Downsizing from giant rocket fish atx case to mini ITX. please help!

[evident]

I want to move my main rig is going from it's current ginormous rocketfish ATX tower to a smaller mini ITX case. The rocketfish case is going to be converted to a server build with 6 (for now) hard drives, but thats for another thread

specs:
gigabyte z68ma-d2h-b3, moving to asus p8z77i deluxe itx board
i7-2600K
CORSAIR CAFA50 120mm CPU Cooler - Dimensions 159.5 x 124.6 x 81.2mm
GTX460
samsung 240 evo SSD
1 WD black HD 4GB
SeaSonic USA SS-660XP2 dimensions 6.3" x 5.91" x 3.39"


I want the ITX case to be small, but high quality, able to fit a discrete graphics card, full size ATX PSU and at least two hard drives. budget is less than $200. I would really prefer not to buy a new heatsink but I will if it limits my choices. the machine I would have in my ITX case I imagine will always have one discrete GPU and full size ATX PSU.

Any advice on the most ideal case and fan brands for my setup? I am totally out of the loop now on what the best fans for the money are. I would like quiet but efficient fans for cooling my system.

Here are the 5 cases I was looking at

Lian Li PC-Q25B
BitFenix Phenom BFC-PHE-300-KKXKK-RP*
Corsair Obsidian Series 250D (CC-9011047-WW)
BitFenix Prodigy
Lian-Li PC-Q28B

Honestly, this is a very difficult choice since they all get good reviews and seem to fit my criteria.

Any reason to get one over the other? I always had my eyes set on the PC-Q25B when i was thinking of making an ITX server, but I think I want to keep the option to have a home server that's in an ATX case for better airflow more onboard goodies with an mATX or ATX server motherboard. I still think the Q25B is a good choice for my ITX build but what about the Q28? is it a newer version of the Q25? I really can't tell as there are tons of lian li ITX options. i'm totally confused and need some guidance!

summary:
downsizing from atx to itx
always going to have discrete GPU, and atx psu
need advice on itx case, leaning towards q25B but are there better choices for this form factor?
need advice on fans. totally out of the loop and would like something quiet with good cooling specs

thanks!

 

[dma0991]

I would get neither of the choices you've listed. The Lian-Li's are the smallest in terms of its total volume. They're good choices but the positioning of the PSU means that reusing your tower heatsink is impossible, and limited to a few low profile heatsink or stock heatsink.

The Bitfenix and Corsair are bad choices because they're a lot larger than the Lian-Li's and definitely a no-no. In fact, the Prodigy was large enough that it was modified to create another version to be compatible with a mATX motherboard, with the same dimension as the mITX version.

My suggestion would be the Silverstone TJ08-E. Volumetrically, it is similar to the Corsair and Bitfenix but it is far more versatile. It can fit an mATX or mITX motherboard, and your original mATX motherboard can be reused. No worries about heatsink height clearance as it could even fit a Noctua NH-D14. It is short of one HDD space but five should be plenty.

 

[Charlie98]

There is also the Fractal Node 304, I can't find the specs on how big of a cooler it can take, but I've seen pics of some pretty big coolers in one.

I would kind of tend to agree with dma, do you really need ITX? That's a decent mATX board (I know, I have one...) there are some pretty decent mATX cases that are smaller, if not as small as an ITX case.

 

[evident]

There is also the Fractal Node 304, I can't find the specs on how big of a cooler it can take, but I've seen pics of some pretty big coolers in one.

I would kind of tend to agree with dma, do you really need ITX? That's a decent mATX board (I know, I have one...) there are some pretty decent mATX cases that are smaller, if not as small as an ITX case.

i already have the asus itx board. The z68ma matx board was going to stay in my massive rocketfish lian li case and become my freenas/unraid setup. Maybe i'm thinking about this all wrong? i thought the idea of having a smaller main rig was pretty cool to me. I'm so used to having huge atx mid towers that i'd like to get away from it and go for a smaller type setup, especially now that i dont use an optical drive anymore, and i'm down to one ssd + 1 hd for my main machine.

 

[dma0991]

Maybe i'm thinking about this all wrong?

You can have the storage detached from your main PC if you want it that way. I'm currently using my main PC as main storage only because I don't have funds nor motive to go ahead with my Norco 24 bay storage server as of now.

If you really want to build an mITX, go as small as possible. This will also mean that you're limited to either stock cooling or AIO watercooling. One such case is the CM Elite 130. FD Node 304 as mentioned by Charlie98 is also a good choice and similar in size to the CM Elite 130.

 

[nitromullet]

The Jonsbo W1 is my current favorite mini ITX case. http://www.jonsbo.com/en/products_23_1.html

The rub is that it's only sold in Asia and Europe (or really expensive on ebay) right now. Although, rumor has it that it will be sold by Rosewill here in the US. It sounds likely due to the fact that Rosewill already sells re-branded Jonsbo cases under their Rosewill Legacy branding.

edit: I used to have one of those Rocketfish (Lian Li) cases too. I think paid like $40 for it at Best Buy. Definitely the best deal on a new case I ever got. If I had not chopped it up during my water cooling phase I'd probably still have it.

 

[Charlie98]

i already have the asus itx board. The z68ma matx board was going to stay in my massive rocketfish lian li case and become my freenas/unraid setup. Maybe i'm thinking about this all wrong? i thought the idea of having a smaller main rig was pretty cool to me. I'm so used to having huge atx mid towers that i'd like to get away from it and go for a smaller type setup, especially now that i dont use an optical drive anymore, and i'm down to one ssd + 1 hd for my main machine.

