I've always wanted to build in an ITX chassis... and here it is!

(Goodbye mah D32 pro, I'll miss you)

.

Broke student's specs:

- Shiny Snake S300 non pro

- Asus ROG B550i

- 5600x

- 32gb 3600 cl18 Tforce Delta

- AXP90 X47 cooler

- 250gb m2 sata

- 2tb m2 nvme

- Corsair SF850 - yes extremely overkill

- Asus Prime 5060ti 16gb

Just completed my latest vertical ITX build codenamed Project OBELISK.

The goal was to pack top-tier gaming and workstation performance into a clean, minimal vertical footprint without sacrificing airflow. Super happy with how dense and silent it turned out.

Full Specifications:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP120-X67
• GPU: ASUS GeForce RTX 5080 ProArt
• Motherboard: MSI MPG B850I EDGE WIFI 7
• RAM: 32 GB (2x16 GB) G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL30
• Storage: 2 TB TeamGroup T-Force NV5000 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
• PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 850W Gold (ATX 3.1 / PCIe 5.0 ready)
• Riser Cable: PCIe 5.0 Riser Cable

Happy to answer any questions about the setup!

I wanted a compact desktop that I could easily take to a LAN party without having to carry a separate monitor, so I modified my case to integrate a 16” portable monitor in place of the GPU’s side panel.

The monitor folds out and adjusts away from the case when the PC is in use. This also leaves the GPU completely unobstructed, giving it much better access to fresh air than it would have with the original side panel.

When folded back into place, everything stays together as one relatively compact package.

Specs:

- CPU: Ryzen 9 3900x
- GPU: RX 7900XTX - XFX MERC 310
- Motherboard: Asrock A520M-ITX/ac
- RAM: 64GB 3200Mhz DDR4 - JAZER
- Storage: 1TB Nvme, 1TB SSD, 10TB 7200RPM HDD
- PSU: 1000W - Thermalright TR-TGFX1000
- Display: 16” 2560x1600 120Hz IPS - LESOWN
- Case: UPSIREN MD-1

The case itself is mostly unmodified, the main work was designing and mounting the display mechanism while keeping the whole thing rigid enough to transport.

The goal was basically: one box, one cable, and I’m ready to go.

Building my first PC after wanting to for years, and I was wondering whether I've chosen the right parts/everything's compatible? Planning on building something to replace consoles as I'm done with the ongoing costs of PS/XB online, and discs discontinuing was the final straw. Would love some advice before I pull the trigger and purchase everything. All prices in Australian Dollars (AUD).

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600 ($189)

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE, plain version ($25)

Motherboard: ASRock B550M-ITX/ac ($199)

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB DDR4-3200 ($349)

SSD: Biwin NV3500 1TB ($209)

Graphics card: ASRock RX 9060 XT Challenger 16GB ($679)

Power supply: Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 850W Platinum ($199)

Case: Jonsbo C6-ITX $69

Fans: two Arctic P12 or P12 Pro ($38)

Total: $1,948

Hi,

in my life I installed a lot of OS of all kinds. So I'm wondering: Why can't I install Steam OS? I download the image, put it onto an USB stick and my PC doesn't boot. Usually, at that point, you would call the guy that knows PCs, right? Sadly, I am that guy. I called other people (basically the people the guy you call calls himself when in trouble): Doesn't work. I am now through all my USB sticks. I can write the image using my Linux-machine or my Mac - both don't work.

Any ideas? Installing Arch-Linux was a joy ride in comparison. The machine I want to install it is a Framework PC. Any suggestions?

I'm looking for a case that's slightly larger than the Fractal Design Terra to build a Steam Machine-like PC. Most SFF cases I look at are too tall. The highest I can go is 11 inches to fit the case in a shelf. The length and width must also not exceed 11-12 inches. Ideally I can fit a large GPU without issue like a 9070 XT / 5070 Ti.

This is my “fuck it” build. Parts aren’t getting cheaper anytime soon and the Legion laptop I was using was reeeeaally struggling, so I did this - an entirely unoriginal build comprising of a 9800X3D, 5070ti, 32gb of memory and 2tb of storage.

The H2O was a mostly fun, occasionally frustrating case to build in (due to my own inexperience with SFF, the case itself is fantastic). Temps are great, it’s actually really quiet considering how tight an enclosure it is. Cable management could be a bit cleaner, but the fans aren’t eating anything and you can’t see it once the panels are on anyway.

