Does anyone actually make small Mini ITX cases?

[PatriotBob]

I can find reviews, spreadsheets on features and prices of tons of cases I'd love to buy. S4 Minis, In-Win Chopin/BQ656S, Logic Supply MC500... All I want is a ~5l case or less for mini-ITX. If it can support an optical drive great.
People seem to have designed these cases, but do they actually sell them? Because all I can find is spec sheets. They're either not sold or have been out of stock for ages?
So where can I actually buy these things?
(Sorry for that rant, I've been look for days and the best I can find is buying from Europe and shipping to the US, but I might as well get one custom machined for that price)

 

[Biowarejak]

I mean, yes, but production runs are generally limited due to the fact that these are usually single person operations. Have patience and keep an eye out, especially in the Buy/Sell/Trade section - you might just find what you're looking for.

 

[PatriotBob]

Are there any sites to keep an eye on in particular? Amazon/newegg/etc don't seem to be keeping stock for long, if at all.

 

[jtd871]

The (arguably) best known small-batch really small mITX cases are 1) the DAN A4 (www.dan-cases.com), 2) Lazer3D LZ7 (www.lazer3d.com), 3) NCase M1 (www.ncasaes.com) and S4 Mini (www.nfc-systems.com/s4-mini).

The A4 is sold via Kickstarter (a portion of the cases make their way to Overclockers.co.uk and caseking.de). The LZ7 is sold by Overclockers.co.uk and possibly through the Lazer3D.com site (will probably depend on where you are shipping to). The others are only available to order via the sites above.

Most of these cases (and others in various stages of development) have a thread on this site here: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/category/custom-cases-projects/

 

[Shahmatt]

Realan (http://www.minicase.net/ and on Aliexpress) appear to be in the miniITX business proper.

 

[ignsvn]

Another candidate you may want to check is Antec ISK 310 or ISK 110 series.

Also, if optical disk is not necessity, then can try M350: http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure.

 

[lhl]

I have an S4 Mini and love it, but if you're looking for something right now and want something the same size and with GPU support, then the Logic Supply MC600 is cheap and in stock. If you just want something tiny w/o needing GPU support, there are tons of <3L options even. Here's a good listing.

 

[mike349]

Hello!
I have opposite question and I dont know if this kind of case even exists

1. Fanless
2. Really small, but can handle 65W i5 (8-th gen Intel)
3. No external GPU needed, it's enough for me by Intel's integrated one.

Been searching, but cant find...

 

[jtd871]

@mike349 Would you please give us your "close, but no cigar" list so we don't suggest something you've already looked into (and possibly argue about something you think won't work)?

 

[darksidecookie]

Hello!
I have opposite question and I dont know if this kind of case even exists

1. Fanless
2. Really small, but can handle 65W i5 (8-th gen Intel)
3. No external GPU needed, it's enough for me by Intel's integrated one.

Been searching, but cant find...

i couldn't find any cases that specifically support 8th gen chips but i did find this one that supports 7th gen cpu's

 

[NuclearLemons]

Hello!
I have opposite question and I dont know if this kind of case even exists

1. Fanless
2. Really small, but can handle 65W i5 (8-th gen Intel)
3. No external GPU needed, it's enough for me by Intel's integrated one.

Been searching, but cant find...

a streacon db4 might do the trick

 

[HeroXLazer]

SunMilo Studio on TaoBao might have some things you like.

 

[mike349]

@mike349 Would you please give us your "close, but no cigar" list so we don't suggest something you've already looked into (and possibly argue about something you think won't work)?

Considered Streacom FC8, but still, it's too big.
Looked to Akasa, still doesn't get little one.

NUC is perfect, but NUC based PC-s are not so powerful as I want to. So I thought what's Mini-ITX have. Then I heard about STX form factor and this looks pretty good, but can't find any fanless one.

OK, let's make things over a little bit. I'm looking very compact case and what to you think this one: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...a6Dj2iA3m-xjyexNY2OkYg34dDgA/viewform?c=0&w=1

Specs:

1.0L Edition:
- Dimentions: 150mm x 192mm x 38mm
- Material: 1mm Aluminium, Matte Black
- MB: Asrock B250M-STX MXM
- CPU: i7-6700T (35W)
- CPU Cooler: Alseye IO-SH15-65 (16mm)
- GPU: GTX 1060 MXM (78W)
- GPU Cooler: Alseye IO-SH15-65 (16mm)
- RAM: Innodisk VLP SODIMM 2x8Gb
- Storage: Samsung PM961 128Gb
- PSU: Razer Blade 150W 19V (0.2L)

It looks so tiny and I like it, but how loud it will be ? I dont need external GPU so the only cooler will be CPU one for i5



If there is a NUC based fanless case, what can handle i5 65W - i will be soooo happy

 

[Biowarejak]

Cooling a 65 watt TDP chip passively in a small form factor world require the kinds of witchcraft that keep engineers up at night.

 

[darksidecookie]

Considered Streacom FC8, but still, it's too big.
Looked to Akasa, still doesn't get little one.

NUC is perfect, but NUC based PC-s are not so powerful as I want to. So I thought what's Mini-ITX have. Then I heard about STX form factor and this looks pretty good, but can't find any fanless one.

OK, let's make things over a little bit. I'm looking very compact case and what to you think this one: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...a6Dj2iA3m-xjyexNY2OkYg34dDgA/viewform?c=0&w=1

Specs:

1.0L Edition:
- Dimentions: 150mm x 192mm x 38mm
- Material: 1mm Aluminium, Matte Black
- MB: Asrock B250M-STX MXM
- CPU: i7-6700T (35W)
- CPU Cooler: Alseye IO-SH15-65 (16mm)
- GPU: GTX 1060 MXM (78W)
- GPU Cooler: Alseye IO-SH15-65 (16mm)
- RAM: Innodisk VLP SODIMM 2x8Gb
- Storage: Samsung PM961 128Gb
- PSU: Razer Blade 150W 19V (0.2L)

It looks so tiny and I like it, but how loud it will be ? I dont need external GPU so the only cooler will be CPU one for i5



If there is a NUC based fanless case, what can handle i5 65W - i will be soooo happy

if you aren't looking to use any kind of gpu other than the igpu, why that case/stx motherboard ? it was build specifily to also hold an mxm external gpu. So I think you would be better of buying one that doesn't, and youl'd probabbly save some money (depending on your area etc.)

btw i don't think you mentioned what you will be using it for?

 

[mike349]

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.80 GHz) Haswell
CPU cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212X RR-212X-20PM-R1
MOBO: ASUS Z97M-PLUS
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 PC3-14900 CL9 x2
PSU: Seasonic X-Series X-650 - 650 Watt 80 PLUS® Gold Certified (SS-650KM3)
HDD: WD Red WD10EFRX 1TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
SSD: Samsung 850 PRO SATA III 2,5" 256 GB SSD
Case: Fractal DEFINE Mini
Monitor: Dell UltraSharp U2715H 27"

I'm really satisfied with it. It's almost quiet, it's fast enough, but my needs are changed - Really love to see new PC build which is fanless and as tiny as it can be. Still doesnt need external GPU, Intel HD is more than enough for me