High End Mid-ATX or ITX Options

I

Iratus

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
1,583
Gentlefolk,

Want to pick your brains.

I'm currently in the process of putting together my new build and looking to see what the options are these days with cases. I live in Australia these days so it's a bit harder to find a list of what's available as there's no real super supplier that stocks everything here so apologies for the noddy question.

My PC is going to be specced as follows
  • Dual Radiator, preferably 2*360 but 1*360 and 1*240 is ok.
  • Protium D5 res and pump combo which is 240-300mm depending on res size (https://www.singularitycomputers.com/protium-d5-ddc-release/)
  • Space for 2.5" drive, Storage will be a 1TB 960 pro onboard and a 2TB 850 Evo
  • 7700K
  • 1080 Ti with a waterblock
  • Some form of motherboard
  • Ideally retain my Soundblaster ZXR, though I can go USB if I have to.
What I'm struggling with is the case to fit it all in. I want it to be as small as practical (not so much that I have to go mental on modding to squeeze it in)

Don't care about a window but you don't seem to have a choice.
ITX would be ideal but none of the cases seem to be able to fit dual radiators without being fugly.
mATX seems to have died as a thing.

So it seems ATX is the way to go. I really like the Evolv ATX but it's not much smaller than my Corsair 650d (that replaced a TJ07 I got rid of because it's size did my head in), and as my 650D looks a bit clunky I'd like something a bit more upmarket but from what I've seen upmarket these days seems to equal MASSIVE. As I don't have 6*3.5 drives and a couple of opticals anymore it's stupid but it also doesn't fit in with my man cave schtick and a 35 year old man having a case the size of a truck and decked out with idiot lights seems ill-befitting to me.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
you're not going to get much smaller than the Evolv ATX if you want a pair of 360's, or 280's. That amount of cooling requires a fair bit of case estate.

(But I will say I absolutely love my Evolv. It's awesome!)

Q: How do you expect to fit a pair of 14" long radiators into a case designed for a 6" motherboard? Just sayin'. That'd be an ugly ass case. Or just super weird looking.
 
Maybe some of the Caselabs or Thermaltake cases - but a lot of those are arbitrarily mATX/ITX and the size of a large ATX case.
 
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Caselabs would definitely be the way to go. The Thermaltake Core V21 seems good for WCing, but not to the extent you've listed.
 
Thanks for the feedback gents. I checked out the Caselabs stuff, nice to see they were doing some smaller stuff these days and I was actually really really tempted on the S3 and to drop down to 2*240 radiators. Would have been a good pick as most of the dual radiator builds I could find were fugly (so mine would look awesome in comparison) Problem is the shipping to Australia is INSANE.The only caselabs stuff that is already in country through resellers is the massive ones. Shame as it would have been perfect.

In the end, I pulled the trigger on the Anthracite Enthoo Evolv ATX. Helped along by the fact that I've been quite taken with the Maximus IX Apex motherboard, so ATX is now all good. Still $50 delivery though, f'ing country.

Hopefully it should be delivered in the next couple of days, just ordered radiators, case, mobo and the radiator fans for now as I need to figure out the connectors I need for the watercooling and then have to order it from the US (no bitspower available in country for the rigid tubes so I need to get it right). I also need to figure out how to get the fans in the space at the top of the case (as opposed to beneath the radiator as most people do) I know it can be done with minor mods as I've seen it but no-body has shared how yet, that I can find.
 
Iratus said:
Thanks for the feedback gents. I checked out the Caselabs stuff, nice to see they were doing some smaller stuff these days and I was actually really really tempted on the S3 and to drop down to 2*240 radiators. Would have been a good pick as most of the dual radiator builds I could find were fugly (so mine would look awesome in comparison) Problem is the shipping to Australia is INSANE.The only caselabs stuff that is already in country through resellers is the massive ones. Shame as it would have been perfect.

In the end, I pulled the trigger on the Anthracite Enthoo Evolv ATX. Helped along by the fact that I've been quite taken with the Maximus IX Apex motherboard, so ATX is now all good. Still $50 delivery though, f'ing country.

Hopefully it should be delivered in the next couple of days, just ordered radiators, case, mobo and the radiator fans for now as I need to figure out the connectors I need for the watercooling and then have to order it from the US (no bitspower available in country for the rigid tubes so I need to get it right). I also need to figure out how to get the fans in the space at the top of the case (as opposed to beneath the radiator as most people do) I know it can be done with minor mods as I've seen it but no-body has shared how yet, that I can find.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be hard to do, annoying as shit in the long run, but not hard to do.

case_top_removed.jpg


You could absolutely put the fans between the top of the frame and the slide out tray for the Rad, unless there's possibly a way to secure them to the top of the frame? I haven't looked into that idea, though.
Downside: The slide out tray won't slide out anymore.
 
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