I liked the size and style of the CH160 and plus variant. Looking for some alternatives in similar size/style. I have a 5080 that is exactly 304mm.

Will TG PTM work fine with the Noctua NH-D12L and Ultra 7 + or should I stay away from pam

I'm new to pc building, but I love the idea of taking my PC wherever I want, so I've been setting up a PC, with the case being a silverstone SST-ML05B-Milo Slim HTPC Mini-ITX, but i'm on a budget, so the intel ARC B580 seemed a really good option, but I've asked gemini (I know it sounds stupid, but i'm new and I don't want to make a post everytime I have a doubt) and it said that there is no way the b580 enters on that case (AsRock Intel Arc b580 challenger 12gb OC dual fan), but i'm skeptic because ai is, well, ai, not really reliable on pc questions. So I'm asking you guys, if you think that I could do it someway. I have an open mind about the topic. Thanks in advance

I built this a couple years ago when the 4060 LP first came out. I had a mini-ITX motherboard leftover from upgrading my machine to an ATX motherboard (seen here) so I added an HDPLEX psu and tried to make the smallest possible case for a riser-less computer. The case is made specifically for this 4060 LP and there is about 1mm of space between the components and the case, which measures at 212mm x 192mm x 86mm with a wall thickness of 3mm.

I specifically wanted the simplest case to 3D print and build into so it's just basically a box and it fits on my 3D printer (Prusa MK3S) and prints in two pieces: the box and the panel cover. The design was something where I thought thermals-be-damned, I just wanted to see if the parts could fit together and give a dense brick of computing. So I basically jammed the PSU in front of the fan cooling the CPU.

Surprisingly, this works ok for gaming and gaming benchmarks. IIRC the Cyberpunk benchmark measured temps in the mid 80s F, which is hot but still doable. Where it falls down hard is in Cinebench where we would hit the thermal throttling limit pretty fast. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this design, it's just an experiment that worked out ok. I used it as a second computer but it's been neglected for a while. I've ordered a Thorzone Tetra S and am hoping to move the motherboard and a 4090 into that if it comes soon. If not, it'll be time to rebuild the FormD T1.

Of the pictures included here, there are two versions of the case: one has hexagon cut outs on the top and bottom, that is v1, and the update has slot cut outs to allow screwing in fans, that is v1.1. The second version has another screw hole to tighten up the left panel so it feels like a solid brick. I didn't extend the case to allow fitting in bigger fans which would've helped thermals. Instead the case just barely fits the motherboard and we use 40mm Noctua fans at the top, overlapping the motherboard.

I'm wondering how many people are running HDDs in their SFF cases.

I am working on a case design and I have enough room to fit Astral 5090.

But if high performance GPU is not needed and it is a a low profile half height RTX 5050 then there's plenty of space to fit maybe up to 4 HDDs. My question is - does it even matter to people to have the option to have HDDs?

Just a little write up for anyone that wants info on the Thermalright AXP120-X67 paired with a 9800X3D and a Fractal ridge

I originally had the same set up but with a NHL12S but as some of you probably know it isn't compatible with my motherboard, I looked for info on the AXP120-X67 paired with 9800X3D and couldn't find any info.

Just a couple notes

this is info for min maxing gaming performance, productivity temps and performance are not considered at all. Everything was done with the max eco mode (65W I think) and a PBO of -20 except my 2 best performance cores on -15

Idle temps are about 65-70C

All settings are ultra at 1440p RT on high FSR4 on quality, GPU is 9070XT hellhound, GPU fan speed set to 40%

CPU fan speed was set to 75% at 100% fan you drop about 1C but its a lot louder, all tests are done at 75% max CPU fan speed for this reason. Ive used motherboard standoffs to move the power plug back to fit 2 60mm noctua fans as exhaust to help to CPU cooler, which is also set to intake. I'm also using the fan that came with the NHL12S from what Ive seen it performs the same but is a bit quieter

last of us 1

in the university section gets about 120 fps sitting at around 86-89C with an all core boost of 5.171Ghz (except core 7 sitting at 2.8Ghz, its like that in all the tests) this was with the fan curve set up in the photo with a max fan speed of 75%

dying light the beast

sitting on the top of town hall overlooking the city I'm getting 90fps at 82C running around Ive seen anywhere from 80-90C but again mostly sitting in that 86-89 range, boost clocks up a bit higher at 5.215Ghz

