Concept ~7L Case Ideas with no restrictions apart from ITX

[wowaaa]

I've been for awhile on this forum. Seen many case-projects, but they've become so restrictive lately. Everyone loved Dan-A4 case, and we have many almost identical solutions now. But it is a pain to find great low profile cpu-cooler (even Dan crowdfunded one now). And we have additional price because of long raiser. Many console like projects suffered from cpu-height restriction as well. In the other hand we have NCase-M1 project - and I love it, but it is more than 12L volume! Can we reduce it's size to something more reasonable - even below 7 liters without raiser? I think we can.

The goals I'm chasing:

• Small build
• Free the restriction on cpu-cooler height
• Inner PSU solution

Spoiler: Scheme that I think would be reasonable:

Used components:

• ITX Motherboard: Asus Strix z270i
  • Additional components: RAM + M2 drives
• SFX PSU: Corsair SF450
  
• GPU: ITX Zotac 1070
• CPU-Cooler: Noctua NH-D9L (But thinking about something really big like D15)

The bounding box with some free space around is like 210x235x140. If we think about bigger coolers, I really want the hole at the top in style of Hot-Rod engine. And also the GPU side can be extremely perforated if not fully open.

The main flaws I see now - the PSU cable is on different side than main MB IO (personally I don't care, and for me it would be even better because I want IO side to be the front one), and there is no space for GPU power cable (or we need to make custom slim gpu-power-cables), maybe we need couple additional coolers.

But if we make the case taller for 30-40mm! even till 180mm and all the flaws would be patched - we still be inside 9L volume.

Maybe this solution is a bit optimistic, but I really want something like this - if you've seen anything alike, tell me please.

 

[K888D]

Hi there, welcome to the forum!

I'm working on a case with almost the exact same layout as this, hoping to release it next year. I think 7 litre is very unlikely, especially if you want to support cards (as you pointed out) with GPU power connectors. You are limiting yourself to the GTX 1050 class if you do not support this.

The new design sits somewhere between 9 and 10 litres, it can support full length GPU's, with front IO and should be able to fit a single 140mm AIO cooler.

 

[wowaaa]

That sounds good!

Actually in this concept GPU is really tall (Zotac Mini) - 122mm and in case of big CPU-towers it is good. But for regular build if we can manage some restrictions - official 1080TI height is about 112mm. So the 140mm height is more than real, even if we mind the 6.5mm below MB and about 3mm socket margin we still have room for power cables. And the full size GPU with 110-120mm cpu-cooler-restriction the volume would be around 8.5 liters.

Spoiler: Something like this - 210x285x140(mm)

But yeah, 9 liters with this kind of layout and full-GPU sounds nice!

 

[wooble]

In my opinion, the layout in the first post is perfect SFX. I have similar layout in my SG13, but I would be more than happy to change to chassis which uses space more efficiently (==is smaller). I would also consider turning case into it's side (for example GPU facing bottom). This would reduce the footprint and might make it look more like really small tower than shoebox.

 

[wowaaa]

About footprint - current positioning has more efficient GPU airflow than face to bottom. Nevertheless it is great idea, but in that case we need some space underneath but we don't wanna increase dimensions. Actually I've even seen some foldable feet (like the keyboard ones) on the newest gaming laptops, because they gasp for fresh air. So - foldable feet might be an awesome option in sff case with down bottom GPU.

 

[jmsantos1983]

Any idea on how the case will look. The simple apple look always works. Also, the use of G-Unique or HDPlex PSU with AC-DC block, that could reduce the size. There also the placement like the Dan case where it could also save space. That would be interesting.

 

[Curiosity]

Any idea on how the case will look. The simple apple look always works. Also, the use of G-Unique or HDPlex PSU with AC-DC block, that could reduce the size. There also the placement like the Dan case where it could also save space. That would be interesting.

One of the benefits of mounting the gpu normally is that it builds you some space for installing a bigger cpu cooler.
It's my one complaint about sandwich cases, I like big air coolers are the directly prevent me from using them.

 

[jmsantos1983]

Could also go with a Enermax Steelwing style placement. There also 15mm fans to consider. I feel that a small, open option and stylish case can be made.

 

[Curiosity]

I personally feel that placing the PSU over the CPU is a huge compromise except when done like K88D did for the LZ7.

 

[Necere]

No offense, but please do some reading before making claims about how much smaller your case will be. There's a reason the cases you mentioned are the size they are with the restrictions they have.

I'd suggest first reading my own guide on component space requirements to get a handle on how much room things actually need. Once you're done with that and are ready to start designing a case, I'd suggest @Aibohphobia's build log/guide for his STX160 project. There's a lot of small details to take into consideration that will drive up the volume of a real case.

 

[wowaaa]

No offense, but please do some reading before making claims about how much smaller your case will be. There's a reason the cases you mentioned are the size they are with the restrictions they have.

None taken! Thanks, for the tips! I've skimmed those before - and I don't think that this concept lacks of real measurements. The only one questionable part is overall height and production material widths, but even with big margins in mind it could be smaller than many existing ones.

Current cases are this size only to allow many custom-designed over-sized GPU's to be mounted and for sake of better cable-management, sometimes with ability to create NAS-storage or mount many additional coolers. Many mass production cases have redundant space that will never be used. Sometimes when I see build galleries, I just want to chop off half of some cases and that won't affect used volume.

I mentioned already that this concept is a bit optimistic, and maybe in some time I'll try to make it real - of course not without trials and errors. Or someone will made something like this before me.