Case and Cooling for SFF Workstation?

[villagepark]

I am building a workstation that would potentially run the GPU at 100% load for a week straight. (deep learning)
For the core components I am going to get a r7 1700, gtx 1080 (likey sell it and upgrade to the volta replacement for the 1080 when it comes out), 16-32gb ram, and 500gb evo960 ssd.

I will not be overclocking this machine as i feel that wold be a bit risky for such a load (i am open to changing my mind if you experts think its fine).

My original plan was to shove this into a silverstone ml08 but i was told by many people this would be extremely loud due to high thermals. I willing to jump to the matx form factor to get a case big enough to not sound like a rocket ship for a week straight. Of course I would like to stay as small as possible. For the price I would like to stay under $150 usd but if there is only one option and that option is $200 then i could consider it. I would prefer to not get a cube case unless that is the only option.

I am also not sure about what the best cooling strategy is and am open to ideas about air vs AIO watercooling. I am not conformable doing custom watercooling.

 

[jeshikat]

Welcome to the forum!

How picky are you about noise? With the dust filter removed the GPU should be able to handle itself, but the ML08 doesn't have all that much clearance for a big CPU heatsink.

 

[villagepark]

Thanks for the reply mr admin

I am living in a small condo and need to keep my bedroom door open overnight so the pc will be maybe 20 feet from my head while I'm trying to sleep. Although I loved the idea of a mini itx workstation I am totally willing to move up to matx for noise reduction. It will also add 2 more ram slots for future expand ability if the price goes down.

In terms of size and looks the in win301 looks sweet and is not abnoxiously large at 25l but I heard the temps are really high so it's probably not for me? I saw cooler master corsair fractal design thermaltake and some others have cases under 35l. I saw lots of people seem to think phantex makes the "best" matx cause but it's quite large at 40l.

Based on my use case of sustained 100% ultilization and need for low noise then I would be willing to go to 40l if necessary. (I wonder if there are atx case at this size)

It's quite an old article but I saw on silent pc review they rate the SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E as the best "silent" matx case and it's not too large at 30l. I like the looks as well (except for the drive slots on the front). Is there anything newer that would be better?

 

[jeshikat]

TJ08-E is still a good case. Many of the newer designs sacrifice airflow for that full side window, so bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to airflow and noise.

 

[villagepark]

Thank you again for the reply.
I have done a lot of research on mATX case and it seems from what i have found the fractal design define mini c (no window) seems to be the best balance to me between looks, size, cooling, and thermals.
The TJ08-E (and may others) didnt pass the WAF (wife approval factor) because there were too many holes, the phantex is 'trying to hard to look cool', the inwin 301 is too hot/loud, and the define mini c window looks too cheezy (full tempered glass would be awesome though).

In your expert opinion do you agree that the fractal design define mini c (no window) wold be a good option?
Between that case and the ml08 the define mini c should be significantly quieter at load?

 

[jeshikat]

The Define Mini C should be a good option. It's basically just a modernized Antec Mini P180 and I had good success building a quiet rig in that with a Radeon HD 5870.