Which mATX case?

Razor-BladE

Razor-BladE

Razor-BladE

Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2009
Posts
4,298
Location
Bristol
I'm considering getting a mATX case to replace the Fractal Design R2, which while it's a brilliant case it's very big and very heavy.

Being a fresher at uni, having a big and heavy case is not ideal as I occasionally move the PC to and from my room and communal area, and i'll be moving in and out of different flats/houses during the next 4 years so hopefully moving to SFF would make things a lot easier. Especially as all the other peripherals take up so much room already!

A quick look over the cases and the one that stands out is the Sugo SG01, but i'm wondering if there's a better/cheaper case out there that fits my needs.

So here it goes:

1. Something that will fit a H50 or Freezer7Pro or similar size.
2. DVD drive bay fitting a normal sized drive (i.e. not slimline).
3. At least two 3.5" internal bays.
4. Fits something similar size to the 4870/5770.
5. Fits both GPU and sound card and has appropriate expansion slots.
5. Takes an ATX power suppy.
6. Not required but ideally front panel HD audio.

Thanks :)
 
Last edited:
When I started uni this year I got a NZXT Vulcan as it had a handle which was great for moving it around.

I travel on trains a lot to get home and nothing beats mITX for being able to put in a bag and carry around so I've downsized and its freed up a lot of desk space which is nice.
 
MasterPlan1 said:
black box of awesome
Click to expand...

crisbduck said:
My V351 JUST fit a freezer7pro (scraped my stick on my power supply tho=( ) and i know it can fit h50 with a tad or modding
Click to expand...

Dayum that's a nice looking case!
I'm not looking to do any modding, and unfortunately I'd like to spend the other side of £70, the cheaper the better without compromising too much on quality.

gropingmantis said:
NZXT Vulcan.

I travel on trains a lot to get home and nothing beats mITX for being able to put in a bag and carry around so I've downsized and its freed up a lot of desk space which is nice.
Click to expand...

Nice case but still quite big, not much smaller than a midi tower.

I thought about mITX and if I didn't game then yeah I would go for it but it probably wouldn't fit everything I wanted in the case.
 
I've just got a Q08 and I do lots of gaming. Got an i5-2500k, HD6950(70), 4GB RAM. Just waiting on sandforce-2000 then I'll get an SSD. Its a great case. mITX gaming *** (<<apparently for-the-win is disallowed :s)!

Soon it'll have 4HDDs. I've got an H50 in there, DVD drive (not even slimline), AX850 PSU. There is plenty of room once its all in its not a Silverstone (flame on!).
 
Last edited:
You fit all of that into a mITX case?? Which takes ATX PSU as well? :eek: That's impressive.

As said above though, not looking to spend that much on it. Do you think the Q07 will be big enough?

Edit: And if I do go mITX, that means buying a new mobo and swapping my 4x2GB RAM for 2x4GB..
I'd actually much rather stay mATX I think.

Edit2:And there would be no space for my sound card.
So yeah I'll stick to mATX.
 
Last edited:
Yes it all fits in. The Lian-li cases really are the dogs dangly bits. Check out their website. The V351 and V352 are decent small mATX cases but they look kind of cramped. The V354 looks nice (basically the big brother of the Q08) or the new PC-A04 but that's similar to the Vulcan size.

Failing that a Silverstone SG01 but they are butt ugly IMO.

I did a bit of research into small mATX cases before I decided to switch to mITX and if you want small mATX your options are Lian-li, Silverstone or Lan Gear.
 
gropingmantis said:
I've just got a Q08 and I do lots of gaming. Got an i5-2500k, HD6950(70), 4GB RAM. Just waiting on sandforce-2000 then I'll get an SSD. Its a great case. mITX gaming *** (<<apparently for-the-win is disallowed :s)!

Soon it'll have 4HDDs. I've got an H50 in there, DVD drive (not even slimline), AX850 PSU. There is plenty of room once its all in its not a Silverstone (flame on!).
Click to expand...

any chance of some pics of this please ? just interested in how you managed to get a h50 in and where you put the rad without losing the hd bays or fouling the psu mounting, would be nice to see in the flesh :)


i know what you mean about the sg01 as i have that and a sg03 and the sg01 just looks like a box while the sg03 kinda looks like a subwoofer :)
 
Last edited:
The PSU blocks at most 1/3 but more like 1/4 of the rad. I was getting 24-25 idle, 50-55 primed but it has been quite cold in our house recently. Be interesting to see how it works this summer (provided its a warm one).

When it had air in the H50 system I was getting 44 degrees idle :(.
I am using a Noctua P12 instead of the stock fan.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the advice.
I think I've narrowed it down to either the SG01 or SG03 as they come in at around the same price.
I don't think the SG01 looks that bad actually but everyone has their own opinion.
Just to decide whether I want a 'cube' (01) or more tower-like (03) case now.
 
i'll do it tomorrow when home from work as its a bit late just now to get them all out and i'll stick a lian li pc-60 mid tower in for scale :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom