Moving to ITX

Megahurtz400

Megahurtz400

Megahurtz400

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Hey all! Bit of an open ended question here so any advice would be great! :)

I've got an urge to downsize to a smaller and more minimalist case, currently have a heaving huge Phanteks P600S which is a great case but just so big!

Ideally i'd like a much smaller, nice and plain white case which would run quietly at decent temps (not asking much I know!)

Machine is really only used for gaming, which at the moment is CSGO, HLL and RDR2.
What case would you guys recommend and what other components would I need to make the shift?

Obviously a new motherboard, but i'm thinking I might also need a new PSU? Memory that isn't as tall?

Current set up is:
2700x
Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370-Gaming 5 AMD X370 ATX
Gigabyte RTX 3070 Vision GPU
Corsair H115i CPU Cooler
Team Group Night Hawk RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - RGB White
be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
 
Spent a bit more time looking at cases and quite like the look of the Lian Li below, would I need the W3 or W4 for my 3070? and are the additional mesh side panels compatible with both? I want to move away from RGB-ness so mesh would be better to hit my terrible cable management skills :cry:

www.overclockers.co.uk

Lian Li Q58W3 Mini-ITX Aluminium and Tempered Glass Case - White

Order Lian Li Q58W3 Mini-ITX Aluminium and Tempered Glass Case - White now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
www.overclockers.co.uk

Lian Li Q58W4 Mini-ITX PCIE 4.0 Tempered Glass Case - White

Order Lian Li Q58W4 Mini-ITX PCIE 4.0 Tempered Glass Case - White now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
www.overclockers.co.uk

Lian Li Q58W1 Mesh panel for Q58 Mini-ITX Case - White

Order Lian Li Q58W1 Mesh panel for Q58 Mini-ITX Case - White now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
 
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Your either going to loose your cooler if you reuse your atx psu or get an SFX psu and keep the cooler with the above case.


You shouldn't need low profile memory if using a water cooler.

So what's your plans CPU , motherboard wise ?
 
What sort of quiet are you hoping for?

The difficulty with ITX cases is fan noise and best case is using quality fans that produce a not unpleasant airflow noise when gaming rather than whining sounds or mismatched compounding pulsing sounds.

Some AM4 ITX motherboards have small (30mm) chipset and/or VRM fans which at higher temperatures last only a few months before they start producing an annoying whine and getting replacements for them could be problematic.

Those without a VRM fan (like the Gigabyte B450M ITX I have) results in VRM temperatures with higher end CPUs above 100c even with a decent heatsink which obviously isn't ideal in a small case unless airflow can be directed towards it.
 
If you want to reuse your cooler you will need to change to a SFX PSU.

You could drop to a B550 board which avoids the need for a chipset fan that some X570 boards needs, which should still be a step up from the X370. I can only see one B550 ITX board on OcUK: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...-am4-b550-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-58x-gi.html

As for VRM cooling, with those cases the radiator is right above the board so it'll have airflow.
 
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Orcvader said:
If you want to reuse your cooler you will need to change to a SFX PSU.

You could drop to a B550 board which avoids the need for a chipset fan that some X570 boards needs, which should still be a step up from the X370. I can only see one B550 ITX board on OcUK: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...-am4-b550-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-58x-gi.html

As for VRM cooling, with those cases the radiator is right above the board so it'll have airflow.
Click to expand...

That's good OcUK have that board although I'd advocate selling up and building a newer ITX based setup instead of going with it. With hindsight it's the board I would have purchased instead of the Asus B550I I stopped using after the VRM fan became noisy. Asus warranty turned out to be worthless as they don't have spare parts to send out, and I'd prefer any other form of torture than attempting to encourage the retailer I bought it from to uphold my consumer rights towards a satisfactory solution.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

mickyflinn said:
Your either going to loose your cooler if you reuse your atx psu or get an SFX psu and keep the cooler with the above case.


You shouldn't need low profile memory if using a water cooler.

So what's your plans CPU , motherboard wise ?
Click to expand...

