Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Info & chat about quiet prebuilt, small form factor and barebones systems, people's experiences with vendors thereof, etc.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
midiman
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2004 3:39 am

Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by midiman » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:50 am

Just bought an ivy bridge rig and am shopping for a new case, power supply, and CPU cooler. I've lived with a full size P182 for years not and am taking the plunge on a smaller box because I'm moving to a tiny apartment next month. I was going to go with mini ITX, but there's not a whole lot of z77 boards out there yet and I got a great deal on this MicroATX one (@microcenter).

Here's the only requirements - "as quiet as possible" and must fit within a 13" x 15" (depth) x 13" space. Must fit 3x3.5" drives and 2x SSDs. Optical is not needed, and its OK if the SSDs are just lying someplace in the case. Smallest case possible is key here.

Concerning coolers and PSU - I'm up for any recommendations. I don't think fanless is a great idea as I do plan to overclock a bit (Gigabyte z77mx with i5-3570k).

I would prefer 120mm fans, mainly because I have a ton of Nexus 120mm, but I also have a bunch of Zalman fan controllers that can bring fan speeds down. Graphics videocard length is not important as I plan on using Intel's onchip graphics (for now).

I'm going to miss my P182, but its just too big!

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by ces » Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:45 am

Start here:
viewtopic.php?p=546616#p546616
Go to the bottom of the list and you will see small Micro-ATX cases

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by ces » Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:51 am

Lian Li has some nice box shaped cases like that, like the V351:
W 10.98; H 10.31; D 14.69;

Also take a close look at the LAN-GEAR.COM Micro-ATX
W 11.4" X H 8.6" X D 14.6"
(not certain if it can take all the hard drives you want to put into though... but maybe.

kuzzia
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 709
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 4:41 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by kuzzia » Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:22 pm

The Silverstone Temjin TJ-08E seems to fit your needs. I'd recommend a Cooler Master 341 if not for the lack of mounts for harddisks. The construction is barely acceptable, but room for four 120 mm fans ensures good thermal potential. Perhaps look at some of the other Cooler Master Elite micro-ATX cases.

midiman
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2004 3:39 am

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by midiman » Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:30 pm

Of that list, I think my favorite is from Lan Gear. Do they sell them anywhere in the US? Don't appear to. I've emailed them.

I've been reading reviews of the Lian Li's on newegg and am a bit iffy on which one is best. My options, due to dimensions, are between the 351, 352, and 353.

Another possibility is the Apevia QPack1 or Qpack2. Again, newegg feedback seems to go both directions.

Any others I should be looking at?

midiman
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2004 3:39 am

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by midiman » Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:32 pm

kuzzia wrote:The Silverstone Temjin TJ-08E seems to fit your needs. I'd recommend a Cooler Master 341 if not for the lack of mounts for harddisks. The construction is barely acceptable, but room for four 120 mm fans ensures good thermal potential. Perhaps look at some of the other Cooler Master Elite micro-ATX cases.
I'm afraid all of the Silverstone's are just a bit too large. The Temjin you mentioned is 15"+ on two sides. Mine needs to be 13" x 13" x 15" depth.

faugusztin
Posts: 450
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:47 am
Location: Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by faugusztin » Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:54 pm

midiman wrote:Of that list, I think my favorite is from Lan Gear.
Well, let me just say if you ever get some of their cases, you will have issues. On my now unused case from them (yes, i unfortunately bough it) the power button broke, front panel LED's are not really secured well and what is the worst of all, the top/side cover (it is one piece) doesn't flush well to the front panel, and it is lot of work to put it back.

I would suggest you to get back to Lian Li and Silverstone cases.

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by ces » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:29 pm

midiman wrote:I've been reading reviews of the Lian Li's on newegg and am a bit iffy on which one is best. My options, due to dimensions, are between the 351, 352, and 353.
I have the 351. The ventilation leaves something to be desired. But it isn't a bad case if you don't load it up with too much heat. The hard drives don't get good ventilation. But perhaps its OK if you are using green drives with an SSD boot drive. If you plan on using a video card, that might be asking a lot of it temp wise.

midiman
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2004 3:39 am

Re: Smallest Micro ATX case/psu

Post by midiman » Wed May 02, 2012 1:50 pm

Now leaning towards the ML03 or the GD06 and putting this in my home theater cabinet.

Post Reply