Looking to shrink my full tower build - need advice!

[sejm]

Hi all,

The time has come for me to finally address the grossly oversized case I have for my PC build and I'm looking to make some changes.

Overall my current build looks like this:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.69 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
• Motherboard: Asus ROG MAXIMUS X HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
• Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
• Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
• Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 10 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB Founders Edition Video Card
• Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper ATX Full Tower Case
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1500i 1500 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
• Optical Drive: LG BH10LS38 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

What I want to do is reduce down to a compact system (Micro ATX/Mini ITX) and move my spinning drives to a NAS (Synology DS418 most likely) to allow me to reclaim some space. I'll swap the drives in the NAS over time to proper NAS drives.

What I'm not sure of is what is the smallest form factor I can reduce to without throwing away too many components. I want to keep the SSD, add a 4TB SSD and Thunderbolt 3 ports to the refreshed PC build and I also want to retain the 64GB RAM I have in the build but would be good if anyone knows the best MoBo, PSU and Case combinations for this style of build?

Ideally looking for a stylish finish - brushed metal or some such - as I want to be able to put it on top of my desk. PC gets less use for gaming these days so also open to putting the GPU in an enclosure over a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Anybody able to advise on a similar down-sizing journey?


Thanks so much!

 

[Minibiker]

I think your only size option is Micro ATX as most if not all ITX boards only have 2 RAM slots and your looking to keep all 4 of your Sticks...

 

[sejm]

Ah. So to truly scale down I'll need to pick up 2x32GB DIMMs? So that's about £300 I'll need to factor in.

I'm not too concerned if I need to swap out components as what I will probably do is create another system out of what I have left to give to my brother - he likes to churn through relatively memory-hungry tasks with databases and whatnot.

Thanks for the insight Minibiker! Have just read a couple of other threads and looks like there is some love for the Node 202 case as being the next great thing in small form factor.

 

[Minibiker]

@sejm Yeah the RAM will cost a fair few £££ for just the 2x32gb Sticks... A decent sized Nvme storage will go along side this well for sort of stuff it will be used for, Fast read and write times for data input etc you won't see much difference between Nvme and SSD if the system is for gaming though..

As for the case you've mentioned, I'd highly recommend anything from Fractal Design, they are great quality cases and I've never had any issues with any of their products

 

[Quartz]

There are some really small ITX cases like the Dan A4 and Streacom DA2. Somewhat cheaper and stylish is the Silverstone LD03. Look also at the Shuttle SFF boxes.

With regard to motherboards, you should also consider the DTX form factor. It's a slightly larger ITX board that fits many ITX cases.

 

[sejm]

@sejm Yeah the RAM will cost a fair few £££ for just the 2x32gb Sticks... A decent sized Nvme storage will go along side this well for sort of stuff it will be used for, Fast read and write times for data input etc you won't see much difference between Nvme and SSD if the system is for gaming though..

As for the case you've mentioned, I'd highly recommend anything from Fractal Design, they are great quality cases and I've never had any issues with any of their products

My worry about NVMe is only that I'm sure I read somewhere it uses PCIe bus capacity and I don't want to throttle the GPU. Admittedly I have not done enough reading on the topic to properly understand if this is a real limitation or if I have somehow created it in my mind without realising. If it isn't going to limit the PCIe bus then I'll definitely look at putting one in as the boot drive.

 

[McPhee]

How small do you want to go? And what form factor?

