Good small form factor cases

[Inversion]

Okay so I'm a bit off this upgrade but the chances are that I'll be going for something like a Ryzen 7 and RTX 3070 when I do upgrade. I'm a student and quite frankly, my full ATX tower is a bit of a pain to move between home and uni. I'll also probably be going a little further afield if I do a PhD so need something a little more portable. Now I need those specs because I'm a YouTuber. As a result, I also generate a rather large amount of data so here are my expected requirements.

 

Mini ITX Sized Case - This needs to be as small as possible while still meeting the other requirements.

Good Airflow - High end hardware need this clearly

Space for good air cooling at as low a volume as possible - I'm not willing to do water cooling. It's not reliable enough.

Ideally has space for a 3.5" HDD and 2.5" SSD. I'm going to try and get a couple of M.2 Slots on the MOBO if possible and I think this will satisfy my other storage needs for now.

Looks decent - Don't need RGB. Don't hate it either. Just want something a little classy (please no glossy plastic...)

 

I had looked at the Fractal Design Era ITX but I heard it wasn't great for thermals and I'm not sure if it can take a two fan gpu and a HDD.

Also budget for the case is probably about Era ITX level of ~£130.

 

Any recs welcome!

[Mateyyy]

I'd probably look at either the Lian Li TU150 or the Cooler Master NR200.

TU150, non-windowed: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/KFXYcf/lian-li-tu150-mini-itx-desktop-case-tu150x

TU150, windowed: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/G27p99/lian-li-tu150-mini-itx-desktop-case-tu150wx

NR200, non-windowed: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/kd2bt6/cooler-master-masterbox-nr200-mini-itx-desktop-case-mcb-nr200-knnn-s00

NR200, windowed: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/29drxr/cooler-master-masterbox-nr200p-mini-itx-desktop-case-mcb-nr200p-kgnn-s00

 

Either should allow for even an NH-U12A air cooler (you could fit something even bulkier in them but it wouldn't be worth the hassle imo), a 3.5" drive and up to a triple slot graphics card and/or bottom intakes (whether you can have both of those last two will depend on the thickness of the fans and the card).

 

Here's Optimum Tech's reviews on both cases:

 

 

[Hans Christian | Teri]

What I would do: Buy an NCASE M1 and go with a 240 AIO. Keep your bulk storage somewhere else (like a NAS).

 

What's probably the better solution for you, if you're not too concerned with a somewhat larger case: Take a look at the NR200 (that's also been posted above). It is much cheaper, and will fit your 3.5 inch drive. It is too large for me though.

[Inversion]

23 hours ago, Hans Christian | Teri said:

What I would do: Buy an NCASE M1 and go with a 240 AIO. Keep your bulk storage somewhere else (like a NAS).

 

What's probably the better solution for you, if you're not too concerned with a somewhat larger case: Take a look at the NR200 (that's also been posted above). It is much cheaper, and will fit your 3.5 inch drive. It is too large for me though.

Please read the post. I said I'm not going to do water cooling. I have to move my PC every 3 months at the minute and I don't trust it.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

2 minutes ago, Inversion said:

Please read the post. I said I'm not going to do water cooling. I have to move my PC every 3 months at the minute and I don't trust it.

As I said, you probably want to go with the NR200, it will fit both aircooling and your 3.5 inch drive. That said, AIO watercooling solutions are about as rugged as air coolers when it comes to moving around, and it is my experience that when it comes to minimizing case volume and still maintaining respectable noise levels, cases are more often than not designed for AIOs.

[geo3]

NCase M1 is the SFF case to get if you want small without compromises. 

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/wC8vCHA Here's my setup. I've got a big aircooler (A Bequiet Dark Rock TF, but you could also use a Noctua C14) a 2 slot full size GPU and plenty of air flow. I've got 4 120mm fans ingesting air into the case and a 92mm exhaust in the back.