Debating on building a SFF for home and travel. Advice?

S

subspeed6

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
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My current job has me traveling A LOT around the country. (I'm at 70% travel for the year.)

Right now I own a Sager NP8130 laptop for travel and a built PC for the house. My goal would be to build the smallest and decently powerful m-ITX build for both home and travel.

I am not a competitive gamer and I would be using the hotel's TV as a monitor. (My company puts me up in hotels like Hyatt, Hilton Garden Inn, etc...) I mostly play games like Diablo 3, Robocraft, GW2, and maybe some BF4 every now and then.

The kicker is, I need a case that would fit in a typical carry on luggage bag. Also, I would think an AIO cooling system would be a no-go having to deal with TSA and the liquid rules. So air cooling it would have to be.

Here is my list of parts so far:

Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC (Having the built-in wifi is a plus)
Processor: Intel i5-4690k (The k series is cheaper than non-k)
Ram: Crucial Ballistic Sport 2x4GB 1600 CAS-9
HDD(s): Carry overs from my desktop.
Video card: EVGA 970 GTX SC
Power supply: Silverstone SFX 600w

Cases I am considering: Fractal Design Node 304, Sugo SG05 Lite, NCASE M1 (if I can get on the 3rd production run.) I am also open to other cases that are small.. (250D is out.)


What I need advice on:

1. A nice small case that would work/fit in a carry on bag.
2. An air cooler for said case unless you think I can use an AIO without being hassled by TSA.
3. Any other suggestions. I am open to any advice you may have.

Edit: I currently game on a 1440p monitor at home. Just fyi.
 
What are the dimensions of your bag? Case-wise the smallest case I know that you can fit a full length GTX 970 is the SG05, although M1 is a good choice too. I wouldn't recommend the Fractal because it is pretty big at around 20L. Other than that you only choice would be making your own case, which could be fun.

For the cooler you could go with the NH-L12 or an AXP-100. Both are regarded to be very good, and iirc they fit in the SG05. With the M1 you could poke around the threads for some ideas.
 
SG05 is still the king to rule them all. for cpu i'd suggest a xeon E3-1240V3. and fuck aio cooling, go air.
 
My recommendations:

Run CPU at stock speeds, use stock cooler. As long as installed properly the cooler should be sufficient to cool the CPU at stock speeds, plus should not fall off short of the system being dropped several feet onto concrete, after which you may have other concerns besides cooling. For lower temperatures, see if you can run a negative voltage offset for the CPU if you are using a Z97 chipset motherboard. For lower noise, run a fan profile in BIOS.

For graphics card, get one of the rare blower style cards. IMO they are quieter under load in the SG05 case, and idle shouldn't be too bad.

Speaking of case, smallest volume wins. Get an SG05-LITE. To power it, get a Silverstone or FSP 450W SFX. They are the same PSU, just get the cheapest. The reason to buy it separately is that if you buy the SG05-450, you only get a 1 year warranty on the PSU instead of 3, and you don't even save any money. The reason to not go for the modular Gold is because there wouldn't be too much power draw difference, plus at MOST you will not be using a single PSU cable strand. The reason you won't need the 600W is because your CPU + GPU choice would probably never draw over 350W at load from the wall.
 
Have you thought about using a Lian-Li PC TU100? It's the smallest itx case with a handle that I know of.
 
I was in the same boat as you and got some great responses on air travelling PCs here http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1790910

SG05 still seems to be the smallest and lightest to fit a full length GPU, but depending on how much storage you need, would have required me to also carry a couple of external HDDs. So I went with the M1 and glad I did. It has loads of storage and cooler options and is only 1.8L bigger than the SG05, it fits easily into a regular sized backpack with a laptop and some cables. I use an AIO water cooler because it's small, light and mounts to the chassis. I've been through several Australian airports without any questions, but I know the TSA rules are a bit different with liquids so unless it's easy to find answers on that, best to stick with air.
 
I don't require too much storage. I have a 256 SSD and a 1TB storage drive from my current PC that will be carried over.

It looks like the SG05 is the winner here. I've also looked at Zap's suggestion of the 450w SFX power supply instead of the 600w. You are right in the fact that it would be overkill.

I've made a pcpartpicker list... Lucky for me, I have a Microcenter near my house. Yay.


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hF7ZGX
 
The M1 is available at the moment and neither is the bag.

I've already looked into both.
 
JamboAU said:
SG05 still seems to be the smallest and lightest to fit a full length GPU, but depending on how much storage you need, would have required me to also carry a couple of external HDDs.
Click to expand...

6TB internal 3.5" HDDs are available. Here in the USA, they've been on sale for $250.
 
My apologies... On travel I'm not, but when I am at home I game a lot and it is on a 1440p monitor.
 
That PartsPicker is probably the best you're going to find for your purposes.

There are other cases that might look nicer or support slightly higher end hardware, but they all cost significantly more and are measurably larger.

It's also worth checking for clearances or deep discounts while you are in your MicroCenter... saving $100+ on a CPU downgrade might be worth it depending on your budget.

