Concept 15.5L mATX with 240mm radiator support for water cooling.

mwal

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May 6, 2021
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I have found an extremely space efficient mATX layout supporting many mainstream components. My goals were to have:
  1. To have absolutely, the smallest, most reasonable fully mATX compatible case possible.
  2. Support for a 240mm AIO.
  3. Mainstream PSU support, it being SFX and SFX-L.
  4. A simple build, with easy access.
  5. To have it be portable.
What I got was a 15.5L case. Here's my very basic design:
This is a really rough draft, and this may need some edits, please don't be mean, and if you feel like it, help. You can help me by recommending a change to something like the side and top panel, which at current, sort of works like the Ghost S1.

Everything just barely fits, and I did check. Any bracket or panel is mounted to the frame using M3 screws. Fans that are compatible are 120mm standard thickness. This was made with SketchUp. Panels do not have any thickness to them yet, but will likely be 2mm aluminum.
 
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mwal

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Original poster
May 6, 2021
26
3
SFX-L is not mainstream, either go SFX or ATX.


the Acat X2 is already beating your design by more than a litre in volume

you can refer to the SFF Master list to see what's out there
Thanks, I forgot to include some more context. It's specifically designed for mATX, and SFX-L support includes SFX by mounting hole spacing. The ACAT X2 does support mATX, but it's from Taobao, and it costs a small fortune with shipping.
 
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Diamorif

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Jun 9, 2020
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Thanks, I forgot to include some more context. It's specifically designed for mATX, and SFX-L support includes SFX by mounting hole spacing. The ACAT X2 does support mATX, but it's from Taobao, and it costs a small fortune with shipping.
The Acat has a matx mod, there is also the mechanic master c26 and a handful of zzaw designs that support both. yours is somewhat unique that it can fit a side-mounted rad with an matx board, but there are other options. also the YTC m99v4 is 13l and does a top-mounted rad
 

mwal

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May 6, 2021
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The Acat has a matx mod, there is also the mechanic master c26 and a handful of zzaw designs that support both. yours is somewhat unique that it can fit a side-mounted rad with an matx board, but there are other options. also the YTC m99v4 is 13l and does a top-mounted rad
The part about the ACAT X2 is that, it's a mod for what is traditionally itx. The ytc case doesn't appear to have much clear info on it. I also designed my case specifically so that airflow might not suck and maybe to make room for a small res/pump combo.
 

mwal

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May 6, 2021
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You can check Mechanic Master C26 (12.9L), Warhead LP-matx (17.8L), Mechanic Master C28 (18L) and SAMA IM01 (21L) (also known as Tecware Fusion/Cubegaming Axel/Krux Naos/Itek Evoke in other regions) for inspiration as they have largely similar layout.

They are mostly only available in taobao/aliexpress so they are not as easily available.
These are really useful for basing my design off of, but some of these cases are fairly wide in comparison. My case dimensions are, without panel thickness (just internal space) 341mm length* 287mm height* 157mm width.
 

Diamorif

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jun 9, 2020
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105
The part about the ACAT X2 is that, it's a mod for what is traditionally itx. The ytc case doesn't appear to have much clear info on it. I also designed my case specifically so that airflow might not suck and maybe to make room for a small res/pump combo.
Wasn't trying to take away from your design, in fact, quite the opposite. More trying to do what the post below did and provide context for other competing designs. I use the c26 as my daily driver and the acat and other similarly sized cases are derivative of the M1 and already offer optimized airflow (the matx acat has a lot of the benefits of the NR200 at a full 3 liters smaller). one of the more sorely missing functions is a case that can accommodate a size rad with an mATX board or offer a larger air cooler. the overall layout and size of yours seems like it should be able to accommodate either of those and its exciting.
 
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mwal

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May 6, 2021
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Wasn't trying to take away from your design, in fact, quite the opposite. More trying to do what the post below did and provide context for other competing designs. I use the c26 as my daily driver and the acat and other similarly sized cases are derivative of the M1 and already offer optimized airflow (the matx acat has a lot of the benefits of the NR200 at a full 3 liters smaller). one of the more sorely missing functions is a case that can accommodate a size rad with an mATX board or offer a larger air cooler. the overall layout and size of yours seems like it should be able to accommodate either of those and its exciting.
Thanks, I just think that I'm trying to go for a simple case mainly. And, last I checked, air coolers up to 135-140 ish millimeters would fit.