Best Small Form Factor Case to House a Silent Gaming Powerhouse - 3090 and more

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kill8r

Limp Gawd
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Feb 27, 2014
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Hi All,

I have decided to go all out to try and build a small and silent gaming powerhouse with the latest and greatest gear.

This is to include a 3090, the best available gaming cpu, ram etc.

I am considering the Ncase M1 as this seems to be a phenomenally small case that can accomdate some serious hardware.

https://ncases.com/products/m1


Any advice or thoughts?
 
My first thought is that if you have a 3090 in it, it's not going to be silent; I doubt we'll ever see a fanless 3090.
 
pitingres said:
My first thought is that if you have a 3090 in it, it's not going to be silent; I doubt we'll ever see a fanless 3090.
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My first tought is it is not going to fit, and checking this I seem to be correct, 3090 is 3 slot GPU with a lenght of 313mm and the Ncase for 3 slot cards stops at 280mm but maybe some aftermarket card but I would not hold my breath.
 
vegeta535 said:
Jesus people. You can't have it all. Compact, silent and performance. Pick two at best cause you will not get all 3. The 3090 will need a 240 rad at minimum.
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I need to get my buddy to post his 7940x build in a sff case he used for onsite shoots.

Thermal throttle city.

I tried to get him to consider an external rad setup but flying with that was too much for him.
 
Would be fine if you use an external radiator...
 

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DoubleTap said:
Would be fine if you use an external radiator...
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Your putting an ugly rad next to those Kef's you should be ashamed of yourself.

kill8r said:
Even if it is watercooled?
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I would suggest that you get a matx case because small form factor will not work. Even if you are going to be travelling with the case locally, it will be better than a mid tower and will look cleaner and more professional if that's what your looking for.

If the 3090 is just for gaming, I would suggest you go with a 3080 because you will never use that much power over the life of the card and you will save some money. The 3090 is like the rtx titan, built for 3d modelling and video production which requires stupid amounts of power.
 
gwertheim said:
Your putting an ugly rad next to those Kef's you should be ashamed of yourself.



I would suggest that you get a matx case because small form factor will not work. Even if you are going to be travelling with the case locally, it will be better than a mid tower and will look cleaner and more professional if that's what your looking for.

If the 3090 is just for gaming, I would suggest you go with a 3080 because you will never use that much power over the life of the card and you will save some money. The 3090 is like the rtx titan, built for 3d modelling and video production which requires stupid amounts of power.
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The MORA3 is going to be mounted and out of the way and so far, the sound quality of the KEFs remains unaffected...

I'm planning on upgrading to a 3090 because even a 2080ti isn't enough to maintain 3840x1600 @160Hz and max detail and I seriously doubt a 3080 will be enough either.

It would also be perfect for people running triple screen systems.

vegeta535 said:
That would defeat the purpose of a SFF PC.
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"the purpose" ? as in - only one?

I guess if you want portability, then yeah, it's not practical, but if you just want something with a small footprint, you can wall mount a MORA3 and have a top notch, silent, external cooling system that will last you a decade and isn't tied to a specific case or configuration.
 
DoubleTap said:
The MORA3 is going to be mounted and out of the way and so far, the sound quality of the KEFs remains unaffected...

I'm planning on upgrading to a 3090 because even a 2080ti isn't enough to maintain 3840x1600 @160Hz and max detail and I seriously doubt a 3080 will be enough either.

It would also be perfect for people running triple screen systems.



"the purpose" ? as in - only one?

I guess if you want portability, then yeah, it's not practical, but if you just want something with a small footprint, you can wall mount a MORA3 and have a top notch, silent, external cooling system that will last you a decade and isn't tied to a specific case or configuration.
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I am more talking about the sexy lines of those speakers compared to the ugliness of the rad. It's like parking an 80's Buick next to a modern supercar.
 
kill8r said:
and silent gaming powerhouse with the latest and greatest gear.

