends what you would be doing with the PC. Extra RAM and better GFX card can be a advantage in much more than just playing games but the 960 vs 970 difference might be non existing if you are primarily doing, say, we design or programming. The i7 might make sense if what you are doing specifically benefits from the hyper-threading. For generic computer use there is absolutely no difference whatsoever between i3, i5 and i7. Hell, I went from AMD 1055T to i7-3820 which is much larger gap and I do not feel any difference. The difference is ofc there but it is in benchmarks, i7 is about 30% higher GFlops than 1055T (I went for LGA2011 not for the CPU but for the quad channel RAM as I needed 64 GB on tight budget for my stuff).
(4) Cooler - do you really need that low profile? TU-200 is rated for cooler height of up to 80 mm and I suspect 95mm at 2500 rpm would be kind of noticeable. Perhaps you could consider a 120mm one with lower rpm fan, say Sythe Big Shuriken rev B and replace the 120mm slim 2000 rpm fan with proper 25 mm 120 mm fan of no higher than 1600 rpm. I personally would even suggest staying under 1400 rpm. The 120mm fan becomes usually audible at around 1200 rpm. There should be no problem finding a good quiet ~75 cfm fan (the stock 12mm high fan is rated at ~50 cfm). I have this cooler on i7-3820 atm with Arctic Cooling F12 PWM (http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/arctic-f12-pwm.html) on it which is 1350 rpm and 74 cfm - it's quite inaudible, keeps that relatively high TDP CPU at ~65 C under moderate load.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gintama7888

#2. remove the handle at the top(I know its the trade mark of TU100/200 and its handy) but I think most people would be prefer smaller size and better thermal.

TBH the handle would be the main reason for me to buy one. There is a lot of good ITX cases without handle (including a number of these from Lian Li) out there but the ones with handle are far far less common. That said it might not hurt to have a handle free version for people who for some reason really really do not want to have a handle on this case.

 

[Carniflex]

I really like the design of the case as well, btw. Handle is just the cherry on top making it as obvious choice if one is looking for a portable case.

As far as vents on top go - while the case could use more airflow I really would rather not. Reason being that if you have to go through rain with the case for a little bit rain would get into the case through top vent. I have been carrying around a desktop case with me now for about 6 years through 4 iterations of the case. Vent on top = bad ise was one of the first lessons I learned. Second being shortly thereafter that screws are bad and rivets good if you are exposed to a lot of vibration during transport. Side vents are a lot more forgiving and getting a good fan there would do miracles to the GFX card temperatures, only downside being that perforated side panel lets the sound out which can be an issue if the GFX card is particularly bad howler or one is using the stock heatsink on CPU.

Handle can be added to any case for less than 5 bucks easily.

That is 3.2 EUR for the handle and about 1 EUR for bolts and nuts. But not everyone is into case modding, even light one as it is and TU-200 is really sweet case. I'm for one quite interested what kind of case would be the ATX size be if Lian Li really does one. Although to be fair if I would be building a portable system from scratch I would probably go with mATX instead. On the other hand with smart component placement ATX can be only marginally larger than mATX.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drm8627

if i threw a stock cooler in with the 4790k, and used a reference design 980ti gpu, and used some heavy duty intake fans, would my temps be alright? I dont plan to OC anything. Just do some twitch streaming and gaming.

If i wanted cooler temps what would be a good cpu cooler for this case? without getting super fancy , or having to mod anything.

Sythe Big Shuriken Rev B is a good budget option. I would personally replace the stock slim fan with something with lower rpm and 25 mm thickness. Tu-200 should have sufficient clearance for that with it supporting up to 80mm high coolers. I'm running that cooler myself with Arctic Cooling F12 PWM 1350 rpm fan (~75 cfm, very quiet even at full speed) on [email protected] and it tops out at about 65 C. But it should be ok with the stock fan as well (up to 2000 rpm, ~50 cfm), just a bit more noisy.

I would certainly suggest some "heavy duty intake" as that is basically responsible for the airflow of the entire case (presumably it being stronger than the PSU fan for exhaust). If you are going with something above 1600 rpm for the 140mm fan I would suggest considering also some kind of fan controller, as it can be quite audible. Say, for example AeroCool Sharkoon series has some options capable of pushing ~100 cfm at 1600 rpm and with pretty decent static pressure. You will hear them at 1600 rpm though, thats for sure. Or something in the range of ~75 cfm should be possible with substantially smaller noise and with airflow the difference between some airflow and no airflow is very dramatic, but the difference between medium and high airflow is close to negligible often.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gintama7888

You could always cover the case with jacket during rain tho, anyway you probably won't like TU300(ATX version of TU200) cos that comes with vents around the handle.

