/r/sffpc

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All about small form factor PCs – decreasing size and maximizing space efficiency!

All about small form-factor PCs.

This subreddit is dedicated to small, space-efficient PCs.

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SFF Cases & Parts List

Subreddit Rules:

  1. Use the weekly recommendation thread. If you’re new or need a case or part recommendation, start here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/collection/5621642c-4145-4854-b4ae-b8f4c0f8b22a

  2. No low-effort or off-topic posts. Discussion should be focused on small form factor PC’s or parts directly related to them. Do not post pictures of boxes, order confirmations, delivery status, stock alerts, pre-order notices, advertisements, memes, photoshops, puns, or crude and NSFW content. This is not an exhaustive list and post removal is at moderator discretion.

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  4. Only post your content. Allow content creators an opportunity to post their own videos. If you are a content creator or media outlet and would like to get your account verified, please send in a modmail.

  5. Sales and exchanges are allowed but restricted. Items may only be posted as a link to your post on a dedicated subreddit such as /r/HardwareSwap. Always be wary of scams and exercise caution when undergoing personal trades.

  6. No pirated or grey-market software discussion. The sharing and discussion of illegal or grey-market software or other materials is strictly prohibited.

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  9. Moderation appeals through modmail only Do not discuss moderation decisions through comments, chat, or private messages. Appeals will only be reviewed in modmail.

Additional Guidelines:

  • Always be wary of scams and exercise caution when undergoing personal trades.
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/r/sffpc

286,800 Subscribers

1

Is it better to add an additional 40mm fan on top of the cpu cooler in a velka 3 build? Intake or Exhaust?

Velka 3 build is quiet but my idle temps on cpu is too high. I’m planning to add a small fan on top of the cpu cooler but I’m not sure if it should be intake or exhaust since theyre next to each other. I saw a velka build with all intake here but I’m not sure if that's good

0 Comments
2024/12/03
01:08 UTC

1

First SFF build

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/NFf274

Looking for suggestions on cases. I plan to build post 50 series release and may opt for one of those cards if they prove to be worthwhile over the 40 series.

Original plan was for the M2 but I’m open to suggestions. Ideally I’m looking for something relatively forgiving to build as it will be my first SFF.

0 Comments
2024/12/03
01:00 UTC

2

Low profile 280mm AIO recommendations?

I'm in the market for a new case and highly considering the Meshless Design MD280 Pro: https://meshless.design/products/md280-x?variant=49503946375483

For the AIO, they state a max pump height of 56mm and radiator thickness of 30mm. I did check the SFF PC Master Part list for AIO's (full list below of what I filtered down to with those dimensions) and am wondering what the general consensus is for which would be the "best" option or if there are any tried and true choices in this list.

Any and all advice is appreciated as this will be my second build ever (porting over a 13600k and Nitro+ 7900XTX from a NR200P Max that I built in January after being out of the gaming scene for a long time. I do plan on eventually upgrading the CPU to something from AMD whenever that time comes.

0 Comments
2024/12/02
23:14 UTC

2

Looking for small cases with a handle for travel / LAN events. Recommendations? Current pc for attention.

10 Comments
2024/12/02
22:44 UTC

2

Mini-ITX SFF Build

Modeling after this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiTUO91SNXc

Thoughts? I already had the CPU + storage from a previous build (which UPS destroyed (luckily I got my money back and those two parts survived)).

(https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NCdTHW)

CPU | [AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor]

CPU Cooler | [Thermalright AXP90-X36 42.58 CFM CPU Cooler]

Motherboard | [ASRock B550M-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard]

Memory: | [Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory]

Storage | [Crucial P3 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive]

Video Card | [Zotac GAMING SOLO GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card]

Power Supply | [Silverstone FX500-G 500 W 80+ Gold Certified Flex ATX Power Supply]

Case | [JOYJOM Mini PC Case]

5 Comments
2024/12/02
22:13 UTC

1

Phanteks T30 Noise

Hello .. finally I got myself a phanteks t30 fans after alot of recommendations for the T1

But I feel something wrong. Is this noise normal or faulty fans ?

