Fishing for inputs, advice ,ideas for compact ATX board case.

[Silvalining]

Hello people, I've been lurking in the forums for a while, and I've looked around a little bit, while I know this forum mostly deals with m-atx or itx boards, I already own a Asus Z170 Pro Gaming ATX board, and was planning to build a compact case for it. Is it possible?
I don't have a lot of requirements except for two SSD's,GTX 1060 mini,and a wifi card,while on the cpu(i7-7700) side i was looking to use either a low profile fab coolers or something like the smaller liquid coolers.
I do have a sheet metal fabricator available for the process but pretty unclear on what's the smallest I could go with this project without running into serious trouble or the limitations with designing one.
I have read all the guides from the very helpful resources section provided by Aibohphobia (Thank you!),so I know the basic do's and don't s while designing a case.
I wonder how far sff could I possibly push it with a 300w HDPlex. Again,my apologies for any of the possible ignorant stuff i might have assumed.

 

[EdZ]

You could go with a 'normal' GPU position directly in the slots and fit the PSU 'above' the motherboard (if using an AIO cooler to make room, putting the radiator at the front of the case) attached to the side panel, or put the PSU in front of the motherboard and extend the case slightly. This would resemble the Cerberus-X, though with a little less space needed for the PSU, Or you could make the case narrower by using flexible PCIe risers to turn the GPUs 'flat' , like the Thermaltake G3 does (though the G3 just wastes height rather than making the case thinner) at the expense of having less access to PCIe slots for anything else.

 

[Silvalining]

You could go with a 'normal' GPU position directly in the slots and fit the PSU 'above' the motherboard (if using an AIO cooler to make room, putting the radiator at the front of the case) attached to the side panel, or put the PSU in front of the motherboard and extend the case slightly. This would resemble the Cerberus-X, though with a little less space needed for the PSU, Or you could make the case narrower by using flexible PCIe risers to turn the GPUs 'flat' , like the Thermaltake G3 does (though the G3 just wastes height rather than making the case thinner) at the expense of having less access to PCIe slots for anything else.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm probably gonna try the option 1 from your idea cuz i have to even put a network card in there. As well as buying a cheap reliable pcie riser is a different headache here back in India.
What's the max you think I could push it to volume wise if I end up executing option1 successfully?

 

[206er]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm probably gonna try the option 1 from your idea cuz i have to even put a network card in there. As well as buying a cheap reliable pcie riser is a different headache here back in India.
What's the max you think I could push it to volume wise if I end up executing option1 successfully?

I remember seeing a 20L ATX case with watercooling on reddit, but unfortunately they only provide 1 picture

Also, this idea might be of some help to you, I think it's possible to put 280mm rad if you use short VGA.

The idea of simple and cheap SFF ATX case is actually quite intriguing, as not everyone can afford a $100+ SFF case, and ATX boards are usually cheaper and easier to get in some markets

 

[jeshikat]

I believe that project thread is on either OCN or LTT.

But here's a similar ATX build: http://www.overclock.net/t/1583393/scratch-build-project-flip-sub20l

 

[Silvalining]

I remember seeing a 20L ATX case with watercooling on reddit, but unfortunately they only provide 1 picture

Also, this idea might be of some help to you, I think it's possible to put 280mm rad if you use short VGA.

The idea of simple and cheap SFF ATX case is actually quite intriguing, as not everyone can afford a $100+ SFF case, and ATX boards are usually cheaper and easier to get in some markets

Yes you're quite right there, it's so hard to find an affordable itx mobo and case that it'd cost me $350 here just for a decent case(badly wanted a FTZ01) and the itx board. Again you'd find an sg13 for 50$ but not everyone likes cube form factor.

 

[Silvalining]

I believe that project thread is on either OCN or LTT.

But here's a similar ATX build: http://www.overclock.net/t/1583393/scratch-build-project-flip-sub20l

Very interesting i could probably save up more on the height using an HDplex, as I'm not even a moderate OC'er, planning to use a loop for the CPU only to reduce the temps. So the solution probably won't be as extreme as the example you showed.

 

[Silvalining]

What's the main difference in the performance between a TFX Psu and an HD plex? IF you'd include the planned internally mounted version ac-dc wouldn't the HDplex 300w be almost the same dimensionally? Or are TFX just not suitable for some reason?

 

[Sean Crees]

What's the main difference in the performance between a TFX Psu and an HD plex? IF you'd include the planned internally mounted version ac-dc wouldn't the HDplex 300w be almost the same dimensionally? Or are TFX just not suitable for some reason?

One of the biggest benefits is modularity. You have two smaller pieces you can fit in separate places in a case instead of being stuck with a single larger volume that is harder to fit in a tight enclosure. Also you get the option of using an external power brick instead if you wanted to.