Help with Micro ATX case!

[K0stas]

I am building 2 PCs and one of them will be a small form PC with a micro ATX case. Initially I picked the Fractal Design Pop Mini air but I was informed that it wasn't available in my country.

The next best thing was the fractal design Fractal Design Meshify 2 but it's a lot more expensive.

 

Can you recommend me a Micro ATX case with good airflow and space for 2 HDDs?

 

[ChrisLoudon]

3 minutes ago, K0stas said:

Can you recommend me a Micro ATX case with good airflow and space for 2 HDDs?

I like my Corsair 280x.

 

Certainly not the cheapest case but the dual compartment layout helps keeps things tidy and its got great cooling capacity especially if you ever wanted to go down a liquid root.

[ChrisLoudon]

Lian Li Lancool 205M would be another more budget option.

[K0stas]

3 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

I like my Corsair 280x.

 

Certainly not the cheapest case but the dual compartment layout helps keeps things tidy and its got great cooling capacity especially if you ever wanted to go down a liquid root.

This is a great case! I ve done some research about it before! The problem is that it's too wide... My desk is below a staircase so I can't put a case above it which means I have to put it below, next to my UPS, and the free space I have below my desk is 1 meter so every cm counts when it comes to how wide is my case...

[K0stas]

4 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Lian Li Lancool 205M would be another more budget option.

Looks like the NZXT one! Unfortunately it's not available in my country

[ChrisLoudon]

3 minutes ago, K0stas said:

Unfortunately it's not available in my country

That sucks!

 

Micro ATX isn't really all that popular. Have you considered going mini itx instead? I love them and they fit in pretty much anything.

[K0stas]

1 minute ago, ChrisLoudon said:

That sucks!

 

Micro ATX isn't really all that popular. Have you considered going mini itx instead? I love them and they fit in pretty much anything.

Truth is my initial setup was supposed to be a mini itx one and I would have gone with the fractal design torrent case... Unfortunately the 350-400€ price tag of the mini itx motherboard forced me to go to something bigger... There is a new MSI itx motherboard around 260€ but I really don't trust MSI when it comes to motherboards after their recent fiasco...

[Heliian]

2 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Micro ATX isn't really all that popular.

What? Where?  Itx is not as popular here. 

 

Anyways, check out the azza luminous 110.  Matx size, decent airflow and io.  Has an led in front panel you can change colour and is less expensive.  I've been using this case for 3 years with no issues.  I had a msi Z390m gaming edge ac with a Nhd15s air cooler but recently switched to a 240mm AIO which I was able to top mount with some minor mods.  

 

 

[ChrisLoudon]

1 minute ago, K0stas said:

Truth is my initial setup was supposed to be a mini itx one and I would have gone with the fractal design torrent case... Unfortunately the 350-400€ price tag of the mini itx motherboard forced me to go to something bigger...

Yeh, its a tricky one as you are definately being charged a premium to go small.

 

2 minutes ago, K0stas said:

There is a new MSI itx motherboard around 260€ but I really don't trust MSI when it comes to motherboards after their recent fiasco...

Meh, I think most of 'big-tech' these days are ogres so as long as it works and its been getting good reviews and you've got a good warrantee then you shouldn't have any issues. My old MSI Meg Ace Z390 is still working a charm.

 

I would really recommend avoiding the micro-atx form factor if you can. Its just not popular enough to attract enough interest from manufacturers to build large product lines for its size. These days its all about itx, atx and eatx

[ChrisLoudon]

7 minutes ago, Heliian said:

What? Where?  Itx is not as popular here. 

Definitely not as popular in the UK. At least on Overclockers or Scan.

 

Typically, you'll see no more than 2 micro-atx motherboard options for a particular chipset but itx will have at least 4 or even more. At the moment, the choice for the latest intel chipset is still pretty limited for uatx and itx but I expect the list of itx boards to grow whereas the uatx won't or rarely do.

[K0stas]

7 minutes ago, Heliian said:

What? Where?  Itx is not as popular here. 

 

Anyways, check out the azza luminous 110.  Matx size, decent airflow and io.  Has an led in front panel you can change colour and is less expensive.  I've been using this case for 3 years with no issues.  I had a msi Z390m gaming edge ac with a Nhd15s air cooler but recently switched to a 240mm AIO which I was able to top mount with some minor mods.  

 

 

Not available in my country anymore either...

 

7 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Meh, I think most of 'big-tech' these days are ogres so as long as it works and its been getting good reviews and you've got a good warrantee then you shouldn't have any issues. My old MSI Meg Ace Z390 is still working a charm.

 

I would really recommend avoiding the micro-atx form factor if you can. Its just not popular enough to attract enough interest from manufacturers to build large product lines for its size. These days its all about itx, atx and eatx

Thank you for your advice! My situation is difficult... I dream of a small PC but everything small is overpriced because I guess creating smaller motherboards with less components costs them more... The next best thing is micro atx cases but they are either unavailable or too expensive and then there are the ATX ones which are too big for my liking... I guess the difficulty here is money...

[Heliian]

What country are you in? 

[K0stas]

Greece

[andrewmp6]

Look up lian li o11 mini air,Or https://www.jonsbo.com/en/product/ComputerCase/MATXMotherboardSeries.html

https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/computer-chassis/?page=3&filter=MicroATX&sort=Newsest

[K0stas]

I found a shop that can bring me cases from abroad and I can get the fractal pop air for 150€. The thing is that after giving up on the pop air since it was not available anywhere in my country, I changed mindset after finding out about the fractal design North and started thinking of placing the case in my living room, since it looks like a furniture.

 

So one choice is to get the pop air mini and place it below my desk and use a 15m optical HDMI to my home theater in the living room or get the North, place it in the living room next to my home theater and use a 15m Optical HDMI to send signal to my monitor.

 

What do you think of the north vs pop air mini performance comparison? I found a couple of reviews online that review each case separately but with different hardware (even in the same YT channel) and the temperatures look better in the pop than the north which doesn't sound right.

 

P.S. the North will cost me 200€