Velocity Micro Intros New 'NX' Chassis For Three Custom SFF PCs
Boutique PC maker Velocity Micro introduced a new small form factor (SFF) chassis called the NX. This case is based on the company's previous SmallBlock chassis and adds additional case fans and a wider depth. Designed to be ideal for the living room or the office, the NX measures just 12.75 inches tall, 8 inches wide and 12.5 inches deep.
"Our original SmallBlock case has been incredibly popular -- so much so that we've been out of stock for about a month," a Velocity Micro representative told Tom's Hardware. "One request we had of consumers concerning that case was capability to add larger graphics cards. We added depth to allow for cards as large as the Titan X and adequate cooling to keep the system stable even under heavy load as a result of these consumer requests."
The new NX chassis can accommodate mITX motherboards and large graphics cards like the GTX 980 or the GTX Titan. The case can also handle a full-sized internal ATX 80Plus power supply, meaning customers won't have to deal with an annoying power brick. Further, the case can handle up to four hard drives. One is a 2.5-inch drive mount at the top of the case that you can access without having to pull out the optical drive.
On the cooling front, the NX case ships with two fans. The intake fan is mounted on the side, and an 80 mm exhaust fan is mounted on the top (both have blue LEDs). The case has a brushed metal finish and is composed of 100 percent aluminum, which is designed to help dissipate heat.
"We've done a really great job of managing the thermals, even when using one of those high end graphics cards. The aluminum body acts as a giant heat sink, actually cooling better than plastic or steel, at least in our tests," Velocity Micro told us.
For convenience, Velocity Micro's new case provides two USB 3.0 ports mounted on the bottom front corner. There's also a 5.25-inch bay door for an optical drive, and a power button is installed on the front.
You can get the case when you select a Vector Z25 ($879), Raptor Z40 ($1,179) or a ProMagix HD30 ($999) desktop PC. Velocity Micro told Tom's that customers can't purchase the chassis on its own; it's only available with the pre-configured systems. The NX chassis is also a custom design based on a Lian-Li case.
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To configure and purchase one of the three SFF desktops with the new chassis, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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thundervore ReplyWhy not slim optical drive?
Because a 5.25 slot is not a dedicated optical drive bay. Some may want to use it for a fan controller or card reader. With a 5.25 slot an adapter can be used to fit a slim optical drive and a 3.5 card reader. -
LePhuronn Oh hello Lian Li Q11, that's a nice new name you have there.Reply
The case can also handle a full-sized internal ATX 80Plus power supply, meaning customers won't have to deal with an annoying power brick.
So the author nor Velocity Micro have heard of Silverstone's 450W and 600W Gold-rated SFX power supplies then? Y'know the ones that deliver more than enough power for a single GPU system without the unnecessary size of a full ATX unit.
I'm seriously starting to lament that all of these supposed SFF cases and systems are totally the opposite. I'm sorry, but if I can fit a Titan, 2 SSDs and a 120mm AIO water cooler into a Silverstone SG05 then what are the pro's excuses? If only the SG05 was half an inch longer I wouldn't have needed to chop a hole in the interior. -
mesmorized I'd really like to see this case tested in regards to thermals. In particular, I'm concerned about the heat dissipation of the CPU. I'm considering building a similarly sized gaming rig using the Silverstone TJ08B-E which has been shown to have excellent thermal dissipation using a 180mm Air Penetrator fan. But I'm willing to consider something like this NX all aluminum case, if it can prove itself in a stress test.Reply -
Vlad Rose This case is quite large for SSF imo. You may as well get a BitFenix Prodigy at that point.Reply