Help me pick a smaller case for a watercooled PC!!!

GhostRyder · Aug 8, 2018

Hey guys, so as yall probably noticed I am getting rid of my old PC and starting mostly from scratch. I want to do something MATX or ATX this go round with a complete water cooling setup but kept confined so its a bit easier to move it around. Really interested in a white build this round.

Any ideas? I have been searching but I am not finding many cases that I really like. I am also considering if I want to keep my current style loop or build a new one so if you see any that have at least two bays that would be great. Up for just about anything as long as its not giant like my Obsidian 800D was.

Basic specs:
i7 8700k
ATX or MATX White board
Water cooling custom built
Titan XP or Next Generation GTX 1180/2080/1180ti in the loop
M.2 SSD and 3 2tb HDD's

Caring1 · Aug 8, 2018

Is the Obsidian 450D too large?
Unfortunately it's black, but a spray with paint would fix that

Ferrum Master · Aug 8, 2018

If you want it really cheap... I took COOLER MASTER CHASSIS MASTERBOX Q300L for my LP box.

GhostRyder · Aug 8, 2018

Caring1 said:
Is the Obsidian 450D too large?
Unfortunately it's black, but a spray with paint would fix that

I don't mind doing that but I want something with a bit more pizzaz or a cube PC.

One of the ones my eyes are on is this one.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139130&ignorebbr=1

Ferrum Master said:
If you want it really cheap... I took COOLER MASTER CHASSIS MASTERBOX Q300L for my LP box.

Wow that's not bad and looks very clean. What size radiators did you fit in there and how many?

Price is not an extreme concern of mine but I don't want to spend a crazy amount.

Bill_Bright · Aug 8, 2018

Make sure you really, I mean REALLY want white. White does look nice when brand new. But it does not take long for that to change.

I want to do something MATX or ATX this go round

Did you mean to say "ATX"? ATX is full size yet you said you want to go smaller. A mid-tower case will support ATX boards, but unless you go "thin", they are not that small. And I don't recommend thin cases as they restrict your cooling options, and often your expansion card options too.

GhostRyder · Aug 8, 2018

Bill_Bright said:
Make sure you really, I mean REALLY want white. White does look nice when brand new. But it does not take long for that to change.
Did you mean to say "ATX"? ATX is full size yet you said you want to go smaller. A mid-tower case will support ATX boards, but unless you go "thin", they are not that small. And I don't recommend thin cases as they restrict your cooling options, and often your expansion card options too.

I know but I intend to keep it clean. Plus just want to be different.

Yes, I guess the context for this is needed because I have an E-ATX PC right now and want to go down to an ATX or MATX system. I was going to be exclusive MATX but I am now having trouble finding white Z370 motherboards in MATX so I may just do ATX.

Ferrum Master · Aug 8, 2018

GhostRyder said:
Price is not an extreme concern of mine but I don't want to spend a crazy amount.

Did manage to fit two 240mm rads... no probs. I got it for 30€, total gem for the price. Look up some vids on youtube. The only badside is the plastic window... it scratches. But whatever... Very good design, for moving around I don't care for that.

SaltyFish · Aug 8, 2018

GhostRyder said:
but I want something with a bit more pizzaz or a cube PC.

Maybe try the Thermaltake Core V21? It's a cube, and if you want "pizzaz", grab two of them and stack them like a Transformer or something.

GhostRyder · Aug 8, 2018

SaltyFish said:
Maybe try the Thermaltake Core V21? It's a cube, and if you want "pizzaz", grab two of them and stack them like a Transformer or something.

I had been glancing at that case earlier I will take a look in depth more at it as it seems to fit everything I am thinking of.

peche · Aug 8, 2018

GhostRyder said:
I had been glancing at that case earlier I will take a look in depth more at it as it seems to fit everything I am thinking of.

i was about to mention that case and some new others

Core X9 Snow Edition

Thermaltake Core X5 snow

Also, but limited to mATX and small builds....

Core V1 Snow Edition

Regards,

GhostRyder · Aug 8, 2018

peche said:
i was about to mention that case and some new others

Core X9 Snow Edition

Thermaltake Core X5 snow

Also, but limited to mATX and small builds....

Core V1 Snow Edition

Regards,

Wow those two are awesome looking and was what I was imagining pretty much!!! I wonder how big they are in person and how heavy they will be as they seems to be a pretty big size to fit all those radiators. The X9 is on sale on newegg right now. But I found the X5 for 189 is a good deal and looks to be about what I am wanting size wise.

peche · Aug 8, 2018

GhostRyder said:
Wow those two are awesome looking and was what I was imagining pretty much!!! I wonder how big they are in person and how heavy they will be as they seems to be a pretty big size to fit all those radiators. The X9 is on sale on newegg right now. But I found the X5 for 189 is a good deal and looks to be about what I am wanting size wise.

glad to be able to help. click on link / name and you will be redirected to official site, sizes and other data is at bottom, you can do your math and analyze if the size is correct for you, actually Core X9 is a option i still conssider!

