I’m in the middle of transitioning to Ryzen, so it will seem a bit mismatched for now but here’s where I’m at and where I’m headed:
- i7-7700k -> r7-5800x
- Gigabyte Z270N-Wifi ITX -> ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3
- 32GB Gskill Ripjaws V 3200MHz
- PNY XLR8 RTX 3080 (previously Galax GTX 1070 Katana)
- Corsair SF600 Platinum -> Corsair SF750 Platinum (when prices become not stupid)
Right now the i7-7700k is being cooled by a Thermolab LP53 w/ Noctua A9x14 because at the time that was the best performing cooler that could fit in the case. However, since I’ve already cut into this chassis, I’m thinking I might as well get a tall tower cooler and go full hotrod in the CPU department when I get the Ryzen processor.
Believe it or not, this is even less janky of a setup than I previously had.
As for this workaround, it took a while because the case—a Dr. Zaber Sentry—has got some pretty thick steel, but I essentially just cut out almost exactly a perfect fit for the PNY 3080. That excess at the top needed to be cut out so the card could even begin sliding in to the slot.
I tried bifurcating (have a capture card that I wanted to use with it, like I did in this case with a single slot Galaxy GTX 1070 Katana, but unfortunately the heatsink of the 3080 is just so massive that even with a second riser cable in the bifurcated PCIe slot, it doesn’t allow the 3080 to plug in all the way. If the case was just a tad bigger I could have used a riser on both slots instead, but there’s just no room. Anybody know of a PCIe bifurcation riser cable that’s just 2 cables daisy-chained to each other without a rigid PCB? That would solve everything.
I do like how this turned out though. I might even delay my search for a new case to see what else the SFF community develops first.
Why SFF? #
Console-looking cases are what got me started in the small form-factor hobby. The Fractal Design Node 202 came out in 2016 and set me down a rabbit hole I don’t see myself getting out of anytime soon. While that wasn’t my first SFF case, I got my feet wet by first trying out a big boy: the Bitfenix Prodigy ITX (which is really just an mATX case with fewer standoffs) was my gateway drug into SFF, to ease the transition.
Then I got a Silverstone Sugo SG05. Still a chonker, but a smaller footprint than I’d ever had before and it got me hooked. Look at all the room for activities!
Got the Geek M100WS after that because I wanted something to show off some RGB, but quickly grew out of that (not in small part because the M100 itself was kinda meh) and then ended up backing the Dr. Zaber Sentry, my current case, because it reminded me of the Node 202 that started me on this adventure while also being smaller, white, and reminiscent of the sentry turrets from Portal (which is where it got its name).
I got my brother hooked as well, building him a SFF PC in a Silverstone RVZ-02. He also doesn’t think he’ll turn back to mATX!