I can live with vents on top if I have to

There is indeed always possible to put something on these. Previous iteration of my portable case had a vent on top - which I covered with a piece of plexi held in place with two sided tape. Plus Lian Li - as they usually thing their cases through very well - might already offer some kind of covering option for these.

What is lacking from TU-100/200 lineup is in my opinion a mATX version. Sure, ATX would be nice also, but mATX can be made 80 mm smaller if following a similar layout as the TU100/200. Before I went with my current case I was planning to do a fully custom one for mATX.

That was until I got a price quote for laser cutting it >.< Let's just say it was a bit outside of my budget which I had in mind. The case was ~23 L, approx 250x250x400mm, similar to the TU-200 in that sense that it had just one fan for airflow and it's essentially a "wind tunnel" layout - air goes in from the front and comes out from the back. I was just planning to use a 200mm fan for it instead of 140mm. If I remember correct it had space for 3x or 5x 3.5'' HDD plus 3x 2.5 SSD. Weight was ~4 kg, material was 2mm aluminium.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simmons572

Silly question, but does anyone know if there are any Lian Li Hardware Reps here on OCN? I am strongly considering picking up the TU100B, but I want to mod in a side panel window. My concern is botching the panel, so I want to make sure I will be able to get a new sidepanel, in case the worst happens.

I believe KipH might be associated with Lian Li. Not 100% sure from top of my head.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drm8627

well, im not so sure.
take a look at these measurements,

That says 252 mm. If its only 240, it should theoretically be able to lay down flat in the bottom, if not, with a little modification. And the width is 170mm, while the width of the duet is not that much.

"The dimension of the whole water block is Ф65×36mm."- doesnt sound that big.
getting info from here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/214459/cool-both-your-cpu-and-gpu-with-id-cooling-hunter-duet-aio-cooler.html?cp=2#comments
Correct me if im wrong.

thoughts?
For the problem with the gpu you could use pcie extensions, that will let you put the gpu wherever you want it. Just make a new place to mount it wherever it will fit.Correct me if im wrong....

You have to add approx 30..40 mm in one dimension to the for the fittings. I do not know of any rad that would be just as large as the fans going on it but who knows perhaps there exists one somewhere that would be able to fit exactly somehow. With only 12mm to spare, though ... I find it unlikely, the 1/4'' fitting itself takes normally approx 20mm or so.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gintama7888

heh if you mainly buying TU100 for the handle then I don't think that's a smart idea.

You can easily run 2x SSD + 1x 65W processor(e.g. i7 4790S or i7 5775C etc) on Antec ISK110 case which would fine with the 90W PSU.

To be fair, TU-200/100 has a lot more going for it than just having an handle. The handle is just an cherry on top and makes the case to have an "function" vast majority of similar cases on the market lacks. Even if it is relatively simple to add a handle(s) to almost any case out there. Having a case "portable" and not just an arbitrary case with handle on top can and in the case of Lian Li probably also means certain design decisions during the design phases. A little extra rigidity in the right places, for example, the lack of ventilation on top of the case is also one of these decisions which makes sense for portable case (no rain getting in if you have to dash quickly through light shower), etc. All the little bits that matter.

I personally also quite like the designs of the case as well. So while I'm not on market atm for a new case picking up the mATX or ATX version of TU-200 in a year or two is still a possibility when I again are thinking about what to upgrade in my PC.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drm8627

the lian li tu 300 page has been updated. figured youd be interested.

http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-tu300/

Interesting. Very nice looking, although few things caught my eye.

(1) Ventilation on top. It is not advisable if you have to walk though a rain with the case although the effect can be minimized relatively cheap (even if you just use cardboard temporary cover during transport). If ventilation must be there then in my opinion sidepanels would be better because it's harder for drops to get in and they provide more air to GFX card(s) which is often one of the largest heat sources inside a case. I guess they really wanted to make it compatible with 240mm rad, though and putting that vent on top was one of the places where one could put it.

(2) It could be a little smaller. although ofc it's hard to tell from the product pictures what design decisions were done to to arrive at these dimensions. 2x HDD + SSD is sufficient for portable case, although I belive that at given dimensions it should have been possible to sqeeze in either couple more 2.5'' slots or one more 3.5'' slot. Similarly 180mm PSU is sufficient for portable case and there is only a small number of PSU's out there that would have trouble (like AX1200, for example), although spec sheet says 165mm and product picture claims 180mm for some reason it seems. I would quess that 180 mm would fit, although probably quite tight.

