Looking to get back into SFF

[subspeed6]

I had a SFF setup a few years back and I loved it.. E8400, ASUS P5E-VM HDMI, etc... All shoved into a SUGO SG02. It was OC'd, ran cool, and took up very little room.

I'm looking to do a refresh on my i7-930 PC in the near future and I am wondering what are the newer and better mATX cases out there?

I don't run SLI.
I have 1 Blu-Ray combo drive
I have 2 HDDs
I have 1 video card. (EVGA 670 GTX)

I would like to keep my Corsair HX650 if possible. The reason I am asking is because I am looking at a new desk I like and it falls in line with my PC refresh, as well as my love for SFF gaming.

 

[Zap]

Would you be opposed to mini ITX, if it can hold all your hardware and still overclock? You may have to go with one of the AIO liquid coolers (Corsair H-series, Antec Kuhler, etc) for overclocking.

Silverstone Sugo SG09 is mATX and small, though kinda fugly IMO.

Lian Li PC-Q08 is mini ITX and looks, well, like an aluminum Lian Li because it is.

Technically you can fit all this in a Lian Li PC-Q11, but I wouldn't recommend it. I did it (including liquid cooling and GTX 670) but it was a huge PITA and required a PSU extension for the case.

Any "traditional" mATX mini tower will work well. You have the Fractal Design Define Mini if you want super quiet. Lian Li PC-A04 if you want a case that look like an aluminum Lian Li. In Win Dragon Slayer if you want a "gaming" looking case. Silverstone TJ08B-E if you think different.

If you want a "desktop" style, look at the home theater cases such as Silverstone GD04/GD05/GD06 or Lian Li PC-C50.

Silverstone SG07/SG08 would work but is pricey and includes PSU that you already have.

Cooler Master Elite 120 may work (not sure about PSU clearance) but tends to run warm unless modded.

 

[xyexz]

Unless you want to run an audio card, sounds like you could go for mini-ITX and really do SFF right

Dang, didn't see Zaps comment as I was typing this up and doing other surfing lol.

I have a Cooler Master Elite 120 and it's actually a pretty nice case, if you want to run things cool you'll definitely want to mod it a bit, easiest way that's caught on is removing the hdd bay and using either custom loop or CLC.

You can check out my build here in the CM Elite 120.

 

[subspeed6]

Would you be opposed to mini ITX, if it can hold all your hardware and still overclock? You may have to go with one of the AIO liquid coolers (Corsair H-series, Antec Kuhler, etc) for overclocking.

Honestly, I never thought about ITX... I would go for ITX if I could re-use my video card and power supply.. I'm not to big into overclocking except when I am trying to get the last little bit out of my hardware before I do a refresh.

Hmmm.... Now you have me thinking on an ITX build.

Edit: xyexz, your build reminds me of my SUGO build. I did a lot of modding on that case to get that E8400 OC'd and stay cool. haha. I guess I have gotten old or maybe I am traveling too much for work lately, but I am more about simple stuff as of right now.

Edit2: Back when I was into my SFF build, I had a love for the SG04 except for that fugly handle.

 

[Zap]

Lian Li PC-Q08B $110 shipped

It is mini ITX, though a bit on the large side since it can handle a normal desktop optical drive and up to six HDDs (or 4 when used with a big graphics card). Hmmm, one possible problem is that your PSU might be on the deep side of things. It can fit if all the HDD bays are removed, but then...

Another option is the Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced for $50 shipped, with standard disclaimers about high temps.

Those are probably your best bets given your hardware.

 

[subspeed6]

Disclaimer about high temps?

 

[xyexz]

Some people experience high temps in the cm elite 120 but it's mainly the fans they remove or use, put the right fans in and you'll be set.

 

[subspeed6]

Ahhhh gotcha. I recently have moved to the Corsair fans and I love them...

Hmmm... I may have to mod this case a bit to get some nice fan flow-through. I like a nice challenge.

 

[Zap]

Some people experience high temps in the cm elite 120 but it's mainly the fans they remove or use, put the right fans in and you'll be set.

I think it is the restrictive front face which chokes off airflow from the 120mm intake fan. That aluminum rectangle in front? There are little slit vents on the sides and bottom. That's it! See this pic? Look at the USB ports. Look at the little slits under them. THAT is what the 120mm intake fan tries to draw air from. I think there are slits on both sides and bottom too, but still inadequate.

Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Case Review

The problem is the cooling system is just inadequate; for how beautiful the front design is, I get the sense that intake fan is either starving for air or just plain chintzy. Whatever air that does get through seems like it may also be slamming up against the drive cage, at least if the abnormally high temperatures on the SSD during our GeForce GTX 560 Ti test are any indication.

One person modded his front face, with good results. Seriously though, this mod looks super restrictive to me, but it is so air starved that it made a big enough difference in temperatures for him.

Finished my cooler master Elite Build

First shot shows new 1/4 inch thick aluminum grill. It was hand drilled. I had some aluminum stock. Too much work and just a bit crooked. This is a must mod for this case. Have the front grill really allows air to move correctly. To coolermaster just build the same case with this mod. It will sell like mad.
...
Once I made a grill in the front cooling really improved.

 

[Machupo]

Why not just make a front bit out of modder's mesh? It's super easy to work with (I use medical shears to cut it to size) and not restrictive at all

 

[xyexz]

Ya I think people temp to overreact about the price/performance of this case - sure the temps could be better but for what this case is truly for (htpcs) it's nuts for the price and hdd storage.

Enthusiasts/Gamers, like myself, tend to want to cram so much power into a small space that we overheat the space available.

I just noticed this past week, even with watercooling that my system was getting a little too hot in this case when playing some new games, all it required was adding a new fan on the left side to blow across the system and have the little fan on the right suck out.

This mod alone brought gpu/cpu temps to 27c idle, ~50-60c full load with my 2700k OC'd to 4.5GHz and my GTX 670 OC'd to 1250Mhz; still using the faceplate as stock configuration but covered in Di-Noc, I plan on updating my build thread with the changes on what I did.

Someone with a dremel and about 10 minutes could cut a decently sized square (or cool shape) out of the front faceplate and add in some modders mesh and resolve any issues with this case in regards to cooling, it mainly would benefit people going full air - also flipping the PSU upside down to suck hot air out is a huge help as well.

 

[hiptoss]

I also have a Lian Li Q08B and love it. I use it as a fileserver with 6 2TB drives, but I'm considering getting another one for a desktop build because I like the form factor so much.