Enclosure What do you want in a budget oriented MATX case?

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
Since I've discovered threadripper, I've wanted a case that was small and cheap.

I know how to do those things.

Cheap, by making it mostly manufacturable with a straight brake (gets rid of a lot of setup), having minimal bends, and minimal cuts.


But I'm not really sure what I want in terms of features. I need ideas/suggestions. I don't want to load it with features, just have what is needed.
 

dealda

Trash Compacter
Oct 20, 2018
48
26
Hi, this sound pretty cool, here are a few quick thoughts.
  • Front IO with 1xUsb 3.0 and Headphone jack
  • Sfx-L support
  • Aio (240/280) support with threadripper is needed, since there aren't any good topblower cooler available.
  • Mounting options for 2 2,5 drives
  • A gpu mounting solution similar to this
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
Hi, this sound pretty cool, here are a few quick thoughts.
  • Front IO with 1xUsb 3.0 and Headphone jack
  • Sfx-L support
  • Aio (240/280) support with threadripper is needed, since there aren't any good topblower cooler available.
  • Mounting options for 2 2,5 drives
  • A gpu mounting solution similar to this

Okay so as I understand with the core g3, you want the option to lay you GPU out flat.

My idea of IO would be headphone, usb A, usb c.

AIO support was planned. Should be at the top & front of the case?
 

Bjornyyy

Trash Compacter
Jan 22, 2017
49
18
The design really depends on why you want to use Threadripper, if you use it for the core count the flat gpu is fine. If you want to use threadripper because you want a multi-gpu setup, the flat gpu might not be ideal because they can take up more space and the riser cables might be annoying to work with since you have two of them.
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
The design really depends on why you want to use Threadripper, if you use it for the core count the flat gpu is fine. If you want to use threadripper because you want a multi-gpu setup, the flat gpu might not be ideal because they can take up more space and the riser cables might be annoying to work with since you have two of them.

Isn't room for two dual slot GPUs laid flat. I could just have a modelar back. Also, if you do lay the GPU flat, you would be forced to put the psu in the front.

I do agree it isn't ideal.
 

Bjornyyy

Trash Compacter
Jan 22, 2017
49
18
Isn't room for two dual slot GPUs laid flat. I could just have a modelar back. Also, if you do lay the GPU flat, you would be forced to put the psu in the front.

I do agree it isn't ideal.

Making the whole back modular is a smart idea, this allows you to choose how you want to place the components. The only problem i see it that in certain configurations there is going to be a lot of wasted space, or just not enough space.
 
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Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
Making the whole back modular is a smart idea, this allows you to choose how you want to place the components. The only problem i see it that in certain configurations there is going to be a lot of wasted space, or just not enough space.

Well, I guess it would be up to the user.
 

Vlad502

Airflow Optimizer
Nov 4, 2017
256
206
Since I've discovered threadripper, I've wanted a case that was small and cheap.
But I'm not really sure what I want in terms of features. I need ideas/suggestions. I don't want to load it with features, just have what is needed.
AIO support was planned. Should be at the top & front of the case?
Slim and small as possible supporting: mATX, SFX, 240mm side AIO and ITX size GPU with right card riser in under 10L case (L320xW110xH280)
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
Slim and small as possible supporting: mATX, SFX, 240mm side AIO and ITX size GPU with right card riser in under 10L case (L320xW110xH280)

That's an Idea, though I had envisioned cheaper cerebrus style case, with less features to bring costs down.
 

ermac318

King of Cable Management
Mar 10, 2019
655
510
I am sitting here on an mATX SLI build (dual 1080s) in my Silverstone Sugo SG10B. I really love the case, it's not quite under 20 liters but it's close (23L).

Here are the things I don't like about it:
  • Poor cable management. Most cables can't be routed around the back because of where the front IO is.
  • Bad watercooling support: only support for a single rear-mounted 120mm AIO
  • I could replace the ATX PSU with an SFX PSU, but this gains me almost nothing. If it were designed from the beginning with SFX in mind it would be much better.
  • Very weird airflow. There's a giant 180mm fan on the top that blows air down into the case, which means you end up with air coming out all over the place. In the bottom panel (removed in this picture) you can add fans, but they must be thin to avoid the GPUs and they actually work better as intakes than exhausts (for GPU temps). So you end up with this massive positive pressure case. Front to back, bottom to top airflow would work much better.
There's no way I could transplant my current build into a Cerberus. The GPU AIO on the back would have to go in the front, and my lower GPU is too long to put the AIO in bottom front, so it'd have to go in the top front. This means moving the SFX PSU over the CPU, which means no tall air coolers... and I have no where else to put a CPU AIO because there's no room for a rad+fan in the bottom of the case with two GPUs in there.

Hope this was helpful.
 

khanate

Cable Smoosher
Mar 18, 2019
12
1
  • Simple and cheap, similar to Jonsbo C2
  • SFX PSU
  • Under 10 liter
  • Top IO: power button, 2x usb-c and 3.5 mm
  • 140 mm case fan
  • Magnetic dust filter
  • Bottom to top airflow
  • Easy access to both sides of motherboard (maybe with a slide mechanism similar to DeskMini A300?)
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
  • Simple and cheap, similar to Jonsbo C2
  • SFX PSU
  • Under 10 liter
  • Top IO: power button, 2x usb-c and 3.5 mm
  • 140 mm case fan
  • Magnetic dust filter
  • Bottom to top airflow
  • Easy access to both sides of motherboard (maybe with a slide mechanism similar to DeskMini A300?)

It may be hard to get it under 10L.
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,583
  • Simple and cheap, similar to Jonsbo C2
  • SFX PSU
  • Under 10 liter
  • Top IO: power button, 2x usb-c and 3.5 mm
  • 140 mm case fan
  • Magnetic dust filter
  • Bottom to top airflow
  • Easy access to both sides of motherboard (maybe with a slide mechanism similar to DeskMini A300?)

This is just me seeing what type of market there was. I honestly couldn't fit everyone's needs, my only CAD model that came out of this was a Cerebrus-style case designed to be as cheap as possible.
 
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khanate

Cable Smoosher
Mar 18, 2019
12
1
This is just me seeing what type of market there was. I honestly couldn't fit everyone's needs, my only CAD model that came out of this was a Cerebrus-style case designed to be as cheap as possible.
Can you share some of those things designed different to the Cerebrus?