Mini-ITX case

[laminutederire]

Hi I have been posting on the planning build forum for other components, but I am posting here as well to be sure I'm not doing anything stupid with the case and power supply.

The idea is to build a mini itx case, as small as possible, but with Watercooling,  since I'll have to overclock an i5 6600k to something like 4000GHz (that's the max I expect), and no air cooling system good enough for overclocking seems to fit in small cases.

I may may want to overclock the gpu a but as well but not as much and it isn't a priority. 

I want to have a small case so that i can travel with it easily enough (I'll have to move a bit during the end of my studied,  while maintaining more than decent peformances). So far I think I made a fairly decent choice for the components, and the psu as well (  a seasonic 620W Psu: Link).

Issue is that I'm afraid the case might cause overheating,  and since it's my first build I may be over thinking it

So far I thought of using a corsair H100i loop in a fractal design 20L case: Fractal design core 500.

I have another solution which might work maybe which is a be quiet dark rock pro 3 cooler with a fractal design node 304 case. The air cooler is 2mm under the maximum size in that case, so it may be risky and everything ?

Is airflow management made difficult by the size of the case?

[astrosheen]

13 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

Hi I have been posting on the planning build forum for other components, but I am posting here as well to be sure I'm not doing anything stupid with the case and power supply.

The idea is to build a mini itx case, as small as possible, but with Watercooling,  since I'll have to overclock an i5 6600k to something like 4000GHz (that's the max I expect), and no air cooling system good enough for overclocking seems to fit in small cases.

I may may want to overclock the gpu a but as well but not as much and it isn't a priority. 

I want to have a small case so that i can travel with it easily enough (I'll have to move a bit during the end of my studied,  while maintaining more than decent peformances). So far I think I made a fairly decent choice for the components, and the psu as well (  a seasonic 620W Psu: Link).

Issue is that I'm afraid the case might cause overheating,  and since it's my first build I may be over thinking it

So far I thought of using a corsair H100i loop in a fractal design 20L case: Fractal design core 500.

I have another solution which might work maybe which is a be quiet dark rock pro 3 cooler with a fractal design node 304 case. The air cooler is 2mm under the maximum size in that case, so it may be risky and everything ?

Is airflow management made difficult by the size of the case?

Take a look at this to get some more ideas if you want it as small as possible

 

[BringBackLCT]

The Corsair 250D can fit a 240mm rad, plenty of drives, an ATX psu and pretty much every air cooled graphics card. (You could do 120mm CPU and 120mm GPU if you wanted.) Check out Linus's video

[Quaker]

5 hours ago, laminutederire said:

The idea is to build a mini itx case, as small as possible, but with Watercooling,  since I'll have to overclock an i5 6600k

Why do you "have to" overclock? You could build a very small ITX system if you forgo the OC and just use a low-profile air cooler and a small SFX power supply.

Or, you could get a Corsair 250D and fit all that stuff in, but it's not the smallest of ITX cases. (But I like it. )

[laminutederire]

5 minutes ago, Quaker said:

Why do you "have to" overclock? You could build a very small ITX system if you forgo the OC and just use a low-profile air cooler and a small SFX power supply.

Or, you could get a Corsair 250D and fit all that stuff in, but it's not the smallest of ITX cases. (But I like it. )

Because I need CPU performance for work related stuffs

It was the opportunity to have an i7 6700 performance for a bit less money.

Well I saw some fractal design which are at the intermediate size.

It was the node 304 or the core 500 I have to check!

[Quaker]

Well, overclocking is only going to get you an extra 10-15%. Is your "work related stuff" that time critical?

In any case, it's what you want that counts to you.

[Clanscorpia]

4000ghz  You mean 4000khz or 4.0 GHz? If you really need a small profile and watercooling you can always custom build your case. Good experience and considering you are watercooling you can pay for it

[laminutederire]

2 minutes ago, Quaker said:

Well, overclocking is only going to get you an extra 10-15%. Is your "work related stuff" that time critical?

In any case, it's what you want that counts to you.

