What is the Best Cost No Option Small Form Factor Case for a Silent and Small WC Gaming Powerhouse (3090, etc)

kill8r

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
172
Hi All,
I am wanting to ditch my huge Corsair 900D case from my first ever build in 2015.

I am looking to achieve the following in my new build:
- Silent
- Small Form Factor
- Capable of Gaming in 4k at high FPS on max settings for AAA titles and for high resolution VR.

I assume WC is the way to go if I want silent.?

It seems the Ncase M1 is a contender, any other suggestions?

Any recommendations on components?
Been out for the loop for a while. I want to buy all the gear by October.
Thanks for the help
 
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Take a look at this video, gives you an idea of what is possible and what is needed for a dual loop in the Ncase.

Thank you. I have seen it but not sure if this would work with a 3090 due to its size
 
Hard to say on the 3090 atm, PCB is really small so hopefully the water blocks are as well.
 
I have a WC Ghost S1 with dual 240 radiators and it runs a i9-9900k and 2080 ti quietly. Formd T1 could also likely do it albeit with a single radiator
 
Try the Fractal Design Core 500.

You get 280mm horizontal radiator space, and 140mm rear fan bay. the most cooling you can fit in under 20l, for under $50

The only downside will be, you will have to wait for a 3090 dual-slot card. But 3080 should be easy.

The max card length is 310mm (exactly that of the 3090)
 

That’s what I use, love the damn thing but no way a 3090 is fitting in there. Especially with water cooling cpu setups unless you have sort of custom block on the 3090

I have a 2080 Super from EVGA in mine. The XC edition because it was the only one that fit, a 2 slot card. Anything bigger does not. Even this card is like less than half an inch from touching the radiator for the cpu aio cooler
 
IMHO, we've sort of redefined SFF though. I'm mean, we're talking bigger than a old school lan party shoebox style (and very close to mid tower)... and even so, not sure I would classified that as SFF.

Maybe this is just how it has to be.... it's just not what I'd consider to be SFF. For high end GPUs, there might not be a "tiny way". The nature of the beast (laptops, perhaps?).
 
IMHO, we've sort of redefined SFF though. I'm mean, we're talking bigger than a old school lan party shoebox style (and very close to mid tower)... and even so, not sure I would classified that as SFF.

Maybe this is just how it has to be.... it's just not what I'd consider to be SFF. For high end GPUs, there might not be a "tiny way". The nature of the beast (laptops, perhaps?).
I agree, it leaves a lot of room for interpritation and may be why some people think things are impossible while others don't. Their definitions don't match :). I mean, it's hard to put just a single # on something though, even an mATX case can go from pretty small to larger than a smaller ATX case :p ATX can mean anything from relatively small desktop box to huge workstation. None of it's well defined, but he said what he's looking for to fit in the case, so obviously he's not looking at a shoe box ;). That ncase is decently small and can fit some pretty hfety hardware in it. Again, depends on your definition of SFF, but i would say it's still a SFF case when considering it fits a full size GPU (aka, not a lot of extra room compared to most cases that would support similar sized hardware).
 
And, of course, a lot of the "tiny tiny" things are fed by a power brick. And the power requirements of high end GPU and CPU really don't make that easy, not too mention the ability to make that small with an embedded PSU.
 
If you don't mind something on the larger end of SFF, but still <20L, the NR200 is pretty hard to beat. I managed to snag one a couple days ago, and while it's a taller than my old Shuttle, still plenty small enough to sit on the desk. Pretty much zero compromises when it comes to cooling (room for 6x 120mm fans, multiple locations for 240/280mm rads, etc...). Will easily fit a triple slot 3090, almost seems like that had early card specs or something, considering how will suited is it to large cards like that.

Best part is the price, something like $80 US I believe (a bit more for the NR200P). They're $109/$149 here in Oz, which is a steal compared to what I'd pay to import some of the other SFF cases.

Add in a Corsair SF750 Platinum PSU, and you can power pretty much any CPU/GPU combo you want.
 
The 3090 is just not an SFF friendly card. Size, power draw, all of it.

Even the 3080 is pushing it in a lot of cases. All the SF PSU's are already or are going to get crazy expensive. And the FE fan design is kind of an issue for small cases.

