Micro ATX Cases

Soldato
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Nope. Pictures are very deceptive. Also, some MATX cases are surprisingly big o.0

Unless some kind retailer/manufacturer sorts them for you you're stuck sorting through the pile yerself.

Ditto mobos, except if the pictures are correct then the MATX's are square, ATX is rectangular.

I spent forever rummaging for MATX (tower) cases. There's more than you'd think but most retailers don't tend to stock a wide variety.
 
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OP
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Ah, glad it's not just me, I thought I was going mad!

What are the best small cases for £50 or less? Or do I really need to spend more?
 
Soldato
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Don't get me started. You also have to consider what you're going to use the case for while you're looking.

i.e If you want to build a pocket rocket mATX gaming system then you can disregard all the low profile or fixed PSU HTPC cases completely, as they'll most likely be useless.

In terms of gaming, I can throw together a quick list of what's worth looking at.

Silverstone Sugo SG01, SG02, SG03, SG04 (and variants)
Silverstone Temjin TJ08
Lian-Li V300, V350, V351, PC-A03
Antec Mini-P180, NSK1380, NSK3480
Thermaltake Lanbox (and variants)
NZXT Rogue
Coolermaster Elite 341, Elite 342, Centurion 541

If you want a good laugh, search for the Zalman TNN300. It retails at over £400, for a mATX case! :D
 
Soldato
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I'll be able to give another view of the Antec Mini-P180 as mines arriving on Monday :D for my i5 build, along with the stuff to stuff in it.

It's aroundabout the £50-60 mark in some places.
 
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Hey I'm starting to learn, never knew only some cases take a full ATX power supply.

Essentially, I want to build a small PC, without compromising on power (so no atom for me). I spotted that you can do a micro-atx i5 build and got very excited!

I do mainly video and image editing, but it must be able to game too, so I was thinking of 4850 graphics (or similar). So guessing I'll need around 500w PSU?

Any recommendations to get me started along the right lines would be much appreciated.
 
Soldato
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Trouble with the Mini-P180 is that it's not very mini. It's almost as big as it's full ATX brother, the P180.

If you want to go as absolutely small as possible, there's always the Sugo SG05 - takes a miniITX board and has a solid 300W PSU, so with the Zotac 9300-ITX, something like a Q9450 and an HD4850 it would absolutely fly and be smaller than anything on that list.
 
Soldato
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I know it's not a really small tower like a Coolermaster 340 341 342 but it uses the extra volume to make itself quieter and arrange stuff more usefully :)
 
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