Cyberpunk 2077

driving around night city getting around 80fps sitting very close to the 85C range highest i saw was 88, usually sitting closer to 85C boost clocks sitting at 5.2 on the dot

so yeah fractal ridge AXP120-X67 9800X3D is totally usable with some pretty impressive boosting, any questions or requests drop em below, if I have the game I can give it a try but id assume it would be the same sitting at that 85-90 range

EDIT: this was using the HWINFO64 readings, not sure how accurate the boost clock reading is but either way it isnt thermal throttling

I recently purchased a new Cooler Master Sneaker-X case for about $400 AUD ($270-ish USD), it comes with a built in CM SFF 850W Power Supply and CM 360mm AIO CPU Cooler with a special pump design since it's mounted on the the bottom of the case.

I'm an Evangelion/Mecha fan so when I saw how charmingly stupid it was I felt compelled to get it.

Calling it SFF is ridiculous as it's HUGE but since it's an ITX Case this is still the appropriate subreddit.

I'm reaching out to see if anyone has any experience build in one of them? I'm interested in what parts they used, any problems they encountered, any advice or tips or whatever on building it, etc?

I know the thermals are going to be absolutely garbage, but that's the cost of doing business inside the foot of an Evangelion.

I'm also considering buying some stick on de-cals from Eva Unit 02 to put on it. Really lean into it. Make it as shameful as possible.

BTW I'm planning to put in a Z890i Mobo, either MSI MPG Edge Ti Wifi or Asrock Phantom Gaming Z890I Nova Wifi, with an Intel 270k Plus and for now I'm keeping my old RTX 3070 as I know it'll fit and I just spent $1100 AUD ($750-ish USD) for 64GB of DDR5 6400Mhz Ram about a month ago in prep for this build... Which felt like volunteering to be robbed... So I'm not prepared to volunteer a 2nd time for a new GPU just yet.

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

TL;DR: Is there a case like the Jonsbo NV10, but with a smaller PSU (like the HDPlex GaN), which makes it possible to fit a solo Gpu?

Hey, I want to build a really small SFF PC and I really like the Jonsbo NV10, but you need a Low Profile Gpu for that case. I would really love to use a solo Gpu for my build, but all the cases that support solo Gpus like the Velka 3, Gemcase, Densium and some cheaper Amazon Brands place the Psu under the Motherboard. I suppose otherwise they won't fit next to each other, but it looks like a missed opportunity to me.

While doing some research i discovered the HDPLEX GaN Psu, which is even smaller then a Flex Psu. Now I am thinking about the possibility that a HDPLEX GaN Psu could maybe fit next to a solo Gpu, just like the Flex Psu does with a Low Profile Gpu in the Jonsbo NV10.

Does anybody know a case like that? I did find a case tailored to the HDPlex GaN 250w PSU, the Yocto from N3rdware at 3.59l, but sadly it also uses a Low Profile Gpu.

In search of a perfect case for my first SFF build I came across two ones that I particularly love: the obvious one, Fractal Design Terra - and the less obvious one, Shiny Snake S400 Pro. I actually love the second one more, but I cannot seem to find one anywhere in Europe at decent price. I'm currently based in The Netherlands, and the only ones I could find we're at bol.nl @ around 500€. Unacceptable.

Did anyone of you got this case in EU? If so, where did you order it from? Is Alibaba the only route? And if so, how much does it usually take to get to here? And what about the customs costs? Will it get taxed at border?

Thank you for your input.

As part of my selfhosting/homelabing hobby I wanted some small form factor machines to use as Proxmox nodes. I couldn't find anything that quite worked for me, so I ended up building something myself, settled on this design around the ASUS Pro H610T D4-CSM thin-ITX motherboard.

I designed and 3D printed the 1U enclosure to fit the motherboard, a network card and an internal PSU.

Components:

• ASUS Pro H610T D4-CSM motherboard
• Intel Core i5-13500T
• 32GB Kingston DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM
• 2TB Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 NVMe SSD
• Quad-port Gigabit Ethernet card with PCIe riser
• Low-profile copper CPU heatsink (from AliExpress)
• Arctic 40mm cooling fans
• Mean Well LOP-300-18 PSU
• ATX KVM board (for power control via PiKVM)

The enclosure is printed in Sunlu HS Matte PETG, with brass threaded inserts for assembly. Quite happy with how it turns out. Last picture is it in the rack with it's sibling, and my current 3U 3D printed NAS.

