New ITX build - Unsure on case

oceaness

oceaness

oceaness

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Just ordered the following parts:

MB: GA-Z77N-WIFI
CPU: i3770K
RAM: CML16GX3M2A1600C10

To update the following parts:

MB: Asus P5Q-Pro
CPU: Q9450
RAM: Cheap own brand DDR2 800mhz(because my original Reaper set died)

And pair with the existing parts:

SSD: Vertex 3
PSU: ATX 750w
GPU: 9800 GTX

Word to jargon ratio: 1.25 :eek:

Now, needless to say, the case that housed the original ATX board may be a tad roomy for the new Mini-ITX board, and whilst it may be amusing to purchase the largest case you can with a nice window and stick a Mini-ITX board right in the middle of it, it rather defeats the point, and as such I'm looking for the smallest case I can reasonably fit the new bits in, preferably with the existing parts.

I've looked around and have seen that the aptly named Prodigy appears to be probably the most popular choice at the moment, however I believe that really that's still, like many of the ITX cases I've looked at, a tad on the large size unless you need a lot of HDDs. (I have 8.5TB of WD drives that will hopefully be getting pooled on the network for storage, as there seems to be a distinct lack of ITX boards with lots of sata ports, the most I've seen is 6).

My favourite case by far has to be the FT03-Mini.
Unfortunately that wont be able to take the ATX PSU.
And possibly not the 9800 GTX, I've been unable to find an exact length for my specific GPU and I'm not at home so I can't put a monarch sovereign maharajah rule to it.
It also doesn't have the best airflow and no option for increasing it.

I am interested to see what other Mini-ITX cases people recommend.
One other thing to bear in mind is that I would like to install an after-market CPU cooler eventually and overclock this system to see what it's capable of. I understand that this isn't the easiest thing to achieve due to the socket location on the particular board I've chosen and case clearance restraints can make it more difficult.

Final Word to Jargon ratio: 8.27 :cool:
 
9800 GTX is 10.5" apparently.

In which case a lot of the smaller cases will be closed to you (SG06/05, FT03-mini, PC-Q11)

Leaving you with the SG07/08, CM Elite 120, PC-Q25/18/08 or the fractal design node 304.

Oh and the fat ******* Prodigy but if you are erring towards that then you may as well get a uATX case like the FT03 or anything by Lian li
 
Some interesting suggestions.

I had looked at the Node 304 and initially I didn't like it, but the design is growing on me the more I look at it. It's strange that overclockers don't stock it as they have 5 other Fractal Design cases.

Is it weird that I like it in white?

Right now I am leaning towards that in white as it takes a standard ATX PSU up to 160mm (need to measure the length of mine) and will have no problem tucking the 9800 GTX or anything bigger that I might get later down the line. Shame it's not out till possibly September in NA so who knows when we'll see it here. I've got time though, I'm in no rush :cool:

I can't deny the CM Elite 120 is a good case I just think it's ugly, what with the recessed bezel around the front and the PSU sticking out at the rear.

The SG07/08 are very nice but the price point is just too high for me, having already had to justify £425 to the misses :p

The PC-Q25 looks nice but the 140mm PSU constraint removes a few too many PSU options compared to the 160mm of the Node 304. I may have to purchase a new PSU unless I'm lucky with the length of my current one.
 
bare in mind that while the node 304 will fit a 160mm psu but if its modular the gpu is effectively limited or itll foul the modular connecters,
 
Hostile-17 said:
I've got the Lian Li Q08, nice clean looking case and its on offer this week

YOUR BASKET
1 x Lian Li PC-Q08B USB3.0 Mini-ITX Case - Black £77.88
Total : £88.38 (includes shipping : £8.75).

Click to expand...

Hi Spike ;)

The thing that originally attracted me to the FT03-Mini is the lack of front facing elements, the same thing that's drawing me to the Node 304.

If it didn't have the grill and 5.25" drive I'd say it would look pretty nice.

This actually looks quite good on paper but I'm not too keen on the design of the front.

It's volume is also nearly that of the GD05 micro ATX case that Idleman has mentioned and both take up more space than the Node 304 does.

Idleman said:
What about this!!!

YOUR BASKET
1 x Silverstone Grandia GD05 Desktop HTPC Case - Black (SST-GD05B USB3.0) £79.99
Total : £91.09 (includes shipping : £9.25).

Click to expand...

