The BEST Tiny CASES on the Market!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
1,901 words · ~9 min read
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it's not the size but what you do with
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it that counts at least that's what I
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keep telling myself and lately you know what I seem to be getting some backup
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here because there's been a lot of love for big things that come in a small
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packages if you know what I mean ITX
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cases and the motherboards that go with them have been growing in popularity for
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some time but there are some inherent
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tradeoffs that come with tiny Computing
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size noise cooling performance and of
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course one of the big reasons anybody wants a small computer in the first
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place looks so we rounded up eight of
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the best small form factor designs for your viewing pleasure come along for the
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ride the package ride you bought the ride package
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cyber power PCS lineup of gaming desktops feature Intel 7th generation
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core i7 processors check them out at the link
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below we'll kick things off with the venerable Silverstone Milo M8 which
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rocks a classic high-fi look this
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particular model comes with a carrying handle along with a vertical stand
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should that suit your fancy taking a peak under the hood reveals a separate
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chamber for a full-size GPU which helped
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with both thermals and Acoustics in our
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testing on the other side we find generously sized front panel cables and
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two toolless 2 and 1/2 in Drive mounts
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for any combination of spinning or SSD
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storage taken all together we think this one's a great choice for a living room
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PC next up fractal designs node 202 a
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moderately sized Media Center style case
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again with a vertical stand if you're into that sort of thing and optional
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feet if you're not one thing you'll notice right away here is that there are
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no screws anywhere on the top or the
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back they're all on the bottom and
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thankfully they use standard phillips heads something apparently you can't
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take for granted inside is a spacious
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clean design with well proportioned cable
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and a power supply Mount that uses rails for additional stability all the fan
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intakes are filtered including the GPU intakes dual 120 mm fans which we would
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recommend using our GPU got pretty toasty in testing and with two 2 and 1/2
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in Drive mounts it's a pretty versatile
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option crowdfunded on Indiegogo this is
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the Dr Zer Sentry a Polish built mini
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monstrosity made entirely of Steel right down to the brackets and
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vertical stand everything from the satisfying power button to the weight of
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the panels exudes Quality Construction
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getting inside past the hex bits we can
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see a fairly sensible layout with a separate GPU cooling Zone and slightly
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long front panel cables if your GPU is
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shorter than 200 mm you can actually make use of a provided bracket to St up
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to four 2 and 1/2 in drives in place of
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one of these mounts for a grand total of up to eight drives of course if you were
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to actually load in that many drives I would suggest taking off all their
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clothes cuz in our testing it got uh pretty hot in there behind the
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GPU not content to provide only one case
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for our Roundup Silverstone also sent in their Raven rvz01 e which I guess we'll
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call Ron another larger case Ron trades
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volume for cooling coming with two slim
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120 mm fans with space for a third and
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convenient magnetic filters for each of them all of which combined to give it
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the top results in our thermal testing
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inside we see an incredibly sturdy PCI Express Riser four 2 and 1 12in Drive
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mounts ample room to maneuver and amount for a full-sized ATX power Supply Ron's
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not perfect though between the too long for Comfort too short for uh reach
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around front panel cables he's a little bit of a pain to service and
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aesthetically we don't think Ron fits in well in the living room making him more
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of a smallish showcase piece for the
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computer Den now where Dr zabber debuted
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on Indiegogo the Dan Case a4sfx burst
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onto the scene by way of Kickstarter it is currently the world's smallest
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computer case it's super light and it's
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really beautiful the panels snap on and
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off easily which actually could be a problem with how jam-packed heght things
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are in there if not for the optional screw holes it's extremely space
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efficient under the hood with the full-size GPU compartment separated by
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way of a plastic flap to save weight while offering darn impressive thermals
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now the a4s sfx's size and lack of dust
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filters do hurt its acoustic performance
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and a single front USB 3 Port is not ideal for the year 2017 but two 2 and 1/
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12 in Drive mounts give you decent options for internal storage and while
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sadly the A4 sfx is unavailable for
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purchase at the time of filming more good news they do have a subscription
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service that will notify you when they're returning to production moving
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along to the NK 1 we see many
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similarities between it and the a4sfx it's lightweight constructed from