Anyway - hopefully someone reviews it soon. I quite like the option to have similar design to TU-200 in full ATX size at max.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KipH

What an awesome video

The TU300 is bigger, full AXT, so if you are actually traveling, like to a LAN, the TC helps. It was very easy to move that full system. They case I show off with all the components inside is the one I walk with in the video. Its not empty I mean.

Its not particularly made for water cooling, it still has an OOD bay and the power cable is hard to rout if your PSU is not standard (we had one that was flipped!), but I do like the rest of the lay out. Its not meant to be an ITX system! Put your SLI and Xfire in it! Take that to the LAN! OC all the things!

That thing looks indeed very nice and actually after watching the video the component placement is reasonably well thought out. I personally would have preferred the HDD cage to be removable and a little different PSU orientation so that it would have been an option to use longer than 160mm one but I'm sure there is a reason why components are placed exactly like they are. For instance non-removable HDD cage might be needed to make the case rigid enough to endure the forces it faces during transportation.

Few notes for improvement / mods that pop right into my mind.
* Option to install SSD / 2.5'' HDD behind the motherboard tray - there seems to be enough space for that in there already. Granted a bit of two sided tape is enough for SSD but for 2.5'' HDD at minimum couple of screw holes ... but one can do them just fint with a drill bit in exactly the right spot he needs anyway.
* Top air vent cover (sometimes it does rain) and/or optional drizzle proof "bag" for walking through a mild shower (say up to few hundred meters) through moderate rain. Might be something as simple as just a piece of 2mm plexi in right shape to just sit on top of the case covering the air vents with hole in it for the handle to go through.
* Optional side door with air - while the ones in the bottom are helpful in my experience it has been better to blow in cold air from the side as that get it to both gfx cards while blowing in from the bottom adresses only the bottom gfx card air needs and the top one would be still choking.

The trolley is especially nice touch. A fully built ATX system can weight a lot. The heaviest I have lugged around (with shoulder strap) has been 32 kg but that was with 12 kg EATX case and 9x120mm monster radiator + custom water cooled everything. Something as low as ~10 kg is possible and that is not a problem with proper handle for few hundred meters but at ~15 kg which most PC's that do not try to specifically minimize weight would end up with a proper trolley would make a difference in my option. Or over longer distance than few hundred meters. Trolley wheels are bit on the small side it seems for outdoor usage but then again I dont think this case has been really intended to go outdoors all that often

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejohnson

Is there any interest in a slip cover style case for these things?

I was thinking about how this is the perfect lan box, but traveling with it can cause some bumps, dents or scratches to our pretty outsides...

I designed a slip cover in my head, it would pretty much be a soft fleece type inner, with a dense foam middle that has a bumped out section for the IO on the back. then a thinner foam top panel. All covered with a thick nylon skin. There would be a hole in the top that the handle fits through and the bottom would be open.

Pretty much you would just slide the cover over the top, pull the handle out and go Thinking of putting pockets on both sides for cables, mouse, and maybe if theres space something to hold a ten keyless keyboard too.

It probably depends on price. As far as cables, mouse, etc go - a backpack is probably more ergonomic if going to LAN.

Edit: I really like Tu-300 - unfortunately my PSU is 40 mm too long for it and I'm not in position to swap it out just yet as it still has 5 years of warranty on it (AX-1200i). Granted, running a 4 kg PSU in a portable setup is probably a very very very tiny niche

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wafpak

i dont have the tools to make a hole in the case

A hammer and good nail would do the trick

Or if with 20 spare EUR/$ at your disposal any of the cheapest cordless drills with a 3 or 4 mm drill bit.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptsiddle

Had a quick question for owners of the TU200. Approximately how much room is there between the power supply and side of the case? Was thinking about trying to mod a small monitor into the side for a portable little gaming machine.

I was currently looking at this monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0V11KG2546&cm_re=GeChic_1002-_-9SIA0V11KG2546-_-Product

The dimensions state that it's 10.9x7.67x0.4(in.)

If not, maybe I can find a way to attach it on the outside of the case.

Thanks!!!

