Micro ATX Gaming Build

[Ghouleon]

Hello,

I've been trying to design a new gaming machine that will be ultra portable but still really powerful and I'm running into some issues. I decided I wanted to go with the Corsair Graphie 380t case based on Linustechtips review of it here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JU_jevfdGA&list=UUXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw, but I don't want to sacrifice to much power for portability.

The MoBo I want to use is the MSI Z97M Gaming LGA 1150 Micro ATX board, which I THINK should fit in that case but I could be wrong. My main concerns are I want to be able to SLI high end graphics cards, either 780's or Titans, because I go to my friends house a lot and we do LAN gaming and I'm helping him do some 3d rendering for indie game development so it needs to be able to handle that. Also on my own free time I want to be able to play modern games on high/ultra settings. I chose that mother board because it supports 32gb ram and SLI but with the 380t being new there's not a lot of build guides or build insights into this case.

If you have any suggestions I'd love to see what you guys think of a MATX or MITX performance gaming build. Planning on a budget areound $1.5k max.

Thanks!

 

[manofchalk]

Well, your going to run into problems right off the bat. Its an ITX case and you want an MATX board in there. That and the ITX form factor only supports one slot, Crossfire/SLI is impossible on them (ignoring dual GPU cards).

 

[Delroy Monjo]

This says it can support 2 full sized GPU's.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8103/corsair-unveils-three-new-cases

 

[Goodeggray]

That's a cool looking case, but it will only take ITX mobos. There's only 2 expansion slots. So only one gpu will fit.

 

[ksarex]

You are talking about 32gb ram, sliing titans and at the end you say your budget is around 1500$. Not gonna happen.... If you need portability prodigy M is not that bigger and it supports mAtx

 

[manofchalk]

Well, cut to 6:40 in the video you provided. There aint much room to stick a 2nd GPU there, regardless of what you may have misread on that Anandtech article (I cant find any mention of dual GPU's and the 380t, perhaps your thinking the Air 240?). The fact it only has two PCI slots on the back of the case (just like every other ITX case) also means it can only fit one card.

 

[Ghouleon]

I could run a single Titan, which should do what I need it to. My main reason for going with the 380t was the sheer portability of it, the carrying handle and that it's about the size of a drink cooler with room for liquid cooling was a huge mark in it's favor.

Newegg lists the case as a MicroATX Mid Tower MicroITX Case which confuses me...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139047&cm_re=corsair_380t-_-11-139-047-_-Product

 

[Rammy]

It's most definitely an ITX case only- just look at the back panel images to see what goodegrey/manofchalk is referring to. I also agree that any references to "two full sized GPUs" are likely to be for the Air 240, which might actually be a viable candidate for your build.

There's not really a "go to" case for portable SLI. The Bitfenix Prodigy M is rubbish, the semi-clone Aerocool DS is too big, and most popular mATX performance cases aren't really built towards easy transportation.
You'll likely just have to pick something with favourable dimensions for carrying, perhaps an Arc Mini or SG10.

 

[Delroy Monjo]

My mistake on the case.
Seems a considerable bit of overkill trying to use 2x 780's and 32GB RAM + a PSU to run it all in a LAN rig anyway. But hey! It's your $$$.