Most cases are big waste of space

bigpow

Platinum Member
Dec 10, 2000
2,372
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Or is it?

I've been looking for an mATX case that only needs to house a 2.5" SSD drive and a tower style CPU cooler w/ 120mm min. fans. Standard size GPU. No 3.5" HDD (got my NAS). No ODD either.

All I see: a bunch of mATX cases with lots of room for 3.5" HDDs and crap. If not that, it's the slims/ desktops that can't fit a tower cooler and require PCIe vertical adapters.



Any idea which case would fit this simple requirement?

Thanks in advance.
 

T_Yamamoto

Lifer
Jul 6, 2011
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795
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well most mATX cases, they are an alternative to regular mid size cases and for those looking for something compact (if they bought a matx board)

they will need a 3.5" HDD because they probably (like me) dont have a NAS.
people may still want a 5.25" bay for hotswaping or for burning media onto a cd

have you seen FULL TOWER CASES?
 

bigpow

Platinum Member
Dec 10, 2000
2,372
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Yamamoto, I'm sure that some ATX full towers are great for those needing them today, but they're just not for me. Most if not all mATX towers are already too spacious, it's silly.

I still have some full and mids (Lian-Lis) in my storage. They were necessary a decade or so ago, but not anymore. I will have to pay recycling fees for those, when I get around to cleaning the house.
Glad I dumped all my XT, 286 full desktop and towers before they start charging recycling fees.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,200
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Yep, "BIG" desktop PCs are a dying breed, except for the few of us that either do content creation, or distributed computing (and/or gaming, I suppose).

For "ordinary" computer users, something tiny, with video outputs, and power and keyboard/mouse/USB inputs, is enough.

The only odd requirement that you have, is using a tower-style heatsink. That does not fit with the tiny case requirement. Tiny cases often have poor heat dissipation, so there's a reason they don't accommodate bigger coolers.

Is there a reason for this, OP? Are you planning to overclock?
 

T_Yamamoto

Lifer
Jul 6, 2011
15,007
795
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Yamamoto, I'm sure that some ATX full towers are great for those needing them today, but they're just not for me. Most if not all mATX towers are already too spacious, it's silly.

I still have some full and mids (Lian-Lis) in my storage. They were necessary a decade or so ago, but not anymore. I will have to pay recycling fees for those, when I get around to cleaning the house.
Glad I dumped all my XT, 286 full desktop and towers before they start charging recycling fees.
you could sell those cases on ft/fs
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
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I put my new build in a mid-sized case (HAF922) and thought it was too big, to do it over again I probably have put it in a HAF912 (or, in even greater hindsight, a Fractal R3...)

When I was at MicroCenter looking at cases I was astounded at how big some of the full cases were! You could climb in there and go to sleep! ...well, maybe.
 

bigpow

Platinum Member
Dec 10, 2000
2,372
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81
I'm going to put a slow & quiet fan on it.
I'm done with any sort of O/C with screaming fans.

This 2500k build will be used for light lightroom duty only.
Lots of RAM, cheap GPU like 6770 or 6850 (depending on if I could find one w/passive or Ice cooling). 120GB SSD. GigE connection to 12TB NAS.

My last build was HTPC duty, 2400s w/ Ninja passive HS. Tight fit inside a GD04B.
A tower version of GD04B would fit my need, actually.
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,539
1,651
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you could sell those cases on ft/fs

or offer them free for the taking / available for local pickup on Craigslist so there's no shipping hassle, though around here if I wanted to throw them away I could just leave them for the garbage collector and instead of him throwing them in the rear of the truck he puts stuff he wants to keep for himself in a compartment behind the driver's seat. Worst case scenario is he just leaves something at the curb for me to bring back inside and find another way to get rid of it.
 

T_Yamamoto

Lifer
Jul 6, 2011
15,007
795
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or offer them free for the taking / available for local pickup on Craigslist so there's no shipping hassle, though around here if I wanted to throw them away I could just leave them for the garbage collector and instead of him throwing them in the rear of the truck he puts stuff he wants to keep for himself in a compartment behind the driver's seat. Worst case scenario is he just leaves something at the curb for me to bring back inside and find another way to get rid of it.
or sell it on craigslist
 

wirednuts

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2007
7,121
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0
im dumping all my desktops. i dont do anything cpu intensive... and if i ever needed to i would just use my i3 htpc. thats the only "large" computer i want anymore. between my laptop and the android tablet im about to get, i just dont need anything else. my desktop has sit in my room with maybe 3 days of use out of the last year.... its just not worth having it around
 

zokudu

Diamond Member
Nov 11, 2009
4,364
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Where do you live I could take some of those extra cases off your hands.
 

wirednuts

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2007
7,121
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i live in wisconsin if youre asking me... and i always bought budget cases that probably cost more to ship then i paid for them new :/

craigslist is going to be my best bet i think
 

bigpow

Platinum Member
Dec 10, 2000
2,372
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Sanji-kun: A little far away from Jersey :)

Yeah, CL is better that I won't have to do hassle with shipping what's not worth much.
But I've my own thing against the typical CL flakes..
 

wirednuts

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2007
7,121
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ugh! i know! i hate the whole craigslist dance... i really just need to set all my desktop computer stuff outside on a table, post on CL some pics and just sit out there for a day waiting till its all gone. mini yard sale if you will. it is getting warmer out....
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
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But I've my own thing against the typical CL flakes..

Worse than eBay... D:

We used to get immense entertainment at the last house we lived in that we were remodeling... we would set old crap that we pulled out of the house in the alley, and bet each other how long it would set out there before it disappeared. Sometimes it would disappear in less than 15 mintues!