This is to include a 3090, the best available gaming cpu, ram etc.
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These things are an unfortunate contradiction. For a good reference, compare laptops between wattage classes.
With a fixed SFF volume, you're balancing noise with performance, in the end.

If you want small, you should consider dialing back on specifications to keep cooling and noise in check.

If you actually want to crank up the performance, consider going at least mATX as gwertheim mentioned above. You really will need the volume to properly cool top-end parts without introducing leaf-blower acoustics.
 
vegeta535 said:
Jesus people. You can't have it all. Compact, silent and performance. Pick two at best cause you will not get all 3. The 3090 will need a 240 rad at minimum.
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Meh, my SFF case I can fit 360mm of rad (a 240 + a second 120), takes a full size ATX PSU, and can fit a 310mm GPU without modification, can easily fit more if I trim the excessively large drive cage that fits 2 3.5" + ROM drive. It's 10.1 liters and only 4.5" tall. I can't fit a 3090 FE though since it only supports 2 slots and the FE is 3 slot. It would fit a 2.5 slot but no third bracket for a 3rd slot. Water cooled it would fit fine though.

Very hard to find, not the highest quality in the world, but hey... It's done me well for years. I'm currently planning my custom loop for it now, but I'm not looking at such a high powered GPU. I just want to put both the CPU (3700x) and GPU (rx 570) under water. Right now just my CPU is.

Obviously, I still have limitations due to the small size (like, I only have a 2 drive RAID array plus my nvme) , but there is no reason you need to have a huge case to have a comfortable/portable PC that can support pretty good hardware.

I think I paid $40 for this thing at the time: Azza csaz-103
 
Ready4Dis said:
Very hard to find, not the highest quality in the world, but hey... It's done me well for years. I'm currently planning my custom loop for it now, but I'm not looking at such a high powered GPU. I just want to put both the CPU (3700x) and GPU (rx 570) under water. Right now just my CPU is.
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The OP is looking at parts with double the power draw of your example. Your eight-core setup with a midrange GPU should certainly be doable.
 
LazyGamer said:
The OP is looking at parts with double the power draw of your example. Your eight-core setup with a midrange GPU should certainly be doable.
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Double yes, but 360mm rad can handle a 350w GPU... I am currently only using a single 120mm rad in my midrange build. I plan to drop a vega 64 (325w card) in here when I can find a reasonable price one and I get the 360mm custom loop done. Power wise will be similar to a 3090 + something like a 10600k (or possibly model down 3080). Just showing that with some planning you can fit a lot in a little case. Honestly, if I get a shorter PSU I could fit a 140mm rad instead of the 120, but I have a full size 1000w EVGA supernova G3 stuffed in it. If I remove my drive cage and just mount my drives to the base of the case, I could fit another 120mm in there as well, so if I really feel the need, I can fit a single 360mm rad + a seperate 140mm rad, which is enough to run a gpu/cpu combo pretty well. Sure you may miss out on some overclocking if you don't want to start running into issues, but just trying to show with some planning you can fit a lot into a little ;). I understand he's trying to use double the power, but as you can see, you can do these types of things in relatively small cases if you want/try. Obviously it's going to require some work and ingenuity, but I have no doubts that it can be done if someone wants it bad enough, lol. Obviously there are limits, but you don't need a server sized case to have power either. There is nothing wrong with looking for a smaller case and still packing power. I just need a few more things to fit more into my case ;). (like, MOLEX crimpers to make all my PSU cables custom length so they aren't taking up extra space and in the way).

To OP: All I can say is find what you want to run, then find a case to fit it all. I wouldn't start with a case then see what I can fit. Also know that just because a case says it does or doesn't support something doesn't make it true. Some cases say 140mm rad support but only with a short GPU or PSU. Some say they only fit a 120mm rad and you can stuff a 140mm in there. You're most likely not going to just find a case based on specs and hope it all fits ;). This case I have is a prime example, it says it can fit up to 2 120mm rads... in reality it can fit 3 without any work as long as you're block isn't super tall. It can fit 360mm + 120mm if you don't need the drive cage (again, compromises).
 
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