I'd also mention that if you are traveling frequently I would HIGHLY recommend shopping for a roller bag that is the right dimensions for the case and keyboard that you're going to bring. Then make yourself some nice foam cut-outs with slots for your parts. It will speed the packing and give you that extra peace of mind.
 
If no problem with budget.
I suggest use Cyber Power Fang Battle Box :)

case.png
 
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>.<
This is so painful.
Ever since I joined HardOCP due to the Ncase M1...I have built 3 desktops this year. Terrible addiction.

I've got myself the M1 and am very very satisfied with it as a desktop, best case I have ever built with. [Former Silverstone and Shuttle nut]

But the awesome power in a desktop now unfortunately leaves me wanting when I travel for work...and I spent 25% of the time in foreign countries, sometimes across the globe. So you guys had to talk about making portable desktops. *argh*

Okay...now for my 4th desktop this year I'm going to follow your thread and try my best not to get poisoned.
 
subspeed, jambo,

Is weight of any concern to you guys at all?
Desktops are fine and dandy but with the maximum allowable carry on being about 7-8 kilos at some airports, wouldn't the rig itself go beyond?

I'm currently in Western Australia and they can be *really* <insert your censored word here> when it comes to the limit. They will stop you before you enter the customs, get you to put your carry-on on a weighing scale and reject you if it's over.

If I went down the path of a portable desktop, minimising weight would be a huge objective. [I'm already thinking no massive heatsinks, full aluminum case, short GFX such as 760/970 ITX]

Huh...wait did I just mention I wasn't trying to get poisoned?
 
Here in the US we don't place our carry-on luggage on a scale. I currently travel with 2 15.6" laptops (one Sager, one Dell), a tablet, both power supplies, and misc stuff.. I think my backpack weighs about 30+ lbs by the time everything is in there.

We are also allowed 1 carry-on and one personal item. My backpack is considered a personal item.
 
I'm always traveling with my sg05 inside Brazil, and Brazil - Europe. At home I have a SG09. Once I made Europe Brazil with the SG09, with 2 HDD, atx PSU, big GPU and I almost died with the weight. Now I reduce the weight to half, and carry my SG05 in my carry-on luggage.

It's not an ultimate gaming machine, but it's all I need (i5 3570k, R9 270x, 8 Gb ram, 450w 80+ gold, axp 100, 2 TB HDD and 250 gb SSD). It's the perfect transportable gaming case.

I'm going to buy the A4 to reduce the system more.
 
I would really look at the Lian Li TU100. It is Tiny, has a handle, will fit everything below easily.

Use a small power supply, a short GTX 970 and all SSD's for storage (2 EVO 840 500gbs).

IMHO using a platter drive that I would be hauling in and out of hotels/airports etc - I would be worried about premature death due to all the abuse.
 
I'm glad you brought up the airport thing. The reason I want to build an ncase sff is because if business travel, and the airport thing never even crossed my mind. I guess I'm going aircooling
 
Brules said:
I would really look at the Lian Li TU100. It is Tiny, has a handle, will fit everything below easily.

Use a small power supply, a short GTX 970 and all SSD's for storage (2 EVO 840 500gbs).

IMHO using a platter drive that I would be hauling in and out of hotels/airports etc - I would be worried about premature death due to all the abuse.
Click to expand...

Hi Brules,

The TU100 is the same exact case I have been researching!
It's alu, smaller than the M1 and has a handle which would allow me to carry it easily.
And for all product quality purposes it's the very guy who built the M1.
My main concern is heat dissipation. Will it handle a 970 ITX without overheating? [And without cutting the case, I don't mod my cases] Necere/Wahaha ensured the M1 had grills at the bottom which the TU100 sorely lacks.

I've been having trouble getting the rough net weight of both the M1 and the TU100. I quite like the CoolerMaster Elite110 too but with that whole case in steel I think it's going to be really heavy. If despite the bigger size the M1 is the same weight as the TU100, I'll just go with the M1.

If anyone else here knows the weight of the case itself [rough weight. Since some people would have all the extras added and some would remove most] it'd be great. Gunning for the smallest case which weighs 100 pounds kinda removes the whole "portable" purpose.

I had a Gigabtye Brix Pro. It was unusable...:( Hits 100 and starts throttling within 20 secs if you load it.
 
Look up reviews of the tu100 - I havent seen any complaints about overheating.

I want to get one and run a noctua on the CPU and then put a high CFM low noise 120 up front to pull in lots of cool air. Have the PSU suck out hot air over the CPU.
 
Brules said:
Look up reviews of the tu100 - I havent seen any complaints about overheating.

I want to get one and run a noctua on the CPU and then put a high CFM low noise 120 up front to pull in lots of cool air. Have the PSU suck out hot air over the CPU.
Click to expand...

Hi Brules,

I'm thinking of the same method for the CPU, NHL9 Noctua with another 12" Noctua fan sucking cool air in, except I wouldn't have the PSU sucking air out, the PSU fan and the CPU fan would be in opposite direction and it would create way too much turbulence instead.

