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mATX case for little brother?

Okjoek

My brother has an mATX haswell system with an EVGA GTX 1070 dual fan card. His PC is built inside an old HP Inspiron case

This is the same case on Google Images:

DSC09090w.jpg

 

His GTX 1070 overheats because there's no intake fan at the front. It doesn't look like there's really any room to add any sort of good intake fan there either due to the awful position of the power on-off button. At best I might be able to jerry-rig a 90mm fan there if I decide to work with the case he has.

Next issue is there's also no floor ventilation which I feel his GPU may benefit from.

Next is the cable management. I thought my Antec VSK4000-E was hard to cable-manage. This thing is much worse.

There's no window which is simply a modern PC staple, RGB or not. I mean unless he wanted to keep the "sleeper" aesthetic, but IMO a window system can be made to look professional too.

Finally the drive mounting is weird and gets in the way of GPU in one of the spots.

 

 

Any ideas as to what mATX case can improve some of these issues? Some I've taken note of are:

 

https://www.amazon.com/APEVIA-X-QPACK3-WHT-Supports-Windows-Filter-White/dp/B017AELS4K/ref=sr_1_48?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1525645306&sr=1-48&keywords=mATX%2Bcase&th=1 (current favorite)

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072F29JP4/?tag=pcpapi-20 (really good price)

 

https://www.amazon.com/H400i-Micro-ATX-Computer-White-CA-H400W-WB/dp/B0762T54FD/ref=sr_1_91?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1525647505&sr=1-91&keywords=mATX+case (super expensive, looks great, but no external 5.25 bay?)

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01550Y9GA/?tag=pcpapi-20  Close second favorite.

 

Any suggestions? I just wanted to get him this before summer temperatures hit any harder.

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What temperatures is the GPU actually reaching?

:)

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Just now, seon123 said:

What temperatures is the GPU actually reaching?

I'll see if I can find out, but as of now IDK, just his word.

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I vote for the first one, unless this is for his birthday or something you should ask which one he likes.

What is actually supposed to go here? Some people put their specs, others put random comments or remarks about themselves or others, and there are a few who put cryptic statements.

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7 minutes ago, Computernaut said:

I vote for the first one, unless this is for his birthday or something you should ask which one he likes.

Actually his BD is in August so I was going to make it an early present he could enjoy after the school year is over.

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the Sama maxcool is $45 or so, it has a PSU shroud so you can just cram the cables in there or in the drive cage.

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I'd totally mod that case, cut a hole for a bottom intake, remove most of that side metal and only keep the 5.25 bays for the ODD and a 3.5 to 5.25 adapter for the HDD, cable management.. I've seen worse, nothing a couple zip ties can't fix. I don't like windows at all but if the side panel is solid you could cut a window too.

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I like the first one. I really like cube cases though. I have a Corsair Air 540 for my personal rig and my GF's case is a Rosewill Neutron ITX. The cube shape makes cable management easy and from what I've witnessed, can help a lot with thermals.

That being said, as cool as it would be to surprise him, maybe figure out a budget you're comfortable with and let him choose from there. Unless you're really in tune with your brother, it may be best to just let him choose it. 

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Came across this one just this morning. It's a fairly new case (and a fair bit larger than the Apevia) but it's got a 200mm fan at the front and comes in five different colors (the red one kinda looks "iron man" themed"

 

Rexgear 1 Micro ATX Cube

 

Cant wholeheartedly recommend it since it's not reviewed by anyone notable, but if you do go with it LMK how it all goes. Initial reviews on amazon are positive but thats like trusting WCCFTech as a creditable news source :^)

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11 hours ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

the Sama maxcool is $45 or so, it has a PSU shroud so you can just cram the cables in there or in the drive cage.

That looks really nice. Though it actually looks really huge for an mATX case

10 hours ago, aezakmi said:

I'd totally mod that case, cut a hole for a bottom intake, remove most of that side metal and only keep the 5.25 bays for the ODD and a 3.5 to 5.25 adapter for the HDD, cable management.. I've seen worse, nothing a couple zip ties can't fix. I don't like windows at all but if the side panel is solid you could cut a window too.

I'm just debating in the bill of materials would justify the cost over just getting a new case entirely. To mod this case I would like a new case fan, metal cutting disks for my Dremel 4000 (I used the last of them on my last project), some zip-ties and ontop of all that his side panel is an absolute mess from some LAN party he took it to. I'd be removing permanent marker and yes, spray paint from a botched attempt of his to make Adidas stripes. I'd probably want to buy some clear acrylic and some nuts + bolts to mount it as a window. I have a strong feeling these things would cost the price of a brand new case anyway.

2 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

Came across this one just this morning. It's a fairly new case (and a fair bit larger than the Apevia) but it's got a 200mm fan at the front and comes in five different colors (the red one kinda looks "iron man" themed"

 

Rexgear 1 Micro ATX Cube

 

Cant wholeheartedly recommend it since it's not reviewed by anyone notable, but if you do go with it LMK how it all goes. Initial reviews on amazon are positive but thats like trusting WCCFTech as a creditable news source :^)

 

2 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

I'm not sure, but I don't think he's really into all the weird "gamer-y" angles either, but he might enjoy all the drive space on the Rexgear one. The CM one doesn't look like it has a lot of ventilation.

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Update: 

Successfully removed all spray paint & Permanent marker from my brother's current side panel. Took almost 2 hours, but looks nice and fresh.

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