OK, fair enough. I have toyed with the idea of an mITX machine as well, just for the technical exercise of building it as small as I can... :sneaky: ...but I rolled over and went mATX anyway.

The Q28 has an external drive bay, the Q25 does not... looks like the Q25 would be a better choice for you... but you can forget any sort of tower CPU cooler. The BitFenix is a pretty big case, too, and the USB ports are on the side... doesn't work for me. I guess, of those listed, I'd go with the Corsair...

 

[SithSolo1]

Cubitek Mini Cube - http://www.cubitek.com/products/mini-series/mini-cube

The only place in the US I can find that sells them is here: http://www.quietpcusa.com/Cubitek-Mini-Cube-ITX-Computer-Case-P976.aspx

Edit: scrap this case, psu is 10mm too long

 

[piasabird]

I have one of these but I don't know if I would put a high end video card in it. If you don't put an optical drive in the 5.5" bay you can put one HD in the tray and one in the bottom. I think putting a Video card in a case like this is possible but I don't think the single fan in the front can push hot air out fast enough. I turned my Power supply upside down and sucked the air off the CPU and used a retail CPU Cooler. Not much extra room for a cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119286

I think you are almost better off with a MATX case.

Some of the Bitfenix models are kind of nice. They are really about the size of a MATX case.

You could use something like a Cooler Master NSE-200 which is a MATX case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119274

 

[evident]

hmmm.... what about downsizing to a smaller atx cube/tower, while using my mITX motherboard? is that more feasible?

 

[Topweasel]

hmmm.... what about downsizing to a smaller atx cube/tower, while using my mITX motherboard? is that more feasible?

Yeah. The I/O panel and screw placement match up with ATX and mATX. So you would lose out on the expansion slots and memory slots of either of those boards but it would work fine.

 

[nitromullet]

hmmm.... what about downsizing to a smaller atx cube/tower, while using my mITX motherboard? is that more feasible?

I don't really see how it could be more feasible. Any mATX case will still be larger than most mini ITX cases (many are as large as an ATX mid tower), and you would have wasted space where the mATX motherboard would normally be.

IMO, there are a lot of trade offs in terms of features when it comes to opting for a mini ITX motherboard over mATX or ATX, so it makes sense to try to get the finished build as small as possible.

If you're willing to go with a single 120mm AIO watercooler, you can build a really small mITX build with a CM Elite 130 or Antec ISK600. Your PSU will fit in the Elite 130 and it should fit in the Antec even with a longer graphics card.

The air cooler you have will probably necessitate a somewhat larger mini ITX case, although I believe all of your components would fit into a Fractal Design node 304 (the PSU will be tight). They will definitely fit into the BitFenix Prodigy.

The Corsair 250D is really designed with the Corsair H100i in mind. I don't think your cooler will fit even with the optical drive cage removed.

This post on the corsair forums shows the max height for the cpu cooler cooler at ~150mm, and the cooler you have is 159.5mm tall.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showpost.php?p=693288&postcount=17

 

[evident]

I don't really see how it could be more feasible. Any mATX case will still be larger than most mini ITX cases (many are as large as an ATX mid tower), and you would have wasted space where the mATX motherboard would normally be.

IMO, there are a lot of trade offs in terms of features when it comes to opting for a mini ITX motherboard over mATX or ATX, so it makes sense to try to get the finished build as small as possible.

If you're willing to go with a single 120mm AIO watercooler, you can build a really small mITX build with a CM Elite 130 or Antec ISK600. Your PSU will fit in the Elite 130 and it should fit in the Antec even with a longer graphics card.

The air cooler you have will probably necessitate a somewhat larger mini ITX case, although I believe all of your components would fit into a Fractal Design node 304 (the PSU will be tight). They will definitely fit into the BitFenix Prodigy.

The Corsair 250D is really designed with the Corsair H100i in mind. I don't think your cooler will fit even with the optical drive cage removed.

This post on the corsair forums shows the max height for the cpu cooler cooler at ~150mm, and the cooler you have is 159.5mm tall.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showpost.php?p=693288&postcount=17

I wasn't anticipating on buying another CPU cooler for this build but looks like it would be wise for me if i wanted to go this route... or hell just go back to my stock cooler and use this as my server's cpu heatsink.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

See setup in sig.

The included 450w PSU is not full ATX, but it's enough for anything you can actually fit in the case.

If you really want to go nuts on storage, get one of these and put it next to it. (I have one for my NAS. Works good.)

 

[evident]

going to get a zalman cnps8900 heatsink to address my heatsink height problems i guess... 120(L) X 120(W) X 60(H)mm

sigh... this is starting to get way too expensive for what i want to spend for no added benefit or gain for me. i already have this big rocketfish case and another atx case that would do both tasks as desktop and server perfectly fine. building a home server the right way is ridiculously expensive so i need to spend my cash on that. server motherboards are $180+ and ecc ram is out of control. im spending way too much time on the freenas forums and everyone over there are religious nuts when it comes to 16 GB of ECC RAM

 

[LuluTheMonk]

Don't know if this helps, but I got an antec isk600 and like it.

Asus P8Z77-I
2600k
GTX 780
Silverstone Strider 550w
Noctua CH-14
2 SSDs
1 TB spinning disk