The GPU is going to be a headache though.
None of the reviews actually had a 970 ITX, some didn't even bother putting in a GFX card. [For obvious reasons too since 970 ITX wasn't even out] I was looking at a few builds with 760 GFX in forums and they all had some sort of heat issue. I was looking at the 970 ITX by Giga and it is really tall, which would compound the problem given that it's not a blower fan.
From Anandtech
"Expansion cards are a bit trickier for two reasons. There's a cover plate held on by two screws in the back of the case that just keeps the design looking clean, but will need to be removed. There's also the matter of clearance, though. Our GeForce GTX 560 Ti didn't fit in the PC-TU100. That 200mm clearance works out to about 7.8", making the most powerful card you can fit into the case the extra-short GTX 670 ASUS produces. Even then I'm not sure I'd go that far; the graphics card slot receives very little fresh air due to the way airflow is directed through the PC-TU100. Really what you want is a blower-style cooler, but the case isn't deep enough for one. You can fit a decent graphics card inside, but you'll have to choose with care."

Some avoided it by putting in a 750Ti, some cut a hole below and added yet another fan etc.

If you check the USA amazon website there was a guy complaining his GFX card way overheated.
Am I allowed to post links to other forums? Some guy overheated and fried his ITX GFX card in the TU100.

Even without empirical proof I would hazard a good guess that heat will be a problem. My M1 with full size GFX open air cooler gets really hot if you let it run full load for a while [The Tri-X is supposed to be really really cool] and none of the ITX GFX is a blower.
 
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Guys, the handle in a case only makes sense in car trips or lan party's.

In an airplane you will always tranport the PC in a bag. You wouldn't want you PC on the loose in the hand luggage compartment...

The SG05 has plenty off ventilation...
 
javidan said:
subspeed, jambo,

Is weight of any concern to you guys at all?
Desktops are fine and dandy but with the maximum allowable carry on being about 7-8 kilos at some airports, wouldn't the rig itself go beyond?

I'm currently in Western Australia and they can be *really* <insert your censored word here> when it comes to the limit. They will stop you before you enter the customs, get you to put your carry-on on a weighing scale and reject you if it's over.

If I went down the path of a portable desktop, minimising weight would be a huge objective. [I'm already thinking no massive heatsinks, full aluminum case, short GFX such as 760/970 ITX]

Huh...wait did I just mention I wasn't trying to get poisoned?
Click to expand...

Yes the weight is among the top priorities when u build a gaming mini itx pc for air travel. I'm in the same boat as Subspeed6 and i'm also trying to balance weight , size and power as best as possible. These are the components i'm intending to buy.
SilverStone SUGO SG05 (2.3Kg)
SilverStone PSU 600W Gold (1.45Kg)
SSD m500 240GB (0.091Kg)
HGST Travelstar 7K1000 SATA-III 1TB 7200 RPM (0.12Kg)
GIGABYTE GA-Z97N-WIFI (0.60 - 0.70Kg<- Didnt find concrete information yet but the weight will be close to this)
Intel Core i5 4690K (Neglijable Weight)
Cooler CPU Zalman CNPS8900 Quiet (0.4Kg)
Corsair Vengeance Pro Blue 16GB DDR3 1600MHz (0.05Kg)
EVGA GTX 970 FTW (0.64Kg)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A combined weight of ~5.75Kg
Rolling Duffel Backpack (~1kg)
So it's not impossbble to stay within the limits for hand carried luggage even for the most strict ariline companies. You can stay well within the 7.5 Kg mark.
And in case you need to carry a monitor u can opt for a slim and light LED IPS 5ms monitor which u can keep in your checked-in baggage. (~3kg tops). Subspeed6 said he wont have to carry a monitor.
Extra Notes: - The Silverstone 450W Bronze rated PSU weighs only 1Kg.
- And I didnt find any weight information for the new Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini but it will probably be lighter then the EVGA one.
- As for the Optical drive u can opt for a light portable external one.
Hope u guys found the information useful.
 
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I realized OC is a bit difficult in this tiny systems. Maybe you can save some money and go for a i7 for instance.
 
I think i7 is an overkill since it would provide very small to no in-game performance boost over the i5 4690k. Even an i5 4460 would be enough i.m.o. although the 4690k is a little bit more future proof.
 
AlexP24 said:
Yes the weight is among the top priorities when u build a gaming mini itx pc for air travel. I'm in the same boat as Subspeed6 and i'm also trying to balance weight , size and power as best as possible. These are the components i'm intending to buy.
SilverStone SUGO SG05 (2.3Kg)
SilverStone PSU 600W Gold (1.45Kg)
SSD m500 240GB (0.091Kg)
HGST Travelstar 7K1000 SATA-III 1TB 7200 RPM (0.12Kg)
GIGABYTE GA-Z97N-WIFI (0.60 - 0.70Kg<- Didnt find concrete information yet but the weight will be close to this)
Intel Core i5 4690K (Neglijable Weight)
Cooler CPU Zalman CNPS8900 Quiet (0.4Kg)
Corsair Vengeance Pro Blue 16GB DDR3 1600MHz (0.05Kg)
EVGA GTX 970 FTW (0.64Kg)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope u guys found the information useful.
Click to expand...

I certainly did Alex, Thank you.
 
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