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Thread: Desktop case - Advice

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    Senior Member kopite's Avatar
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    Desktop case - Advice

    Hey everyone,

    I`ve been using a lian li pc70 case for my computer for the past few years but due to space I now need something smaller. Im thinking about a desktop case but wondering what ones are any good.
    I want to be able to use a a high end graphics card. can desktop cases accomodate them?

    Thanks in advance

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    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: Desktop case - Advice

    You're going to have too be more specific over your terms, "desktop case" "Space" "smaller"

    Yes that sound odd but I want to be sure, many cases can bee smaller in volume, but still have a larger footprint which means if you want your case to take up less desk space that would be a bad swap.

    Old style desktop cases where not really any smaller than tower cases, just on there side and under a large foot print crt monitor, combining the two foot prints meant fall less total desk space was used.

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Desktop case - Advice

    As Pob says, it all depends what you mean by desktop and smaller

    For instance, here's an Aplus desktop case with 7 full sized PCI slots, takes a full ATX motherboard, so you can put pretty much whatever you want into it, but it's not small. It saves a little space from a normal mid-tower by moving the PSU to the front, but it's still a pretty big case - stick on your desk and you wont have much space for a keyboard and mouse! It claims to have space for 5 fans, but most of them are going to be pretty small to fit everything in, so you'll also be looking at a loud case sat right in front of you - far worse than a loud case sat by your feet.

    On the other hand, this Antec NSK1480 can be used as a mini-slim-tower or a little desktop case, but only takes mATX motherboards and low profile expansion cards. So it saves lots of space but it's not going to handle your existing rig.

    Really, you need to work out where the computer is going to live (e.g. on the desk? on the floor? somewhere else?), then work out what size of case will fit in your space. There's far too many options otherwise...

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    Senior Member kopite's Avatar
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    Re: Desktop case - Advice

    Well someone about the same size as hifi separates.

    I dont have space for an upright case but I could fit a desktop case in my hifi area.

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    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: Desktop case - Advice

    Well I'd advise you get out a ruler and measure up how much space you have to play with.
    Once you know that then you can look for a case that fits the space.

    I cannot really help you much on a piticular case as I've never explored this route, although I will say that many only use mATX motherboards and there's no room for a tall tower cooler.
    Also watch the PSU, some use normal ATX some use smaller mATX psu's, there are still some good smaller psu's out there just far fewer of them.

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    Senior Member mikemikemi's Avatar
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    Re: Desktop case - Advice

    A lot of choices here http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-.../Desktop-Cases

    All cases should be able to fit a highend card the only issues will be cooling in a smaller enclosed space.

    Personally I would stick to desktops that can accommodate full height cards, i.e., where the cards can plug straight into the board without the use of risers.

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Desktop case - Advice

    Quote Originally Posted by kopite View Post
    Well someone about the same size as hifi separates.
    OK, that's a good place to start.

    The APlus desktop case I linked to earlier has a footprint ~1cm larger each way than the largest item in my separates collection (my Audio CD-R deck ), so it should fit at the bottom of a separates stack comfortably. The CD-R is 355mm x 440mm vs. 370mm x 452mm for the case.

    Your main issue then is going to be height: the case is 153mm tall, which is 4cm taller than my CD-R. If you've just got everything stacked that won't be a problem, but if you have any kind of stand / rack that separates the separates (if you see what I mean ) it might be too tall to slot in. Of course, if you've got everything stacked you'd need to keep an eye on it to make sure you're not bending case...

    So that case would do the job you're after in size terms, pretty much. It also (as far as I can tell) uses a standard ATX psu (it looks like it mounts near the front under the 5.25" bays), and is almost certainly the cheapest full ATX desktop case you're going to find. However, it's not going to have great airflow and as Pob says you'll not be able to fit a tower cooler of any size, so big overclocks are likely to be out of the question, and there won't be much spare space for cable routing etc. In fact, if your gfx card has the PCIe power connectors on the top edge rather than the back edge, you might struggle to fit it in anyway.

    From Scan, all of the Silverstone LCxx series seem to be a decent fit as well - they're 430mm wide so slightly narrower across the front than the APlus, but rather deeper @ > 400mmand even taller @ > 170mm. They are somewhat more expensive though...

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