Travelling with SFF system (rare occasions)

[Goobley]

Hey all,

I'm in uni in Glasgow at the moment, but I live in the south of France. I knew I was going to build a SFF system when I got here and I have done so, now I'm trying to get prepared for the end of the year (not doing things last minute for once). I'd ideally like to bring my system back with me (just the tower - the screen and peripherals will stay in storage here). My current tower is a CM elite 120. It's just the wrong shape to fit in any of my bags. I've been looking at changing my system up into a Silverstone RVZ01, which would fit in either of my bags.
When I go home I'll probably fly, though I may take the train (depending on cost - not that I enjoy the train as it take me about 20 hours door to door with 5 changes).
It seems to me that I have two choices:
- Change case to one that fits in bag and carry the computer (If i put it in my carry on bag - what are my chances of getting through customs? Bearing in mind that I'll have to fly from Glasgow/Edinburgh and then change at Gatwick where they seem fairly tight).
- Post my computer to my home. Looking at this option I reckon it'll cost £30 each way - unless I'm missing some cheap courier service somewhere?

What would be your recommendations about getting a SFF computer from there to here - obviously trying to spend as little as possible, but also with negligible risk)

Cheers,
Chris

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Have you looked at any of the Shuttle chassis??

[Goobley]

Hmm, no I hadn't, Oh Great moose one.
I just had a glance and they actually look quite good (especially for their size). I previously thought they were only good with their own motherboards for strange industry requirements (like X79 in DTX form factor).
I shall investigate more tomorrow. Can you actually buy the cases on their own though? After a cursory inspection I've only seen barebones.

[Pob255]

You can get the cases on their own va 2nd hand only AFAIK, the older ones are a custom form factor the newer ones still are however they also comply with miniITX so you can put a mini ITX board in them.
However they are not that much smaller than the 120, a little taller but a chunk shorter.

It might be a better idea to get a new "bag" for the 120, ideally you want a hard shell case or an aluminium flight case.
eg http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Swan-Fligh...item27aee72a3a it's a bit large though, you ideally nee internal dimensions of 240 x 207.4 x 401.4mm

Here's an idea, see if you can find a cheapish heavy duty plastic tool box that's slightly bigger than the 120, then get some foam to pad it with.

This wouldn't be too bad http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thermodyne...-/321345947129 larger than you need but you could pack it out with some thick foam

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I found the Shuttle systems the easiest to travel with - the Elite is noticeably larger. Another factor is that the Shuttle chassis are aluminium too,and weigh far less than most SFF cases which are made mostly of steel.

[Pob255]

Yes that's true, my question is more, is it that much of a difference?

Just checked the SH87R6 dimentions
332 x 216 x 198 mm
vs
402 x 240 x 208

so the 120 is 70mm longer, 24mm wider and 20mm taller, it's really not much bigger
Weight I'm not sure about, yes it'll be less but how much less? while aluminium is lighter than steel, theres not much volume of materiel in ether of them, the difference is more noticeable as you go up in case size.
The parts inside are one of the major contributors to weight in a pc, if you want low weight you really need to look at all the bits not just the case.

[DanceswithUnix]

Yes that's true, my question is more, is it that much of a difference?

Just checked the SH87R6 dimentions
332 x 216 x 198 mm
vs
402 x 240 x 208

so the 120 is 70mm longer, 24mm wider and 20mm taller, it's really not much bigger
Weight I'm not sure about, yes it'll be less but how much less? while aluminium is lighter than steel, theres not much volume of materiel in ether of them, the difference is more noticeable as you go up in case size.
The parts inside are one of the major contributors to weight in a pc, if you want low weight you really need to look at all the bits not just the case.

Doesn't that work out as 14 litres vs 20 litres? Small number increases can look pretty drastic when you put two boxes side by side.

[Pob255]

The volume numbers are most telling, but if you go via a mark 1 eyeball it's only about a finger width taller and wider, not really noticeable, the length is the main difference.
I'm just not sure the size difference is worth the cost, which is looking around £200 for the SH67H3 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shuttle-SH67.../dp/B004UC4HCG which has a 300w psu, the shuttle H67 motherboard can be used or replaced with his current one.
Or maybe the SH61R4 for around £160 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shuttle-SH61.../dp/B005NTVRH8 not sure about the 250w psu in this one combined with a gtx 670, the psu is the Shuttle PC4110011 aka PC61J SH which is only 16a on the 12v and not 80+ rated


The SH67H3 uses the PC61J 300w, which is 80+ bronze rated and has dual 16a 12v rails

[cookie365]

Buy a cheap £20 suitcase that'll survive 2 journeys that you can throw away afterwards.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Shuttles I had are all noticeably smaller volume. You notice when carrying the system.

The SH87R6 including PSU and motherboard and cooler weighs 3.5KG,and the Elite 120 alone weighs 3.3KG,and the full sized PSUs weigh more too. I have the Shuttle 500W PSU from my last build.

[Goobley]

Hey everyone, thanks for the responses.
I hadn't been able to really look into this to formulate a reply over the past few days as I've been quite busy. Some of you are discussing smaller cases... a smaller case could allow me to fit the computer into my suitcase but do you think such a thing should be hand luggage or checked?
For checked luggage a flight case may be a good idea (I'd have to buy an extra piece of hold luggage though - shouldn't be a big deal).
Do you think I could get a computer through security etc. in hand luggage?