Done some more reading on the case and it would seem so, what would you recommend on a purely performance based basis? I imagine a new cooler will be cheaper than an SFX PSU? I do like the idea of keeping my PSU incase I do decide to change back to a bigger form factor.
Ideally i'd like to keep my current CPU, but get a motherboard that will allow me to slot in a new AMD chip in the future. Current machine does everything I want it to perfectly, and not looking for any major performance gain with this upgrade tbh!

str said:
What sort of quiet are you hoping for?

The difficulty with ITX cases is fan noise and best case is using quality fans that produce a not unpleasant airflow noise when gaming rather than whining sounds or mismatched compounding pulsing sounds.

Some AM4 ITX motherboards have small (30mm) chipset and/or VRM fans which at higher temperatures last only a few months before they start producing an annoying whine and getting replacements for them could be problematic.

Those without a VRM fan (like the Gigabyte B450M ITX I have) results in VRM temperatures with higher end CPUs above 100c even with a decent heatsink which obviously isn't ideal in a small case unless airflow can be directed towards it.
Click to expand...

Ideally unable to hear it while gaming. I'll accept hearing the GPU spin up while in a quiet bit of RDR2 with a headset on :)

Quartz said:
Allegedly the RTX 4070 is much less power-hungry so will run quieter and cooler. As @str notes, noise can be an issue in small cases.

There are huge numbers of ITX build videos and I suggest you watch as many as you can.
Click to expand...

Is that a typo or a suggestion to upgrade to a 4070? Would love to but can't warrant spending that much of a GPU these days with how little I actually play demanding games!

Orcvader said:
you want to reuse your cooler you will need to change to a SFX PSU.

You could drop to a B550 board which avoids the need for a chipset fan that some X570 boards needs, which should still be a step up from the X370. I can only see one B550 ITX board on OcUK: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...-am4-b550-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-58x-gi.html

As for VRM cooling, with those cases the radiator is right above the board so it'll have airflow
Click to expand...

Thanks, did see that board, I take it I could slot a newer AMD chip like a 5600/5700 at somepoint soon and it'd run fine?
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Thanks, did see that board, I take it I could slot a newer AMD chip like a 5600/5700 at somepoint soon and it'd run fine?
Click to expand...
Yup no issues, even the 5800X3D will work. Would be a massive upgrade from the 2700X. Honestly I would be more tempted to upgrade that first instead of your GPU based on your games.

If you want to stick with your PSU you're limited to a 120/140mm AIO with the Lian Li cases.. There's the ssupd Meshlicious case which can fit both ATX and 280mm radiator: https://www.reddit.com/r/SSUPD/comments/qoyqdz/meshlicious_with_280mm_aio_and_atx_psu/

I built a system with the ssupd case with the 7700X and 3070 Ti few months ago, and haven't had any issues with noise. Only mistake I did do however was using an AIO cooler with a really thick radiator which was a tight fit. H115i's radiator is slimmer so should be fine even with the ATX PSU.
 
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Orcvader said:
Yup no issues, even the 5800X3D will work. Would be a massive upgrade from the 2700X. Honestly I would be more tempted to upgrade that first instead of your GPU based on your games.

If you want to stick with your PSU you're limited to a 120/140mm AIO with the Lian Li cases.. There's the ssupd Meshlicious case which can fit both ATX and 280mm radiator: https://www.reddit.com/r/SSUPD/comments/qoyqdz/meshlicious_with_280mm_aio_and_atx_psu/

I built a system with the ssupd case with the 7700X and 3070 Ti few months ago, and haven't had any issues with noise. Only mistake I did do however was using an AIO cooler with a really thick radiator which was a tight fit. H115i's radiator is slimmer so should be fine even with the ATX PSU.
Click to expand...

No plans to upgrade the GPU, only got my 3070 a few months ago and does me fine :)

Ooooo that case has thrown a spanner in the works, I do prefer the shape of the LianLi but the SSUPD means i'd basically only need to buy the case and a new mobo!
 
