I should have gone Mini-itx... might convert, help please

[champ222]

Hi All

so about a year ago, i built a new PC, but its barely been used. Part of the issue is that its upstairs in the small room, which i cant get in, because its also a dumping room for stuff and we have a 3 year old (whose bedroom is off that room, and a 6 month old, that doesnt want to sleep for more than an hour at a time. Sitting up there, is likely to cause disruption, and even with headphones on, id worry that my daughter might get up and see something that would scare her on the game i'm playing. It would make a tense household, even worse.

I use a steam link for a bit of TV gaming, which works well for fighting games and driving games, but i fancy some shooters (single player) and fancy some sofa mouse and keyboard action haha. Ive done it in the past with reasonable success, but the lag over the steam link is a bit off putting.

The PC is currently big and heavy. so taking it downstairs is awkward, and because the case cost me quite a lot, if i take it anywhere, it goes in the box, which is huge.

so i'm thinking it might be nice to turn it into a much smaller pc, that is easier to move about.

tl;dr

My PC is too big and i want to make it smaller.

the current spec is as follows, and i want to change as little as possible:

Gigabyte Z-270 ultra gaming (this will obviously need to change as its full ATX)
16GB DDR4 corsair vengence
Intel G4560
ASUS Nvidia Strix GTX 1070 (Dual slot - 134 x 40 x 298 mm)
Seasonic X-750 PSU (160mm deep modular)
Thermalright Macho Rev B cooler (H=162, W=140, D=102+fan so i guess D=130 ish mm)
Samsung 2.5" SSD, plus i currently use a bunch of old HDDs for games. i could replace with one big 3.5"HDD or potentially 2.5" SSD
Phanteks Evolv ATX

so ive looked about at some cases, and i like the look of the Bitfenix Prodigy, because the handles on the case give it a grab and go appeal, and they are cheap enough used so that i wouldnt worry too much about it getting scratched up. those handles do look a bit flimsy though.

In this video, (awful quality i'm afraid) he gets the thermalright macho in, buy removing the rear fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbc-PSXDa20 - skip to about 8 mins.

the PSU might be a bit deep. It will fit a 160mm PSU, but because its modular, there might not be room. It does look like i could just cut some holes in the case where the back of the PSU goes, so that the PSU Cables can go straight through. i could remove the drive cage all together and possibly the ODD tray, and fit a nice big fan in the front...although i'd need to mount a 3.5" HDD somewhere potentially.

also looked at the Fractal design Core500 and node 304, which should also work, and the bitfenix phenom.

What say you guys?

Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

 

[GWANGY]

I'm surprised at your choices g4560 ..gtx1070..Seasonic 750w still, each to their own.
The (case) fractal Nano S is very well reviewed and is able to fit a fair amount of stuff , is also noise suppressed which should help , BUT iirc its not that small considering its an ITX case (reasonably cheap too 55) Node304 looks ok too.
Other advice .. Clean out and use that spare room properly (luggagebnb ?)

 

[Avalon]

As above, unusual hardware combination.

As someone who owned a Prodigy it’s quite sturdy, but I think you may be missing the point. What you have is a £150 case, it’s hardly huge, spending the same sort of money to buy a new board and a new case won’t magically solve the issues you seem to have about it, it’ll just create more issues. Firstly lugging a PC downstairs just to game on then taking it back up later on will get old really quickly and leaving it downstairs as you’ll likely end up doing you could save yourself a load of money and just take what you have downstairs. If you are concerned then buy a cover or skin it.

Also how well received will you taking over the main screen in the lounge be? I only ask as after working a full day and then spending as much time as possible with my wife/kids, I didn’t have a lot of time or energy to game and that energy was generally much better spent on my relationship than my PC. As you mention it’s already a tense household this seems worthy of consideration.

If you do want to go this route then a Balun set-up may work for you. You’d just need to see if the wireless mouse/keyboard can connect from one room to another OK or solve it another way.