Monkeh said:
You can use these to extend the PSU mount for the PC-Q25:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Lian Li PE-01A Power Supply Mounting Bracket - Silver £11.99
1 x Lian Li PE-01B Power Supply Mounting Bracket - Black £11.99



But then you have the hanging out the back issue from the CM120.
Click to expand...

Those are pretty clever but yeah same problem as the CM but that does open up some more options if I decide i'm not bothered about the PSU hanging out.

melvis said:
bare in mind that while the node 304 will fit a 160mm psu but if its modular the gpu is effectively limited or itll foul the modular connecters,
Click to expand...

Yes I have considered this, annoyingly my PSU is bang on the 160mm mark + the modular connectors :rolleyes:
 
gropingmantis said:
If you like the look of the Lian-li PC-Q08 but not the front parts why not look at the PC-Q25!

Also the FT03-mini will not fit your current GPU.
Click to expand...

That is quite nice. A definite contender.

However I do still feel like all those HDD slots are a waste of space for my needs, as I'm currently in the process of re-purposing my old system into a NAS box, had a look a NAS4Free and FreeNAS but currently playing with Amahi.

I am aware of the GPU length issue. It's a fairly dated card now but it seems I would have to spend a fair amount to replace it with anything better.

The other thing I need to consider with these cases is space for a better CPU cooler, as when I stressed the 3770K it peaked at about 80°C with the stock heatsink and fan with the current case open.

I guess that for a lot of these cases the H60 is probably going to be the best option.

Which brings me around to the possibility of removing the hard disks cages from some of these cases and installing a larger radiator or two instead, but then of course I wouldn't be able to go with the convenience of a closed loop.
 
Nobody mentioning something else you should know here.
The Gigabyte motherboard has no voltage adjustment, that will limit you to ~4.1-4-2 ghz depending on how far your particular 3770k will go on default voltage.

The Asrock z77-itx board is a much better overclockers board and can be had for a few quid more than the gigabyte if you shop around.
 
Legion said:
Nobody mentioning something else you should know here.
The Gigabyte motherboard has no voltage adjustment, that will limit you to ~4.1-4-2 ghz depending on how far your particular 3770k will go on default voltage.

The Asrock z77-itx board is a much better overclockers board and can be had for a few quid more than the gigabyte if you shop around.
Click to expand...

Fear not, I am aware of this, there was another reason why I specifically chose this board. :)

The system is all up and running in a full size ATX case with the stock cooler at the moment. I'd be unable to overclock if I wanted to.

I would like to see what it can do eventually as it will be transcoding video files sometimes, so every ounce of speed I can squeeze out of it would be good. Obviously as you say I'm not going to go much further than 4.1/4.2 either way, but at the moment the limiting factor is the cooling system and the tight constraints of some of most ITX cases. I'm leaning towards the H60 at the moment.
 
oceaness said:
I am aware of the GPU length issue. It's a fairly dated card now but it seems I would have to spend a fair amount to replace it with anything better.
Click to expand...

With out checking I'm sure you could pick up an older model card fairly cheap that would supersede the 9800 GTX on performance and power efficiency if you wanted to shorter card.
 
Bane said:
With out checking I'm sure you could pick up an older model card fairly cheap that would supersede the 9800 GTX on performance and power efficiency if you wanted to shorter card.
Click to expand...

I'd definitely like to be able to replace it with a shorter card that's more powerful and more efficient.

Do you have any recommendations or what series I should be looking at?
 
I'm with Jony27 here, i think the Cooler master Elite 120 would be a good fit for your needs, it'll accommodate a good sized GPU with ventilation, wont break the bank price wise, looks ok and subtle enough to fit in many environments, the PSU should fit (i think 160mm was the sort of limit on size before you had issues, plus it still has an optical drive bay, which some of the others don't have, and i think that it's a little early right now to drop that !




As for cooling you could look towards something like this if you dont want to try the water cooling route




Also interesting, like pointed out before, you went for the slightly overclocking restricted motherboard, although i do like that one, it has lots of useful features, yet paired it with an i7 i3770K variant ....... would have thought the Xeon E3 1230 v2 would have been a better pairing cost wise for similar performance


EDIT:
The new Elite 130 looks good too, if you can wait a little for it's release
 
Last edited:
As per PM.

IMG_20130704_191149.jpg


Lian-li Q25B.
Corsair H50 Push|Pull cooling a 2500K @ 4.4Ghz.
Corsair AX750.
GTX580.

Running a SSD on the floor mounting tray.
 
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