which mini ITX case for me?

[Lucifer2501]

Hello everyone,

I am helping a friend build his first gaming desktop on a budget and am having trouble finding the right case for him.
His criteria are: small size, ease of work in, support for his system (below) and does not care for aesthetics (or lack of).

Parts we have selected so far:
Ryzen 7 1700
generix B350 mATX or ITX mobo
generic DDR4-2666 1X8GB RAM
one 2.5" SSD AND one 3.5" HDD
Asus RX 580 ROG STRIX 8GB
silverstone 500W SFX 80+gold modular

He is very interested in the console killer size format of cases like the RVZ02, node 202 and Dr saber sentry, however, none of these case would support the 3.5" HDD with this GPU and he is not willing to let go of either.

Can you guys recommend any other console-killer-sized cases that would fit the 30cm GPU + both storage drives?
If such a case doesn't exist, any other good recommendations for small, easy to work with cases?

Thank you all very much.

 

[Chugalug_]

For a gaming PC that can be easily improved.
What's his budget?
I'll sort it all out, the node 202 and RVZ02 are good choices.
You need 2.5" drives for that.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

I'm not aware of ITX cases that are both "node 202" size and can fit everything he wants.
A slightly larger ITX variant like Define Nano S can do what he asks. They also have better airflow to support high performance parts.

As a side note, this PC spec is kinda wasted money.
1. there is no chance mATX board fit into mini ITX case.
2. ryzen 7 1700 on stock clocks with 2666MHz RAM is mediocre at most for gaming. To overclock it, B350 MB will not be enough as the VRM is crap on all of B350 boards and can not handle overclocked 8 cores in a long run.
3. overclocked ryzen 7 + RX 580 produce so much heat, that it will be not possible to cool it on air with node 202 style mini ITX cases.

 

[Chugalug_]

Ditto, no OCing in flat, tiny ITX rigs like the node.
You also want at least 3000MHz RAM with Ryzen, not to mention an i7 7700 would be a much better fit for gaming anyway.

 

[joshyboy82]

My brother's Phanteks Enthoo Evolve ITX case is pretty small and fits full size components in, but I'm going to build with In Win's mini-ITX Gaming Cube A1 for my next computer.

 

[Lucifer2501]

Thanks for the input.
As a clarification on your points:

I
1. there is no chance mATX board fit into mini ITX case.

I added the mATX size in my description to show taht we are open about other form factor cases like the nano S and Evolv mATX

I
2. ryzen 7 1700 on stock clocks with 2666MHz RAM is mediocre at most for gaming. To overclock it, B350 MB will not be enough as the VRM is crap on all of B350 boards and can not handle overclocked 8 cores in a long run.

He does not intend to overclock for now. He is a complete newbie and is concerned about parts longevity and/or breaking his system. I will not push him on this and simply wait for him to be comfortable to overclock. I'll consider other RAM speeds with his budget in mind (1000 GBP including windows 10) but he will be sticking to 1080p gaming for the foreseeable future. Going for a ryzen 7 for 1080p is a way for his system to be future-proof for when games start utilising more cores and when he is ready to move up to 1440p or more. Also, I am not sure faster RAM will change much for gaming purposes.

I
3. overclocked ryzen 7 + RX 580 produce so much heat, that it will be not possible to cool it on air with node 202 style mini ITX cases.

Point mute, his goal is to have a small pc now (no matter looks, heat or noise) as he lives in a very small home. Later upgrades will be on case size, better cooling parts 5within 2 years) and eventually better screen and/or SLI (5 year +)

Thanks again, I'll look into RAM speeds and prices for now.

 

[Chugalug_]

See what I posted above, give me a budget and i'll present you with a few builds in different form factors.
An i7 would be a much better fit for him, ESPECIALLY considering he's gaming and not OCing.

 

[Lucifer2501]

My brother's Phanteks Enthoo Evolve ITX case is pretty small and fits full size components in, but I'm going to build with In Win's mini-ITX Gaming Cube A1 for my next computer.

These 2 new options sound promising, not too big and still space efficitn. I'll look into them

 

[Lucifer2501]

See what I posted above, give me a budget and i'll present you with a few builds in different form factors.
An i7 would be a much better fit for him, ESPECIALLY considering he's gaming and not OCing.

Well budget is 1000GBP MAX, including windows 10. Budget for a the PC parts is therefore ~900 GBP.

