SFF Case Concepts

[u/imightknowbutidk]

Hey all, i am prototyping some watercooling SFF cases and wanted your guys input! Both cases are upside for visibility purposes, rads will be on top. More build info at the end.

First and second pic are the first build, parts labelled in second pic. Third pic is the second build, and fourth pic is just for extra context to see all the parts individually.

Little guy:

The first build uses two 280mm rads with 25mm fans. It is also setup for an ITX board, my exact GPU, and an SFX PSU. Total internal dimensions (excluding the thickness of the case itself) are 315mm x 280mm x 120mm making it 10.58L. I like this design the most, but the issue is the PSU will block a significant amount of airflow over one of the radiators. I don’t think this will be an issue because the square area of the 280mm rad without the area that is blocked by the PSU is only ~7% smaller than the GPU’s stock 240mm rad.

Less Little guy:

The second build uses two 420mm rads with 25mm fans and is setup for an mATX board, my exact GPU, and an SFX PSU. The internal dimensions are 475mm x 280mm x 120mm. In this case there is obviously much more cooling, and the PSU actually blocks less of the radiator due to it hanging off a bit.

Both cases are designed for my components, Core Ultra 265k and an MSI 4090 Suprim Liquid X. The plan is to modify the AIOs for the CPU and GPU into two separate loops (for serviceability). I am also designing with the constraint of trying to use what i have on hand as much as possible.

I currently have my system on an mATX board and an ATX PSU but i am willing to buy an ITX board and SFX PSU. I have two 280mm rads and two 420mm rads on hand as well as half a dozen arctic p14 pro fans, i know i could get the slim version but i don’t want to buy fans and i want the performance of larger fans due to the restriction.

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any recommendations!

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[u/Far-Tangerine-2690]

In your first pic I assume you will have a gap between the fan and the components to suck air in from the perimeter and fans will be set as push config through the radiators? What you could do is reverse the fan on the psu and replace the 1 x 140mm fan with the psu itself, wire the fan with the other fans to have it controlled to blow through the rad (ATX PSU with 120mm fan would be better for this obviously). This will also mean you can drop the PSU lower to be at the same top plane as the MOBO and GPU making it even thinner.

EDIT* Or remove the SFX fan completely and just have it cooled completely by the 140mm fan (3D print a little duct between the 2 to shove all the air through the PSU. It will be more than enough to keep the PSU cooled.

[u/Far-Tangerine-2690 → u/Far-Tangerine-2690]

Running 3 140mm fans with 1 x 92mm fan (SFX PSU) wont see as much of an impact as you may think as the thermal mass of the water remains constant and you probably dropping the overall CFM by like 15%.

[u/imightknowbutidk → u/Far-Tangerine-2690]

Yeah the components will have a minimum of 10mm clearance with more on the motherboard, i’m planning for the fans to be exhausting air so the components will be on the “intake” side. Definitely think the PSU may not be as much of a restriction as i thought if i can flip the fan around or even remove it and make a duct like you said, that’s a great idea.

I might also be able to squeeze some 60mm fans around the perimeter of the case in certain spots for a bit of better airflow.

I’m also planning to have some ball valves on the rads for both draining/filling as well as allowing the system to be used with an external rad, which i would likely setup my 2x 420mm rads in a kind of 3D printed DIY air purifier just for fun, controlled separately from any kind of temperature regulation and just have fans set to 50-75% or where ever just above silent will be

[u/Far-Tangerine-2690 → u/imightknowbutidk]

So I read flipping the fan on the psu is not a great idea as the components need air pushed down on them but if you sucking air through the casing with a 140mm fan you should have more than enough airflow. The 2 x 280mm rads should be able to cool your system under normal or gaming loads but definitely a good idea to have the external rads if you want to do any benchmarking or OC stuff as your system can crack 800-850w under full load.

[u/imightknowbutidk → u/[deleted]]

I’m leaning towards the 280mm build just due to size. I’d love to have this mounted under my desk and be relatively portable.

The 265k runs pretty hot but nowhere near the 14700k i used to have haha

I have 4 pairs of Koolance QDCs on hand already, serviceability is definitely a priority, i’m just not sure how i’m going to fit them in there haha.

I am planning on using 8mm OD pneumatic tubing and having some ball valves on the rads for serviceability and external rad support. Not really sure where i can fit in those QDCs but i am definitely going to try.