Advice for the best no compromise SFF gaming case

[Brianj]

Hi everyone!

I'm really struggling to find the perfect gaming case to put in my living room. Here are the requirements:

- Compact Console-ish look and feel with decent airflow that can fit an MSI Seahawk 1080&6700k

- Has to support 2x 120mm AIO liquid coolers for both CPU&GPU for quiet operation

The corsair bulldog looked like the perfect case for me but man.. That thing looks huuuge.

Dr. Zaber Sentry/Dan Case A4 are sexy as hell but they have not so good cooling options.. They will termal throttle and most likely be noisy with high end hardware inside

I could go with Ncase M1 and call it a day.. But it looks like your typical PC case, only smaller! Not really what you would want to put in your living room, next to your TV

That leaves me with the last option I could find. The RVZ01 from Silverstone. Support for 240 mm rad AND 120mm fan.. Does anyone know if I can fit a 1080 seahawk and a 240 rad for the CPU?

Of course I'm open to other suggestions


Thanks in advance!

 

[Thehack]

No.

For RVZ01, you can go with either a big top-down cooler or 120mm RAD for the CPU. For GPU, you can only fit a rad if you have a single slot GPU, otherwise you run into clearance issues. It does better with an open air cooler and two static pressure fans anyways.

NCase is really the only case you can go watercooling. Next size up is Define Nano S.

You have to pick where you want to compromise, size, noise, power. Can't have it all.

 

[|||]

I think the Ncase M1 will be your best bet. You could also go with a Cerberus, but that will be larger than the M1.

The RVZ01 won't work with two radiators unless you cut up the shroud on the GPU and modified the side panel to mount the radiator and fan. The radiator over the CPU would require a slim fan and radiator combo.

Another option could be modifying the Deepcool Tristellar to fit two AIO's. That would require some cutting and light mods to work, though.

 

[Brianj]

Thanks for the replies!

Well.. All I really want is powerful yet reasonably quiet gaming rig that doesn't make my girl upset when I put it in the living room, next to TV.

Looks like that the overall consensus here and in other forums l(and the reviews as well) seem to point all in the same direction.. The ncase seems the way to go..

I Ike more the corsair bulldog shape-wise TBH.. Buuuut there are not so many reviews around and the case seems to be around 20lt which sounds like a lot?!

 

[Necere]

The issue is that slim console-style cases in general don't support AIOs (or have very strict size restrictions on them), so the requirement that the case be able to support two AIOs pretty much disqualifies them from consideration. What's more, there are very few cases under 20L of any type that support more than a single 120mm rad. AIOs and their tubing actually take up quite a bit of room, and their range of sizes generally starts and ends higher than air cooling, which means you generally can't get as small as air-only, and cases that support AIOs tend to be boxier.

 

[jtd871]

You say you're trying to make this a living room PC, so here's a crazy-bananas idea:

Build two PCs.

PC#1 can be any size, shape, noise level you want. It would be tucked away hidden someplace else in your home.
PC#2 acts as basically a "dumb terminal" for streaming from PC#1 and can be much smaller and hopefully quieter.

 

[iFreilicht]

As Necere said, two AIOs and "Console-ish" look is not going to happen without some serious modding.

Build two PCs.

Alternatively, use a long HDMI cable. Up to 12m can be compliant with HDMI signal integrity standards I believe, so if you're clever and your home allows you should be able to put your PC in a different room.

 

[EdZ]

Or a HDBaseT extender for longer distances.

 

[Soul_Est]

Hi everyone!

I'm really struggling to find the perfect gaming case to put in my living room. Here are the requirements:

- Compact Console-ish look and feel with decent airflow that can fit an MSI Seahawk 1080&6700k

- Has to support 2x 120mm AIO liquid coolers for both CPU&GPU for quiet operation

The corsair bulldog looked like the perfect case for me but man.. That thing looks huuuge.

Dr. Zaber Sentry/Dan Case A4 are sexy as hell but they have not so good cooling options.. They will termal throttle and most likely be noisy with high end hardware inside

I could go with Ncase M1 and call it a day.. But it looks like your typical PC case, only smaller! Not really what you would want to put in your living room, next to your TV

That leaves me with the last option I could find. The RVZ01 from Silverstone. Support for 240 mm rad AND 120mm fan.. Does anyone know if I can fit a 1080 seahawk and a 240 rad for the CPU?

Of course I'm open to other suggestions


Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the replies!

Well.. All I really want is powerful yet reasonably quiet gaming rig that doesn't make my girl upset when I put it in the living room, next to TV.

