Legit Reviews

I was just wondering if anyone here knew off the top of their head ( since you all review and buil;d systems more than I) what is roughly the smallest ATX form factor a case could be and still fit the PSU and drive bays front to back. My desk can fit 16.5 inches max front to back and I would like to be able to fit my case where it is "supposed" to go. I would rather not scour the web looking for the smallest ATX case IF it is futile.

thermaltake lanbox lite is small and mATX meaning you can use a mAtx board and regular ATX psu and regular graphics card,
(W*D*H mm)
300 x 430 x 230
so that would be
11.8in x 17.2 in x 9.05 in
so you are looking at needing something much smaller or at least skinnier than that. Don't think you will get atx in that form. depends on which dimensions you really have, what are lxwxh dimensions for all of them? might get a tall skinny case.

The elusive mATX case, I spent a long and I mean LONG time trying to find a small mini tower that still used standard parts. I'm currently using a Coolermaster Centurion 541 it's 15.4" x 7.1" x 16.6" (HxWxD)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119088

Small to fit in tight spots and still big enough to handle coolers like the Zalman 9700 LED, Sycthe Andy, Spire Verticool III. and at $50 bucks its easy on the wallet too.

Now if you want smaller yet, take a look at the small cube cases, these are all under 16". If you only have a 16.5" depth in you cabinet then you will need to allow for the cables on the back. So look for sub 15" case depth to give some room for cables to stick of the back.

X-Qpack 9" x 11.2" x 14" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811144109
Lian-Li PC V300 11" x 9.8" x 13.8" (its not a front to back though) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4079/ ... tl=c7s12b3
Siverstone SG-01 Evo 8.5 x 10.3 x 15.4 http://www.xoxide.com/silverstone-sugo-sg01-bw.html

9" x 11.2" x 14.7" (H x W x D) fro aspires (apevia) x-qpack or whatever their mATX case is called has those dimensions that shoudl fit for you. Seems small though, don't think it'll fit all gfx because of that size limitation, but most. Might want to check and see if it supports full atx power supplies though cuz the psu in it is a pos.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811163079 is silverstones mATX its nice, but spendy and in size parameter's but too bad doesn't come with a nice silverstone psu also

The centurion looks nice. Looks like the centurion is as small as I can get and still use an ATX mainboard ( which is what I have).

No, the Centurion 541 is a mATX case like the cube cases, will not hold a full size ATX board. You to be hard pressed if not unable find a case with a 16" depth that holds a full size ATX board, that is not a HTPC case.

Sorry for the confusion, miss read your first post on the ATX / mATX part.

Edit, stand corrected...

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=94002 Antec NSK4480B Mini tower 16.6” (H) x 7.8” (W) x 16.5” (D)

so HTPC cases accept regular ATX boards?? What about the Video cards on HTPC systems?

My wife's desk wouldn't allow for the case to fit where it was "supposed to go"... so I broke out the jig saw. 10 minutes and a little saw dust later it fits like a champ.

Merlin wrote:so HTPC cases accept regular ATX boards?? What about the Video cards on HTPC systems?

Most will do both ATX and mATX, some use half height cards some use full, none of them are cheap... well not the good ones.

DaIceMan wrote:My wife's desk wouldn't allow for the case to fit where it was "supposed to go"... so I broke out the jig saw. 10 minutes and a little saw dust later it fits like a champ.

Already thought about that and the main support structure won't allow it.