Best SFF case able to house the most power?

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EzeroMobile50K

Limp Gawd
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Apr 2, 2012
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In your collective opinions, what is the best case (mITX) capable of housing the most power inside, for gaming and general intensive computing usage. Video card size, let's say standard for like the newer 600 / 7900 line. ODD of course. SSD, and one hdd would be ideal. Room for a small sound card. And if at all possible being able to set this machine up completely wireless capabilities would be super, idk if that's even possible. Like a laptop... ;D let's worry about that aspect last. Like bluetooth + wireless + a battery pack, if it has to be housed on the outside of the case fine.

Basically I want to create a super cool mITX case that is capable of beasting games and at the same time doubling as a laptop for usage on the go.

What you guys think?
 
SG07/08....don't know how you would be able to fit a small sound card into a board that only has one expansion slot for the graphics card. And the most you could probably go is with a wireless chip on the board and wireless peripherals.

No idea about your battery pack idea, or if that's even feasibile.
 
I would think it would take a pretty massive battery to run an i7 and top of the line GPU...probably wouldn't get 20-30 minutes off the best notebook batteries
 
Sugo SG05/07 cases are some of the most popular ITX cases available for good reason. The smallest ITX case that you could use to house a relatively decent low-profile video card (and ODD) would be one of the Antec ISK300-series. You can pretty much forget about a DIY powerhouse gaming rig the size of a laptop (it's been tried before). At that scale you're better off spending the money on a true gaming laptop (IMHO). With ITX, if the inboard sound isn't good enough you'd have to get a USB adapter.
 
Ok then I want to look at it this way. The most powerful system I can fit in there, and forget making it battery capable.
 
Z77 motherboard
i5-2500K or i7-2600K or Ivy Bridge replacement (when they come out)
nVidia GTX680 or AMD 7970
AXP-140RT cooler
Silverstone SG07 or SG08 case
Allows space for 2 SSDs (in RAID if you want to) and a 3.5" HD.
 
You can get everything but the sound card in an SG05 (10.78 liters vs. SG07's 14.76) and still keep it cool. For maximum cooling, I'd probably mount the 3.5 hdd as shown in the first photo below (Requires modification). I'd never put a mechanical drive in my system due to the noise.

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Yeah I think I'll avoid a mechanical HDD, and I'll be holding out for an Ivy bridge.

Almost forgot, it's very important that most, if possible all, of the case's outside surface be aluminum. I want to do a custom paint job on it. ^^

Browsing the cases at silverstone's site. The sugos look pretty good, and I like the quality that silverstone puts in their cases. My main machine is in an FT02B.
 
Well if you want aluminum and the ability to fit a big card, I think you're going to be limited to a Q08, which has a much larger footprint (21.30 liters). I believe the SG08's front panel is the only aluminum part.

Edit: The upcoming FT03 mini, which is basically an SG05 turned on its face, has aluminum sides and has enough room for a GTX 680.
fitsf.jpg
 
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Isn't steel very paintable once you sand off the powdercoating? Also I thought most aluminum cases were anodized so they won't scratch like butter - wouldn't that need to be sanded off anyway before painting? Correct me if I'm wrong, just some stuff I picked up from forums in the past whenever I've stumbled upon case painting.
 
josephclemente said:
Isn't steel very paintable once you sand off the powdercoating? Also I thought most aluminum cases were anodized so they won't scratch like butter - wouldn't that need to be sanded off anyway before painting? Correct me if I'm wrong, just some stuff I picked up from forums in the past whenever I've stumbled upon case painting.
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You're probably right. I just kind of figured a metal surface would be better than plastic, maybe I am wrong. I'm not sure but do any cases actually have the sides made of steel? I thought usually it was just the body frame that was made of steel.]
 
EzeroMobile50K said:
You're probably right. I just kind of figured a metal surface would be better than plastic, maybe I am wrong. I'm not sure but do any cases actually have the sides made of steel? I thought usually it was just the body frame that was made of steel.]
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Most side panels are made of steel. Some, like Lian-Lis and some Silverstones are aluminum. It's just the front panels that are usually plastic.
 
Well then, I take that back, steel pref. However, I like the FT03 Mini, which would you suggest between that and the sg07/sg08?
 
hiodie said:
I would think it would take a pretty massive battery to run an i7 and top of the line GPU...probably wouldn't get 20-30 minutes off the best notebook batteries
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I'd bet 1-1.5 hours per fully charged 6000+mAh 4S Lipo, but I have no clue where you'd find a DC-DC PSU capable of outputting enough watts and that could safely use said Lipos.

A really awesome laptop is probably a far better option, IMHO. It'll probably be cheaper than 200+ bucks a battery per hour of usage, and many times more portable.
 
Ft03-mini is sexy, but the sg08 is a better case thermal wise.
In my case, I was dead set on the ft03-mini, but I'm having second thoughts because I like the Asus gtx 670 and it's a 10.7" card.

Sorry for double posting. I don't know how to delete this post:mad: When I erase all the words, it comes right back. Noob in the house:eek:
 
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EzeroMobile50K said:
Well then, I take that back, steel pref. However, I like the FT03 Mini, which would you suggest between that and the sg07/sg08?
Click to expand...

Ft03-mini is sexy, but the sg08 is a better case thermal wise.
In my case, I was dead set on the ft03-mini, but I'm having second thoughts because I like the Asus gtx 670 and it's a 10.7" card.
 
youngscarface said:
Ft03-mini is sexy, but the sg08 is a better case thermal wise.
In my case, I was dead set on the ft03-mini, but I'm having second thoughts because I like the Asus gtx 670 and it's a 10.7" card.
Click to expand...

I don't know which GTX 670 cards your looking at, but all them are around the 9.4 - 9.5 range in length, minus the Gigabyte cards because they have an enormous aftermarket gpu cooler.
 
I don't know if its been said already but I know some motherboards have two mini PCI-express slots...one is usually used for the built in wireless where the second is usually open.

SO what you do is buy a mini PCI-express card to PCI-express slot converter like this one:

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Then you would have to mod the case in a couple of ways (like holes on the back of the case for the sound card audio input/outputs) then BAM! You have a sound card.

Now specifics and placement would have to be worked out but that all comes later once you actually have the hardware. So TECHNICALLY it WOULD be possible...just a bit of work and modding. Other than that it should be relatively easy to do.

Its something I'm actually strongly considering doing when I get around to building my Mini-ITX build!
 
If I was building a high powered ITX system I'd go with a Lian Li PC-Q08 or PC-TU200 no question.
 
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