Megahurtz400 said:
No plans to upgrade the GPU, only got my 3070 a few months ago and does me fine :)

Ooooo that case has thrown a spanner in the works, I do prefer the shape of the LianLi but the SSUPD means i'd basically only need to buy the case and a new mobo!
Click to expand...
B550 motherboard looses support for your CPU so you may have to upgrade or source a b450 I motherboard.

B550 itx motherboard like the ASRock B550M-ITX/AC and Ryzen 5600 would be a cheap upgrade, the 5600 is a decent performer and should give you a decent uplift in gaming..

Unless you want to go the latest tech.
 
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The size of the case seems bigger than most M-ATX cases. Also not sure about the fans from the graphics card facing a mesh panel. Could get pretty loud.
 
So have been looking a bit more at cases today!

Like the look of the Jonsplus below, think it is a nice size while still allowing the use of my current AIO CPU cooler.

Would my 2700x work with the motherboard below? I just can't justify spending out on a new CPU and therefore probably may as well get some new RAM as it's so cheap at the moment.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £483.91 (includes delivery: £11.99)​



​
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Would my 2700x work with the motherboard below? I just can't justify spending out on a new CPU and therefore probably may as well get some new RAM as it's so cheap at the moment.
Click to expand...

You could try emailing Gigabyte, or searching reddit & user reviews for experiences.

I suspect that they would get in trouble with AMD by admitting it (in a CPU support list), but many B550 boards support Zen+ out of the box with no modifications required. If later BIOS versions makes this less likely, I don't know.
 
I use the Meshlicious for ssupd, all mesh, in white.

It can be moved around a bit for different layouts etc, but i use a full size ATX PSU, and a 240mm AIO for the CPU. the GPU is on a riser and rotated, so sits upwards, sat on its back panel. No sag to worry about. Ive spaced the GPU out so its up against mesh side panel, drawing in cool air.
The only real downside is the monitor cables come out the bottom of the case. I have printed some feet to raise it up, which also helps with GPU heat buildup. I used a displayport extension (P7A-P8Q-10cm from adt link) to take a socket to the back panel. If i did it again, i'd probably take it to the spare pcie slot space on the back instead (you'll know what i mean when you see it.

I really like the case, really small foot print, quiet and cool.

I have a 10600K and a 3080FE and the AIO pump is the loudest thing on it.

the main reason i went with it, was the full ATX PSU support, and the small footprint. I really like it, though its difficult to get all the cables and AIO pipes to fit nicely. Custom PSU cables would make all the difference, but i didnt want to spend the money, when there were perfectly good cables with the PSU.
 
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Megahurtz400 said:
So have been looking a bit more at cases today!

Like the look of the Jonsplus below, think it is a nice size while still allowing the use of my current AIO CPU cooler.

Would my 2700x work with the motherboard below? I just can't justify spending out on a new CPU and therefore probably may as well get some new RAM as it's so cheap at the moment.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £483.91 (includes delivery: £11.99)​

​
​
​
Click to expand...
A friend has this case, its great quality, but the cooling for large cooler GPUs is very bad, his 2070 ti has a pretty huge gigabyte cooler on it and it runs loud as hell because its choked side panels.

with a smaller GPU it might not be so bad, but feel there are way better more compact cases, its actually pretty huge this case.
 
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Megahurtz400 said:
Would my 2700x work with the motherboard below? I just can't justify spending out on a new CPU and therefore probably may as well get some new RAM as it's so cheap at the moment.
Click to expand...

I have temporarily installed a 2700X in my Asus ROG STRIX B550-I ITX board. It works!
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Ideally unable to hear it while gaming. I'll accept hearing the GPU spin up while in a quiet bit of RDR2 with a headset on :)
Click to expand...
Not sure that's realistic for an ITX unless everything is watercooled. Even my mATX build has reasonable fan noise in gaming - when the GPU heats up the case that heat has to go somewhere - and that's with a 1080ti at 250w TDP. I don't notice though as I generlaly wear headphones anyway. It's silent in normal use.
 
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