It has weird engine noise above 1300 rpm like shown in the video

My old lian li p20s or even enermax cheap fans seems quiter to me at same rpm level Phanteks definitely pushing more air yes but this noise sound is annoying

soung at 1500 rpm

12 Comments
2024/12/02
21:47 UTC

1

Meshroom D Fan Orientation

I’m planning to do a build for my girlfriend in this case and I’m looking for help with the fan setup. I’m planning on inverting the case so the gpu intakes air from the top of the case, have a 92mm fan in the back set as intake along with the cpu cooler (PA Mini) as intake, then have two 140mm fans as exhaust in the front and side. Is this a good setup and should I consider slim fans above the gpu as intake? Thanks!

0 Comments
2024/12/02
21:47 UTC

1

Space saving ideas on a budget

So I want to start my son building his own PC for Christmas. I don't what to spoil him, so I want to start light...get a case and mobo with a mid CPU / memory and something he can upgrade by saving up/ birthdays / etc

What's the best case, on a budget, that gives us some reasonable upgrade offers. I guess it's young to be much of a muchness, mono / CPU and memory wise - the biggest saving will be a graphics card that he can later upgrade?

4 Comments
2024/12/02
20:50 UTC

1

What are the consensus best SFF cases for air cooling high-end parts?

16 Comments
2024/12/02
20:42 UTC

2

Got a Lenovo M920s for free, what parts should I upgrade?

Hello there, i just got a Lenovo M920s with an I7 8700, AMD Radeon 520 GPU, 32GB of DDR4-2400 RAM and a 256GB SSD for free from my aunts office, since they were throwing them out. Now What should I upgrade first, and which parts should I use. I am on a tight budget right now, but that will probably change at Christmas.

1 Comment
2024/12/02
19:27 UTC

1

Help to upgrade/downsize

Currently have an Ncase M1 v5 or 6 and I’m looking to downsize while also upgrading. The Ncase was my second build/first sff and I cut some corners and I want to remedy.

Current specs: -Ncase m1 (obviously) -amd 5600x/msi b450i mobo -nvidia get 3070ti ftw3 -16gb Corsair ram -250gb 970 pro m.2/1tb cheap sssd from Amazon (crucial I think) -Corsair sf750 psu

So my goal - I want to downsize, possibly into the <10L area but I want to maintain good gpu clearance. One thing that irked me about the Ncase is it actually seems fairly limited and the cards that “fit” still aren’t great. I w also want to upgrade to a newer gen cpu/mobo combo and the. Consolidate all my storage into a single 1-2tb m.2 drive. I’m unsure of an itx mobo that comes with 2 m.2/nvme slots but would go that route if possible.

So any thoughts? What case would you guys recommend that would be easy to build in, would fit the current gpu I have and be a little smaller?

0 Comments
2024/12/02
19:10 UTC

0

Smallest full sized case?

What's the best itx/micro ATX that can fit a proper 3 fan rtz 4070 super/ti with decent thermals? Would be great if there's space for a liquid cooler.

Don't want the smallest out there, looking for the smallest without any significant compromise.

0 Comments
2024/12/02
18:44 UTC

0

Can You Shove a Ryzen 9900x in a dan case a420 with a 4070ti Super – Yes but you gotta play around with it

How does it all fit

Long time PC enthusiast much prefer small form factor, this is probably closest to the smallest PC I built in (fractal node 302 might have this beat)

I originally wanted the terra (like everyone else but the lack of water cooling options made it next to impossible to work both a 4080 super and 9900x planned at the time.

Dan case Vs Fractal Pop \"Mini\"

So Reluctantly I move up to the dan case a420 for the rad support,

Since I was no longer limited as much in GPU width, I went with a 2.5 slot gigabyte 4070ti super, not the 4080 super, the 5-10% increase in performance was not worth the extra 300 dollars. I like to blow money, not screw myself over.  

