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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.
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23 comments
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Nocifer Jul 1, 2023
200 bucks for a PC case? Lol, that's just... rich, in every sense of the word.
slaapliedje Jul 1, 2023
Quoting: Nocifer200 bucks for a PC case? Lol, that's just... rich, in every sense of the word.
Well that's unsurprising. I blame myself, I finally start making decent money, and then inflation catches up enough that I am making okay money. :P

But more seriously, computer components are out of control! I have been building my own computers since the Pentium 200 MMX was one of the best you could get (I think the 233 was top of the line), and even up to maybe 5 years ago, the top of the line motherboard with all the features topped out at 250... now they're up as high as 1500... Sucks too, because we're now at a stage where CPUs aren't getting patched with microcode because they're too old, so stay vulnerable to certain attacks. You're better off running something that's really old, or really new now.

200 for a case... expected. I think my Fractal Design one (which I absolutely love) was pretty close to that, and I've had it a few years.
emphy Jul 2, 2023
Quoting: purpleIs there no air intake in the front?

Nope; side and bottom intakes only.
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