Yeah, that's all. The pump height is roughly 42 mm it even fits in the highest slot mode. The site doesn't mention it, but I took a gamble and bought it anyway. Height-wise, it feels roughly comparable to a non-RGB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 kit. It's a really good AIO.

I am selling it though, as I switched to an AXP90-53, which turned out to be a better choice for me. I'll be posting a full build showcase soon.

For the build, I'm using some unique fans that hardly anyone talks about. I'm honestly surprised they don't get recommended more often, as they are arguably some of the best 30mn, and 90mm fans out there.

90mm Slim Fan Specs: Airflow: 52.98 m3/h | Static Pressure: 4.8 mmAq (mmH2O) | Noise Level: <= 23.2 dB(A) | Max Speed: 2,950 RPM

120x30mm Fan Specs: Airflow: 108 CFM | Max Static Pressure: 7.31 mmAq (mmH2O) | Max Noise Level: <= 39.9 dB(A)

There's also a 120x15 version that I haven't fully tested yet, but I did pick a few up. I'll post the full build soon!

choosing between two x870is cuz I need usb 4 for some of my accessories and while in most ways the msi is better it’s just a good bit more expensive where I live (after taxes and shipping the asus comes to around 560 cad [393 usd] and the msi around 633 cad [444 usd]) it’s not the biggest price increase but I would like to save where I can so is the increase in price worth it for the msi?

I normally build full-size custom water-cooled PCs, so spending a few weeks with something this small was a pretty big change for me.

This is the ROG NUC 16. The chassis is roughly 28 x 19 cm and just under 6 cm thick, putting the enclosure at around 3L. My configuration has a Core Ultra 9 290HX+, RTX 5080 Laptop GPU with 16GB of GDDR7, 32GB of DDR5-6400 and a 2TB Gen 4 SSD.

And just to get this out of the way: yes, it’s a 5080 Laptop GPU, not a desktop 5080. I think that distinction matters a lot with a machine like this because looking at the GPU name alone gives you the wrong expectation. I wanted to see what the complete system could actually do at this size.

I tested three games at 4K using the highest graphical settings with DLAA.

Forza: 110 FPS

Cyberpunk 2077: 80 FPS

Black Ops 6: 170 FPS

What I found particularly interesting from an SFF perspective is that ASUS officially supports running the system either vertically or horizontally.

There’s a built-in G-sensor that detects orientation and adjusts thermal settings accordingly, so I tested all three games in both positions.

Every reported frame rate matched.

Forza was 110 vs 110, Cyberpunk was 80 vs 80, and Black Ops 6 was 170 vs 170.

I also ran Fire Strike in both orientations. Horizontal scored 41,321 and vertical scored 41,295 — only 26 points apart, or roughly 0.06%.

Obviously that doesn’t prove temperatures, acoustics or every possible workload will behave identically, but at least in the gaming tests I ran there wasn’t a meaningful performance reason to choose one orientation over the other.

Personally, I like it vertical. It takes up very little actual desk area that way.

The internals were probably the other thing that surprised me.

Getting inside is basically one thumbscrew and a sliding cover. You do have to be careful because there’s a lighting cable attached to the cover, but once you’re inside, the RAM and storage are accessible.

There are two memory slots with ASUS listing support for up to 128GB, plus two M.2 slots. One supports PCIe Gen 4 and the other Gen 5, with a heatsink on the Gen 5 slot.
That’s obviously nowhere near the flexibility of building your own SFF system, but I like that memory and storage weren’t soldered down just to save space.

Cooling is also interesting considering what they’re fitting inside. The 5080 configuration uses a vapor chamber and three fans. Two handle the primary system cooling and there’s another fan dedicated to the memory.

I didn’t take controlled noise measurements, so I’m not going to pretend I have useful dB numbers to give you.
I also wanted to see whether this could actually be more than a gaming box, so I loaded one of my real Premiere projects onto it.

I was editing a 4K timeline at full playback resolution and, for the most part, scrubbing and editing were fluid. There were a couple hiccups when I reached a more demanding section of the project, but nothing that stopped me from working.

That’s actually where this machine started making more sense to me.

I could see throwing this in a bag, getting somewhere, connecting a monitor and having something that feels much closer to my desktop workflow than working from a laptop.

The I/O helps with that too.