Looks like that the overall consensus here and in other forums l(and the reviews as well) seem to point all in the same direction.. The ncase seems the way to go..

I Ike more the corsair bulldog shape-wise TBH.. Buuuut there are not so many reviews around and the case seems to be around 20lt which sounds like a lot?!

Your expectations do not match the scope of the system you wish to build. In the living room, the technology that is there serves a singular purpose or multiple (up to three) purposes, and either stays out of the way or is integrated into the decor. This is why gaming consoles do so well. You'll need to tailor the system to suit the decor and the task you want it to fulfil. Nothing more.

As Thehack has said:

You have to pick where you want to compromise, size, noise, power. Can't have it all.

So you will need to ask yourself, "What are the lowest power parts that I need to achieve [50 fps || 60 fps] at [720p || 1080p] in my games?". Research those games and the settings required to achieve that. The knowledge you gain from that exercise will determine the system you build and how you configure it.

 

[Kmpkt]

Well.. All I really want is powerful yet reasonably quiet gaming rig that doesn't make my girl upset when I put it in the living room, next to TV.

Have you thought about swapping out the girl instead of the case? I guarantee you it'll be cheaper.

 

[BirdofPrey]

You say you're trying to make this a living room PC, so here's a crazy-bananas idea:

Build two PCs.

PC#1 can be any size, shape, noise level you want. It would be tucked away hidden someplace else in your home.
PC#2 acts as basically a "dumb terminal" for streaming from PC#1 and can be much smaller and hopefully quieter.

You should check out the server rack build on Linus Tech Tips. He stuck a nice rig in a server rack then ran a thunderbolt 3 cable to a breakout box on his desk for peripherals and display.

 

[Josh | NFC]

I think the NCASE M1 is sexy...

But if you don't want to compromise just go with Caselabs. No compromise in quality, TECHNICALLY a mini-itx case, and along with all your component support you can save on rent if your girl kicks you out of the house.

 

[Edward78]

The issue is that slim console-style cases in general don't support AIOs (or have very strict size restrictions on them), so the requirement that the case be able to support two AIOs pretty much disqualifies them from consideration. What's more, there are very few cases under 20L of any type that support more than a single 120mm rad. AIOs and their tubing actually take up quite a bit of room, and their range of sizes generally starts and ends higher than air cooling, which means you generally can't get as small as air-only, and cases that support AIOs tend to be boxier.

Whould my idea work?
I watched & freaked... How awesome that would be, change it up abit the fit a duel slot reg. height GPU in (with a riser) & a flexATX PSU seems a good size to go in... Prob. should make the case 3.5 tall for the PSU... I just have no idea how CAD software works though...

 

[Necere]

Whould my idea work?
I watched & freaked... How awesome that would be, change it up abit the fit a duel slot reg. height GPU in (with a riser) & a flexATX PSU seems a good size to go in... Prob. should make the case 3.5 tall for the PSU... I just have no idea how CAD software works though...

Hey Edward, can we maybe keep your ideas in one thread? You've already got this one started on the subject, why don't we discuss it there?

 

[Brianj]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all you replies. I've seen a lot of very creative options here, including streaming, extra long cables and even swapping the girlfriend

Unfortunately right now is not an option for me tu run a 12m hdmi or TB cable across my whole house so.. I'm affraid the only solution is to get a cool, quiet&compact case to run the latest AAA @ 4K.

Now after researching quite a bit the final decision comes down to Ncase M1 VS the corsair bulldog. This two case are the only ones that thick all the boxes for me.

Ncase seems to have the most 'street rep' and it truly looks like is the no compromise mini ITX enthusiast case of choice for many.

On the other end the corsair bulldog doesn't seems to have a lot of reviews or even mention in tech forums.. which is weird! How come Linus/Hardware Canucks or the likes didn't do a proper review for this case.. I wonder why?

I personally would go for the more "living room friendly" look of it.. But I've heard that is not really compact! I haven't seen it person so maybe some the owners can chime in to share their opinions?

Thanks again for feedback everyone! I'm looking forward to see more of it

 

[jtd871]

The Bulldog seems to have been poorly received. The custom compact cooler used was reviewed by @Aibohphobia I believe, and found to be not especially effective or quiet.

If money was absolutely no object, I might get a Steiger Dynamics ( https://www.steigerdynamics.com ) pre-built. Otherwise, building in the M1 seems to be your best bet given the criteria you've listed and the GPU you've selected. Bon chance.

 

[Phuncz]

Hey Edward, can we maybe keep your ideas in one thread? You've already got this one started on the subject, why don't we discuss it there?

Indeed, please don't topic-hijack when you already started a 95% similar thread about it.