Can you help me go SFF/ITX?

alex24

alex24

alex24

Soldato
Joined
1 Jan 2008
Posts
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I want to make my gaming PC more compact as currently it takes up a large portion of my office space, and with working from home becoming permanent and a baby crawling around I'd like something smaller to move out the way somewhere.

I have little incentive to upgrade the specifications of the PC - I am happy with the performance for the older games I typically play. The only other thing I use it for is storage of photos and other data over a few 3.5" HDDs (I realise this may have to change).

The problem I have is the PC was built in 2012/2013 (IIRC) and I assume finding an 1155 ITX board will probably be difficult or expensive unless someone puts one on the MM. What are my sensible options? I don't want to spend a lot if I don't have to and don't need more performance.

Specs are currently:

Intel 2500k (was 4GHz but became unstable so went to stock 3.3GHz about 2 years ago).
Gigabyte Z68X-UD5 ATX mobo
2x4GB Kingston HyperX DDR3
MSI Radeon RX 570 (after my original HD6970 died)
Corsair H50 CPU Cooler (I think)
Corsair HX850W (this is bigger than 'standard' size)
ASUS Xonar D1 PCI Sound Card
128GB SATA SSD
2x 1TB Samsung HDDs for storage
Corsair Obsidian 650D case

Mini-ITX would be ideal I think. What options would I have on a budget for case and motherboard? Or do I just try and buy a more recent second hand CPU/Mobo/RAM bundle and case and shift this stuff?

EDIT: Forgot to say I have an optical drive (BD-ROM) but don't know if it still works. It would be needed to install older CD/DVD games I have on disk. Don't care about Blu-Rays on the machine anymore.
 
Problem components:

Corsair HX850W (this is bigger than 'standard' size) - Won't fit (or will obstruct other components) in many ITX cases. TBH, this is going to be the biggest problem component.
ASUS Xonar D1 PCI Sound Card - You'd need a DTX board or a bifurcation riser to carry this over. Or more realistically, you'll need to use on-board audio or a USB soundcard.
2x 1TB Samsung HDDs for storage - Most ITX cases have limited space for 3.5" drives, especially when you throw in a long PSU & a GPU.
Disc drive - Possible, but will limit case choice.

Motherboard
The motherboard is fairly easy to solve; if you're happy to leave the CPU at stock then the Asus P8H61 can be picked up cheaply. These boards were used in PCs for schools, so are pretty ubiquitous.

Cases
The easiest change would be to a Bitfenix Prodigy. I *think* you can remove the lower drive cage to make space for the PSU. Everything else (bar the sound card) should fit without problems (but check the GPU - I'm not certain which one you have). Other possibilities (with various compromises):
  • Silverstone SG13 (have to remove the drive cage to fit a long PSU, so would need to change drives + no room for an optical drive).
  • Silverstone SG05 (limited space for GPU, only takes a slim optical drive).
  • Raijintek Metis (won't work unless the GPU is quite short, as the PSU will be in the way).
  • Bitfenix Prodigy M (same problem as above).
  • Cooler Master NR200 (you'll need to find a way to mount an ATX PSU, and GPU clearance will be reduced).
 
I think it'll really depend on how much you think you can stretch to for a budget.

You could consider a new case like this one: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aerocool-cs-105-cosmo-mini-tower-black-ca-21t-ae.html
I think this would fit your H50 cooler, along with a single 3.5 drive and even your optical drive. Would need to check sizing of your PSU though. So you would just need to get the case and source a replacement motherboard. Had a quick look on the bay and there are boards which can be had for ~£35.

But you'll have to give up the Xonar card with just having single PCIe slot.
 
McPhee said:
Problem components:

Corsair HX850W (this is bigger than 'standard' size) - Won't fit (or will obstruct other components) in many ITX cases. TBH, this is going to be the biggest problem component.
ASUS Xonar D1 PCI Sound Card - You'd need a DTX board or a bifurcation riser to carry this over. Or more realistically, you'll need to use on-board audio or a USB soundcard.
2x 1TB Samsung HDDs for storage - Most ITX cases have limited space for 3.5" drives, especially when you throw in a long PSU & a GPU.
Disc drive - Possible, but will limit case choice.
Click to expand...