Regard,

Jetster · Aug 8, 2018

They make some pretty nice SFX Power supplies now maybe go that route?
Enermax STEELWING

jboydgolfer · Aug 8, 2018

I enjoyed building in the Fractal Design Meshify-C. It's classified as a mid tower ATX, but it's roughly 20% or so smaller than other cases classified in the Mid tower ATX size group, I just recommend you verify the length of your video card before buying it.

Thermaltake core V21 was a fun build as well. It's a cube design, so be aware it's not a tower in the traditional sense, but it's definitely an amazing case

I've been leaning towards smaller pc builds recently, but I would recommend that unless you really want to go tiny ,because of function or size restrictions, you stay in the micro ATX or greater area, when you go under micro ,things get pricey and fairly difficult in some situations

John Naylor · Aug 9, 2018

Evolv mATX Tempered Glass - Fits twin 280s -r 360 + 240 (_ a 140 in rear which I wouldn't waste time on)

You said you wanted a white MoBo and for that Id suggest the gray anthracite color. Have Black, Gray, Silver and White Phanteks cases ... Black is the hardest to keep clean, white the easiest. It's a "designed for water cooling" case so it is by no means small by mATX standards but smaller than ATX

GhostRyder · Aug 9, 2018

Jetster said:
They make some pretty nice SFX Power supplies now maybe go that route?
Enermax STEELWING

Have not seen that one yet, thoug hI am trying to do a bit bigger than MITX because I still want some space inside and MITX boards are not my favorite when I do a bunch of overclocking and such. That said that case looks pretty sick, I may look into doing a build like that.

jboydgolfer said:
I enjoyed building in the Fractal Design Meshify-C. It's classified as a mid tower ATX, but it's roughly 20% or so smaller than other cases classified in the Mid tower ATX size group, I just recommend you verify the length of your video card before buying it.

Thermaltake core V21 was a fun build as well. It's a cube design, so be aware it's not a tower in the traditional sense, but it's definitely an amazing case

I've been leaning towards smaller pc builds recently, but I would recommend that unless you really want to go tiny ,because of function or size restrictions, you stay in the micro ATX or greater area, when you go under micro ,things get pricey and fairly difficult in some situations

Yea I want small but not tiny, I just don't want a humongous machine made out of all steel like the 800D again mostly.

John Naylor said:
Evolv mATX Tempered Glass - Fits twin 280s -r 360 + 240 (_ a 140 in rear which I wouldn't waste time on)

You said you wanted a white MoBo and for that Id suggest the gray anthracite color. Have Black, Gray, Silver and White Phanteks cases ... Black is the hardest to keep clean, white the easiest. It's a "designed for water cooling" case so it is by no means small by mATX standards but smaller than ATX

I have my eye on that one for awhile, really like it.

GhostRyder · Aug 19, 2018

Thank you guys for all the help, I went with the Core X5 after all the suggestions as it seemed to fit what I wanted to do best in my eyes.

crazyeyesreaper · Aug 19, 2018

Core P3... Damn too slow.

I have the Core P3 and love it. With a tempered glass panel. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...hermaltake_core_p3-_-9SIAG9P7B01125-_-Product

silkstone · Aug 19, 2018

I have the corsair air 240. I don't have WC in it, but it is designed to work with a 240 rad and I think it's possible to fit a couple in there.

bonehead123 · Aug 19, 2018

silkstone said:
I have the corsair air 240. I don't have WC in it, but it is designed to work with a 240 rad and I think it's possible to fit a couple in there.

View attachment 105622 View attachment 105623 View attachment 105625

I was gonna recommend the Air 540, which is almost the same as the 240 but a bit bigger (~30)%, which will allow for practically any cooling & storage options you could imagine....

I have a used black one I could sell for cheap, if you wanna explore that possibility

System Name	SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor	i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard	Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling	RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory	Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s)	GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage	Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case	Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s)	Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply	Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Logitech G19S
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016

System Name	Lenovo ThinkCentre
Processor	AMD 5650GE
Motherboard	Lenovo
Memory	32 GB DDR4
Display(s)	AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Mouse	Lenovo
Keyboard	Lenovo
Software	W11 Pro 64 bit

System Name	HELLSTAR
Processor	AMD RYZEN 9 5950X
Motherboard	ASUS Strix X570-E
Cooling	2x 360 + 280 rads. 3x Gentle Typhoons, 3x Phanteks T30, 2x TT T140 . EK-Quantum Momentum Monoblock.
Memory	4x8GB G.SKILL Trident Z RGB F4-4133C19D-16GTZR 14-16-12-30-44
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX 7900XTX. Water block. Crossflashed.
Storage	Optane 900P[Fedora] + WD BLACK SN850X 4TB + 750 EVO 500GB + 1TB 980PRO+SN560 1TB(W11)
Display(s)	Philips PHL BDM3270 + Acer XV242Y
Case	Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO
Audio Device(s)	SMSL RAW-MDA1 DAC
Power Supply	Fractal Design Newton R3 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow V3 - Yellow Switch
Software	FEDORA 41

