Mitx gaming case

[lord_tris]

What are things that would make a Mitx case worth making it an awesome gaming case or more appealing to you

Cable management is huge for me
Air flow
type of components usable in it ie FULL size psu/heat sinks or water-cooling
amount of components ie harddrives and 5.25 drive bays

even plausible
Removable Mobo tray?
whats the best size 15"x15"x15" to big?
what type of case? Cube,desktop,tower
materials? aluminium steel plastic
compartmentalize the psu from the rest of the components
what is a good price point for it 80.00-150.00
Other ideas or wishes in a Mitx case no larger then 15x15x15

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

What are things that would make a Mitx case worth making it an awesome gaming case or more appealing to you

Cable management is huge for me
Air flow
type of components usable in it ie FULL size psu/heat sinks or water-cooling
amount of components ie harddrives and 5.25 drive bays

even plausible
Removable Mobo tray?
whats the best size 15"x15"x15" to big?
what type of case? Cube,desktop,tower
materials? aluminium steel plastic
compartmentalize the psu from the rest of the components
what is a good price point for it 80.00-150.00
Other ideas or wishes in a Mitx case no larger then 15x15x15

15" cube is massive for mini-itx. I built a custom cube case a few years back that is similar to a Mountain Mods UFO that fits a full ATX motherboard, 5 hard drives, 4 5.25" bays, and could easily fit a 1200w PSU and the largest video card ever made if I installed them. For reference a Mountain Mods UFO is about 18" cubed. A mini-itx motherboard is about 6.7" square.

If you want a good mini-itx case, look for the Silverstone Sugo SG-05, SG-06, SG-07, SG-08, or FT-03 Mini. Lian-Li also has about a dozen mini-itx cases in their lineup. Bit Fenix also recently made the Prodigy, and it is about the largest a mini-itx case should be. There are hundreds of other mini-itx cases out there, but most are designed for slimline or HTPC systems. The ones I listed are some of the few I would recommend for gaming systems with video cards installed.

 

[lord_tris]

15" cube is massive for mini-itx. I built a custom cube case a few years back that is similar to a Mountain Mods UFO that fits a full ATX motherboard, 5 hard drives, 4 5.25" bays, and could easily fit a 1200w PSU and the largest video card ever made if I installed them. For reference a Mountain Mods UFO is about 18" cubed. A mini-itx motherboard is about 6.7" square.

If you want a good mini-itx case, look for the Silverstone Sugo SG-05, SG-06, SG-07, SG-08, or FT-03 Mini. Lian-Li also has about a dozen mini-itx cases in their lineup. Bit Fenix also recently made the Prodigy, and it is about the largest a mini-itx case should be. There are hundreds of other mini-itx cases out there, but most are designed for slimline or HTPC systems. The ones I listed are some of the few I would recommend for gaming systems with video cards installed.

Those SG's are bit cramped though and you cant use full size ATX parts in them.

 

[lord_tris]

This is about 13.5"x14" Maybe I could cut down the height to maybe something like 14x14x10
This has 2 120mm in front and 1 140mm in the back possibly a 120mm on top

 

[lord_tris]

here is another couple of conceptual pics

Ten inches of height looks nice leaves lots of room for the psu to have enough cable storage and have a small 3-5 bay for 2.5 drives above it with an 80mm - 92mm for air flow?

3 3.5in drive bay really dont need more then that i would say and leaves lots of air and cable management space

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Those SG's are bit cramped though and you cant use full size ATX parts in them.

What "full size ATX parts" are you referring too?

The Sugo SG07, SG08, FT03 mini, and the BitFenix Prodigy fit all but the largest ATX PSU's in them (1000+ watt models), and you would never come close to that amount of power usage even with the most powerful overclocked processor, all the RAM maxed, all the SATA drives filled, and most power hungry dual chip overclocked video card on the market.

AFAIK, you can fit Nvidia 6990's in them also. The motherboards are obviously mini-itx, since that was the topic of discussion.

