Suggestions for a Small Case?

[fantasiarck]

hey everyone! pretty new here, just got some quick questions: i'm thinking about building a pc soon. specs are somewhere along the lines of a mitx motherboard, i5 processor, and full-size gpu for my gaming needs. will probably need a few terabytes of storage for like games and movies and stuff. the thing is, i want this build to be as small as possible, getting a little sick of how much space my fractal r5 is taking up. so i guess, i'm curious as to what the smallest case is that will fit my needs? oh and i might be interested in overclocking in the future.

 

[jana519]

Few suggestions to get you started. If money is no factor, the NCASE M1 is made of aluminum and is very popular with SFF enthusiasts and is the most compact case for a full-size GPU and extra storage. If you don't need AIO water cooling, it can fit two 3.5" HDDs and two SSDs.. The Dan A4-SFX is even smaller, but also more extreme on space design.

Going up a bit larger, you have the "console" style cases like the Fractal Node 202 and Silverstone RVZxx series.

Finally, if you're going for a budget build, there's the Thermaltake Core V1, Cooler Master Elite 1xx series, and Corsair 250D which are more mainstream.

 

[fantasiarck]

Few suggestions to get you started. If money is no factor, the NCASE M1 is made of aluminum and is very popular with SFF enthusiasts and is the most compact case for a full-size GPU and extra storage. If you don't need AIO water cooling, it can fit two 3.5" HDDs and two SSDs.. The Dan A4-SFX is even smaller, but also more extreme on space design.

Going up a bit larger, you have the "console" style cases like the Fractal Node 202 and Silverstone RVZxx series.

Finally, if you're going for a budget build, there's the Thermaltake Core V1, Cooler Master Elite 1xx series, and Corsair 250D which are more mainstream.

thanks for the reply. i am seeing the ncase and a4 for the first time, and they seem like amazing cases. the price tho... also, it seems that its too late to get the a4 now, since the kickstarter is over?

looking around at crowdfunding cases, i also found Sentry and !nverse. Do you know anything about these? sentry seems like it's the same size as the a4 while inverse seems smaller than ncase.

fractal 202 seems nice, but it seems to have some poor reviews, especially when it comes to heat. rvz02 seems good, wish it had more storage though.

the other cases seem too big i measured out the thermaltake core v1 and it's actually surprisingly big

 

[jana519]

There's not a plethora of options for ultra SFF cases with full-length GPU and extra storage. You have 3 options: 1) Pay big money. 2) Get a larger ITX case. 3) Accept some compromise.

 

[Valantar]

thanks for the reply. i am seeing the ncase and a4 for the first time, and they seem like amazing cases. the price tho...

What do you expect when you're looking at custom made, limited-run cases made by small companies? There's a reason why "boutique" is more or less synonymous with "expensive". For what you're getting, I'd say those prices are very reasonable.

Also, with your demands (full-size GPU, a few terabytes of storage", and so on, I doubt you'd be able to fit what you need inside anything smaller than the A4 or M1. And don't worry - the A4 will be back. It just takes time getting a new batch made.

 

[Valantar]

And speak of the devil - just recieved an email from Dan cases:

On Wednesday, 01 February 2017, at 12 AM CET, the A4-SFX will be available for purchase on www.caseking.de and www.overclockers.co.uk.

Please refer to www.dan-cases.com for the real time countdown. After the countdown reaches zero, reload the page to unlock the purchase link.

[... Shipping details for both sites, essentially they ship globally...]

Future Availability
After the A4-SFX is sold out, it will be available again in summer 2017 with a higher quantity. So be fast and take your chance on the 1th February 2017!