Swapping fromy my Alienware Area 51 R2 to the smallest case possible.

[chaoticfool]

This is more of a two part questions really, firstly I want to know if it possible to swap my components from my Alienware Area 51 R2 to another case, I've seen people replace the motherboard with another one in the same case so would assume you could do it the other way.

Secondly I would like to know what is the smallest and best case to fit my compents. It needs to be pretty small as space is a key requirement.

Components that would limit size factor

ATX motherbaord - Alienware Stanard One
Alien AIO liquid cooler 120mm I think
GTX 980
3 x3.5" HDD's
2 x 2.5" HDD's

Need decent airflow and be as compact as possible.

Any suggestions thanks in advance

 

[greens]

Compact ATX build is kind of an oxymoron.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007583%20600006548

That list is pretty much all of the cases out there that would fit your ATX motherboard.

There are two sizes smaller than ATX. Micro ATX, and ITX. Those are compact formats.

 

[MauveCloud]

Technically there's also DTX (two expansion slots in comparison to Mini-ITX's one), but that's much rarer afaik.

However, it would also help to know the exact model of GTX 980, as those can vary in length, and some of the ATX mid towers in the list that greens linked might not be able to fit the one you have. (e.g. that Topower case at the top of the list doesn't have a picture at Newegg with the side panel off, so I can't tell whether the hdd cage is removable to accomodate long video cards)

 

[chaoticfool]

Compact ATX build is kind of an oxymoron.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007583%20600006548

That list is pretty much all of the cases out there that would fit your ATX motherboard.

There are two sizes smaller than ATX. Micro ATX, and ITX. Those are compact formats.

Yeah I get it's kinda a silly question I would just ideally like to avoid buying another motherboard if it possible because from what I can find socket 2011 x99 mobo's are quite expensive. But there are some interesting ones on there. The smallest I've been able to find myself is the NZXT S340.

 

[chaoticfool]

Technically there's also DTX (two expansion slots in comparison to Mini-ITX's one), but that's much rarer afaik.

However, it would also help to know the exact model of GTX 980, as those can vary in length, and some of the ATX mid towers in the list that greens linked might not be able to fit the one you have. (e.g. that Topower case at the top of the list doesn't have a picture at Newegg with the side panel off, so I can't tell whether the hdd cage is removable to accomodate long video cards)

I have the GTX 980 Gigabyte G1 card.

 

[chaoticfool]

To be honest I think what i'm looking for doesn't exist I think I want to much and doesn't really make sense considering smaller form factor boards are out there 🙁

 

[MauveCloud]

Yeah, if you really want to build a small form factor computer (and have the budget for it), you're better off starting mostly from scratch (SFF cases also tend to have limited drive bays). I don't think there are any Mini ITX boards for LGA 2011v3, they only go down to Micro ATX (and a somewhat limited selection of those). Looking at pcpartpicker, there's also one oddball motherboard (with two variants) for LGA 2011v3 listed as "SSI CEB" form factor, which from what I can find might be for rackmount rather than for putting in a case, not sure.

 

[chaoticfool]

It seems so. Possibly might be a better idea to just sell the whole computer minus the GFX card and drives and buy a smaller build. Thanks for the help though.

 

[Dreammaker-]

Hey, If you willing to sell old area 51 case I'm interested.