Gecko AIR ATX - Compact test bench

Last year I imported famous Streacom BC1 test bench for selling in my shop. It's a good test bench but it has many points that I don't like, such as placement of ATX PSU at the bottom, the power chord turned the other way and the ATX PSU cables are way too long to tug beneath the bench and when I change PSU to SFX, the included cables are too short.

One major issue I found is the footprint it takes on the table. I wish BC1 can be placed vertically to save the space but it just can't.

So I decide to make Gecko AIR ATX remove all the things I dislike about BC 1, starting with adding the power switch and front USB port. I put it closer to the mainboard's input pin to avoid unnecessary long cable. I also put cable tie points along the edge of main board.

The test bench you see in the photos are unpainted. The final unit will come in matt black only.

I designed this test bench to support SFX and SFX-L only. The reason is that ATX PSU has longer cable and it's hard to keep it tidy. On the other hand, SFX and SFX-L PSU when placed at front, it will has perfect length for stock cable. SFX and SFX-L PSU will be come more powerful. These day you can get 850W SFX for the same price as ATX one and recently Cooler Master has announced their new 1000W + SFX PSU.

All ports are placed at the back.

In the pictures above, I put 2 Gigabyte RX6800XT on Asrock B550 Phantom 4/AC. This is one of a few board that put GPU on 1st PCIE slot. Most of the ATX board these day put GPU on 2nd PCIE slot, this is good for larger air cooler but it will have issue when you put 2 fat cards in one board. The gap between 2 cards will be too narrow and the first card on top will be choked for air.

By adding one 140mm fan at the front, I can reduce the temperature different between these 2 cards to 2 C. Without the fan the top card will be 8 C warmer.

It's easier to assemble PC parts when it lays flat. Now when it's done, I can just flip it up vertically to safe the space. At first I was worried about weight balancing of this case but it turn out to be well balanced.

I made this anti sag device for both GPUs, it works well for Gigabye, MSI and Sapphire card but it's too short for Red Devil card from Power Color.

There're 2 openings at the back for accessing PSU's power switch and for changing the cooler bracket on mainboard.

In case that you want to show off your beautiful card, you can put it in vertical with the included bracket. It will accommodate 3 slots GPU. It will compatible with 200mm straight end riser cables (To be sold seperately) The picture shown above is shot from Gecko V case, it shares the same vertical GPU bracket.

The above pictures, I put together 2 Red Devil 6700 XT, the cards are thinner so the gap between those 2 cards are wider.

I also make aluminum bracket for DDC/D5 pump-res combo and 240-360 radiator bracket at the top. I'll update the photos when the painting is done.