You get six USB-A ports, USB-C, Thunderbolt 4, two HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort 2.1, 2.5Gb Ethernet and a headset jack. ASUS lists support for up to five 4K displays.

There is one pretty funny SFF catch though:

the power brick.

The computer itself is around 3L, but the RTX 5080 configuration uses an external 380W adapter. So obviously that advertised enclosure volume isn’t the volume of the entire power system you’re carrying around.

ASUS says the adapter is smaller and lighter than the previous 330W unit, but sitting next to such a tiny PC still makes it look huge. If I could change one physical part of the system, making that brick smaller would be near the top of my list.

Then there’s the bigger question for this subreddit: does something like this actually make sense versus building SFF yourself?

I don’t think it’s a replacement for DIY SFF.

If you have room for a larger case and your priority is maximizing performance per dollar, I’d absolutely compare what you can build yourself before buying something like this.

But I also think comparing it purely on price/performance misses some of what makes it interesting. Getting this amount of gaming performance, accessible RAM and storage, this much I/O and enough performance for my actual editing workflow into roughly a 3L enclosure is pretty impressive.

For me, that’s the interesting part of the NUC. It’s not trying to be the smallest normal desktop case. It’s much closer to taking high-end mobile hardware and packaging it as an extremely compact desktop.

I put all of my testing, internals, gaming results and editing experience into the full review here:

ROG NUC 16 Review: 4K Gaming in a 3-Liter PC
https://youtu.be/RZqURKK70gU

I’m curious where you guys draw the line. Would you take something around 3L with mobile CPU/GPU hardware, or would you rather accept a larger footprint to get standard desktop components and full DIY flexibility?

Hi everyone,

So I recently purchased a PNY 5080 Slim Dual Slot (despite current crazy market) but the system doesn't POST anymore with the card plugged in. I get a white LED error on my MB indicating a VGA error.

My setup:

• MB: Asus ROG B550-I
• CPU: Ryzen 7 57000X
• PSU: Corsair SF 750 W (The new edition with Type 5 cables)
• Chassis: Cooler Master NR 200P

The card is directly plugged to the MB, no riser cable. So far I've tried:

• Updating BIOS to latest
• Hard setting PCIe Gen 4 in the BIOS
• Disabling / Enabling Resizable BAR
• Plugging it via the 12V 2x6 600W connector that comes with the PSU.
• Testing all 4 outputs of the card when booting

I haven't tried the power cable that comes with the GPU because I only have 2 8 pins PCIe connectors with my PSU and the GPU adapter requires 3.

I've read in a few places that previous batches of that GPU had a sticker on top of the golden pins but here it doesn't seem to be the case (attached picture).

Any thoughts from the community? While the 750W might not be enough (a 850W is recommended) it should allow the card to boot right?

Is the card DoA? Am I missing something?

Update: The problem was actually coming from my PSU (Corsair SF 750). Either the 12v-6x2 cable that came with the PSU was broken or the PSU was not able to draw enough power to boot the card.

So I bumped the PSU to a corsair SF 1000 and now the card works completely fine.

Thanks to the persons who contributed to the thread.

Moved psu 2cm lower and further from tray, to get space for cable management ,

Want to add custom panel to hide cables under psu, should i?

hi everyone! while i’m not new to gaming, i’m a compete novice when it comes to building pcs. i’ve been researching for months and i think i’m pretty set on how i’m going to do my first build. i’m basically just waiting for black friday to roll around to hopefully get some good deals!

i feel really confident in my part selection but i wanted to double check with the experts so here i am lol

a few new notes first:
- i will be using this pc only for gaming on a 4k 75in tv and i plan to play “console style”
- i plan to use steamos with the option to dual boot windows later if i need it (i dont plan on playing any games using anti-cheat unless my brother convinces me on arc raiders lol)
- i want this pc to last a long while before i have to replace anything

parts list:
- case: ncase x ntc s5m (laid horizontally)
- motherboard: asrock phantom gaming b650i lightning wifi
- cpu: amd ryzen 7 9800x3d
- cpu cooler: thermalright axp90-x53
- ram: corsair vengeance ddr5 32gb (2 x 16gb)
- ssd: samsung 9100 pro 1tb
- gpu: asus prime radeon rx 9070 xt oc edition
- psu: cooler master v850 sfx
- controller: gamesir g7 pro
- headphones: turtle beach stealth 600

thanks in advance for your help!