Squeezing a silent computation build

[notb]

I'm looking for a small case for my home PC.

It's going to be a fairly standard gaming/computation build:
i7-6700 (maybe i5-6600 - same TDP),
GTX 1050Ti,
2x3.5" HDD,
2x2.5" SSD.

Originally I was going for Fractal Design R5 (and a few more HDDs...) for a very simple reason: this PC will stand 2-3m from my bed and I'll leave it on at night (from time to time).

Question here is: are there any smaller cases that would offer similar noise levels (with these components)? I'm asking about overall performance (both the sound dampening and airflow => fan speed).

Define C is an obvious choice - it seems to have the same damping, but it also has smaller fans (and I'm not a huge fan of separated HDD cage). It's pretty much the same with Corsair 400Q.

Assuming I would go mITX, what else is there to choose from?
Aesthetically, I really like cases from Cooltek, but I'm slightly worried about noise performance... I can't find any decent noise reviews for e.g. C3.

 

[alucasa]

I have good experience with mITX rigs and the thing with ITX case is that a decent ITX case is about the same size of a mATX case.

So, you might want to consider going mATX. mATX motherboard makes life a little easier with much more space to install things onto and having more space to do things.

 

[Folterknecht]

Look at the Nanoxia cases - thicker steel and noise dampening than Fractal afaik

http://geizhals.de/?cat=gehatx&xf=599_Nanoxia&sort=p

 

[notb]

I have good experience with mITX rigs and the thing with ITX case is that a decent ITX case is about the same size of a mATX case.

So, you might want to consider going mATX. mATX motherboard makes life a little easier with much more space to install things onto and having more space to do things.

I currently have an mATX case (cheap and cheerful CM elite 334 ) and I agree on the convenience front, but I'm researching the smaller segment. Precisely: I'd finally want to have a desk-top rather than a desktop under the desk.
Cases like Cooltek C3 and FD Node 304 (+ some Lian Li etc) are the largest ones acceptable.
Impressively, C3 is mATX (size limited), but this results in really weird disk placement, no margin for dampening and poor fan configuration...
Node 304 is great because of simple airflow (I could use a CPU cooler without a fan), but again: no margin for dampening and a few more limitations.

But yeah... going mITX could result in some issues in the future. E.g. at this point no mITX board in my budget offers USB-C with Thunderbolt - something that I might miss a lot in a year, when thunderbolt accessories become common...

Edit: the first mITX board that seemed interesting (ASUS Z170I PRO) doesn't even have USB-C... :/

 

[alucasa]

I wouldn't count on thunderbolt being common.

I used to have mITX rigs since Sandy bridge era. I am currently using mATX only because I wanted to run a xeon chip. I went for mITX with Skylake.

If you want to go smaller, ditch 3.5 inch HDDs. 2.5 inch HDDs do the job the same with less space and less power.

Another reason I chose to break away from ITX is PCI-E storage along with M.2. Less cables, the better.

 

[notb]

Yeah, I remember your thread about rendering rig.

The problem with storage is that the budget is limited and I can't rely on SSD as much as I'd like.
Meanwhile, 2.5" HDDs are pretty slow and the choice of larger ones is very limited. There is a handful of 3TB models, which I hoped to get.
In fact, I've been using WD exclusively for the last decade (happy customer) and their 2.5" HDDs are <=1TB.
[BTW: this is quite weird as WD sells... external 2.5" 3TB models :/]

Storing the data externally and downloading for projects is really not an option:
1) I'd have to setup/populate databases all the time,
2) I'd have to get another backup solution ($$$)
...and suddenly the idea of wasting space for a huge R5 becomes a lot more sensible.

 

[sutyi]

Look at the Nanoxia cases - thicker steel and noise dampening than Fractal afaik

http://geizhals.de/?cat=gehatx&xf=599_Nanoxia&sort=p

^^^ What he said ^^^

 

[Jetster]

There is a ton of mitx cases. And with a 1050ti you can get a small GPU and a silent PSU or even a SFX with a fan that rarely spins. (Silverstone 450w SFX) No need for an insulated case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487291

I built a Silverstone Sugo Series SG05B with a Corsair H55 CPU cooler and set the fan speed to 600 in the bios and you can barely hear anything.

 

[notb]

There is a ton of mitx cases. And with a 1050ti you can get a small GPU and a silent PSU or even a SFX with a fan that rarely spins. (Silverstone 450w SFX) No need for an insulated case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487291

I built a Silverstone Sugo Series SG05B with a Corsair H55 CPU cooler and set the fan speed to 600 in the bios and you can barely hear anything.

I'm interested in parts silent under heavy load - not in idle.
Hence the dampened case, GPU with a large cooler and so on.

Also, while there are "ton of mITX cases", many of them are either poorly made or ugly. Generally speaking, most cases are not exactly pretty.
So by the time I filter out cases with too few disk slots, those with a window and the ones looking like comicbook spaceships, I'm left with less then 20 possibilities - half of which are not available etc.
So, at the end of another very productive day spent reading reviews, I usually find myself opening SketchUp and trying to convince myself R5 is really not that big.

 

[Jetster]

How about this?

Phankeks Enthoo Evolve ITX

BitFenix Prodigy

Raijintek Styx

Silverstone Fortress FT03S

Bitfenix Phenom

Silverstone SUGO