After building up their in-house manufacturing capabilities with their custom Thelio desktop and their Launch keyboards, System76 are now expanding into PC cases for everyone.
I always loved the look of the Thelio, as did many others, and people have been asking System76 for quite some time to provide just the case and so the Nebula is their answer. Available across three different sizes based on their Thelio, Thelio Mira and Thelio Major desktops:
- Nebula 19: $199 - 12.87′′ × 8.15′′ × 11.46′′ (327 × 207 × 291mm) - Mini ITX
- Nebula 36: $269 - 17.18′′ × 9.96′′ × 12.56′′ (436 × 253 × 319mm) - Mini ITX, MicroATX, and ATX
- Nebula 49: $329 - 18.15′′ × 10.28′′ × 16.06′′ (461 × 261 × 408mm) - ATX and EATX
Each of them has a customizable accent stripe too:
Click to enlarge.
System76 say they were designed for easy access to all components, with a removable lid giving you easy access from multiple angles. "Nebula’s a pleasure to work in," says Thomas Zimmerman, System76 Happiness Team Manager and experienced PC builder. He added that often when working with cases from other brands, he’d come away with cuts on his hands. Not the case with System76, who sees repairability as an important consideration for a final product.
Plenty of room for GPUs too with the 19 fitting up to 272.3mm, 36 up to 312mm and 49 up to 390.5mm. So the top end model should be big enough for practically any GPU with room for future-proofing.
With this being a specially designed case, there's some extras you can get for it too. System76 offers an upgrade where you get their CPU coolers, additional GPU intake fans and a SARA backplane for drive hot-swapping.
Click to enlarge - nebula36.
Talking about thermals, here's what System76 had to say: "Thermal engineering plays a role in power yield, too. As your system heats up, components become throttled and reduce performance. To get the most out of the components you have, System76 offers an upgrade for Nebula which includes the tested and recommended CPU coolers and additional GPU intake fans used in THELIO desktops. Nebula features separate CPU and GPU cooling systems. The CPU is cooled with a dedicated intake vent and duct with a series of fans pulling cool air across the CPU cooler and pushing hot air out of the exhaust. Vents at the end of the CPU duct allow GPU heat to radiate into the hot air portion of the duct for additional GPU exhaust. GPUs are cooled with a large 140MM bottom intake fan and an optional 120MM side intake fan. A guide on recommended fan placement will be available upon setup."
Max size of the air cooler it will fit when using their CPU duct:
- nebula19: 125mm H (148mm H w/o duct) × 95mm W × 68mm D
- nebula36: 160mm H (190mm H w/o duct) × 137mm W × 80mm D
- nebula49: 160mm H (200mm H w/o duct) × 137mm W × 120mm D
Liquid cooler support:
- nebula19: not supported
- nebula36: 120mm radiator
- nebula49: 120mm radiator
At the top of the system you'll also get a few easy-access ports including USB-C, USB-A, mic-in, and headphone-out.
Really great to see System76 continue to expand their hardware. I look forward to more from them! What do you think to this case, would you be interested in picking one up? If so what size would you be going for?
See more on the System76 website.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
edit: Oooooh "compatible with Thelio accents"
Last edited by slembcke on 29 June 2023 at 3:18 pm UTC
benstor214 Jun 29, 2023
Maybe by the time I need to do a new build they'll have dust filters
To me, they don’t seem like being optimized for air flow. And I don’t find them very aesthetic, not even in a stealthy way - which is also very subjective.
They are optimized for air flow, the Thelio line has been air flow designed from the beginning.
I like System76 and their mission, but no cleanable dust filters anywhere is a no buy, especially when they're recommending air based CPU coolers. At less than half the price I can get a Fractal Meshify 2 Compact that has easily removable and cleanable top/front/bottom dust filters. I'd be willing to swallow the 2x price if System76 had filters.
Maybe by the time I need to do a new build they'll have dust filters
There are dust filters for the case fans.
Arehandoro Jun 29, 2023
Perhaps I've been out of the market for too long, but I find $329 for a case insane.
They do exist:
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007583&LeftPriceRange=199+329
If I were to get one, it would be the largest size, the Nebula49. I always buy a big, full tower case and full ATX motherboards, to accommodate big video cards, if not now, later. The bigger your case, the more likely it is you'll actually be able to use slots on your motherboard too. The bigger your case the more air space there will be around components, PSU further away etc.
However, I'm not sure I'd go this route because I'd have to purchase fans and accessories separately, whereas a big Corsair or Antec case will come with everything I need and more (extra doohickeys... "WTF is that for?" lol)
Also, I'm afraid the prices of those cases are pretty high for what it looks like you get. We're into high end enthusiast case prices here.
I'm also not too sure about the whole airflow thing and if the side grills have filters and so on...
I like System76 and their mission, but no cleanable dust filters anywhere is a no buy, especially when they're recommending air based CPU coolers. At less than half the price I can get a Fractal Meshify 2 Compact that has easily removable and cleanable top/front/bottom dust filters. I'd be willing to swallow the 2x price if System76 had filters.
Maybe by the time I need to do a new build they'll have dust filters
There are dust filters for the case fans.
Thanks for the clarification. It's not mentioned on the product pages, but I found it is referenced in the assembly wiki and it looks quite painful, but at least it's there I guess. With the Fractal cases I can easily slide out the bottom dust filter, clean, and slide back in (likewise for front and top). No screws, no having to remove the PSU or fans. System76 opted for a filter design that requires disassembly to clean both the case's PSU and bottom fan intakes which makes it painful to do monthly cleanings (I live in an area with dust storms):
Steps to replace the power supply dust filter:
1. Remove the top case and remove the power supply.
2. Unscrew the four screws holding the dust filter onto the chassis.
3. Remove, clean, and replace the dust filter.
Perhaps I've been out of the market for too long, but I find $329 for a case insane.It's on par with NZXT H1 which comes with a PSU, fans, and an AIO all integrated into the case, not to mention the fan hub. But honestly, it clearly is more of a boutique offering, and even though I keep an eye out for cases I don't think I've seen a case focusing on air-cooling performance like that for a long time now, AIOs seem to be all the rage these days.
benstor214 Jun 29, 2023
Maybe we have a thermal wonderpiece here? Maybe not? Who knows before testing?
But I guess for workstation and gaming machines, they do the job.
benstor214 Jun 29, 2023
Steps to replace the power supply dust filter:
1. Remove the top case and remove the power supply.
2. Unscrew the four screws holding the dust filter onto the chassis.
3. Remove, clean, and replace the dust filter.
Why is the dust filter screwed onto the chassis?
Last edited by benstor214 on 29 June 2023 at 10:13 pm UTC
slaapliedje Jun 29, 2023
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