System76 has unveiled the Nebula – the successor to the Colorodo-based company’s Thelio desktop (which I reviewed back in November). According to them, they’ve “spent the last five years…iterating on the design of their flagship desktop, Thelio.” So, here’s a few of the features that have come with this new PC case.

First, a CPU exhaust duct has been added for effective airflow. An extra cool-air intake vent has been added for “better performance under load.”

Second, the Nebula comes in a compact form factor. There are three different sizes and come with Mini ITX, MicroATX, ATX, or EATX motherboards. The press documentation mentions that the base model, the nebula19, “takes up about the same amount of desk, floor, or shelf space as a single sheet of paper.” Even though the cases are compact, components can still be easily accessed and replaced, and the two larger varients “have room for some of the largest, most powerful GPUs on the market.” Thumb screws hold the lid and GPU brace. 2.5" drives can be hot-swapped, provided that the case has been configured “with the SATA backplane upgrade.” An employee at System76 mentioned that the case is “a pleasure to work in” and that he no longer comes away with cut fingers.

Nebula back

Third, the CPU and GPU cooling systems are separate. You can supposedly “upgrade” the case to use “tested and recommended CPU coolers and additional GPU intake fans used in Thelio desktops” to prevent your system from getting overheated. Liquid CPU coolers can be used on the nebula36 and nebula49.

Aside from that, there are some other minor touchups, such as a “laser-engraved accent” of an astronaut on a journey. Like the Thelio, users can replace the accent on the front of the case with “wood, etched, and powder-coated aluminum accents.” Or they can make their own with the Maker Accent, or mount LED strips “to get their RGB fix.”

It’s actually great news since a lot of people, including myself, have wanted System76 to sell their Thelio case without the built-in hardware components, and now the Nebula has made this possible.

Nebula inside

Prices start at $199, with the biggest case, the nebula49, at $329. Purchase will be available on System76’s website tomorrow. In the meantime, however, you can check out the design files on GitHub.