Help needed in designing my own ITX gaming case

[Fox_Returns]

Hi guys, we are a tiny group of French hardware fans, and we decided to design our own mITX gaming case. As none of us did that before, we are looking for a bit of help with the general design.

The case have to be small as possible, but large enough to fit an hi-end GPU. Our goal is to build our own Steambox, but we decided to keep Windows 10 as such an OS would provide much more flexibility over SteamOS. The overall look is designed under Sketchup, and we’ll switch to CATIA V5 next in order to get ISO-standardized assembly-drawings (on of the guy in the team is an industrial designer).

We chose a few components that we thought they would match our expectations in terms of both performances and size.
-
the CPU will be an i5-4690k or an i7-4790k

-the motherboard is likely to be an Asus Z97i-Plus

-the graphic card will be a reference design GTX 980ti, or equivalent in term of size/TDP.

-We thought that using VLP RAM sticks was the best choice. Exact references to come but you can expect something like 8 or 16go running at 1866mhz or more.

-the only storage device will be a 2.5” SSD/SSHD. However if two of the can be installed it would be a nice to have.


I began to design the case according to theses specs and I made a first version based on a TFX PSU and using a PCI-E riser to connect the GPU to the mobo:






Dimensions were 31,5cm x 28cm x 9,5cm = 8,38L
However, even if the design was cool, it has several flaws:

-no TFX PSU is able to run a core i5/7 and a 980ti, as the max power they can deliver is around 350W for the most powerful ones.

-I don’t have enough space to fit a good CPU cooler

-there’s lot of empty space in the case that I can’t use, making the case bigger than what was needed to fit our components.


That’s why I decided to fit a 600W SFX PSU, and redesign the whole thing:





Dimensions are 30,5cm x 22cm (probably 20 when finished) x 12cm, which gives a volume of 6,59L

But I’m unsure about how such a design will perform in an hi-stress situation in term of heat. Moreover, I don’t see how to make a proper cable management in such a configuration. I don't see either where could the storage device be placed...
Any idea?

 

[EdZ]

Your second design is very similar to Dondan's A4 in terms of GPU and motherboard orientation and location. The A4 has the SFX PSU rotated 90° to intake from the front. Dondan's thermal testing has shown the design is very effective, so your design should not have any thermal issues with properly ventilated side panels. Your PSU orientation gives more room over the motherboard for a thicker heatsink, so you should be able to handle even X99 ITX boards without worry.

 

[Fox_Returns]

Thanks for the reply. After seeing Dondan's case, I think I'll copy some of his ideas and flip the PSU 90° right as he did. It will ensure better hot air extraction and it will give more room for the cable management. I was also able to sightly reduce the case, I'll see if I can fit what I want in it.

 

[niksus]

Maybe there's no point to design 95% same case as Dondan's A4.

If indeed you are interested in "as small as possible", you may take a look at:
500W Platinum FSP FlexATX PSU - powerful smaller PSU
R9 Nano - shorter than ITX-length GPU's

 

[yolostrats]

Using the same mobo, GPU and PSU position does not make it "95%" the same. It is not patented and the execution is what sets cases apart.

 

[iFreilicht]

Using the same mobo, GPU and PSU position does not make it "95%" the same. It is not patented and the execution is what sets cases apart.

That's true, but I also have to agree that if you just want to make your PC as small as possible AND use this layout, you might just get an A4 and save yourself the hassle.
If you really want to make a scratch build, though, there's not much one could say against it.
Buuuut using FlexATX is totally more awesome so you should do that if you can