I looked up the PSU and I think it is 180mm in length and is not fully modular, so things like ATX cables, CPU power etc. are attached. Unless the case has a separate area for a PSU I think this rules out many case choices.

The sound card is really good, but I am open to moving to a USB solution and I do have a small USB DAC/AMP that I use for music. Probably wouldn't miss any of the Xonar features so that could work.

The 1TB HDDs could be moved to an external enclosure, but the big sticking point is one is my 'Steam/Games' drive, which I would be using to load games on. Maybe a SATA SSD replacement would be a good idea.

McPhee said:
Motherboard
The motherboard is fairly easy to solve; if you're happy to leave the CPU at stock then the Asus P8H61 can be picked up cheaply. These boards were used in PCs for schools, so are pretty ubiquitous.
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. I took a look - I would be stepping back in a few areas, such as no USB 3.0 and obviously no overclocking. Unclear what else is worse or whether there'd be much performance difference with memory (my RAM uses XMP profiles) or GPU bandwidth.

McPhee said:
Cases
The easiest change would be to a Bitfenix Prodigy. I *think* you can remove the lower drive cage to make space for the PSU. Everything else (bar the sound card) should fit without problems (but check the GPU - I'm not certain which one you have). Other possibilities (with various compromises):
  • Silverstone SG13 (have to remove the drive cage to fit a long PSU, so would need to change drives + no room for an optical drive).
  • Silverstone SG05 (limited space for GPU, only takes a slim optical drive).
  • Raijintek Metis (won't work unless the GPU is quite short, as the PSU will be in the way).
  • Bitfenix Prodigy M (same problem as above).
  • Cooler Master NR200 (you'll need to find a way to mount an ATX PSU, and GPU clearance will be reduced).
Click to expand...

The GPU is an MSI Armor RX 570. It's double slot and comes in at 246mm according to MSI.

What about the Thermaltake Core V1? It looks like it has PSU space and GPU space, albeit not the smallest ITX case on the market.

nade said:
I think it'll really depend on how much you think you can stretch to for a budget.

You could consider a new case like this one: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aerocool-cs-105-cosmo-mini-tower-black-ca-21t-ae.html
I think this would fit your H50 cooler, along with a single 3.5 drive and even your optical drive. Would need to check sizing of your PSU though. So you would just need to get the case and source a replacement motherboard. Had a quick look on the bay and there are boards which can be had for ~£35.

But you'll have to give up the Xonar card with just having single PCIe slot.
Click to expand...

That case is horrible, I would extend my budget to around £80 max to get something nicer to sit on the desk. Were you referring to the same ASUS boards above or something else?

Thanks both for the excellent feedback and ideas!

EDIT:

Pricing so far would look like:
£40-80 for a case
£80-90 for a 1TB SATA SSD
£20-30 for a USB3.0 enclosure for data drive
£60-120 for a USB sound solution if my current isn't up to it
£80-90 for a quality (smaller PSU)

Low estimate could be £220 if I didn't need a sound card, high could be £410 to pull out all the stops. There's a point where that doesn't make a lot of sense in a system from 2012/2013 if I'm still staying on 1155. Tricky.

EDIT2:

Is MATX more sensible? Are there any MATX cases with a small footprint this sub-forum likes? I have a 'spare' (dead) PC in a Fractal Design MATX case but it still looks pretty large on the desk.
 
Last edited:
alex24 said:
Pricing so far would look like:
£40-80 for a case
£80-90 for a 1TB SATA SSD
£20-30 for a USB3.0 enclosure for data drive
£60-120 for a USB sound solution if my current isn't up to it
£80-90 for a quality (smaller PSU)
Click to expand...

You can carry everything apart from the sound card over to an NR200. Will require a bit of creativity and maybe a 3D printer, but it'll work:

Stuffed NR200 with 160mm ATX PSU, 2x 3.5" HDDs, full length GPU, 4 120mm fans, and more (3D files included!) : sffpc (reddit.com)

There are other options for mounting the components too, especially if you only want one 3.5" drive or could swap to 2.5" drives. I've seen quite a few builds using cable ties and mounting tape (foam, if used for mechanical drives) to squeeze stuff in to this case.