BTW, I like your custom designs so far. They could use a few tweaks if you are wanting better temperatures, but if you are trying to keep things in the smallest space possible, you are on the right track.

For better temps, the best advice I could give is group the hard drives, optical drives and PSU in their own zone.

 

[lord_tris]

What "full size ATX parts" are you referring too?

The Sugo SG07, SG08, FT03 mini, and the BitFenix Prodigy fit all but the largest ATX PSU's in them (1000+ watt models), and you would never come close to that amount of power usage even with the most powerful overclocked processor, all the RAM maxed, all the SATA drives filled, and most power hungry dual chip overclocked video card on the market.

AFAIK, you can fit Nvidia 6990's in them also. The motherboards are obviously mini-itx, since that was the topic of discussion.

Prodigy is the beast of the group you have mentioned but it does not come out for another couple of weeks

FT03 mini 1- 3.5 drive 2 .5 drives no 5.25 SFX PSU and 10in video cards ONE 140mm fan and room enough for 78mm CPU Cooler

SG07 3.5” x 1 , 2.5”x 2, no 5.25, PSU up to 140mm (which means my 850ax does not fit at all cause its 154mm before cables) Cpu cooler 117mm and video card 12.2in

SG08 same specs as 07 except it can handle a 12.2in PSU, and the ascetics

The SGO7/8 is about 14 inchs long 7.4 inches tall and 8.4 inches wide

Your right they can fit a 6990 but a smaller cpu cooler they one fan, 3 hard drives total and laptop slot load dvd drives. Not saying they are bad cases just looking for something bigger but not huge kinda hard lugging a 700d around but a case that is 14x14x10 is not all that much larger then the 07/08s

Specs so far that i am working on
13in video cards
removable MOBO tray
6 total hhd/ssd
2 5.25 bays
PSUs up to 10 inchs long comfortably
top 140mm fan
back 120mm
ssd cooling 80mm
2 front 120mm
up to like 160-170mm coolers (this depends solely on the mitx board you are using.)
water cooling native in case single 140 or 120 or combo 120 and 140 with res in 5.25 and pump in place of the 3.5 bays (removable)

 

[lord_tris]

these are pics of the psu space the walls would go up to the top of the case so even if you dont have a modular PSU you have more then enough room to keep the cables in check

 

[lord_tris]

BTW, I like your custom designs so far. They could use a few tweaks if you are wanting better temperatures, but if you are trying to keep things in the smallest space possible, you are on the right track.

For better temps, the best advice I could give is group the hard drives, optical drives and PSU in their own zone.

Thank you for the advice.

Do you really think that the 120mm beating on the hhds with the 120mm and 140mm basically behind them will not have a good temps?

 

[lord_tris]

I was just thinking about fan options what would be better?

psu in own compartment
140/120mm rear
2-140mm front fans or two 120mm fans
rear fan for SSD caddy 80mm or 92mm miss getting a 120mm up there by about 1/8th of an inch so that is a no go
What thoughts on fans could there be?

 

[lord_tris]

Revised measurements
instead of 14x14x10

My case
14in L
12in W
10in H

compared to

SG08
13.8in L
8.7in W
7.5in H

Prodigy
14.1in L
9.8in W
15.9in H

 

[FrostBite]

Is there a reason why you have 3x 3.5 inch hard drives in there? If you removed the HDD tray, and put the PSU where the HDD tray was, you'd shrink your footprint considerably. Use an SSD and mount it in the video card area. I'd move the fans too, one should be above the CPU heatsink mounted on top, and the other should be mounted to be blowing air directly over your video card.

As for the actual material, I'd go with 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick plexiglass. I made a plexiglass computer 5+ years ago, it was a pain in the ass to scoar the plexiglass, and I should have taken the pre-design measurements and paid the $10 for Home Depot to do it for me since I bought it there anyways. I used acrylic case cubes for the corners (http://www.frozencpu.com/cpa-84.html) and it worked out very well.

So, my question would be, 1) do you really need that much hard drive space? 2) Can you go with extenal enclosures instead? 3) If you absolutely need that many hard drives and it could not be external, have you considered an SSD and 2x 2.5 laptop drives?

