Small but performant case recommendations

MatteRB26 · 29 Aug 2020 at 09:44

My friend's sister is looking to buy a new cheap desktop for their kids to game on (Fortnite, Minecraft, nothing huge) and I've offered to keep an eye out and put something together. They'll probably buy parts and I'll put it together for them.

It looks like from their space they'll be after a small case. I'm including an old 7850 of mine so need a case to fit that - which should be easy enough.

What small form factor cases are out that that arent just mini hotboxes? I'm thinking of putting a 3300X in so it shouldn't be getting too hot, especially with something like a Hyper 212 Evo on it.

bakes0310 · 29 Aug 2020 at 10:55

Cooler master nr200, big thread on it. cheap aswell for a sff case at £90, i want one for a lounge build.

McPhee · 29 Aug 2020 at 15:35

Silverstone SG13 is £40 and takes ATX PSUs (say ~£50 for something basic but reliable). NR200 is the better case. But SG13 is far from bad, and £80 is a big saving on a budget build.

Though worth mentioning that cooler clearance when using an ATX PSU in the SG13 is really low. So some of that £80 saving is going to go on buying a good low profile cooler or 120mm AIO (the latter generally works better).

MatteRB26 · 30 Aug 2020 at 08:33

Thanks guys, I'll take a look at those. They'll probably buy during Black Friday/Cyber Monday so may be able to pick up a higher spec. My friend asked gave a £300 budget not expecting me to actually spec something decent for around that...

An AIO won't be an option - they're not that old and none of them are tech savvy to maintain it. I considered water on my 3600 but was scared of the maintenance

McPhee · 30 Aug 2020 at 10:50

AIOs don't require any maintenance. If you wanted to avoid using one, you're looking at a Noctua L9, Cryorig C7, or Alpenfon Black Ridge for cooling the CPU effectively. Won't be as good as a 120mm AIO, but a 3300X isn't going to cause any problems.

Bear in mind that small form factor tends to involve higher costs. If the budget is tight, using SFF parts is going to make it tighter.

MatteRB26 · 30 Aug 2020 at 10:53

McPhee said:
AIOs don't require any maintenance. If you wanted to avoid using one, you're looking at a Noctua L9, Cryorig C7, or Alpenfon Black Ridge for cooling the CPU effectively. Won't be as good as a 120mm AIO, but a 3300X isn't going to cause any problems.

Probably my ignorance on AIOs, but do they not require bleeding and replacing of the liquid? Or is that only on custom loops?

I don't expect the 3300x to require much, at most I'll get it boosting nicely but it's not going to require harsh speeds. They currently have an AIO PC which runs Minecraft at about 10 FPS and takes minutes to create a world... A 3400G would be a world of difference for them but I have spare GPUs so throwing one in with a cheaper 3300x.

McPhee · 30 Aug 2020 at 11:07

MatteRB26 said:
Probably my ignorance on AIOs, but do they not require bleeding and replacing of the liquid? Or is that only on custom loops?

Only custom loops need bleeding. In general, a closed loop cooler (AIO) is factory sealed. It isn't possible to do any maintenance on them. There are exceptions, like Alphacool's AIOs. But they are basically pre-assembled custom loops (same parts). The common brands like Corsair, NZXT, Arctic Cooling and Cooler Master all use completely sealed systems.