If you don't want it... just set it at the curb with a sign: Free to good home. It'll disappear.
 

wirednuts

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2007
7,121
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yeah its sad though. our hobby is dying. building pc's was extreme fun from about 98 to just a year or so ago. cheap tablets was really the dagger in the heart i think.

i will say that htpc's are still holding a niche for builders though. and since those are big enough to hold video cards, were not totally out of a hobby yet... but its still coming. i dont think itll be that much longer before services like Onlive work well enough, and/or hybrid processors are capable of playing all of our games and when that happens i dont see much reason to build when you can just buy a tiny premade box that never breaks
 

bigpow

Platinum Member
Dec 10, 2000
2,372
2
81
Wired: sad, but true. I game on consoles. Built HTPC because other solutions (apple TV, plethora of chinese HDd media players, boxee, etc) still suck big time.
Once laughing at Apple's plasticky aqua junk (their stuff before Jobs), now I contemplate really hard on the iMac 27" for photo editing task.
Decided to build my own because I want a nicer monitor than Apple's.

I pulled the trigger on Silverstone TJ08b-e just now. It's the smallest minimalist mATX.
Thought about getting the FT03, but looks like it is too gimmicky, with lousy build quality and worst, size-wise, not that smaller.
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,539
1,651
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ugh! i know! i hate the whole craigslist dance... i really just need to set all my desktop computer stuff outside on a table, post on CL some pics and just sit out there for a day waiting till its all gone. mini yard sale if you will. it is getting warmer out....


If it's free you don't have to sit out or deal with people, just give them the address and leave the stuff outside.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,485
6,034
126
Agreed, even Mid-towers are too big. All I want for my next build is a Mini-ATX Case with the following:

120mm Case fans Front/Back/Top(Side optional, but would be nice)
Bottom mount PS
Behind the Tray cable management
Side Mounted HD's
Space for a 5870 length Video card
 

MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
If it's free you don't have to sit out or deal with people, just give them the address and leave the stuff outside.
Lol, that's what you think.

There's actually a decent market for older Lian-Li cases and some people are willing to pay a sizable amount for them.

Anyway, I agree, a lot of cases, especially "space-conscious" mATX designs, still leave a lot of space unused. IMO, I think the Silverstone SG-05 and SG-07 are some of the most efficient designs out there.
 

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
2,709
136
a tower cooler is going to require a somewhat large amount of space anyways, you could get something like a Silverstone FT03 and just live with the single slot odd and 3 internal 3.5 bays. most people still need the 3.5 disks and so manufacturers aren't ready to create a marginal product that will attract a small minority of customers. ssd are just too expensive still for most to fully migrate too for other than a OS drive and very few have a NAS for storage. the market just isn't large enough for a product like you want.

the only way to get what you want is to make it yourself.
 

ss284

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,534
0
0
I think your PC building demographic makes up a really small percentage of the population that is building a computer. Most people want some 3.5 bays and 5.25 bays. You are kind of stuck in the middle with what you want. Not too big but not too small.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
81
Yep, "BIG" desktop PCs are a dying breed, except for the few of us that either do content creation, or distributed computing (and/or gaming, I suppose).

I am actually building my next LAN party box super tiny.

For years I've done mATX and even mini ITX LAN systems. I've used several Ultra MicroFly/Aspire X-Qpack2 mATX cubes as well as mATX towers like the Antec NSK3480 and Cooler Master Elite 341. More recently I had a Lian Li PC-T7R and still have a Silverstone SG05, both ITX.

My next LAN party rig will be in an Antec ISK 300-150.

So what happened is that I built a rig in one to use in the garage, and I tossed in a low profile Radeon 4650 I had laying around for the heck of it. I put TF2 and MW3 on it, and they played fine at 1920x1080 in medium-ish settings! Other parts are Core i5-2500K, 8GB RAM, H67 chipset ITX mobo, stock CPU cooler, small SSD, slim ODD. PSU is 150W of course, and my power meter has yet to show over 110W pull from the wall even during gaming. Noisiest part of the system is actually the case fan that comes with it. It is an Antec Tri Cool and is still audible even on lowest settings.

So, I'm going to be putting higher capacity SSDs in there, and swapping the graphics card out with a low profile Radeon 6570 which I hope to get 50-80% more performance than the 4650 currently in there. That should allow me to play at higher settings, or more demanding games like BF3 (if I ever get around to playing it). The 6570 should arrive tomorrow. Differences

4650
600MHz core
320 stream processors
64-bit memory interface !!
DDR2 (unknown clock) !!
Note that most 4650 have 128-bit memory and use DDR3, so mine is especially slow.

6570
650MHz core
480 stream processors
128-bit memory interface
DDR3
supposedly 5W TDP lower than 4650

I fully expect to use it at LAN parties. Next big one I'm going to is AWOL LAN though I'll probably use it at small basement LANs and at home as my garage computer before then.

I should make a thread about it.

I'm going to put a slow & quiet fan on it.
I'm done with any sort of O/C with screaming fans.

when that happens i dont see much reason to build when you can just buy a tiny premade box that never breaks

You mean like an Xbox? Oh wait... :sneaky:
 

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
FPS games on consoles suck. Screw the console for those, give me a mouse and keyboard.
Same with RTS. Suckage again.
Consoles are ok for RPG (but a PC with mouse and keyboard is at least as good).

Anyway, I like my mid tower. It is a little on the larger side of mid-towers, but I have an all-internal water cooling loop, an i7 2600k @ 4.5GHz, three hard drives (no SSD, yet), Radeon 4870 (yes, old but it does the job, and will be upgraded eventually), a DVD burner (will have a bluray at some point but not yet). All that stuff cannot fit in a small case.

On the flip side, I have built a number of decently powerful rigs in small cases for other people, though nothing high end on the graphics side. Works for them and that is what matters.