 

[lord_tris]

Is there a reason why you have 3x 3.5 inch hard drives in there? If you removed the HDD tray, and put the PSU where the HDD tray was, you'd shrink your footprint considerably. Use an SSD and mount it in the video card area. I'd move the fans too, one should be above the CPU heatsink mounted on top, and the other should be mounted to be blowing air directly over your video card.

As for the actual material, I'd go with 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick plexiglass. I made a plexiglass computer 5+ years ago, it was a pain in the ass to scoar the plexiglass, and I should have taken the pre-design measurements and paid the $10 for Home Depot to do it for me since I bought it there anyways. I used acrylic case cubes for the corners (http://www.frozencpu.com/cpa-84.html) and it worked out very well.

So, my question would be, 1) do you really need that much hard drive space? 2) Can you go with extenal enclosures instead? 3) If you absolutely need that many hard drives and it could not be external, have you considered an SSD and 2x 2.5 laptop drives?

1)Yes lol
2) I do have an external for 2 of my 2t drives but i dont want to have 2-3 external drives hanging around either.
3) I am going to be putting a SSD mount above the PSU 3 of them in fact.
Not everyone uses 2.5 drives plus i have not seen a laptop drive over 1t yet and they are slow as well.
as you can see on my mobo i can use 6 sata devices.
The 3.5 drive bays also will be removable as well if i want to do a watercooling loop inside of the case.

 

[FrostBite]

Well, itx = small, compact, tiny, 3x 3.5 = does not compute.

With that being said, I'd consider moving the hard drives under the motherboard tray and lay them flat (instead of on top of each other like you have it now), and move the PSU where the HDD tray was. It gains less than 2 inches in height (hard drive + 1/2 inch space for air movement) but you cut out at least 3-4 inches everywhere else.

 

[lord_tris]

Well, itx = small, compact, tiny, 3x 3.5 = does not compute.

With that being said, I'd consider moving the hard drives under the motherboard tray and lay them flat (instead of on top of each other like you have it now), and move the PSU where the HDD tray was. It gains less than 2 inches in height (hard drive + 1/2 inch space for air movement) but you cut out at least 3-4 inches everywhere else.

true small and compact it is this case is only couple of inches bigger then the SG08 and smaller then the Bitfennix Prodigy case. So it is on par with size for GAMING itx systems

I do like the under tray idea though but not for the hdd cable management though would be ideal

The psu near the cpu is something i do not want and will provide no cable management at all look at the sg08/7 with a full set of components in it its a wiring mess. Which is something i am trying to not get near.

For me I want Cooling and Wire management they are top priority's on the list of things for me in a case.

 

[FrostBite]

Hard drives under the tray with the bottoms (sata and power plugs) facing out and all the heads facing in toward each other, and running the cabling along the sides. You can also drill holes along the sides and use zip ties to hold them in place. PSU sideways with the modular cabling facing out toward the video card, run the cables parrel to the video card and snake it around for the motherboard.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Prodigy is the beast of the group you have mentioned but it does not come out for another couple of weeks

FT03 mini 1- 3.5 drive 2 .5 drives no 5.25 SFX PSU and 10in video cards ONE 140mm fan and room enough for 78mm CPU Cooler

SG07 3.5” x 1 , 2.5”x 2, no 5.25, PSU up to 140mm (which means my 850ax does not fit at all cause its 154mm before cables) Cpu cooler 117mm and video card 12.2in

SG08 same specs as 07 except it can handle a 12.2in PSU, and the ascetics

The SGO7/8 is about 14 inchs long 7.4 inches tall and 8.4 inches wide

Your right they can fit a 6990 but a smaller cpu cooler they one fan, 3 hard drives total and laptop slot load dvd drives. Not saying they are bad cases just looking for something bigger but not huge kinda hard lugging a 700d around but a case that is 14x14x10 is not all that much larger then the 07/08s

Specs so far that i am working on
13in video cards
removable MOBO tray
6 total hhd/ssd
2 5.25 bays
PSUs up to 10 inchs long comfortably
top 140mm fan
back 120mm
ssd cooling 80mm
2 front 120mm
up to like 160-170mm coolers (this depends solely on the mitx board you are using.)
water cooling native in case single 140 or 120 or combo 120 and 140 with res in 5.25 and pump in place of the 3.5 bays (removable)

Ok, now that I know everything you need in this thing, here is how I envision the layout that will work best. Keep in mind, it is just a suggestion.

