Micro Atx case with 5 expansion slots

[akangatta]

Hi everyone,

I have a really quick question for the community. Does anyone know of a micro-ATX case with at least 5 expansion slots.

That question is following my earlier post about Crossfire on a Gigabyte A75M-D2h. The PCIe slots location does allow for a 4 slot only mount, since the second PCIe is last on the board(slot 4).

I have done a lot of searching already, but could not find anything that fits my SFF needs. I have a SG02 from Silverstone and would like to stay in the same territory.

I have looked at nice and sleak cases like the Fractal design Node 605, but I would rather have something similar in height but narrower.(in between the Node 304 and the Node 605 for instance)
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=95

Can you help me

 

[alvine]

nzxt vulcan

 

[akangatta]

nzxt vulcan

Thanks for the suggestion. However, the standard pc tower type will not do. I use my computer mostly as a HTPC and gaming console replacement. It needs to sit next to or under my flat screen. Thatès why SFF is a must.

 

[TheBigTroll]

yeah thats not going to happen.

 

[nisen]

short answer is besides actual htpc cases which are usually the size of mid tower cases laying flat, no mnfrs arent really into adding more than 4 expansion slots to sff cases.

only thing im aware of is the Lian Li PC-V354 but its (W) 245mm x (H) 320mm x (D) 420mm so 50% bigger than Silverstone SG02 see http://www.lian-li.com/v2/tw/product/upload/image/v354/flyer.html Couple of design flaw with it are the lack of ventelation at the bottom of the case for a dual slot sli setup where the second card uses slot 4 and the lack of air intake for the psu fan having to suck air from where the expansion slots sit. Proportion wise the layout would look like this http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/blind_ripper/lian%20li%20mod/mini%20lian%20li%20mod2/DSC01840.jpg

And about the Gigabyte A75M-D2h mb, worth mentioning its only got pcie 2.0 standard x16 lanes and the second x16 is only at x4 speed (equivalent to x2 speed by 3.0 standards) so to get any kindof decent scaling would need to move up to the Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4168#ov with the same 1+4 x16 lanes. Its a head scratcher why theres arnt more sff cases and matx motherboards setup to do cf/sli using that layout, having two dual slot cards using 1+3 lanes is bad design unless theyre watercooled

btw the NZXT Vulcan only has 4 expansion slots.

 

[akangatta]

short answer is besides actual htpc cases which are usually the size of mid tower cases laying flat, no mnfrs arent really into adding more than 4 expansion slots to sff cases.

only thing im aware of is the Lian Li PC-V354 but its (W) 245mm x (H) 320mm x (D) 420mm so 50% bigger than Silverstone SG02 see http://www.lian-li.com/v2/tw/product/upload/image/v354/flyer.html Couple of design flaw with it are the lack of ventelation at the bottom of the case for a dual slot sli setup where the second card uses slot 4 and the lack of air intake for the psu fan having to suck air from where the expansion slots sit. Proportion wise the layout would look like this http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/blind_ripper/lian%20li%20mod/mini%20lian%20li%20mod2/DSC01840.jpg

And about the Gigabyte A75M-D2h mb, worth mentioning its only got pcie 2.0 standard x16 lanes and the second x16 is only at x4 speed (equivalent to x2 speed by 3.0 standards) so to get any kindof decent scaling would need to move up to the Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4168#ov with the same 1+4 x16 lanes. Its a head scratcher why theres arnt more sff cases and matx motherboards setup to do cf/sli using that layout, having two dual slot cards using 1+3 lanes is bad design unless theyre watercooled

btw the NZXT Vulcan only has 4 expansion slots.

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I have solved my problem by making a radical change of platform. One thing I did want to keep was the case. The SG02 is just high and wide enough for my taste. It has that true cube aspect. The downside is its depth, which is needed to compensate lost space laterally.

The system is now Intel based, with a MSI Z77-G45 running a i53550p. I chose that card, because it is one of the rare to be clearly SLI and Crossfire compatible (The PCIe slots are 1 and 3), and the price tag of CAD110 was not too bad.

Overall it runs quite cool, and it has increased greatly my gaming experience from my single GPU +tri core A6 setup.

Cheers

 

[willzzz]

Corsair 350D.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=518197798244516&set=a.518197768244519.1073741832.359569840773980&type=3&permPage=1