To be honest, I currently have a 2 years old HP laptop with a 2nd generation intel mobile processor, so overclocked or not I'll have a huuuuuuuge leap forward. But I want to learn about overclocking and cooling a small case, it's more like a challenge for me (like for a lot of enthusiats around here). those 10% are pretty sweet, it will end up in 30 min less of simulation in average (on 5 hours simulations). I would love to go for an air cooling solution, it's less scary and expensive, but I'm afraid I won't be able to overclock well with it given the specificity of the case.

[FloRolf]

2 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

4000ghz  You mean 4000khz or 4.0 GHz? If you really need a small profile and watercooling you can always custom build your case. Good experience and considering you are watercooling you can pay for it

4000khz would be pretty slow aswell....

[laminutederire]

3 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

4000ghz  You mean 4000khz or 4.0 GHz? If you really need a small profile and watercooling you can always custom build your case. Good experience and considering you are watercooling you can pay for it

4.0Ghz, I must have been a bit too distracted sorry!

Custom build as in building it myself? That seems expensive (I don't have that much money unfortunately )

[Clanscorpia]

5 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

4000khz would be pretty slow aswell....

I thought 4000KHz translates to 4 GHz? Wait, I just derped, 1000 MHz is a GHz -.-

 

3 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

4.0Ghz, I must have been a bit too distracted sorry!

Custom build as in building it myself? That seems expensive (I don't have that much money unfortunately )

With some metal sheeting, riveting, acrylic, and plastic you could make one. If you dont have much money watercooling is not worth it

[laminutederire]

4 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

I thought 4000KHz translates to 4 GHz? Wait, I just derped, 1000 MHz is a GHz -.-

 

With some metal sheeting, riveting, acrylic, and plastic you could make one. If you dont have much money watercooling is not worth it

Well it would've been 60€ more to get a closed loop, so not that much I guess

It's just that I'm afraid an air cooler wouldn't work well in small cases

[porina]

I started a similar thread in build planning section, also looking to put a 6600k in ITX form factor. 4 GHz is an easy overclock and doesn't need massive volts, so cooling it is not too bad.

 

I'm also looking for ideas, but came across the Antec ISK600 as something interesting. By not putting the PSU above the mobo you have more room to put an air cooler in there. Height is listed as 170mm which should be enough even for a Hyper 212, and that is adequate for a 4 GHz Skylake. They claim there's room for watercooling but that isn't something I looked in detail at. The only possible downside to the case is it is on the longer end of average. Personally I ruled out the Corsair 250D as it is a huge case in comparison. I have smaller micro-ATX ones already.

[laminutederire]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

I started a similar thread in build planning section, also looking to put a 6600k in ITX form factor. 4 GHz is an easy overclock and doesn't need massive volts, so cooling it is not too bad.

 

I'm also looking for ideas, but came across the Antec ISK600 as something interesting. By not putting the PSU above the mobo you have more room to put an air cooler in there. Height is listed as 170mm which should be enough even for a Hyper 212, and that is adequate for a 4 GHz Skylake. They claim there's room for watercooling but that isn't something I looked in detail at. The only possible downside to the case is it is on the longer end of average. Personally I ruled out the Corsair 250D as it is a huge case in comparison. I have smaller micro-ATX ones already.

What kind of PSU are you looking into? I feel like the one I found might be too big (That one)

Yeah the Corsair one is huuuuge. There are also things like silverstone cases, but they are half the size and don't allow watercooling easily, and there isn't any place for large cooling stuffs. Like in the linus video someone recommended above.

My question is, the use of something like a be quiet dark rock pro 3, with its 160mm height, can fit. That air cooler works well in large cases, but, does it work as well in smaller cases?

[porina]

15 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

What kind of PSU are you looking into? I feel like the one I found might be too big (That one)

I haven't planned that far ahead yet, since I'm also waiting for 480X details to come out before deciding on GPU also.

15 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

My question is, the use of something like a be quiet dark rock pro 3, with its 160mm height, can fit. That air cooler works well in large cases, but, does it work as well in smaller cases?

