Enclosure Suggestions appreciated for a <6L mini-ITX case, fanless or inaudible

sffmhe

Case Bender
Original poster
New User
Aug 1, 2020
2
0
I'd like to build a small silent or nearly silent SFF computer, and would appreciate suggestions on the smallest case that can hold these components:

mini-ITX motherboard
M.2 NVMe SSD (on motherboard)
16GB RAM
Nofan CR-80EH (113m high) or similar height heatsink/quietfan combo
i5-9600T (integrated graphics) 35W TDP, more okay if the build is inaudible
no graphics card
no PSU (external PSU okay)
no 2.5" drives
no optical drive
no vertical PCIe cards

Ideal dimensions: less than 8" x 8" x 6" ( 203mm x 203mm x 153mm)

The above height maximum is based having enough room for the 113mm Nofan heatsink. But if a shorter heatsink/fan combo is possible that is mostly inaudible at high load (not Prime 95 load), then even better.

I currently have a Lenovo M90n-1 for thjs purpose (i5-8265U), which is about the size of VCR cartridge. It's quiet at low load, but noisier than I'd like at medium and high loads.

Thanks in advance.
 

RogueLeader

Average Stuffer
Oct 11, 2017
63
21
I'd like to build a small silent or nearly silent SFF computer, and would appreciate suggestions on the smallest case that can hold these components:

mini-ITX motherboard
M.2 NVMe SSD (on motherboard)
16GB RAM
Nofan CR-80EH (113m high) or similar height heatsink/quietfan combo
i5-9600T (integrated graphics) 35W TDP, more okay if the build is inaudible
no graphics card
no PSU (external PSU okay)
no 2.5" drives
no optical drive
no vertical PCIe cards

Ideal dimensions: less than 8" x 8" x 6" ( 203mm x 203mm x 153mm)

The above height maximum is based having enough room for the 113mm Nofan heatsink. But if a shorter heatsink/fan combo is possible that is mostly inaudible at high load (not Prime 95 load), then even better.

I currently have a Lenovo M90n-1 for thjs purpose (i5-8265U), which is about the size of VCR cartridge. It's quiet at low load, but noisier than I'd like at medium and high loads.

Thanks in advance.


a custom case would work.
 
Last edited:

Re-l124c41

Chassis Packer
Oct 27, 2017
18
10
If the budget allows, you can take a look on cases from HDplex, Streacom, Turemetal which uses chassis itself as a heatsink.
 

sffmhe

Case Bender
Original poster
New User
Aug 1, 2020
2
0
Thanks for your responses.

The fanless choices from HDplex, Streamcom, and Turemetal all exceed my 8x8x6" maximum.

The closest case I've found so far is the Akasa Euler S, but the supported motherboard list on their website tops out at 7th gen Intel CPUs. Perhaps the case heatsink position doesn't match the location or height of the CPU in newer motherboards. (I've written to Akasa to learn if the Euler S supports newer boards and CPUs.)

Note to RogueLeader: Thank you, but I didn't see a suitable case using the link you sent.

CORRECTION: I meant to specify "thin mini-ITX", not "mini-ITX". Sorry!

Here are the specs again:

thin mini-ITX motherboard and external PSU
M.2 NVMe SSD (on motherboard)
16GB RAM
Nofan CR-80EH (113m high) or similar height heatsink/quietfan combo -- or fanless case
i5-9600T (integrated graphics) 35W TDP, more okay if the build is inaudible
no graphics card
no internal PSU
no 2.5" drives
no optical drive
no vertical PCIe cards

Ideal dimensions: less than 8" x 8" x 6" ( 203mm x 203mm x 153mm)

The above height maximum is based having enough room for the 113mm Nofan heatsink. But if a shorter heatsink/fan combo is possible that is mostly inaudible at high load (not Prime 95 load), then even better.