Small cases are usually sized in litres, as it gives and easy way to compare overall volume. Your current case is 87.5 litres, which is huge. So going smaller will be pretty easy. Starting at the larger end and working down:

Phanteks Evolv Shift X (Mini ITX) - 30.3L
Raijintek Thetis (ATX) - 27.7L
NZXT H210 (Mini ITX) - 26L
Raijintek Styx (Micro ATX) - 25.3L
Phanteks Evolv Shift Air (Mini ITX) - 23.96L
Lian Li TU150 (Mini ITX) - 23.75L
Sliger Cerberus X (Extended ATX) - 19.43L
Sliger Cerberus (Micro ATX) - 18.7L
Streacom DA2 - (Mini ITX) - 17.5L
Silverstone Raven RVZ03 (Mini ITX) - 14L
Ncase M1 (Mini ITX) - 12.6L (new website under construction)
Silverstone SG13 (Mini ITX) - 11.5L
Lazer3D LZ7 XTD (Mini ITX) - 10.4L
Fractal Design Node 202 (Mini ITX) - 10.2L
Thorzone Mjolnir (Mini ITX) - 9.7L
Loque Ghost S1 (Mini ITX) - 8.2L
Dancase A4 (Mini ITX) - 7.25L
Dr Zaber Sentry 2.0 (Mini ITX) - 7L
Skyreach 4 Mini (Mini ITX) - 5L
Velcase Velka 3 (Mini ITX) - 3.7L

That's by no means an exhaustive list. But it should give you an idea of the different sizes and shapes available, and the range of prices. Some of the cases require more compromises on components than others. It's worth checking out Optimum Tech on YouTube to get an idea of what's available and what the challenges are.

The Cerberus X will fit most of your current components. Unless you really want to build a Micro ATX PC, it makes the regular Cerberus a bit pointless. Smaller than that means going ITX, and in turn losing two RAM slots (exception) and needing an SFX PSU. Anything smaller than the Ncase/SG13 will be quite tight, with limited options for cooling (inc. the Node and Raven). Anything smaller than the Dan A4 is too small for a full-size GPU. The two smallest cases on the list are too small to fit an SFX power supply. It's worth noting though that the Loque Ghost can be expanded, so that's quite a flexible option (if you can source one).

One problem with the bottom 6 on that list (plus the Ncase) is they're designed by enthusiasts and then made in small batches; they're all difficult to source. AFAIK you won't get any of them this year unless you fall very lucky. For most of them, it'll be months before you get the case. Raijintek, Sliger, and GEEEK make alternatives to some of them in higher volumes though. There's also import taxes to consider; most of the small batch cases ship from the US or China.

 

[sejm]

That is very comprehensive! Thank you!

I don't think that I want to go smaller than the Node 202 - that looks like a nice small form factor.

In terms of that list, the footprint looks best for how I see my desk going in terms of these 3:
Silverstone SG13 (Mini ITX) - 11.5L
Lazer3D LZ7 XTD (Mini ITX) - 10.4L
Fractal Design Node 202 (Mini ITX) - 10.2L

The LZ7 configuration would be a big question though as I'm not sure what I would need/want. Seems to offer the best ventilation options though?

Interesting that there still aren't really cases including front USB-C ports.

 

[sejm]

Doing more reading it is looking very much like the SG13 or LZ7 XTD is the direction I need to go in terms of the footprint on my desk.

Considering an H80i V2 for the CPU cooling although am now wondering, with the number of components I need to change, if there is a better option.

Trying to find a MoBo with Thunderbolt 3 seems very limited and for whatever reason, it seems AMD chipsets are more up to date on Intel features?!
Case in point: X570 PHANTOM GAMING-ITX/TB3

It has TB3 as well as WiFi 6 on board. Presumably, a 3700X would give comparable or better performance than my 8700K. This is the danger with me and trying to upgrade... I end up building another machine.

 

[McPhee]

Not a lot between the two cases really. The LZ7's layout allows tower coolers to be used, which isn't possible in the SG13 without mods (moving the PSU to the front). And it's likely easier to build in, as you assemble the case while installing the components; the SG13 can be a bit fiddly. On the other hand, the SG13 is a third of the price.

I had an SG13 for years and before that an SG05. A couple of things I'd note: 1. buy the mesh front version - the solid panel one chokes airflow; 2. if you're using an ATX PSU then get custom cables made, otherwise you'll be struggling for space to stash the excess cabling.