WRT Shuttles, from what I've been looking at they're not worth it - for the same price I can get a SG05/06 with a decent SFX power supply that is even smaller at a volume of only 10.5L and would probably work out at ~4.5kg fully built (the SFX PSUs are very light).
Cheers!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You are forgetting a few things:
1.)The SG05/SG06 have very limited storage capability. A Shuttle R6 can take three 3.5" drives or two 3.5 drives and a full sized optical drive.
2.)The motherboards have 4 RAM slots unlike the mini-ITX motherboards the SG05/SG06 can take.
3.)The SG05/SG06 weigh too much as they are steel cases. The case alone with the PSU is 3.5KG - that is the weight of the Shuttle R6 case,PSU,motherboard,and CPU cooler for the Shuttle system. Aluminium cases like the Shuttle ones are much lighter,and every KG counts when flying. The R6 cases can even take mini-ITX motherboards.
4.)The SG05/SG06 are not that much cheaper.

Lets look at the SZ87R6:

http://www.ebuyer.com/623385-shuttle...FWfLtAod1AsAIg

That is around £277 with one of the best SFF PSUs ever made and the most powerful you can get(500W).

The SG05 version with a 450W PSU is around £100:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...FdShtAodX1gAxA

You are adding £100 minimum for a Z87 mini-ITX motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-z...el-motherboard

Thats £200 plus at least £30 for a decent low profile cooler.

You still end with a case with far less expansion in storage and less memory expansion. Plus its made of steel.
The fit and finish on the case is just far better than the SG05/SG06,and they are closer to Lian Li territory.

Look at this review of the earlier SZ77R5:

http://www.motormice.com/reviews/SZ77R5/default.htm

The chap is running an overclocked Core i7 2600K and a reference GTX680 in it.

[Goobley]

I have no doubt that the shuttle cases are an order of magnitude better, but when it comes down to it, I cannot justify that cost. I'm going to sell the 670 and go down to an R9-270 (due to noise) anyway. I am hoping to end up quits on that transaction.
Direct responses to points:
1)I won't ever have that many hard drives - you mention weight a few times (I agree it's important) but 3.5" drives weigh ~700g. I'm not ever planning on going back to an optical drive either.
2) would be nice... But for that amount of money...
3) addressing this a bit further down
4) in my case they are - as has been confirmed on my 300W SFX thread, I can run my components + a 270 off the 300W strider. It's a LOT cheaper than the 450W. My current MoBo, while nothing like as good as a shuttle one (best in the SFF industry I believe), is plenty good enough for my needs, I don't need
the features Z87 brings over H81, nice to have certainly, but also completely financially unjustifiable.

Maybe I would be better in investing in a Lian Li, like the TU200 (from memory) and a good SFX PSU as opposed to the SG series, I certainly would like decent build quality, but I think the shuttle has far too much of a price premium for MY particular needs, starting form scratch it may have been better, but not from where I am now.
Cheers.

[Pob255]

£277 for the SZ87R6 is a great price.
ps please ignore my last two options I listed, I got my cpu's mixed up and thought it was the socket1155 i3

And I must admit the weight factor when flying is a compelling argument, £277 is a good price but that's still a good chunk to replace existing kit, although you can claw some of that back by selling off the old case+psu+motherboard.

The shuttle psu's are very good, not sure cat's ram point has much for it see as you already have 8gb of ram
Price is the only major stepping stone

Only other option I can think of would be a Lian li q08 http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/...FQkUwwodLXQASQ
A little bigger than the shuttle and probably slightly heavier not cheap mini-itx case wise at £87 but that's the only bit you need as everything else can be kept.


edit: a shorter graphics card does open up more options
q11 is another option http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1586.html

or the Q16 http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_0883.html it comes with the FSP 300w 80+ bronze SFX psu

if you've not already got that card, then one of the short gtx760 or r7 260x would just fit in the Lian Li PC-Q07 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lian-PC-Q07A.../dp/B003GTNYYG http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1035.html
You'd have to put your drives into the 5.25" bay at the top, and might have to cut an extra slot in the back for the graphics card.
Space would be very tight, getting an SFX psu and a SFX to ATX adaptor plate would probably be a good idea.
That'll be even smaller and lighter than a shuttle.

edit2: please forget the q16, while there's length for a graphics card there's no card slots or space for card slots in it, what where they thinking then they came up with this case?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I find being stuck with 2 ram slots a right PITA ATM. I want to get another 4GB to 8GB,put it would mean I would need to ditch what I have ATM and get 2X8GB at added cost. Its a shame the slightly larger SFF motherboard formats did not become popular IMHO.

The Q11 is a good call TBH,and a Sapphire R9 270 should fit:

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...graphics-card/

Its 228MM long and the case can take a 245MM long graphics card.

[Goobley]

Damn... this be complicated...
The Q11 is fairly nice looking case though my calculator has told me to question whether going from 20L to 17L is worth spending money on... What would be great would be for Lian Li to make a SG06 with their fit and finish (or Silverstone to actually use a similar level to their bigger cases). Looking at these cases has kind of made me go back to the RVZ01, at least it's a serious reduction in volume. Does anyone have experience with this case?
The udder question that I keep returning to:
Carry-on or hold?

Cheers.