I really want one of these cards but I am looking at a bigger case than my Ghost and DAN for this gen. E.g. NR200 (if I can ever find one) or even the sacrilege of bumping up to a micro-ATX case like the V21. Just too many compromises or price gouging for certain niche components otherwise.
 
The 3090 is just not an SFF friendly card. Size, power draw, all of it.

Even the 3080 is pushing it in a lot of cases. All the SF PSU's are already or are going to get crazy expensive. And the FE fan design is kind of an issue for small cases.

I really want one of these cards but I am looking at a bigger case than my Ghost and DAN for this gen. E.g. NR200 (if I can ever find one) or even the sacrilege of bumping up to a micro-ATX case like the V21. Just too many compromises or price gouging for certain niche components otherwise.

Well that would be a real bummer as I really hoped to get a 3090 in an almost silent and compact design. Was open to wc or ac.
 
Well that would be a real bummer as I really hoped to get a 3090 in an almost silent and compact design. Was open to wc or ac.


Well, the new 3080 cooler is silent at-idle, and it's 36bB at-load (pretty impressive for being 100w higher than the previous model.)

fannoise_load.png

I doubt you would notice that noise, unless you have the case at head-level?
 
Well, the new 3080 cooler is silent at-idle, and it's 36bB at-load (pretty impressive for being 100w higher than the previous model.)

View attachment 279766

I doubt you would notice that noise, unless you have the case at head-level?

that is super impressive

are there general guidelines on what sound at what distance is audible? i know it'll depend on ambient noise just curious how to think about things

also wonder if there's much coil whine or not on the card, guess that'll depend on manufacturer?
 
that is super impressive

are there general guidelines on what sound at what distance is audible? i know it'll depend on ambient noise just curious how to think about things

also wonder if there's much coil whine or not on the card, guess that'll depend on manufacturer?


I would say keep, t under 30dB if you're going to have an open-air case within few feet of you, with noting solid in-between.

If you're e keeping it across the room (or in a closed case) keep it under 40dB.

The last video card I owned I could hear in my closed, silent case was my stock HD 4850, at 40db. that stock 3080 should be inaudible under the same situation.

When you're dissipating 350w. it's impressive to see such low volume. The last dual-fan third-party cooler from AMD to do that was 5dB louder. and it's predecessor . the 290X blower was legendarily loud at full cklocs,


fannoise_load.gif


Cooler efficiency has gone a long way in the last ten years, and if you have to burn that kind of power, NVIDIA knows what they are doing
 
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There is always the MO-Ra3 for cooling in a case just big enough to hold the 3090.
 
I just ordered a FormD T1 for this exact type of build - very GPU-heavy for combination of gaming and AI work - 3090 with its 24gb RAM is going to be amazing, whenever I can actually get my hands on one. I'll be running a Ryzen 5600X in mine, since CPU power is less important for me, so no need for water cooling.
 
I just ordered a FormD T1 for this exact type of build - very GPU-heavy for combination of gaming and AI work - 3090 with its 24gb RAM is going to be amazing, whenever I can actually get my hands on one. I'll be running a Ryzen 5600X in mine, since CPU power is less important for me, so no need for water cooling.
Its unreal all that fits in a T1
 
Its unreal all that fits in a T1
Indeed. This setup is replacing a Titan X eGPU for me, which has been awesome for gaming, but virtually never used for work since I started using it as an eGPU. Instead, that has mostly been done on a set of remote systems with Titan V or Titan RTX cards, which I'm going to lose access to in the coming year and a half. This system is going to be a personal box not sharing with anyone else, which will be awesome to have.
 
Indeed. This setup is replacing a Titan X eGPU for me, which has been awesome for gaming, but virtually never used for work since I started using it as an eGPU. Instead, that has mostly been done on a set of remote systems with Titan V or Titan RTX cards, which I'm going to lose access to in the coming year and a half. This system is going to be a personal box not sharing with anyone else, which will be awesome to have.
May I ask why you chose the FormD T1 over the Mcase M1?
 
I have a Sliger Cerberus sitting next to me on the desk. Pretty small mATX case. Because it's mATX, there's a little more room for options like large video cards and coolers.
 
