Getting Smaller Case

[Sam J]

Hey everyone!

 

I currently have an NZXT s240 Elite. Im looking to get a smaller case as im in college and have to carry it home and back often. Im thinking an mITX case. I realize im going to have to buy new parts like a mATX or an mITX motherboard for the smaller case. Im looking at $400 max for case and new parts to swap in. I was looking at the corsair air 240, but im hesitant for the CPU cooler only having 120mm & an AIO rad blocking other fan mounts. Any recommendations?

 

EDIT: I actually just cleared out a 3.5" drive. Below is up to date now.

 

My current specs:

- NZXT S340 Elite

- i5 6600k

- Cryorig h7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler

- MSI z7170A Gaming m3 ATX

- 2x 8gb G.Skill Ripjaw V series

- 2x 3.5" HDD & 2x SSD

- MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB

- EVGA 650W 80+ Gold certified semi-modular ATX

[DailyProcrastinator]

That is nearly as small as an ATX case gets, not worth swapping cases. If you want to go small form factor swap for an ITX motherboard, then get a new case, otherwise, I would not bother. 

[TVwazhere]

19 hours ago, Sam J said:

Hey everyone!

 

I currently have an NZXT s240 Elite. Im looking to get a smaller case as im in college and have to carry it home and back often. I realize im going to have to buy new parts like a mATX or an mITX motherboard for the smaller case. Im looking at $400 max for case and new parts to swap in. I was looking at the corsair air 240, but im hesitant for the CPU cooler only having 120mm & an AIO rad blocking other fan mounts. Any recommendations?

 

My current specs:

- NZXT S340 Elite

- i5 6600k

- Cryorig h7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler

- MSI z7170A Gaming m3 ATX

- 2x 8gb G.Skill Ripjaw V series

- 3x 3.5" HDD & 2x SSD

- MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB

- EVGA 650W 80+ Gold certified semi-modular ATX

Keeping all 3 3.5" hard drives will be tough. I there ant chance you could shrink that down to two drives (maybe even one?) Case support for 3 3.5" drives is hard to find in an ATX case these days let alone mATX and mITX. 

Which MSI 1070 is it? They make different coolers which are different sizes (so it's important)

Also which EVGA PSU is that? I'm assuming it's a G series but is it NEX, G2, G3, G+? (more size related)

 

This is one of those situations where I'd love to recommend my Corsair 380T IF THEY STILL MADE IT

 

A Fractal Design Core 500 seems to fit everything in an mITX enclosure without issue. 

 

I use PCPartPicker.com to help check compatibility for things like enough drives and short enough CPU coolers (I chose the GPU that best fit your description so LMK if that looks like your GPU)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-6600K 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$238.30 @ Newegg Business
CPU Cooler	CRYORIG - H7 49 CFM CPU Cooler	$99.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$119.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$84.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$84.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$44.89 @ OutletPC
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$44.89 @ OutletPC
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$44.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Video Card	$383.88 @ OutletPC
Case	Fractal Design - Core 500 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$56.31 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$59.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1303.01
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$1263.01
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-28 09:38 EST-0500

 

[Corsair Nick]

On 1/27/2019 at 11:10 AM, Sam J said:

 I was looking at the corsair air 240, but im hesitant for the CPU cooler only having 120mm & an AIO rad blocking other fan mounts. Any recommendations?

Have you considered the newer 280X?  There is enough room to mount a 240mm or 280mm radiator up top.  I had the Air 240, then switched over to the 280X, lovin it!

 

I agree with @TVwazhere, most smaller cases are going to have (2) 3.5" drive mounts.

 

PS: Still love my 380T as well.  Great traveler PC for LAN parties.

[Quadriplegic]

Why not sell the current system and look for used laptop with 1070?
 

[Sam J]

I ended up removing one of the two 3.5s so now its 2 and 2. Im not a big fan of gaming on laptops so I want to stick with my desktop. Im torn. I found the Corsair Elite 130 and really like the look of that and going with an AIO CPU water cooler.