Hm. For the price and for similar size I would just grab the replacement ipad3 "retina" screen (~ 60$) and a controller from a guy in Japan (USB powered but can also be powered from PSU 5V line, need display-port signal) (~40$) - you would get an ips 60 Hz 9.7'' panel at 2048x1536 resolution. In W8 "retina" mode that means in both directions about half the pixels as "effective" resolution. Basically 1024x768 pixel screen with an option to go for "full resolution" if you so desire (waring stuff get then rather small).

Linky: https://hackaday.io/project/4276-custom-retina-eyefinity-array-for-pc and a link to the thread in overclock.net with more details is in that link (because I do not have original thread bookmarked in this browser).

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fer9001

Don't need to take out the DVD try. You can use it to put 2 SSD dublesidet tape to stick in there.

It's possible to get either 4x 2.5'' hot swap bay (9mm high disks) or 6x 2.5'' hot swap bay (7mm high disks) into 5.25'' bay btw. Although that assume the "full" 5.25'' bay and if I remember correct the Tu100 has only a "slim" thingy.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by S3B4N

The reason I prefer watercooling the CPU is because if in worst case scenario CPU would cook and die on me I would not be able to launch the computer. If in worst case scenario GPU would be cooked then I can switch to integred graphics and launch the computer because I also use it for work and I cant afford to have my computer disabled for more than one day.

One thing I am concerned however;

The rad is 25 mm thick, noctua fan is 25 mm thick so that gives us a total of 50mm thickness. I am wondering if this will block the motherboard main connector as mine is not situated above the motherboard?

What is that total space, if somebody could measure it, between front of the case where you mount the fan+rad till it reaches the motherboard?

Nowadays CPU's have thermal protection so you are relatively unlikely to "cook" the CPU to the point of killing it unless you are going for relatively aggressive over-voltage. If worried you can always enable the CPU temperature alarm at 90C in which case you will hear a loud *bleeeeeep* if the CPU hits 90C. As far as thickness of the setup goes - you could use one of the scythe slim fans which are 12mm think - they normally are sold with their low profile shuriken series heat-sinks but I believe are also available separately. As they are intenbded for the CPU heatsink they are relatively reasonable static pressure even if the airflow amount is kinda average, at best. They are also reasonably quiet, considering the relatively high rpm's they tend to go up to.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by S3B4N

Already placed an order on Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-3000 PWM. Hope the fan and rad will fit together and wont colide with motherboard's interfaces. But from what I see on the old pictures of the club and people with other motherboards - it should be fine.

If it is going to be the only fan it should be kickass fan.

i5 4670 in Poland is much more expensive now, even though its older than skylake, but still that haswell of mine performs quite nice. My previous processor was i7 860. I always had some kind of fobia to keep the CPU cool even the locked 4th gen. haswell

I did not want it to degrade faster. Big temperature over time is not good. It may be safe from instant cooking but slow degradation over time may still happen if temps are too high.

Well ... once upon a time a while ago I was also thinking that "how bad can it be" and "I want a mother of all fans when I can only fit a couple" and ordered The Ultra Kaze 3000 rpm 38 mm thick fan. That thing packs a punch to the point it can hover around the table if you give it some power and its sitting on its side or knock itself over if you are not holding it in place. But I found out the first hand that I do actually have some noise tolerance and Ultra Kaze sits very clearly above the threshold which is bearable for me. Hope it works out for you and as its a PWM fan which can start from 750 rpm it should be OK up to around 1600-ish RPM noise levels wise and not too bad up to perhaps 2400-ish rpm.

 

[Carniflex]

If you intend to make use of the portability of the system on regular basis I would advise against screws. In this regards rivets are much more secure as they do not wiggle themselves loose normally.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by S3B4N

Shame not a single slot, so much more small form factor cases would benefit from it.

XFX is the next gpu brand that made single slot radeon, shame its a radeon... Its not that I am a hater of amd. I just got one toaster in the kitchen and dont need another inside my TU-100

XFX does like to do some single slot cards on regular basis. I have a 6770 eyefinity 5 version that is also a single slot. That is a 6770 with a whole 1 GB of memory which has 5 mini displayports

I was using it for a while to run 5x 1080p portrait eyefinity setup. Ofc 6770 is a bit weak card for that kind of resolution.

 

[Carniflex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by S3B4N

But I must say I find no other case greater than TU-100. I do research on a dialy basis on new tech and the main area of my interest is ITX. They are touching the right area. They just do need to do it more tender

Well its a bit like with clothes in my opinion. You can get all kinds of clothes from shops, some can be modded to fit you better but if you want something specific sometimes the only option is to get a tailor-made stuff.