Considerations:
small form factor only for now.
1080p gaming for now, recent CPU/GPU that WON'T need to be re-bought if upgrading to 1440p (most likely upgrade path for him will be SLI in ~5 years).
Remaining parts, being cheaper, can be cheap now and re-bought when moving to a bigger case (MOBO, PSU)

Full disclosure, we are slightly biased for AMD rather than intel (55-45) but will not go into reasoning as this is not the place


Update: Forget about i7. I see no viable reason to choose these processors over the Ryzen 7. This is the latest of several videos I've seen comparing the two and has reminded me why I didn't even consire intel's i7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RP1CPpFVE

Ryzen 7 1700 and i7-770K are now similar prices and perform identical when overclocked (3.9 and 5 GHz respectively)at 1080p and 1440p
1) the i7 is winning in older games, the Ryzen 7 is winning in more recent titles, think future-proofness
2) i7 and Z270 are ageing platforms while Ryzen and AM4 are brand new, think future-proof
3) these CPUS are performing identically when overclocked. My friend will not overclock for a while and I think it is safe to assume the i7 is benefitting way more from an extra 800mHz than the Ryzen 7 is from a 200mHz overclock
4) 4 core Vs 8, think future proof
5) Ryzen 7 is at 65 W Vs the 95W of i7, if you were concerned about heat/accoustics, this definetly plays a big role

 

[Chugalug_]

AMD's RX series are sold out now for crypto-mining since everyone's buying them up, and a 1070 would be a good fit.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor (£194.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£79.74 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Team - T-Force / Night Hawk 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£119.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Palit - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB JetStream Video Card (£355.78 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair - Carbide Series 88R MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£46.80 @ Alza)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£48.39 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£83.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £967.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-21 09:27 BST+0100

 

[Lucifer2501]

AMD's RX series are sold out now for crypto-mining since everyone's buying them up, and a 1070 would be a good fit.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor (£194.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£79.74 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Team - T-Force / Night Hawk 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£119.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Palit - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB JetStream Video Card (£355.78 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair - Carbide Series 88R MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£46.80 @ Alza)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£48.39 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£83.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £967.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-21 09:27 BST+0100

That looks fine and pretty similar to the initial build we had made. Obviously we reconsidered some aspects to get where we are and here is a bit of our thought process:
Being in France and him in the UK we have the luxury of finding some cheaper prices depending on where we order and don't really suffer from stock issues.
The RX580 is the equivalent of 270 GBP in france (much cheaper than any GTX1070 we found). The spare cash was re-injected to bump the Ryzen 5 to a Ryzen 7 for the full 8 cores and future-proofness.
We also decided to go for a single RAM stick to add a 120Gb SSD for OS (More benefit from having the OS on an SSD now and buying an 8GB stick later than the other way around)
Other parts like MOBO, PSU and HDD are all generic as mentioned, we don't care for those much as they will be the first to be changed/added in future upgrades.

Which leaves us with the choice of case. I will have a look at that carbide 88R. Thanks for the effort.

 

[Chugalug_]

The extra threads of the 1700 won't get used in gaming well, its a waste of cash.
Stick with the list I posted, you need high frequency RAM for Ryzen, and 16Gb is good to have. Get the list I posted with the 1070, far better performing.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

for non overcklocking gamer, i7-7700K is way better choice.
it has significantly better gaming performance out of the box than any ryzen.
Regarding AM4 - technically, it's cheap crap. no high speed ram, no proper iommu grouping etc. so no, going current (released in rush) AM4 is not future proofing. not to mention broad availability of mini ITX boards for intel.
if you willing to go with slightly larger cases, Fractal Design Define Nano S and Define Mini C will do everything you want. Those have much better airflow than Evolv and yet very compact while offering huge potential to put anything you want inside.
RAM speed affects everything on ryzen - the data fabric that is used for cores interconnect and everything else to/from CPU is operating at RAM speed. The boost from faster RAM can reach 15-20% in gaming.
The resolution is not important for the CPU choice - GPU work. The CPU will determine what is the max FPS and how smooth games ran. for the next 2-3 i7 is still going to be more than enough.
If you insist to follow hype and get immature platform, at least wait for B2 stepping on ryzens - should fix few issues.
Also, waiting for coffee lake from intel would be wise.
both should be available this summer.

 

[Chugalug_]

Psu and mobo are crucial, please see what I posted, don't get that initial list, some very poor value stuff in there. You can drop in an ssd later and migrate the OS with software.