The cooler only moves heat from CPU to air, so basically as long as you can effectively get the hot air out of the case, I think it will be ok. You need to consider where the air is going and make sure it isn't restricted on the intake or exit sides.

[TheRandomness]

@byalexandr

*cough*

[laminutederire]

31 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

@byalexandr

*cough*

Is that person an expert of some sort?

[TheRandomness]

1 minute ago, laminutederire said:

Is that person an expert of some sort?

He made a very very small case

[byalexandr]

I'm here @TheRandomness

 

So OP, since you want liquid cooling and a full size ATX PSU, it'll make designing the case a lot harder I'm terms of making it as small as possible. The being said, you can still get fairly decent overclocks with smaller coolers, and you can still have 600W of power by going with an SFX PSU.

 

What was your GPU choice btw? GPU length and height is also crucial as they take up a lot of space with the way they are.

 

[laminutederire]

1 minute ago, byalexandr said:

I'm here @TheRandomness

 

So OP, since you want liquid cooling and a full size ATX PSU, it'll make designing the case a lot harder I'm terms of making it as small as possible. The being said, you can still get fairly decent overclocks with smaller coolers, and you can still have 600W of power by going with an SFX PSU.

 

What was your GPU choice btw? GPU length and height is also crucial as they take up a lot of space with the way they are.

 

I'm not set on liquid cooling, I'd prefer avoiding it to be honest, since it's pricey. The PSU can be changed I really don't mind, it would be my first build so I didn't really know what to search for PSUs And i may be a bit dumb and overcautious because of that fact

What do you mean by fairly decent? I'll be getting an i5 6600K, how far do you think it could be pushed?

 

GPU wise, I think I'll be getting an RX 480 (I know it isn't out yet, but it should be more than enough to game on 1080p or 1440p, which is all I need for the next 3 years )

[byalexandr]

4 hours ago, laminutederire said:

I'm not set on liquid cooling, I'd prefer avoiding it to be honest, since it's pricey. The PSU can be changed I really don't mind, it would be my first build so I didn't really know what to search for PSUs And i may be a bit dumb and overcautious because of that fact

What do you mean by fairly decent? I'll be getting an i5 6600K, how far do you think it could be pushed?

 

GPU wise, I think I'll be getting an RX 480 (I know it isn't out yet, but it should be more than enough to game on 1080p or 1440p, which is all I need for the next 3 years )

With a Z170 board and a decent air cooler you can get pretty far.

[laminutederire]

7 hours ago, byalexandr said:

With a Z170 board and a decent air cooler you can get pretty far.

I intend to get a Z170i board, which is the mini itx variant, so no issues with that

Now the best I have for the money would be a be quiet dark rock pro 3 to cool down the processor, that put in a fractal design core 500 case, with the air going in the case from the rear fan, and I intend to add one or two 120mm fans at the top of the casecase to remove efficiently the air from the case.

Should the air entry and air exhausting fans be pretty similar, or its okay to have a better exhaust than entry?

[byalexandr]

5 hours ago, laminutederire said:

I intend to get a Z170i board, which is the mini itx variant, so no issues with that

Now the best I have for the money would be a be quiet dark rock pro 3 to cool down the processor, that put in a fractal design core 500 case, with the air going in the case from the rear fan, and I intend to add one or two 120mm fans at the top of the casecase to remove efficiently the air from the case.

Should the air entry and air exhausting fans be pretty similar, or its okay to have a better exhaust than entry?

I'm about 80% sure the Pro 3 won't fit on any mITX board. That cooler is gigantic, it blocks off PCI-E slots on regular sized boards. That and I'm pretty sure it's too large for the Core 500, which also is not that small of a case.

 

I'd look at Scythe's Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B: https://www.amazon.com/Scythe-SCBSK-2100-Shuriken-Cooler-Socket/dp/B0069CQ7BE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467029673&sr=8-1&keywords=scythe+cooler

 

It should allow you to get some nice overclocks and should help keep the rest of the board cool (as the chipset and VRMs do get hot on these mITX boards). And it's not that large either but it takes up space very efficiently:

 

 

As for your case, I'd look at getting something custom built since with your hardware choice (RX 480) you can have quite a small rig if the components are laid out right.