System Name	SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor	i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard	Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling	RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory	Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s)	GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage	Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case	Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s)	Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply	Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Logitech G19S
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016

System Name	Brightworks Systems BWS-6 E-IV
Processor	Intel Core i5-6600 @ 3.9GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 Rev 1.0
Cooling	Quality case, 2 x Fractal Design 140mm fans, stock CPU HSF
Memory	32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 3000 Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	EVGA GEForce GTX 1050Ti 4Gb GDDR5
Storage	Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SSD, Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD
Display(s)	Samsung S24E650BW LED x 2
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 550W G2 Gold
Mouse	Logitech M190
Keyboard	Microsoft Wireless Comfort 5050
Software	W10 Pro 64-bit

Help me pick a smaller case for a watercooled PC!!!

GhostRyder

Caring1

Ferrum Master

GhostRyder

Bill_Bright

GhostRyder

Ferrum Master

SaltyFish

GhostRyder

peche

Thermaltake fanboy

GhostRyder

peche

Thermaltake fanboy

Jetster

jboydgolfer

John Naylor

GhostRyder

GhostRyder

crazyeyesreaper

Not a Moderator

silkstone

bonehead123

Processor	Intel Core 2 QX6850
Motherboard	ABIT AB9 Pro
Cooling	Zalman CNPS-9900 MAX-R
Memory	Patriot PDC24G6400LLK (4x 2 GB)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Light Turbo
Storage	Not Enough!
Display(s)	Samsung T240HD
Case	NZXT Zero
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro
Power Supply	Thortech Thunderbolt Plus TTBPK00G 1000W
Mouse	Elecom M-DUX70BK
Keyboard	CM Storm Trigger (Cherry MX Brown)
Software	NOT Windows 10

System Name	Athenna
Processor	intel i7 3770 Dellided
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Rev. 1.1
Cooling	Thermaltake Water 3.0 Pro + Tt Riing12 x2 / Tt ThunderBlade / Gelid Slim 120UV fans
Memory	16GB DRR3 Kingoston with Custom Tt spreaders + HyperX Fan
Video Card(s)	GeForce GTX 980 4GB Nvidia Sample
Storage	Crucial M4 SSD 64GB's / Seagate Barracuda 2TB / Seagate Barracuda 320GB's
Display(s)	22" LG FLATRON 1920 x 1280p
Case	Thermaltake Commander G42 Window
Audio Device(s)	On-board Dolby 5.1+ Kingston HyperX Cloud 1
Power Supply	Themaltake TR2 700W 80plus bronce & APC Pro backup 1000Va
Mouse	Tt eSports Level 10M Rev 1.0 Diamond Black & Tt Conkor "L" mouse pad
Keyboard	Tt eSports KNUCKER
Software	windows 10x64Pro
Benchmark Scores	well I've fried a 775' P4 12 years ago, that counts?

System Name	Juliette // HTPC
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Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
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Case	Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
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Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse	Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard	Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness
Processor	i7-11700K
Motherboard	Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A
Memory	32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000
Video Card(s)	RTX 3090 Reference
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb
Display(s)	Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2
Case	Fractal Design Meshify-C
Audio Device(s)	on board
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G502 spectrum
Keyboard	AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue)
Software	Win 10 Professional 64 bit
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Cooling	Custom Water
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Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3080 10GB Suprim X
Storage	3x SSDs 2x HDDs
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Video Card(s)	Zotac 3080 / Colorful 1060
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Audio Device(s)	On Board Realtek
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W / Andyson TX-700 Platinum
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Keyboard	Wooting Two / K400+
Software	Windows 10 x64
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System Name	The Little One
Processor	i5-11320H @4.4GHZ
Motherboard	AZW SEI
Cooling	Fan w/heat pipes + side & rear vents
Memory	64GB Crucial DDR4-3200 (2x 32GB)
Video Card(s)	Iris XE
Storage	WD Black SN850X 4TB m.2, Seagate 2TB SSD + SN850 4TB x2 in an external enclosure
Display(s)	2x Samsung 43" & 2x 32"
Case	Practically identical to a mac mini, just purrtier in slate blue, & with 3x usb ports on the front !
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha ATS-1060 Bluetooth Soundbar & Subwoofer
Power Supply	65w brick
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2
Keyboard	Logitech G613 mechanical wireless
Software	Windows 10 pro 64 bit, with all the unnecessary background shitzu turned OFF !
Benchmark Scores	PDQ