Hi all, I have been lurking around these parts for years and consider myself to be reasonably knowledgeable when it comes to knocking together a new PC. This time around however I need to build a SFF system as I want to take it on a plane as carry on luggage. I am British, but I live in Brazil and the price of electronics here would make you cry. In terms of the case, I had all but decided on the Lian Li V354B, but having read the recent review on BT of the SilverStone TJ08B-E indecision has reared it ugly head again. I had planned on using a Corsair H60 with the V354 but it appears that I could fit a Dark rock cooler in the SilverStone, thus reducing the cost by a bit more again. The rest of the build will include: Asus Gene-Z MB 2500k CPU GTX 570 TFiii (unless we all get a big surprise and some new cards are released by Novemeber) 1 TB Samsung F3 HD 128GB M4 ssd Corsair AX650 PSU Corsair 8GB (2x4) low profile vengeance ram (does this work in the Gene-Z as it is not on the PVL) Asus Xoner DS 7.1 soundcard Logitech S220 2.1 speakers Dell 2412m Monitor (Any recommendations on the above are more than welcome) I would really appreciate any help/recommendations about mATX/SFF cases from those that are familiar with them and also if anyone who has tried recently to take a desktop on a plane, if you could share that experience I would be very thankful. Thanks to everyone who helps, I hope you can calm my nerves in regards to the plane trip and bring some reason to my indecisive mind.
That all seems good, except for the Xonar DS - it's a PCI card but the Gene-Z does not have any PCI slot. You will need a PCIe card such as the Xonar DX or D2X. Another issue that may crop up with a sound card is that on an mATX motherboard it will block a lot of airflow to the graphics card, so you might want to forego it completely and use the on-board audio. As for case recommendations, I have the Silverstone FT03. It's advantage over other mATX cases is that it takes up less floor area due to its orientation - it's taller than it is wide or deep. You might find that to be an advantage for when you take it on a plane.