 

The thing about mITX builds is that your hardware choice is a crucial factor in how small your case can be. Mine for example (which I designed and fabricated) is 6.2L in size, smaller than even the infamous Dan Case A4 at 7.25L. This is because I use an extremely short graphics card, similar in length to the R9 Nano. Just keep in mind what you want this build to be a balance of, because as you choose smaller and smaller hardware, you can make your case smaller and smaller, but that also limits your future hardware choice.

 

As it is right now, I'd look at a Dan Case A4,as it'll hold your RX 480 no problem and IIRC it should be able to house a Big Shuriken cooler, or if it's too expensive then I'd get my own version fabricated which I can help out with. The most expensive part of that case is the PCI-E riser cable, which is about $80, but it makes for a very small form factor.

[laminutederire]

3 minutes ago, byalexandr said:

I'm about 80% sure the Pro 3 won't fit on any mITX board. That cooler is gigantic, it blocks off PCI-E slots on regular sized boards. That and I'm pretty sure it's too large for the Core 500, which also is not that small of a case.

 

I'd look at Scythe's Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B: https://www.amazon.com/Scythe-SCBSK-2100-Shuriken-Cooler-Socket/dp/B0069CQ7BE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467029673&sr=8-1&keywords=scythe+cooler

 

It should allow you to get some nice overclocks and should help keep the rest of the board cool (as the chipset and VRMs do get hot on these mITX boards). And it's not that large either but it takes up space very efficiently:

 

 

As for your case, I'd look at getting something custom built since with your hardware choice (RX 480) you can have quite a small rig if the components are laid out right.

 

The thing about mITX builds is that your hardware choice is a crucial factor in how small your case can be. Mine for example (which I designed and fabricated) is 6.2L in size, smaller than even the infamous Dan Case A4 at 7.25L. This is because I use an extremely short graphics card, similar in length to the R9 Nano. Just keep in mind what you want this build to be a balance of, because as you choose smaller and smaller hardware, you can make your case smaller and smaller, but that also limits your future hardware choice.

 

As it is right now, I'd look at a Dan Case A4,as it'll hold your RX 480 no problem and IIRC it should be able to house a Big Shuriken cooler, or if it's too expensive then I'd get my own version fabricated which I can help out with. The most expensive part of that case is the PCI-E riser cable, which is about $80, but it makes for a very small form factor.

Sub 20L is okay with me, I just need to be able to travel with it rather easily.

Thing is I have no clue at all about how efficient a cooling might be. That's why i've looked at beefy cooler like the dark pro or the noctua nh-d15 (the second fits just right, but I don't think it would allow me to have fans at the top)

the thing is with less than 15L cases is that I don't know how cool I could keep the CPU while moderately overclocking it. As stated previously I have no clue what's needed for coolers

In your opinion, how far what you proposed me should get an i5 6600K to approximately?

 

[byalexandr]

6 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

Sub 20L is okay with me, I just need to be able to travel with it rather easily.

Thing is I have no clue at all about how efficient a cooling might be. That's why i've looked at beefy cooler like the dark pro or the noctua nh-d15 (the second fits just right, but I don't think it would allow me to have fans at the top)

the thing is with less than 15L cases is that I don't know how cool I could keep the CPU while moderately overclocking it. As stated previously I have no clue what's needed for coolers

In your opinion, how far what you proposed me should get an i5 6600K to approximately?

 

Looking at builds on PCPartPicker using that cooler and a 6600K, the temp range seems to be 45-50C on load, without an overclock (in a small case as well). I'd say you can get it to 3.8-4.0GHz without much problem. Although bear in mind the 6600K is already a fast chip, I don't see why you'er so focused on overclocking it. Even a small OC to 3.7-3.8GHz will be more than fine.

 

Edit: Although I should also mention it seems that some users did not install the cooler correctly and they have load temps of a little less than 60C. You want to keep the chip under 65-70C to be safe, so just make sure you install the cooler properly if you end up getting one.