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Antar Bolaeisk

Antar Bolaeisk

Antar Bolaeisk

Soldato
Joined
19 Dec 2006
Posts
9,262
Location
Saudi Arabia né Donegal
Hi All,

What's the current recommendations regarding smallest case capable of containing the best graphics card (assuming a preference for AMD).

Also assume a desire to water cool the processor with an AIO loop. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the preferred way to cool the processor in such a confined space?

Other items will include 1xSSD and 1xHDD. Bluray drive would be a nice addition but is not an absolute requirement.

Constraints are that this needs to be something I can put in a suitcase and it will be operating in ambient temperature ranges of between 20-35°C. Budget at the moment is flexible.

I would appreciate any pointers.
 
That RVZ01 looks the business, my only concern would be the SFX PSU which seems like a proprietary form factor and only seems to come in a 450W flavour which could be a problem if I were to throw an R290 in there.

The CM Elite looks pretty nice and at only 5cc more than the RVZ01 it could be worth it for the extra flexibility. It even comes in .8kg lighter as well, a big bonus for packing.

Cheers guys, now I just need to decide what to put in it.
 
The 450w SFX PSU can handle a GTX 780 Ti, it should be able to handle R9 290.

They usually quote higher requirement because of the cheap no name PSUs out there, so they don't run into issues.

Also, Furmark isn't the best way, but it does give you an idea.
 
Hadron Hydro can fit 10.5 inch GPUs, 11 if you do a small mod and cut away a tiny bit of the side panel support on the interior (commonly done). Also comes with a 500w Gold PSU and is tiny, and can fit a 240mm radiator.
 
So, finally getting around to this, think I'm going to go with the RVZ-01 as suggested. Can anyone see any issues with the below spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-03-40G) £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £155.99
1 x MSI Z87I Gaming AC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £129.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD316G1600HC9DC01) £99.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD30EZRX) HDD £89.99
1 x Silverstone Strider SFX Gold 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (SST-ST45SF-G) £76.99
1 x Silverstone SST-RVZ01 Raven Mini-ITX - Black £69.98
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Noctua NH-L12 CPU Cooler £44.99
Total : £1,065.42 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Nice looking build there!

I have pretty much the same build as that but was using the gigabyte windforce 7970 and 2 noctua 120m fans blowing onto it. I did run into a few overheating problems with the card getting into 90s but whether that was down to the design im not sure, so that would be the only thing i would be thinking about.

Granted i was having the case horizontal in my TV desk so airflow from the bottom wasnt as great as it would have been if it was standing up.

I put the 7970 back to crossfire in my main rig and put my old 650ti boost in Raven while i figure out the best solution to get a more powerful card in there without overheating, maybe a blower style cooler would be wise although in my experience with the amd ones they can be pretty loud!
 
Argh so still haven't made up my mind, also considering the cooler master instead so does the below look okay:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-03-40G) £329.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x MSI Z87I Gaming AC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £129.95
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD316G2133HC11ADC01) £107.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £67.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-209EBK 16x BDRW Multilayer 128GB retail £59.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Case - Black £45.95
1 x Cooler Master Seidon 120V All in one Liquid CPU Cooler Kit £39.95
Total : £1,161.36 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Very similar to what I'm running now in a CM130, great set up :)

If you mount the HDD and SSD in the 5.25" bay you've got loads of room to fit a pull fan on your AIO cooler and a nice clear space for airflow through the case.

Mount your PSU upside down so the fan from the PSU acts as an exhaust.

You will want to 5V / 7V the 80mm side fan as it's a bit noisy at full whack, but at 5V/7V it's fine.

Both cases are really good, the Raven is flatter but wider, the CM130 is more shuttle dimensions.
 
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