Compact Micro-ATX case

[Octopuss]

Lack of coffee clearly.
Excuse me while I go looking for my brains, they are clearly scattered all over the place somewhere, lol.

 

[NPS]

What stuff exactly do you have in there except for 3x 2,5" SSDs (I guess 7mm SATA not SAS)?
Is the dust topic still high on your list?

 

[Octopuss]

A HBA and a 10Gbit NIC.
Not sure about the dust. I mean, it's not a show stopper, but in this time and age, cases without any dust filters are kind of... meh. Yes, I have just noticed Jonsbo is like that.

 

[NPS]

What board and CPU?

 

[NPS]

Do you have dedicated fans mounted to your PCIe cards?

 

[Octopuss]

What board and CPU?

How is that relevant?
It will change this year most likely anyway. The board is Micro-ATX obviously.

I have a fan shroud on the HBA.

 

[NPS]

Seems relevant to me because most of the case designs you put on the table don't work well with higher power CPUs. Also cooling of the cards might be a pain in such cases. I think knowing the exact setup is important to decide on a case if the goal is to choose it very small.

 

[Octopuss]

I went through most of Newegg's Micro-ATX case listings just so I can have a very rough idea what's currently being sold, and I think I have to keep using the Node 804. There just isn't any case that would work for me

 

[Tech Junky]

@Octopuss

Why not just use Velcro on the drives and put them where you want them in the line of airflow? The Node 804 has plenty of mounts and you really don't need 4 screws for a 2.5" drive anyway. With the drive hangers on the 804 drive side just stick them to the sides of the hangers. In any other case though it's easy to find spots for 2.5" drives as well. Just think outside the box and stick them where you want them.

Another good place to put them might be across the top panel above the CPU. Those top grills tend to have holes in them for screwing down fans so why not drives? Or in the case of the 804 the bottom grill would work well too. Either would allow for decent cable management as well.

Just because case makers put mounts inside the case doesn't mean you have to use them. If you want cute little trays then look at the FD Meshify 2 as each drive needs a tray no matter the size. The 2 holds 13 of them and there's a C version that does less and an XL that does more.

 

[NPS]

@Tech Junky
He want's a case smaller than the Node 804. Not a solution where to mount the SSDs in the Node 804.

@Octopuss
Did you consider the Sliger Cases? (I don't know if they fit your needs, but they build 1-2 very small µATX cases)
Apart from that I don't get why you think that there would be no fitting case. The less "cubic" ones from Jonsbo will work very well. I am very happy with their "front top PSU" designs. Have a V9 and D30.
And back to your hardware: I ran a i3-9100F, 64GB RAM, 4x SATA SSDs, a P4801X and a MCX311A-XCAT from an 150W pico style PSU. So depending on what hardware you use, some very small cases might be interesting combined with such a PSU.

 

[Octopuss]

I have just noticed Jonsbo is living in the 90's - there are friggin' small screws holding the side panels. WTF!

I also looked at Rajintek Styx. Meh, same story. Beautiful case though. I wish I could use Mini-ITX board for the server, I'd grab one of the cases regardless.

 

[zer0sum]

Dust proof just needs positive pressure and dust covers.
There is a NR200 knockoff that added a slot for mATX support.

SAMA IM01 Black Computer Case - Newegg.com

Buy SAMA IM01 Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

I doubt you will find tiny cases with adequate u.2 mounting, I expect you will have to get creative.
The sama has lots of 120mm mounts so it has cooling if you have creativity.

I have the SAMA IM01 and can heartily recommend it