Should I switch to a smaller case?

[Triloby]

My current computer has all of its components housed inside a Cooler Master HAF 922. There's nothing functionally wrong with the case, but I'm somewhat beginning to think that I'm regretting my purchase. I've been thinking for awhile now that my current case is too friggin massive for what I have, which is not much. There's just too much wasted space not being properly utilized, and I've been thinking of moving my computer to the top of my desk instead of having it sitting on the floor. I don't even use a full size ATX motherboard, I only have MicroATX.

I'm looking for a good MicroATX case that isn't expensive, but doesn't feel so cheaply made. My budget for a case is around $100 or less.

Even so, should I switch to a smaller case, or is it fine the way it is?

 

[Yuriman]

Entirely up to you. If you'd like to move it onto your desk, you'd see some benefit from downsizing, but I'd probably try to achieve some other things while upgrading, such as reducing noise.

Not too terribly long ago I sold my full ATX motherboard for an ITX, and moved to an ITX case (coming out ahead $$ in the process). More recently, I swapped my SATA SSD for an mSATA one, to get rid of some of the wires in my case, and put my old SSD in my wife's PC, increasing her storage and allowing me to pull the extra mechanical drive for bulk storage I had in that machine.

I think that if I were to buy from scratch, I'd be tempted to go for a slim-ITX of some sort, or NUC. Grab Iris Pro and ditch the discrete card, since 99% of my gaming is indie these days.

 

[YBS1]

I would, I don't think I'd ever build a system bigger than mini-itx for anything I don't have full intentions to go multi-gpu with. I'd be all mini-itx right now if I hadn't been lured in by this Case Labs monster, now I'm caught in sunk cost trap so to speak. I have high end, full size, multi-gpu hardware which I pass down to my son's pc as I upgrade, so therefore he has full size case/hardware, etc. If I was starting from scratch, it would be as small as possible (within reason for high performance hardware).

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If the case you have is just too big for your taste, the Fractal Design Core 1000 and 1100 are both nice micro-ATX cases, and not terribly expensive.

But you don't really gain anything from having a smaller case except space. And you do lose internal volume for expansion, if that's a future concern. If you're overclocking or running multiple GPUs, a larger case with more air moving through it is helpful from a temperature standpoint.

 

[billbillw]

Most of the smaller cases only support 1-3 drives. Many don't have optical bays. I guess it depends a lot on what you plan to do with the computer.

I keep a lot of video, photos, music, games, so I have 5 physical drives in my PC and optical drives are an absolute must for me. Mid tower is the smallest I will ever go for my main computer.

 

[Triloby]

On second thought, forget about it. Even though I don't need much in my computer (single GPU, 1 HDD, 1 SSD, no optical drive, etc.), it'll feel like a waste of time to switch cases over something so trivial.

Not only that, I have a R9 290 that can get quite hot at times, and I'm worried about how temperatures will be like if I try to cram everything into a smaller case. So that's another no-go for me.