Portable SFF chassis

[aisle9]

So I bought an i7-10700 and an H570 ITX motherboard last week, and now I'm basically trying to see if I can actually do what I want to with it. My goal was to make a highly portable, compact PC for when I move over the summer (nowhere exciting, just the bottom of the US to the top). My current system in the Thermaltake Versa H18 is compact by mATX standards, but I wouldn't exactly call it "easily portable". I have a Tu150 on the way, and while it does have that handle, it's not exactly the most portable case out there. Here's basically what I'm looking for:

 

ITX form factor

Handle (greatly, greatly preferred, but not a must-have if the case is small and light enough)

SFX or ATX PSU compatibility

Ability to fit in an NH-C14S with the fan on top (150-165mm clearance). The i7-10700 is a little fire in a barrel, and I shudder to think of what it would do to my Cryorig C7 (that's in use elsewhere anyway)

Ideally 2x 2.5" drive bays, 1x3.5". I know the Tu150 doesn't meet that bar, and I know the Silverstone ML08 is all but ruled out because I have a 1070 FE, which would block the 3.5" bay. If it absolutely comes down to it, I'll buy an 8TB hard drive to replace my 4TB one.

 

Budget? Ideally $120 or below, since that's what I'm shelling out for the Tu150. Seriously, it has to be a ridiculously portable case for this to work.

 

The Tu150 is probably the best case for me, but I'm not nearly as familiar with the SFF scene as others here. There's one out there called the ZZAW B2 that looks great, except...no 3.5" storage. That's the kind of thing I keep running into.

[Radium_Angel]

An open frame PC case?

Plenty of air flow.....

[aisle9]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

An open frame PC case?

Plenty of air flow.....

I would have nightmares about damage during moving, though.

[FutaLoliLoverXOXO]

TU-150 or SSUPD Meshilicious. The Meshilicious can fit two 3.5" harddrives or four 2.5" hard drives, and it's all around one of the best SFF cases you can buy. Only thing is it doesn't have a handle, but iirc it's pretty light, and you can always mod it so it has a handle, it's also in your budget at $120 exactly. I highly recommend it

[aisle9]

12 minutes ago, FutaLoliLoverXOXO said:

TU-150 or SSUPD Meshilicious. The Meshilicious can fit two 3.5" harddrives or four 2.5" hard drives, and it's all around one of the best SFF cases you can buy. Only thing is it doesn't have a handle, but iirc it's pretty light, and you can always mod it so it has a handle, it's also in your budget at $120 exactly. I highly recommend it

The CPU cooler limitation bugs me a little (on a gdmf locked CPU wtf Intel), but otherwise this looks really, really good.

[FutaLoliLoverXOXO]

7 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

The CPU cooler limitation bugs me a little (on a gdmf locked CPU wtf Intel), but otherwise this looks really, really good.

Well you can fit a nice AIO in it (fits up to 280mm), or if you want a super low profile air cooler, there's the Alpenfohn Black Ridge, which delivers crazy good performance for being so small, and with an undervolt, I'm certain you can get great temps and performance with it

[aisle9]

5 minutes ago, FutaLoliLoverXOXO said:

Well you can fit a nice AIO in it (fits up to 280mm), or if you want a super low profile air cooler, there's the Alpenfohn Black Ridge, which delivers crazy good performance for being so small, and with an undervolt, I'm certain you can get great temps and performance with it

This is getting expensive. The nagging voice in the back of my head is saying, "You should not have to spend $70-120 for cooling on a locked CPU."

[FutaLoliLoverXOXO]

4 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

This is getting expensive. The nagging voice in the back of my head is saying, "You should not have to spend $70-120 for cooling on a locked CPU."

I forgot it was locked, but yeah that's a good point. You should be fine with a cheaper cooler like the Noctua NH-L9i, which will be less than the NH-C14S. The Meshilicious has great airflow so you should be fine with the NH-L9i

[aisle9]

Just now, FutaLoliLoverXOXO said:

I forgot it was locked, but yeah that's a good point. You should be fine with a cheaper cooler like the Noctua NH-L9i, which will be less than the NH-C14S. The Meshilicious has great airflow so you should be fine with the NH-L9i

No, that's the problem. I have an NH-C14S. The idea was that I could swap in the new motherboard+CPU (check) and not have to buy anything else aside from a new case. If I'm looking at a new cooler plus the new case because the locked chip is a flamethrower...defeats the purpose.

[FutaLoliLoverXOXO]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

No, that's the problem. I have an NH-C14S. The idea was that I could swap in the new motherboard+CPU (check) and not have to buy anything else aside from a new case. If I'm looking at a new cooler plus the new case because the locked chip is a flamethrower...defeats the purpose.

Ah okay, yeah that becomes a problem then