Case for tiny Pico-PSU SFF??
Hello all. My wife and I are planning a long term road trip, starting with the lower 48 states and then possibly the Pan-American highway. This trip could take years! We'll be traveling in a small SUV and towing a CLC teardrop camper behind us (still have to build that). The camper is going to be powered by a 200Ah battery and solar panels when not connected to shore power, so I'm making everything run off 12V for improved efficiency and low power consumption. I figured it would be fun to build a 12V DC-DC SFF primarily for emulation and streaming when we're stuck inside during poor weather. Because the teardrop camper is very small, I'm trying to make this PC as small as possible; preferably 5L or less. I've looked at a bunch of case possibilities but would like outside opinions.
Planned Hardware:
PSU - RGEEK 250W Pico-PSU (Power requirements will be way under 250W, but using it for future upgradability)
Motherboard - B550I Auros Pro AX
CPU - Ryzen 5600X
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9a
RAM - Patriot Viper Steel 1x16GB 3600MHz
GPU - ZOTAC GEFORCE GTX 1650 OC
Storage - Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 1TB M.2 NVMe
I want this build to be incredibly power efficient since I'll be running it off of battery power. So I'll likely be undervolting the GPU and possibly the CPU as well. I may not be able to get it as low power as a laptop, but that doesn't mean I can't try. If anyone sees a way of increasing the power efficiency by using different parts with comparable performance, please let me know.
As far as cases go. I've considered a few but each has its own issues.
Lone Industries L5 is my favorite, but it appears they don't sell them anymore and requires low profile GPUs.
NFC Systems S4 Mini looks like a great option, but it's pricey.
Lazer3D HT5 is beautiful but then I'm limited to half height GPUs
Any other suggestions?
TLDR
Looking for the smallest case (preferably 5L or less) that will support a Pico PSU and at least an ITX GPU for emulation and streaming on a low power build.
Any help is appreciated.
Planned Hardware:
PSU - RGEEK 250W Pico-PSU (Power requirements will be way under 250W, but using it for future upgradability)
Motherboard - B550I Auros Pro AX
CPU - Ryzen 5600X
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9a
RAM - Patriot Viper Steel 1x16GB 3600MHz
GPU - ZOTAC GEFORCE GTX 1650 OC
Storage - Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 1TB M.2 NVMe
I want this build to be incredibly power efficient since I'll be running it off of battery power. So I'll likely be undervolting the GPU and possibly the CPU as well. I may not be able to get it as low power as a laptop, but that doesn't mean I can't try. If anyone sees a way of increasing the power efficiency by using different parts with comparable performance, please let me know.
As far as cases go. I've considered a few but each has its own issues.
Lone Industries L5 is my favorite, but it appears they don't sell them anymore and requires low profile GPUs.
NFC Systems S4 Mini looks like a great option, but it's pricey.
Lazer3D HT5 is beautiful but then I'm limited to half height GPUs
Any other suggestions?
TLDR
Looking for the smallest case (preferably 5L or less) that will support a Pico PSU and at least an ITX GPU for emulation and streaming on a low power build.
Any help is appreciated.
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You might look at the Velkase Velka 3 (3.9L) or 5 (4.9L). They are designed for Flex ATX, not Pico, but should work for your needs.
I have the Velka 5 with ASUS ROG Strix B660-I, 12400F, Noctua NH-L9i, Power Color RX 6650 XT, 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5600 CL36, 2TB Mushkin Enhanced Vortex Gen 4 NVMe, and a 600w Flex ATX PSU. That's a sub 5L case packing a lot more in it than what you are looking for and you'd have some extra space since you wouldn't be using the area the Flex ATX PSU would be mounted in. With that GPU you are planning to get you could easily go with Velka 3 and be under 4L.
I have the Velka 5 with ASUS ROG Strix B660-I, 12400F, Noctua NH-L9i, Power Color RX 6650 XT, 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5600 CL36, 2TB Mushkin Enhanced Vortex Gen 4 NVMe, and a 600w Flex ATX PSU. That's a sub 5L case packing a lot more in it than what you are looking for and you'd have some extra space since you wouldn't be using the area the Flex ATX PSU would be mounted in. With that GPU you are planning to get you could easily go with Velka 3 and be under 4L.
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