On the motherboard front, I got back in to PC gaming a few years ago with a cheap rig comprised of that board, an i5 2400, and an RX570. It worked fine, but as you say it's very basic.
 
Last edited:
alex24 said:
That case is horrible, I would extend my budget to around £80 max to get something nicer to sit on the desk. Were you referring to the same ASUS boards above or something else?

Thanks both for the excellent feedback and ideas!

EDIT:

Pricing so far would look like:
£40-80 for a case
£80-90 for a 1TB SATA SSD
£20-30 for a USB3.0 enclosure for data drive
£60-120 for a USB sound solution if my current isn't up to it
£80-90 for a quality (smaller PSU)

Low estimate could be £220 if I didn't need a sound card, high could be £410 to pull out all the stops. There's a point where that doesn't make a lot of sense in a system from 2012/2013 if I'm still staying on 1155. Tricky.

EDIT2:

Is MATX more sensible? Are there any MATX cases with a small footprint this sub-forum likes? I have a 'spare' (dead) PC in a Fractal Design MATX case but it still looks pretty large on the desk.
Click to expand...

Haha yeah i'm sorry, it is a awful looking case. It isn't as small as others, but there are lots of options depending on what you decide to go for. McPhee listed a good shortlist of smaller cases, you could have a look and see what you like the look of. Actually you could browse through the submitted PC builds on the PC Partpicker site, there are a lot of Mini-ITX builds listed here: https://uk.************.com/builds/#E=9,10 [EDIT] OK it seems that website is blocked out, but you can just goto the site then the Completed Builds section and filter the builds to view the cases and builds.

The motherboard i was looking at was indeed the same make and model McPhee suggested. Personally I don't really buy much from the bay, i would recommend posting on the Members Market Wanted page to see if someone is looking to sell any components you decide on.

When i switched from Midi Tower to my DR Zaber Sentry, i purchased a USB DVD Burner. I can count on 1 hand the number of times i've used it, and when i have it was only to rip some old CD's i found in the loft.
 
As an alternative, could you put the PC in a cupboard and have long cables to your desk? You only need one USB cable, running to a hub. Fibre optic video cables are now much cheaper. I don't know about your audio cables.
 
If you want portable, buy a laptop. It will fit your criteria much more favourably. Going MATX or ITX will cost you hundreds (new board, cooler, PSU, case) and literally give you zero performance improvements, although you might think you’ll move your PC round a) Babies grow up quickly and. b) Moving PC’s gets boring pretty quickly. If you want to save space by going MATX, you can achieve reasonable results by just buying a more suitable case or perhaps a monitor arm if desk space is an issue?
 
I'd agree with Avalon. With the components you currently have, you are better off starting from scratch (except for the GPU). As you said makes little sense to spend £300-£400 for a side-grade.
Either 1. Sell off you current bits and yolo through the second hand market for cheap parts. 2. Get new ITX parts which are pretty expensive. 3. Get a laptop.
 
The smallest case that fits an ATX motherboard I have seen was called riotoro cr 1080. I've no idea how good it is but it stares it fits full size atx mobo, psu and gpus.
 
There are many many cases you can squeeze a normal gpu and psu into. Your main worry though with such a setup will be heat.

Are you happy to mod? Do you have a dremel?

My node used to overheat. Now got 3 extra fan holes I cut out the top and it's cooler than in my tower pc haha
 
Avalon said:
If you want portable, buy a laptop. It will fit your criteria much more favourably. Going MATX or ITX will cost you hundreds (new board, cooler, PSU, case) and literally give you zero performance improvements, although you might think you’ll move your PC round a) Babies grow up quickly and. b) Moving PC’s gets boring pretty quickly. If you want to save space by going MATX, you can achieve reasonable results by just buying a more suitable case or perhaps a monitor arm if desk space is an issue?
Click to expand...
But laptops are terrible for gaming. Unless your pockets are endless
 
Avalon said:
The older games you typically play are potentially going to run quite well on an AMD + APU setup and £400 is pretty cheap relative to your other options.
Click to expand...
True... But who wants to be limited to old games all the time. After 5 months on my laptop I got fed up. Hence trying nvidia now streaming.

Had a blast playing old mega drive games though haha
 
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