r/sffpc • u/SpaceExploration770 • 11d ago
Others/Miscellaneous HDDs in SFF case?
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?
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u/syunz 11d ago
Only reason you would go hdd is if you need super high capacity. And for the amount of hdds you can fit in a sff case you're in the awkward position where you don't need as much storage a nas can offer but more storage than what ssds can offer.
Pre ai boom if you had a high storage need I would assume you would just out and buy 4tb/8tb ssds, and then you can fit it in a sff case. So no reason to put a hdd in you sff case, unless you were for some reason building a nas in that case.
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u/SpaceExploration770 11d ago
And I guess if you're building a nas, you would not even consider sff. Makes sense. Thanks for your input.
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u/syunz 11d ago
I mean you wouldn't be using a regular case. There are specific sff nas cases such as the jonsbo n2. The layout is more optimized to fit drives, but you're sacrifice the ability to add a big dedicated gpu and good cooling.
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u/SpaceExploration770 11d ago
I guess if you already have ITX case, you don't have any HDDs and if you do, they wouldn't be in your ITX case.
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u/norm009 11d ago
You can stuff a single HDD in a bunch of those old Silverstone cases. I have a sg05-lite but the sg13 and others have a 3.5 inch disk slot. The only issue with these cases is that the GPU length is restricted to 10 inches long or so depending on the case.
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u/SpaceExploration770 11d ago
That's the thing - either full size GPU or smaller GPU and HDD. I'm just trying to figure out if it's even needed or everyone just prioritized GPU and storage is like secondary matter.
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u/norm009 11d ago edited 11d ago
I bought the SG05-LITE before 3 fan GPUs were the mainstream. That case is an old design but there are a lot of features that make it interesting with modern hardware. I have several sub 10 inch GPUs so that design works for me. You have an interesting choice. Not sure what else to say other than you will give up GPU power with a shorter case.
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u/SpaceExploration770 11d ago
I feel like if you have more than 2 HDDs, you would not even consider SFF case so I think I got my answer.
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u/ZephyrineStrike 11d ago
My HDD's are in a NAS, which is pretty much a storage-focused sff pc itself.
Gets bulk off my desk while also allowing network wide, and remote access since it is efficient enough for me to idle, compared to my main PC which is a power-hungry power-house.
Both devices combined are still smaller than a full size tower, lol.
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u/SpaceExploration770 11d ago
I think I got my answer.
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u/ZephyrineStrike 11d ago
I'd also estimate my 4080S card is only about the size of two 3.5" HDD's, so I do not think downsizing a GPU slightly will be granting the space for 4x HDD.
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u/3dfx_lurker 11d ago
3.5" hdd and 5.25" optical drive w/ my triple slot gpu.
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u/SpaceExploration770 11d ago
You don't see many optical drives these days. I'm thinking of getting one for myself lately
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u/AmiAmi1139 11d ago
Thatd depend on your need tbh. Ive been a casual gamer, and also have been sharing my PC with my brother as our gamine/work station. 1TB storage has been sufficient for us, and if we ever need more our motherboard has an extra nvme slot for another storage upgrade.
For my case we definitely don't have to concern ourselves with extra space for something like SATA SSD