mATX recommendations

[DebatED Nothing]

I'm looking to move my system to an mATX motherboard and case, I've already got the motherboard picked out and it looks good (recommended to me by several LTT members and well reviewed on PCPartPicker) but I'm still unsure about what case to go for. I'm looking for a small mATX case, because in my new set-up location a smaller case would be very beneficial. At the moment I am looking at the Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV, and while I really like the look of it there are a few issues such as the panels coming off so easily it gives me nightmares of people picking my PC up, getting it 3 feet off the ground and then the panel coming off and the right side panel mounted front IO. I need a case with mounts for at least 3 3.5 inch drives and 2 2.5 inch drives, and preferable a 5.25 inch slot for an optical bay but that's not really necessary (I use it infrequently enough I could just take a side panel off and plug it in temporarily)

 

Thanks for any help you can give, I know choosing something for someone else is pretty tough but I'd really appreciate any input.

[Moonzy]

24 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

 

bitfenix prodigy?

[DebatED Nothing]

18 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

bitfenix prodigy?

So practical, so ugly

[Moonzy]

Just now, DebatED Nothing said:

So practical, so ugly

custom made mATX case
aka cardboard box lol

go knock yourself out

[Auxafly]

Corsair Spec-M2?

[alexyy]

My friend recently went with the Evolv and he loves it especially the side panel design but one negative he mentioned was the front i/O was on the side panel which faces away from him. 

 

Here's a picture https://embed.gyazo.com/505a197090a44494741f080580df3068.jpg

[DebatED Nothing]

I took another look at the Bitfenix Prodigy M today and it's actually grown on me quite a bit. I also made a size comparison image and that helped me decide quite a bit, because the Z11 is already a reasonably small ATX mid tower, the EVOLV isn't actually that much smaller, so the Prodigy makes much more sense. Especially considering that the main reason I want to make this change is portability, the handles on the Prodigy are great.

[diapersarefullofshit]

Corsair Air 240 (black or white) is one of the highest valued cases in roundups.

 

[DebatED Nothing]

33 minutes ago, diapersarefullofshit said:

Corsair Air 240 is one of the best cases in roundups (if you want to go smaller, you will probably find cases that could look alot nicer but will always come at a less optimal cost, so whatever you prefer).

Welp. That's just opened a whole new can of worms. Now it's between the prodigy, where the upgrade will cost £202 and involves replacing my PSU, or the the 240, where the upgrade will cost £190 after replacing my CPU cooler which I need to do anyway because I damaged it. Ugh.

[DebatED Nothing]

I'm going to get the air 240.

Including a new, really good CPU cooler it is £16 cheaper than if I were to go for the Prodigy, and it's slightly smaller as well. Also front IO should be on the front of a case not the fucking side.

[diapersarefullofshit]

8 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

I'm going to get the air 240.

Including a new, really good CPU cooler it is £16 cheaper than if I were to go for the Prodigy, and it's slightly smaller as well. Also front IO should be on the front of a case not the fucking side.

It is a nice firm case, i would get one (if i was not designing my own case). Cablemanagement is realy good because 2 compartments and the airflow it can support is one of the highest ones available.

[DebatED Nothing]

21 hours ago, diapersarefullofshit said:

It is a nice firm case, i would get one (if i was not designing my own case). Cablemanagement is realy good because 2 compartments and the airflow it can support is one of the highest ones available.

Awesome. Are you making a build log thread on this forum?

[Scottonpc]

On 19/03/2016 at 7:48 PM, DebatED Nothing said:

Welp. That's just opened a whole new can of worms. Now it's between the prodigy, where the upgrade will cost £202 and involves replacing my PSU, or the the 240, where the upgrade will cost £190 after replacing my CPU cooler which I need to do anyway because I damaged it. Ugh.

Why would you need to replace the PSU for the Prodigy?

[DebatED Nothing]

8 hours ago, Scottonpc said:

Why would you need to replace the PSU for the Prodigy?

My current PSU is 180mm long, the Prodigy (MAtx variant) only supports power supplies 160mm long.