If I had to choose again I would probably go for a blower style card to keep the heat isolated to the GPU and then blow out the back

I hunted some black Friday deals, and was able to shave a couple hundred off  and ended up something similar to this

 Before periphals, it was 2200 dollars

after including the monitors, keyboard and mouse, it comes to 3850 ( thank god for the tax write off)

Overall, the case is good. The PCIE riser leaves much to be desired… I spent 6 hours trouble shooting before I took out the riser completely, tested it on another machine… saw that the new card AND riser worked fine on my old rig…. Then reseating it in the ASUS board I got, it worked fine… now every time I fidget around in the case too much, I need to pull the whole riser out and reseat…. Sounds like a loose connection but I am not about to RMA nor spend 80 dollars on a new riser just for that.

https://preview.redd.it/2y54avbcah4e1.png?width=1524&format=png&auto=webp&s=dc604064f367e7f41797d8561736aadc8f3606db

 

After that was all squared away. It was time to optimize… As I have been warned the 9900x is a hot chip. With a lot of power for the price.  I played around with a few configurations to see what gave the best temps ( for now at least)

 

First Configuration:

AIO fans inside Pushing air from the case up into the rad, PSU fan in case

Numbers for nerds

This was objectively bad. 81c max  on the  package  after cineBench

With the undervolt alone

Practically the same numbers

I undervolted the CPU a tad and turned the performance boost multiplier( I am too casual to know exactly what it does)  but that brought temperatures slightly .3 Celsius and the  los in Cinebench was with margin of error

Second Configuration AIO Fans Top Intake + undervolt

My thought process for this was… the wires yo, it was being choked out by the power supply. It is slightly louder, with fans on top, but I just ordered some higher quality fans to swap out… it was 85 dollar AIO with RBG, they cut cost on the fans apparently.

but despite the few added decibels we see better thermals from 81.6 to 74.6

now we are getting somewhere

Boost clock is hitting about 50mhz higher than original set WITH the underVolt still in place

Third Configuration:

AIO Top Intake, PSU fan Facing external, Undervolted

I did not see much change in the package temp (-.1c) but noise was reduced slightly

Boost clock was very similar as well.

 

no real changes

I know its down to the PSU but, flipping it having fan out also made the cable clutter more manageable. The only down side is the power toggle, is right under the AIO tube and I turned it off when reinstalling the AIO.

 

Caveats, I need low profile screws for the AIO so there is about 4-5 mm gap at the top of the case… this probably helped a decent bit

 

 

Just waiting on the huge Mouse mat ( yes the one picture is crooked, ON PURPOSE)

NEXT Steps:

1.  Get low profile screws

  1. Install quieter fans for the AIO  ( be quiet! Silent Wings Pro)

  2. Install New Front panel with air intake  From JakeFace On etsy

( this was more because I am a sucker for wood grain)

  1. Install taller feet and jury rig two slim fans to the bottom of the case as out take. Hopefully this has an added benefit of being a hand warmer Foggy 3D's 30 mm legs/feet artic p12 slim

this probably the best cable management i can do... i rolled low dexterity

looks better closed up tho

4 Comments
2024/12/02
18:39 UTC

1

4k low Fractal Terra Build

So I've recently had to save some space in my room and I have decided to build a SFF Terra build. Me and my partner used to have two monitors, as she works with graphics design and I played games so I decided to switch our two monitors to a single 4K 240hz 32" monitor which suits for both of us and saves space. Anyways now I'm trying to figure out a good value build and since I have a 4k monitor, I would like my build to be able to handle 4K with lower graphics quality. I don't really play that much anyways, but I used to play games like Rocket league, fortnite, valheim etc.