I would make a tower design with 3 compartments and front to back cooling. Approx 14-15 inches tall, 14-15 inches deep front to back, and 8-10 inches wide.

1. Lower compartment: PSU setup to exhaust air. Fit SSD's or other extra equipment in all the spare space. SSD's don't need much cooling, but you could take up extra height by turning the PSU on its side and placing HDD's or SSD's right in front of the PSU intake fan. Stack HDD's in front of PSU near front of case just behind fans with their cabling facing either the left or right side of the case.

2. Middle compartment: Motherboard laying horizontal, allow 8" clearance from motherboard mounting so you can fit tallest of air coolers or big 140mm exhaust fans or a small radiator in back. If you have a ton of HDD's, continue the stack in front of the CPU portion of the motherboard only, keep the graphics card area clear since big cards will reach the front of the case.

3. Top compartment: Mount your 2 5.25" drives up here in front of case. Use the ample space behind them to mount additional radiators, pumps, or HDD's.

4. Front of case: If you make the case 10" wide, you will have room for 4x120mm fans in a square configuration for massive amounts of airflow. You will have to be careful on the depth of the case if you plan to hang radiators off the front fans.

 

[lord_tris]

Ok, now that I know everything you need in this thing, here is how I envision the layout that will work best. Keep in mind, it is just a suggestion.

I would make a tower design with 3 compartments and front to back cooling. Approx 14-15 inches tall, 14-15 inches deep front to back, and 8-10 inches wide.

1. Lower compartment: PSU setup to exhaust air. Fit SSD's or other extra equipment in all the spare space. SSD's don't need much cooling, but you could take up extra height by turning the PSU on its side and placing HDD's or SSD's right in front of the PSU intake fan. Stack HDD's in front of PSU near front of case just behind fans.

2. Middle compartment: Motherboard laying horizontal, allow 8" clearance from motherboard mounting so you can fit tallest of air coolers or big 140mm exhaust fans or a small radiator in back. If you have a ton of HDD's, continue the stack in front of the CPU portion of the motherboard only, keep the graphics card area clear since big cards will reach the front of the case.

3. Top compartment: Mount your 2 5.25" drives up here in front of case. Use the ample space behind them to mount additional radiators, pumps, or HDD's.

4. Front of case: If you make the case 10" wide, you will have room for 4x120mm fans in a square configuration for massive amounts of airflow. You will have to be careful on the depth of the case if you plan to hang radiators off the front fans.

Although i do like the idea of compartments i think the psu is the only one that i would like to see.

I am kinda more stuck on cubeish case as the Towers have been done already, Plus there is no cool Cubeish Mitx case that can fit a lot of gear in them.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Although i do like the idea of compartments i think the psu is the only one that i would like to see.

I am kinda more stuck on cubeish case as the Towers have been done already, Plus there is no cool Cubeish Mitx case that can fit a lot of gear in them.

When I say "compartment", I'm not necessarily implying that you physically separate these areas with a panel or anything. I mainly see it as virtual blocks for organizational purposes. These "compartments" also keep the airflow somewhat separated due to front to back airflow setup...HDD's and PSU, GPU and CPU. Its a good layout for air cooling, but may need to be modified depending on watercooling setup.

If you are doing a cube case, you could probably squeeze it down to 12", but you would sacrifice graphics card size. If you go up to 14 or 15" cube, you will be able to cram in a micro-atx or full size atx motherboard in there, negating most of the point of using mini-itx.

I'm still very interested to see where this goes. I hope you make a worklog in these forums.

 

[lord_tris]

not yet i will after i move