A little help for a fellow itx user

So guys, some years ago i got a Coolermaster elite 120, i got an 1555 system on it and right now im in a weird spot in my life... where i have to travel between 2 houses every 15 days (im traveling 4 hours by bus if it helps) so the normal solution for my dilema would be to get a Gaming Laptop a Sager or an MSI even a Xorus or something like that. But... i just dont like laptops, they break or start failing after 1 or 2 years, no upgrade parts (ram and sdd only) and very very expensive. So i was thinking of getting a good travel bag and put my CM 120 in it and just get another desk and monitor and Wala, mobile gaming desktop on the go. But as i was thinking about this i remembered the CM 110 and new cases which are smaller than my old CM 120, so.... What cases do you recomend for traveling that i can actually buy right now?. I really Liked the N1 Case but i dont think its alot smaller than my CM , maybe a little thinner? oh and for the record im using a Short GPU GTX 950 (christmas gift) the small one and i already purchased the Silverstone SFX psu, (i had a Corsair 500w Gaming series on the CM 120, i just dont know what the hell i was thinking when i bought it)

Unofficial Osmi thread…

Osmi - Case Only

Thin cases like the Node 202 or the SilverStone ML08 may be better for hauling around.

wow it looks perfect any reviews ?

Have not really seen any on the web, only a single production run of (I believe) 50 units so far…? Another run in the works…

Read the last, I dunno, ten pages of the linked thread, that will have a few build-ups & some commentary on the chassis & such…

BTW - the chassis is 180mm x 180mm x 250mm…

Man you are in the right place. There are so many cool, tiny PC solutions now and here on this forum!

I love the Osmi, it is super slick and a work of art. There are a few others too that might fit your bill.

I humbly want to showcase another example even though I am biased, the S4 Mini, which was designed for travel. The catch is you need a different power supply.

But your other hardware seems really spot on:


S4 Mini (4.3L without power brick) vs Xbox One:



You can fit your Mini, Brick, Keyboard, Mouse, and a change of clothes in a medium sized backpack :



Here is the [H] forum official thread.

You can check out a full build thread with the S4 Mini here.

Good luck finding your perfect case!

I have to agree that one of these slimmer cases seems to be suited better for traveling, but if you're putting it in a suitcase that fits it, that doesn't really matter.

Something interesting about cases with external PSUs is that you can just buy two PSUs and leave one of them at each house, so you save a little bit of weight when travelling.

The Node 202 is a fantatically slim case with room for a full--size graphics card, but is only 10L in volume!



Eighty bucks without PSU, and it's designed for the SFX PSU you already have!

+1 for the Node 202. The Lian Li PC-TU100 is another option. It is rugged enough for frequent travel. The thermals are not great, so I wouldn't plan to cram high-TDP components in there, but you should be ok with the short 950 and a stock 1155 CPU.

Here is a video with a build from a couple of years ago, and here is a brand-new workstation build from the X99E-ITX/AC motherboard thread.

My suggestion would be to NOT find the "perfect case" and settle for the "cheapest case which works." The reason is that you will be traveling with it. No matter how careful you are, the case will start showing wear. Also, things can happen to it outside of your control. Nothing worse than having a blemish on your $150 case, but if it were a $30 case you'd be like "oh well it was only $30."

Zap said:

My suggestion would be to NOT find the "perfect case" and settle for the "cheapest case which works." The reason is that you will be traveling with it. No matter how careful you are, the case will start showing wear. Also, things can happen to it outside of your control. Nothing worse than having a blemish on your $150 case, but if it were a $30 case you'd be like "oh well it was only $30."

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But, dat patina!

As someone who owns the ML08B (similar layout as the Node 202 -AND- NFC's S4 Mini, as well as a Silversone SG05, the important thing to consider is how you'll be transporting the system.

Slim cases like the Node and the S3 Mini tend to be easier to lug around, and in the case of the ML08B can be purchased with an integrated handle. You can also mod handles into just about anything. One of the reasons I purchased the S4 mini is because of the incredibly tiny displacement. Sure you have a power brick on the outside, but they're just as easy to drop into a back and carry with you. I've literally carried my entire rig to work in a single bag, monitor excluded.
Then again, I've also carried my SG05 in a rather large backback to LANs in the past with little problem, so it's all dependent on how you want to lay everything out. Since you do already have the SFX psu, you might want to go for one of the options that supports that form factor. As much as I love my S4, the power supply situation got to be a little expensive (HD250 + VooDoo 350W brick =~ $135). For the price, you can't go wrong with the SG05 Lite at about $40 (I think)

redivulpis said:

For the price, you can't go wrong with the SG05 Lite at about $40 (I think)

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I have bought more SG05s than I can count...back when they were nearly 100 bucks without a power supply and I still think they were worth it. When they started including the SFX PSU it was just too awesome. It became the chassis I used almost exclusively for my customer builds before I started making my own.

Really the biggest thing that caused me to switch is that all my customers get free system tuneups for life, and I wanted a way to reduce the cost of sending systems back and forth...of course, at half the cost to ship as the SG05 this means they take me up on that plan more often...so maybe I should switch back.

Smallest? Get the S4 mini. Larger, the ML08B with handle.

Why don't you just have two PCs? One at each location.

Quartz-1 said:

Why don't you just have two PCs? One at each location.

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Depending on internet connection and the type of work you wanna do, that can be very cumbersome to do, apart from the fact that you have to pay double the price.

And if he ever gets back to living in one house, he'll have two PCs only one of which he needs.