Anyways the build I've been looking would be around 4070 Super (or 4070 Ti super), something like Ryzen 9600x or 9700x for the low 65w power with the noctua l12sx77 so the pc stays cool with the usual 32gb ram 2tb SSD and so on. But is this possibly a overkill for what I need? What I'm looking for is a build that can stay cool and handle simple games like Rocket league or maybe fortnite or cs at medium quality settings at 240hz 4k and then maybe handle other heavier games at 4k or 1440p with low settings. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Oh and I already have the monitor and the Fractal Terra case, all I need to do now is settle on the components. Where I live the 4070 ti super is around 900-950 and the 4070 super is 600-650. The CPU 9600x to 9700x range from 250 to 350e.

4 Comments
2024/12/02
18:19 UTC

1

ASUS itx Reliability?

Hey everyone, I'm looking for my next build to be SFF, and it seems the only option for high end AMD is the ASUS itx board. I've been a bit hesitant about ASUS lately because of all their warranty and customer service stuff, as well as some of their driver issues.

I really want to go itx so how have the ASUS motherboards treated the community so far? I won't be building until at least after CES when we know more about next gen AMD GPUs but I've been looking around at cases and want to know if I can keep with my itx plan or if I need to go with another form factor.

Thanks!

5 Comments
2024/12/02
18:01 UTC

1

M.2 SSD in bottom or top slot of plex server motherboard

Hi, I am building an unraid NAS plex server with an MSI b760i edge motherboard in a Jonsbo N2 case. I am using an M.2 NVME SSD drive for the cache pool. I can't decide if I should buy a heatsink for it and stick it on the m.2 slot on the bottom of the motherboard, leaving the top slot w/ built in heat sink accessible should I want to add a drive later. Or if I should put my drive in the top now since I don't know that i'll want a second drive and having it accessible might be better/also maybe more airflow?

Thanks in advance!

1 Comment
2024/12/02
17:15 UTC

0

Cheapest sffpc recommendations

As the title says, can someone recommend me a budget sffpc build or link me to where I can find some? Pls delete if not allowed here.

7 Comments
2024/12/02
17:13 UTC

2

Any cases that let me line most surfaces with small 40mm fans?

1 Comment
2024/12/02
16:34 UTC

4

Moving to SFFPC and Wanting to Use As Much Of My Hardware As Possible

Hi everyone. As the title states I am looking to move to a SFFPC build and would like to use as much of my current hardware as possible.

Ideally I would like a white or black case and a very minimal design.

Here are my current specs:

Case: NZXT H1

PSU: integrated 650W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply

Mother board: B450 I AORUS PRO Wi-Fi

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 6-Core, 12-Thread

GPU: MSI Radeon 8GB (RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX (2 X 16GB) DDR4

Storage: SAMSUNG 970 EVO SSD 500GB - M.2 Western Digital 1TB WD Blue SSD Western Digital 2TB WD Blue SSD

5 Comments
2024/12/02
14:52 UTC

2

Any specific brand that lets you deshroud the GPU easily?

I'm looking to buy a 4080 but want to deshroud it to exhaust for sound and size reasons, and I was wondering if there is are specific manufacturers that puts it easy to do it and avoid possible issues with the GPU while doing it

9 Comments
2024/12/02
14:50 UTC

5

Where to find DeskMini X600 in the US

I am interested in building a mini PC using the DeskMini x600 but everywhere I look it says sold out. Are they doing another production run or something? The only one that I see available is on Amazon and is like $70 over MSRP. I want to grab some of the parts on sale now from Cyber Monday / Black Friday but don't want to pay over MSRP if I could just wait a week for them to restock.

3 Comments
2024/12/02
14:38 UTC

2

Alternative to Thermaltake Tower 100 Case?

I really like the vertical setup, size, and glass of the Tower 100, but the bottom venting area is kind of ugly.

Can anyone recommend a case similar to the Tower 100 that is maybe a little better looking?

8 Comments
2024/12/02
14:08 UTC

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