Fractal FT03 - seems to have some mixed reviews... perhaps not great for a hot system?
Personally i dont see it too practical, and never seen comments about it to able to handle heat efficiently, its more a novelty in design than a practical case, at least to me.
Fractal Define Mini - possibly exactly what I want, assuming the top filter is good
Its a great case, but to me its biggest flaw its that its big, people that usually go with micro atx are bacause they want a noticeble smaller case, and with the mini its very similar in size to the R4, its more just the two PCI slot off, to me its not worth buidling on it, if this is your liking go into R5.
Aerocool DS Cube - I don't see much mention of it on SPCR, but it seems to fit my requirements
To me one of the coolest looking and design micro atx cases, the front seems a little restrictive, but i never own one to say how good or bad will it cool. This would be my pick if i were to chose on looks. Btw for this case i would chose the
Thermalright Macho RevB, that comes with the TY147A its a fan that can be undervolted with FanXpert via PWM to 350rpms, its cheaper than Noctua and will look better, specially the nickel plated with white and black fan. I leave you a picture on the case on the none ionized version for you to see how it fits.
Silverstone TJ08B-E - might be a bit too ugly for me, and I'm a little worried about dust being sucked in from the top
Chose this if you were to follow your thread tittle,
"mATX case that can handle some heat". I have owned a TJ08-E where i used the hottest GPU ever created, the infamus GTX480, and the case handle it fine, its a little beast, maybe its ugly, but to me it has character and by far the most efficient cooling of what you have listed, the SPCR review gives it the Editors choice practically into how well it can cool even at low rpms. The case has had a huge fan base in OCN, the case simply is well design in many aspects, not only cooling, for a lot of poeple going into a smaller factor is because you want a smaller overall PC, and this is what you get with the TJ08-E.
The TJ08-E can pack a very high end setup and still handle it quietly, the AP181 is not silent, even undervolted to the max, you still hear a wosh close enough, but its more the frontal mesh + filter that creates this, as the AP181 outside at 450rpm is quiet (again not silent). Be sure to consider a motherboard that can help you undervolt it, as even at the Low setting on the switch its still runs at 900rpms where its very loud, but Asus motherboard with FanXpert should take it below 500rpms, where to me its a very good place to be at idle, and you can ramp it some as your setup is loaded. If you are not happy with the AP181, you can always upgrade it to the AP182 which with a fanxpert motherboard can be drop off to 200rpms, you can read more in
Taming the beast, Silverstone AP182
If you wish to read more about the case, i would recommend you spend some time
OCN Silverstone TJ08-E Owners Club, in there you will find tons of builds, even builds that i would never though were possible on such a small case, but proves its a very verstile small case. You can find builds like
iamdjango post post #5264, where you can see a Phantek Twin tower and with a
Prolimatech MK-26 Multi-VGA Cooler for the GPU cooler, all of this fitted on the PS07 (which is same size as the TJ08-E).
Some PSU options:
Enermax Platimax?
Something by EVGA?
Something by be quiet! (?)
On the TJ08-E its kidna important to have a not so big PSU, as it will interfere if you ever use the 5.25, my recommendation is not to exceed 170mm, one PSU that its a very good option for this case would be
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 P2, its based on the Superflower Platinum Leadex, which imo its one of the best atm, its a semi passive PSU and at that price to me its the best option out there, if you wish to read more check
JonnyGuru Reviews - EVGA Supernova P2 650W.
Silverstone TJ08B-E - might be a bit too ugly for me, and I'm a little worried about dust being sucked in from the top
The ugly is in the eye of the beholder, about the dust being sucked on the top TJ08-E has a magnetic fan filter on the top and its a case design to have positive pressure with the big 180mm AP181, i never had issues with dust on my 3 years of use, not to say it wont enter, but to me the included fan filters do an adecuate job, still some dust will get in, there is no case that has fans that will not have some dust entering, but to me was pretty decent.
Has enough wattage and connectors for the system, with some "room to spare;" I expect to upgrade the CPU to a more powerful one in a year or so, and may eventually upgrade the GPU or possibly get a second GTX980
I wouldn't recommend a SLI setup on micro ATX, if more gpu power is on your short term horizon, i would recommend either to wait for Nvidia Pascal that should be coming around mid 2016 and has rumors of being a good leap, or invest in a better case oriented for SLI, like the Silverstone FT05 you can read more on
SPCR Quiet SLI Gaming PC Build Guide, btw for being an ATX is not that big, its smaller than the R5, probably around the size of the Fractal Define Mini.
I had it in my previous desktop, and I loved it. Seems like 600W should be more than enough for my current build, even if I do eventually get a second GTX980, right?