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aluminum and feature Snap-on panels though these ones unfortunately don't
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screw down it's wholly get it
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holy ventilated with two 120 mm fan
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mounts that we would recommend filtering and using as intakes to help prevent the
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rest of the case from sucking in dust thanks to its perforated design The m1's
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Thermals were great even if it's a little on the loud side and in spite of
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its diminutive size our unit includes amazing Drive expansion with the
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optional slot loing optical drive that goes where you could also mount a 2 and
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1/2 in drive and even an option to mount
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dual 3 and 1/2 in drives if you like to
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store your media locally and you'll want a small case you'll want to give this
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one some consideration it's probably the most versatile chassis at its size
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support for triple slot video cards is just icing on the cake at that point
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next up I hope you're ready mate's cuz we've got the r agent Tech Mt
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plus affordable with a premium looking aluminum finish this is a more
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traditional looking Cube PC much care
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and attention clearly went into making it look and feel streamlined
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with brackets hiding the slot screws and the bizarre Power Supply Mount sadly
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though this makes working in it a huge pain and each side panel is held on by
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Philips screws rather than you know little quick releases looking inside
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though we find space for up to 4 2 and 1/2 in drives or two 2 and 1 halfs with
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a single 3 and 1/2 or two 3 and 1/2 in
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drive so the storage options are definitely a strong point making it an
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attractive home theater PC option even if I can't emphasize this enough it's
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not great to work in finally a brand new
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chassis to round off our Roundup the bit
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Phoenix portal evoking a certain turret
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design this is probably the most over complicated case we have on hand with an
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inner frame for our parts to bolt onto attached via a rail this doesn't leave
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much room in spite of its size for cable routing but there's plenty of cooling
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which was a big benefit to the portal in our testing it even managed to stay
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pretty quiet for the portal showing off your build is just a window option or
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two thumb screws away and it features twin quick detach 3 and 1/2 in Drive
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sleds and up to two 2 and 1/2 in Drive mounts so if you want something
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absolutely unique you're looking at it as long as you don't mind dealing with
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yet another case that is difficult to work with so then final recommendations
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what to buy for someone with Forward
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Thinking style the bit Phoenix portal at 139 us looks pretty good looks it's got
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plenty of options sturdy construction and head turning appeal but it's far
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from the smallest in our Showdown and really not that small for an ITX case so
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make sure you've got the room for it for those of you looking to build a gaming
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grade home theater PC to store and consume your content we like the
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Silverstone M8 at $79 the dror abber Sentry does get an
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honorable mention here for its stunningly slim and clean design but at
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235 us it's very pricey finally for
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those of you who just want a slick small form factor PC the nm1 at 185 us is the
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Cadillac and the fractal design node 202 at 79 is the similarly functional if
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less luxurious Camry the Dan Cas a 4 sfx
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gets an honorable mention though when it's available but at
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€230 it's a little tough to swallow
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though it should be noted that in spite of their size all of these cases are
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relatively easy to work with and performed very well in our testing so
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there you have it this video was a metric but ton of work so guys drop a
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thank you for Anthony Max and Ivan in the comments while you're at it cable
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mods custom length individually sleeve cables actually did legitimately help us
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complete these builds in some cases and
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keep it real guys until next time real
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small that is do you like talking to robots and
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navigating automated phone
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trees no you don't don't lie so switch
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to the mobile carrier that's focused on customer service and satisfaction first
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Ting when you call them you talk to someone directly and everything about
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what they do is all about saving you money you pay only for example for the
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services that you use with the average Ting Bill coming in at just 23 bucks per
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month per device and if you're stuck in a contract they'll even pay 25% of your
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cancellation fee up to 75 bucks to get over there so will Ting save you money
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well all you get to do is head over and try their savings calculator it's at
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Linus doing.com we've got that linked below you enter your last few bills you
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enter how much you paid and find out if you would save money on Ting and if you
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use our link you'll get 25 bucks in service credit or towards a new device
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for your trouble so thanks for watching if you dislike this video you can hit
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that dislike button but if you liked it hit the like button get subscribed maybe
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consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the links in the
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video description also down there is our merch store store where you can buy cool
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shirts like this one and our community Forum where you can go and talk Tech
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it's a pretty cool place for a tech
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forum