Motherboards... I think it's simply a case of X570 being the newer chipset. The boards are only a few months old, while the Intel boards have been out much longer. Plus, X570 is me

 

[DJai]

How small do you want to go? And what form factor?

Small cases are usually sized in litres, as it gives and easy way to compare overall volume. Your current case is 87.5 litres, which is huge. So going smaller will be pretty easy. Starting at the larger end and working down:

Phanteks Evolv Shift X (Mini ITX) - 30.3L
Raijintek Thetis (ATX) - 27.7L
NZXT H210 (Mini ITX) - 26L
Raijintek Styx (Micro ATX) - 25.3L
Phanteks Evolv Shift Air (Mini ITX) - 23.96L
Lian Li TU150 (Mini ITX) - 23.75L
Sliger Cerberus X (Extended ATX) - 19.43L
Sliger Cerberus (Micro ATX) - 18.7L
Streacom DA2 - (Mini ITX) - 17.5L
Silverstone Raven RVZ03 (Mini ITX) - 14L
Ncase M1 (Mini ITX) - 12.6L (new website under construction)
Silverstone SG13 (Mini ITX) - 11.5L
Lazer3D LZ7 XTD (Mini ITX) - 10.4L
Fractal Design Node 202 (Mini ITX) - 10.2L
Thorzone Mjolnir (Mini ITX) - 9.7L
Loque Ghost S1 (Mini ITX) - 8.2L
Dancase A4 (Mini ITX) - 7.25L
Dr Zaber Sentry 2.0 (Mini ITX) - 7L
Skyreach 4 Mini (Mini ITX) - 5L
Velcase Velka 3 (Mini ITX) - 3.7L

That's by no means an exhaustive list. But it should give you an idea of the different sizes and shapes available, and the range of prices. Some of the cases require more compromises on components than others. It's worth checking out Optimum Tech on YouTube to get an idea of what's available and what the challenges are.

The Cerberus X will fit most of your current components. Unless you really want to build a Micro ATX PC, it makes the regular Cerberus a bit pointless. Smaller than that means going ITX, and in turn losing two RAM slots (exception) and needing an SFX PSU. Anything smaller than the Ncase/SG13 will be quite tight, with limited options for cooling (inc. the Node and Raven). Anything smaller than the Dan A4 is too small for a full-size GPU. The two smallest cases on the list are too small to fit an SFX power supply. It's worth noting though that the Loque Ghost can be expanded, so that's quite a flexible option (if you can source one).

One problem with the bottom 6 on that list (plus the Ncase) is they're designed by enthusiasts and then made in small batches; they're all difficult to source. AFAIK you won't get any of them this year unless you fall very lucky. For most of them, it'll be months before you get the case. Raijintek, Sliger, and GEEEK make alternatives to some of them in higher volumes though. There's also import taxes to consider; most of the small batch cases ship from the US or China.

Great response! That's really helpful for lots of members, perhaps it could be made into a sticky?

 

[McPhee]

But then it would have to be maintained

Already needs the Fractal Design Era, NZXT H1, Sliger SV590, Console, Conswole and Velcase Velka 9 added to it. And the Velcase Velka 3 and 5 have both changed.

 

[DJai]

But then it would have to be maintained

Already needs the Fractal Design Era, NZXT H1, Sliger SV590, Console, Conswole and Velcase Velka 9 added to it. And the Velcase Velka 3 and 5 have both changed.

Yes, but you have a good grasp on it. Why not share knowledge and keep it updated?

 

[sejm]

Since this, I think I've reached the conclusion of a full new system! The time feels right to make a move to AMD!

After many months of watching YouTube videos of SFF builds and configurations, I concluded that I was trying to get too much out of 1 machine and I would be stuck without an upgrade path!

X570 and 3900X / 3950X very tempting!

 

[DJai]

Fantastic, please keep us posted.