May I ask why you chose the FormD T1 over the Mcase M1?

Smaller with the sandwich layout. Prefer the mesh side panels and overall look of the case. My use case is GPU-centric, and I won't need a CPU with more than 65W TDP. Going to be a few months before I can build the system due to 3090 and 5600X availability, so purchase time isn't an issue.

The NCase M1 or very-similar DAN C4 to-be-released-soon would've been my choice if I was running a hotter CPU. The DAN A4 would've been my choice if I was running a less-powerful graphics card - although that case really ought to be updated with option of having the 92mm fans at the top instead of the bottom for better temperatures.

The only downside for me with the FormD T1 is lack of PCI-E 4.0. This won't make any essential difference in gaming, but it might make a difference in other workloads - I'm not sure. In any event, I can likely just upgrade the riser when the time comes if need be.
 
Smaller with the sandwich layout. Prefer the mesh side panels and overall look of the case. My use case is GPU-centric, and I won't need a CPU with more than 65W TDP. Going to be a few months before I can build the system due to 3090 and 5600X availability, so purchase time isn't an issue.

The NCase M1 or very-similar DAN C4 to-be-released-soon would've been my choice if I was running a hotter CPU. The DAN A4 would've been my choice if I was running a less-powerful graphics card - although that case really ought to be updated with option of having the 92mm fans at the top instead of the bottom for better temperatures.

The only downside for me with the FormD T1 is lack of PCI-E 4.0. This won't make any essential difference in gaming, but it might make a difference in other workloads - I'm not sure. In any event, I can likely just upgrade the riser when the time comes if need be.
I too like the mesh side panels.

Forgive my lack of knowledge but why can't he T1 support pcie 4?

I am going with a 5900x and 6900xt most likely. I know amd boards support pcie4 but is that restricted in the T1?
 
I too like the mesh side panels.

Forgive my lack of knowledge but why can't he T1 support pcie 4?

I am going with a 5900x and 6900xt most likely. I know amd boards support pcie4 but is that restricted in the T1?
It physically can, but the riser they supply is a 3.0 version, probably because that's what FormD bulk purchased for bundling with the case.

According to various people on Reddit, there is no loss in performance with using PCI-E 3.0 for gaming use cases. So if that's what you'll be using the card for, you should be good.
 
7L Sentry 2.0 ITX case supposively works with the 3090... or the Helium Mercury PC , 8 Liters - they have 3090 options but dont sell the case only.
 
Can anyone confirm if there are new incoming motherboards or cases to suit the new AMD CPUs and GPS?

I am itching to pull the trigger on my new gear.

I was going to go for the T1 but no pcie4 is a deal breaker. Is there a new version coming soon?

Sliger console is looking quite cool. Ncase M1 is next in line.
 
Can anyone confirm if there are new incoming motherboards or cases to suit the new AMD CPUs and GPS?

I am itching to pull the trigger on my new gear.

I was going to go for the T1 but no pcie4 is a deal breaker. Is there a new version coming soon?

Sliger console is looking quite cool. Ncase M1 is next in line.

I haven't seen any new ITX boards announced. Since the 5000 series doesn't actually bring a new chipset, there may not be any new boards, which seems reasonable if there's nothing wrong or technically outdated in the old ones.

Regarding a PCIe 4.0 version - that's hard to tell, but I'd still consider the T1 even though the riser is not completely up to date. Pretty much everything I've read says that framerate will likely be exactly the same under both PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 in any reasonable game. I'm going to be using mine primarily as a workstation, and even in that use case I doubt PCIe bandwidth is going to be the performance bottleneck.
 
I'm still really happy with my m1 v4. If I was forced to get a new case, I think the T1 would be next in line.
 
I’m running a watercooled 3090 and 5900x in a FormD T1 case without issues.
 
I’m running a watercooled 3090 and 5900x in a FormD T1 case without issues.
So you have tour 5900X in air and the 3090 WC/120Rad?

How are the cpu temps, noise at load and heat?

What air cooler are you using for the 5900x?

Thanks!
 
Both on water, using a 120mm + 240mm radiator setup. these are my temps when loaded playing warzone on 4k.

water temp is 41 (16 delta)
gpu temp is 59
Cpu temp is around 68
 
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