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Looking for a compact, cool, quiet ATX case

F

Fun Guy

Golden Member
I'm looking for a relatively small form factor ATX case, one that is reliable, quiet, and of high quality with two 5.25" bays. Any suggestions?
 
Most cases with only two drive bays won't fit a full-sized ATX mobo - all that I know of are for microATX.
Take a look at the Ahanix Plasma for example.

. The Silverstone mini Berserker from http://www.gameve.com is a very compact 2-drive case, but it is for mATX mobos.

.bh.
 
Newegg will allow you to show only cases with 2 5.25" bays. From there you should see which ones will work with your motherboard.

this one can probably hold a standard atx mobo
 
Also use newegg's case configurator to look at 3-drive cases as most aren't much bigger than the codegen mentioned above. Note that the codegen PSU has only 10A on the 12V rail - a bit meager for today's systems. But at that price, you could set aside the OEM PSU for backup and get a better PSU to use.
.bh.
 
Why do you want only 2 5-1/4" drive bays? I don't think I've ever had a case, that holds an ATX mobo, that had less than 4 5-1/4" drive bays. Right now, I have three optical drives, which I had not thought I would do, but I might even get a fourth soon... All depends on when the drive I want actually comes out.

Personally, I wouldn't trust that codegen case and/or PSU and more than I could eat, and digest, it. Better off spending more, get a case with more drive bays, and just look for one that has less height. Or is that what you REALLY want and just thought that the way to get it is with less drives?

Also look at desktop style enclosures, over towers, since you can find several that take full size cards, have ~2 optical drive bays and will last longer/look better than that POS.

Try this case... or this one...
 
Yes, you have it right, I am really after a small form factor rather than just 2 drive bays. I am looking for the smallest case possible that will house a full ATX motherboard.

I looked at that Lan-Li you linked to....do you think it has enough ventilation/cooling for a P4 3Ghz+ CPU?

That desktop case is interesting as well....I will explore that option more.

What do you think about this case from Antec? At least it has some reviews, whereas the Lan-Li case doesn't have any.

Thanks!

Originally posted by: akira34
Why do you want only 2 5-1/4" drive bays? I don't think I've ever had a case, that holds an ATX mobo, that had less than 4 5-1/4" drive bays. Right now, I have three optical drives, which I had not thought I would do, but I might even get a fourth soon... All depends on when the drive I want actually comes out.

Personally, I wouldn't trust that codegen case and/or PSU and more than I could eat, and digest, it. Better off spending more, get a case with more drive bays, and just look for one that has less height. Or is that what you REALLY want and just thought that the way to get it is with less drives?

Also look at desktop style enclosures, over towers, since you can find several that take full size cards, have ~2 optical drive bays and will last longer/look better than that POS.

Try this case... or this one...
Click to expand...
 
I have this case, it is very similar to teh Lian Li PC3077 like the one in the other post, in fact it is the version before that one.
I DO NOT recommend using this or that case to run a P4 3.0+ ghz cpu. Cooling the CPU will be extremely hard. I run a Pentium M in my system and its barely OK for this cpu.
 
Originally posted by: GnomeCop
I have this case, it is very similar to teh Lian Li PC3077 like the one in the other post, in fact it is the version before that one.
I DO NOT recommend using this or that case to run a P4 3.0+ ghz cpu. Cooling the CPU will be extremely hard. I run a Pentium M in my system and its barely OK for this cpu.
Click to expand...


One of the reasons I use full size ATX cases for my own builds (except for the Aria)... Another is it's much easier to run cables neatly in a larger case than a small[er] one. It's also easier to install hardware into the larger cases than the smaller ones. IF you're going for the smaller case you're better off, in my opinion, going with the desktop form factor. Just be aware that you're limiting your system expansion capabilities that way.
 
Ditto Fun Guy. Antec case link u posted is a a very nice medium I would say, Antec name, Size and good reviews. I personally was looking for a small case for mATX, but wanted to put 7700 in it. With standard mATX cases no way that would happen, and even 7000 will have extra tight fit, always happy to have buffer room. Funny, I was doing the same thing now, looking for small quite case at the egg (like I did for past few weeks🙂). Their drop down menues help, but somtimes u gotta get crafty with they "key word" to lure all the cases out.
 
what about this coolermaster desktop? it's popular with the htpc crowd. if you do a lirrle research, i believe i read somewhere that even though it is listed as matx it can take atx mb.
 
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